Fort Peck Dam
The Fort Peck Lake ( Fort Peck Dam or ) is the highest of six dams on the Missouri River in Montana, USA. It is located in the small town of Fort Peck, Montana ( an old trading post from the 1860s ), 32 km south-east of Glasgow, Montana and 16 km southwest of Nashua.
The connected hydropower plant generates 185.25 MW with five turbines. In July 1943, the first electricity was produced. In addition to electricity generation are the purpose of the dam, flood protection, the navigability in the lower reaches, fishing and nature conservation, recreation, water supply and water improvement.
The reservoir (Fort Peck Lake ) is the largest in Montana, and the fifth largest in the United States, as measured by the storage space, and the fourth largest in terms of area. It is 216 km long, has a shoreline length of 2432 km and a maximum depth of 67 m. It is located on the Missouri above Lake Sakakawea. For the storage space, there are different information: 22 119, 23 000, 23 546 or 26 000 million m³. With 22 119 million m³, this results with the water surface of 981 sq km, an average depth of 22.5 m.
The dam ( Fort Peck Dam ) was built as Spüldamm; so he has very flat slopes. It is named after its construction volume of 96 million cubic meters today about the ninth largest dam on the planet. Until at least the 1950s, he was even the largest earth dam. Its maximum height is given 75-78 m, its length is 6409-6464 m.
The project was started in 1933 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a job creation scheme during the " Great Depression ". Up to 11,000 workers (1939 ) were employed on the site.
The whole reservoir is located in the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge. The protected area is known for its fossil finds, for example, the skull of a Triceratops. There are also a variety of recreation opportunities here.
On the first issue of Life magazine, 23 November 1936 photo of Fort Peck Dam, photographed by Margaret Bourke- White was mapped.
During the construction work for the dam, on 22 September 1938 there was a landslide, with the 3.8 million m³ dam material slid down into the reservoir. 34 workers were buried and eight died. Due to this accident, the completion was delayed by one year. More details about this can be read in the two references.
The Fort Peck Dam was taken in 1990 by the American Society of Civil Engineers in the List of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks.