Gavins Point Dam and Lewis and Clark Lake is 811 river miles from the mouth of the Missouri River at St. Louis, Missouri. Nestled in the golden, chalkstonelined valley of the Missouri River, the Lewis and Clark Lake area has grown into one of the most popular recreation destinations in the Great Plains. Lewis and Clark Lake attracts more than 2 million visitors each year to its shores. Recreation opportunities around the lake include camping, fishing, hunting, hiking, boating, sailing, swimming, bird-watching, and photography.

In the late 18th and 19th centuries, several tribes moved into the area—including the Ponca, Yankton Sioux, Santee Sioux and Omaha. Members of these tribes still live in the area today.

In late August 1804, while traveling up the Missouri River on their journey to the Pacific Ocean, Lewis and Clark hosted a Grand Council with the Yankton Sioux at a site below Calumet Bluff. This is where the Lewis and Clark Visitor Center now stands. This meeting was significant in that it was the first meeting with a Sioux Tribe on their journey upstream.

In 1874, the Bon Homme Colony of Hutterites, a branch of the Mennonite movement exiled from Austria, settled on what is now the shores of Lewis and Clark Lake. They were the first Hutterite Colony in South Dakota and the United States and maintain a traditional communal way of life.

Yankton, the first territorial capital of the Dakota Territory was a major steamboat landing until 1881. Since then, Yankton has grown into a regional business and health care community, and with the creation of Lewis and Clark Lake, has become a major recreation destination.