Red Willow Dam (National ID # NE01076) is a dam in Frontier County, Nebraska, about ten miles northwest of McCook.
The earthen dam was constructed from 1960 to 1962 by the United States Bureau of Reclamation, with a height of 126 feet.[1] It impounds Willow Creek for flood control, part of the Frenchman-Cambridge Division of the Bureau's extensive Pick–Sloan Missouri Basin Program. The dam is owned and operated by the Bureau.
The reservoir it creates, Hugh Butler Lake, has a water surface of 1,629 acres, 4,461 land acres, about 35 miles of shoreline, and a maximum water capacity of 86,630 acre-feet.[2] Recreation includes fishing (for walleye, crappie, white bass, channel catfish, and wipers, etc.), hunting, boating, camping and hiking.[3] The shore borders Nebraska's Red Willow Reservoir State Recreation Area.