Cripplecreek wrote above:
"All of the dams around me are earthen dams with a concrete spillway and millrace. The 1 that is 100 yards from where I sit is an earthen dam first built in the 1880s and rebuilt in the 1980s."
Very well.
But...
How HIGH are those earthen dams nearby you?
Would you feel as comfortable living below an earthen dam 700 feet high?
C'mon, be honest!