Gatun Dam

The Gatun Dam is an earthen dam across the Chagres River in Panama, near the town of Gatún. The dam, constructed between 1907 and 1913, is a crucial element of the Panama Canal; it impounds the artificial Gatun Lake, which carries ships 33 kilometres (21 mi) of their transit across the Isthmus of Panama. In addition, a hydro-electric generating station at the dam generates electricity which is used to operate the locks and other equipment in the canal. Construction of the dam was a great engineering achievement, eclipsed only by the parallel excavation of the Culebra Cut; at the time of completion, the dam was the largest earth dam in the world, and Gatun Lake was the largest artificial lake in the world.

Dam data from Wikidata (CC0) plus curated additions. Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).