Wilson, Kansas, home to a very beautiful lake a few miles north of them. The lake has a long history dating back to its creation in April of 1961. The lake is on the border of Russell County and Lincoln County. The Corps of Engineers planned, designed, and constructed Wilson, completing it in 1964 at a cost of $20 million, and continues to manage the reservoir to the present day.
The lake has clear water due to the extensive grasses acting as a filtration system and its deepest part is 66 feet. The length of the lake is 24 miles East to West and has a surface area of 9,045 acres. When filled to maximum capacity, it has a surface area of 33,882 acres. The hottest temperature recorded at Wilson Lake was 111 °F on August 16, 1983, while the coldest temperature recorded was −26 °F on December 23, 1989. The Lake has a shore length of 99.98 miles. The lake is clean to swim in and offers cabins, camping spots and tent spots for its guests.
Wilson Lake has many points of interest including three parks: Lucas Park, Minooka Park, and Sylvan Park. Rocktown Natural Area is a site comprising 305 acres in Lucas Park. It is named for the sandstone pillars, ranging in height from 15 feet to 30 feet that occupy its landscape. Wilson Lake has many things to offer and is a nice place to go on vacation or to get away during the summer.
Wilson Dam is an earth-fill embankment dam with a foundation of rock and soil. It stands 130 feet tall and 5,600 feet long and has an uncontrollable 450 foot spillway at the southeast end of the dam. When the reservoir is filled to maximum capacity, the spillway has a discharge capacity of 15,700 cubic feet per second. Fish species resident in Wilson Lake include black bass, channel catfish, crappie, small mouth bass, striped bass, walleye, and white bass. Two invasive species, the white perch and the zebra mussel, live in the lake as well. Game animals living on land around the reservoir include common pheasants, deer, ducks, geese, prairie chickens, quail, rabbits, and turkeys. The town of Wilson is also home to the Worlds Largest Zech Egg. Another tourist attraction close to the lake, it stands at 20 feet tall and 15 feet wide and painted by local artist Christine Slechta.
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