Today you visited my cache called Price's Meadow (GC4R277) and that means you have visited another state, Kentucky. The cache is near my favorite warm-weather hangout, Lake Cumberland. Lake Cumberland is a reservoir in south-central Kentucky. The primary reasons for its construction were a means for flood control and the production of hydroelectric power. Its shoreline measures 1,255 miles (2,020 km) and the lake covers 65,530 acres (265 km2) at the maximum power pool elevation. The reservoir ranks 9th in the U.S. in size, with a capacity of 6,100,000 acre-feet (7.5 km3) of water, enough to cover the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky with 3 inches (76 mm) of water. The main lake is 101 miles (163 km) long and over one mile (1.6 km) across at its widest point.
The lake has become a major source of tourism and an economic engine for south-central Kentucky. Lake Cumberland was impounded from the Cumberland River by the United States Army Corps of Engineers' construction of the Wolf Creek Dam in 1952.[1] Wolf Creek Dam is the 25th largest dam in the United States, and cost $15 million to construct originally, with an additional $65 million needed almost immediately to fix problems which soon became apparent. It is estimated that the dam has prevented more than $500 million in flood damage since its construction.