Huntington District, West Virginia -- Bolivar Dam is within the Upper Tuscarawas section of the Muskingum Area. It was authorized by Section 4 of the Flood Control Act (FCA) of 1938, as amended by Section 4 of the FCA of 1939. Primary project purposes are flood damage reduction, recreation, and fish and wildlife. Land includes 713 fee acres and 8,282 flowage easement acres. The dam was completed September 1938 and serves a drainage area of 504 square miles. The dam is a rolled earth-fill with impervious core, 87 ft. tall, 6,300 ft. long and 25 ft. wide at the top and 480 ft. wide at the base.
Other structures include Magnolia Levee which protects the town of Magnolia, 6.5 miles east of the dam; raised an additional 10 ft. after original construction. Total length of the levee is 4,877 feet; 4,383 ft. of rolled earthfill with impervious core, 31 ft. tall, 8 ft. wide at the top and 184 ft. wide at the base, and 494 ft. of concrete wall on sheet steel piling atop the old levee. Appurtenant works include two roadway ramps with hinged single-leaf gates at levee openings, a drainage ditch, pump station, and inlet and outlet structures through the levee for a millrace. Gate stand with sluice gates installed to back up flap gates on four 36-inch gravity flow conduits originally used. Two small industrial levees to protect Sparta Ceramic Co. and U.S. Quarry Tile Company in East Sparta, Ohio.