The elevation of the top of the dam is 6055 feet. The crest is 35 feet wide and the maximum base width is 890 feet. Construction of Wanship Dam was completed in 1957. The reservoir is part of a network of reservoirs operated by the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District used to store seasonal runoff to meet agricultural, municipal, and industrial needs along the Weber River and in the communities of the Wasatch Front. Geology Wanship Dam and Rockport Lake are located on the Weber River where it cuts through shale, siltstone and sandstone beds of the Frontier Formation of Late Creracious age.
Bedrock is primarily shale and siltstone with sandstone beds that form resistant ridges.
Impure coal and bentonite are interbedded with the shale. The dam and reservoir are on the north limb of the Uinta Mountain uplift. The beds dip 25 degrees to 35 degrees downstream. Several northeast trending thrust faults cross the Weber Valley in the vicinity of the dam and reservoir.