There are 19 recreational parks on the lake that provide places for camping, hiking, picnicking, swimming, boating, and water skiing.

[4] But in 1938, the Federal Power Commission rescinded private licenses to construct dams while the government studied flood control in the White River basin.

Having won the election with the promise of cheap hydroelectricity, he hoped the dams would give rise to industry and lift the region out of the depths of depression.

The Baxter County delegation wanted to pass a resolution that would have expressed opposition to any dam that did not include hydroelectric power facilities.

However, the Batesville, Arkansas delegation was able to convince the assembly that the resolution may be interpreted as general opposition to the dam and it never passed.

They believed that the population and economic growth brought by the construction of the dam would make it feasible for power companies to move in.

All preliminary investigation, the final design of the structure, and the preparation of construction plans and specs was carried out under the supervision of Lieutenant Colonel Stanley L. Scott.

Because of the large number of caves in the region foundation exploration, using diamond tipped drills, was carried out for nearly a year before plans were completed.

Most of the smaller aggregate used in construction was removed from the sand and gravel bars of a twenty-mile (32 km) section of the White River.

However, not everyone was happy with the construction of the dam, nearly four-hundred people had to be removed from one of the most heavily populated and prosperous regions of Baxter County to make room for the reservoir.

The government only paid people for their land if they had structures on it, effectively stealing thousands of acres from rightful landowners.

In the late 1930s, before construction of the Norfork Dam had begun, the local economy of Baxter County, Arkansas was deteriorating.

The yearly per capita income had fallen to between one-hundred and two-hundred dollars, and in 1940 alone more than six hundred small farms were abandoned.

When construction of the dam finally began in the spring of 1941 it was said that, "before the first shovel of dirt was thrown, or the first tree dozed down, the Mountain Home people knew that a new era had dawned".

In 1943, the Corps began accelerating the project, informed the Highway Department there would not be time for the bridge pier construction, and that condemnation proceedings would begin immediately.

Bass, crappie, walleye, catfish, and bream are all found on the lake with almost all other varieties of fresh water game fish.