What) The Gardiner Dam on the South Saskatchewan River is the largest embankment dam in Canada and one of the largest embankment dams in the world. Construction on Gardiner Dam was started in 1959 and completed in 1967, creating Lake Diefenbaker upstream and diverting a considerable portion of the South Saskatchewan's flow into the Qu'Appelle River. The dam rises 64 metres (209 feet) in height, is almost 5 km (3 miles) long and has a width of 1.5 km (1 mile) at its base with a volume of 65,000,000 cubic meters. (1)

    Where) Highway 44 crosses the river atop the dam.

    Why) Despite residing in the province for 30 years, I have never made it to Gardiner Dam.  This is hard to believe when you consider how many big dams I have travelled much further distances to see.



























Here is a nice picture of the dam viewed from space. (2)







Here is one edge of the dam and ...







... here is the other.  I found the quick change from lake to prairie to be a bit jarring.







This is the view you get when you drive across the dam.







Eventually you get to these nice looking control towers. Strangely, my favourite picture turned out to have ...







... nearly nothing to do with the built environment at all.