Water from deep snow that falls each spring on high mountain ridges north of here is stored in this reservoir to irrigate farmland near Shoshone and Richfield. The Big Wood River flows past hills that separate this valley from a broad plain of lava and windblown soil, and this border area provides an excellent storage site for more than 190,000 acre-feet of irrigation water. Created in 1910, Magic Reservoir also provides recreation opportunities and a home for fish and wildlife in a desert setting.