Fort Peck Dam

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

Built from 1933 to 1940, Fort Peck Dam is one of the largest earth-filled dams in the world and the first of the six built on the Missouri River. It was a project of the Works Progress Administration, one of the federal agencies created by the "New Deal" in the 1930s to provide jobs to Americans during the Great Depression. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers oversaw its construction as well as the establishment of the town of Fort Peck. The dam is around 6.5 miles long, 250-feet tall, 3,500-feet wide at the base, and creates Fort Peck Lake—the fifth largest man-make lake in the country. The spillway, which is located to the east of the main part of the dam, is 5,210-feet long and features 16 gates. Fort Peck Dam is historically significant in the areas of engineering, navigation, irrigation, and was added to the National Register of Historic places in 1986. It was also instrumental in creating the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, which surrounds Fort Peck Lake and 125 miles of the Missouri River.

Images

Constructed from 1933 to 1940, the Fort Peck Dam was one of the largest projects of Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression.

The spillway, shown under construction here, is 5,210-feet long and features 16 gates.

This aerial view shows the dam looking west.

The dam as it appeared in June 1938 before the slide.

The eastern end of the dam collapsed on September 22, 1939, killing eight workers, six of whom were never recovered.

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

In 1879, Colonel Campbell Kennedy, owner of the Fort Peck trading post, which was located three miles upstream on the Missouri River, traveled to Washington D.C. to lobby the federal government to build a dam. At that time, the river was prone to flooding and sometimes difficult to navigate. In fact the post was founded by a trading company in 1865 when its steamer ran aground on a sandbar. In 1877, an ice gorge formed downriver resulting in a flood that damaged much of the post.

State and local officials and residents continued to call for a dam in the coming decades. Finally, in the early 1930s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a report—which was almost 1,200 pages long—examining the feasibility of improving navigation, controlling flooding, and producing electrical power along the Missouri River. Another major incentive to build the dam was the fact that America was in the midst of the Great Depression. Americans needed jobs and the federal government was desperate to jumpstart the economy. The project was therefore a way to help fulfill both goals and President Franklin approved it in October 1933. Work on the project began in earnest soon after.

The first steps in the process were to build the foundation, the discharge pumping equipment, utilities and transportation infrastructure (which included 60 miles of railroad tracks around the entire site), where workers and their families would live. The dam, spillway, and diversion tunnels were built next; the powerhouses were not built until 1951 and 1961 respectively. The infrastructure supporting the project was immense. This included sixty miles of railroad tracks laid around the site and a large fleet of vessels—dubbed the "Fort Peck Navy"— consisting of barges, dredges, pontoons, and an additional 263 vessels.

Over 7,000 women and men worked on the project in 1934 and 1935. That number increased to around 10,000-11,000 in 1936. Tens of thousands more flocked to the area as well—increasing the total population to about 40,000—and established over 18 "boomtowns" where they owned a variety of businesses such as butcher shops, general stores, hardware stores, and saloons. In For Peck, residents could participate in a variety of sports and events organized by the town's Recreation Association. They could also see movies in the Fort Peck Theatre. Unfortunately, however, there was not enough government-built housing for many workers and their families. The Corps expected that single males would comprise the majority of the workforce and did not plan for the large number of families that arrived. In the end, 75% of the workers had families. As a result, many families were forced to build small shacks and live in shantytowns, where living conditions were poor.

Workers also had to face the dangerous work of building the dam. On September 22, 1938 catastrophe struck. That morning a inspection team found a flaw in the dam. Nothing moved and work continued for several hours until 1:15 in the afternoon when a colossal mass of 1,700 feet of the dam (5.2 million cubic feet of earth and other material) on the eastern end began to move. The event lasted for ten minutes, carrying 34 workers, boats, railroad tracks, and a pipeline. Eight of those men were killed, and only two were found; the remaining six were entombed in the dam.

A 1939 report discovered that the slide was caused by weaknesses in the shale (rock) and bentonite (volcanic ash clay) seams in the dam's foundation. No one was blamed for the disaster. The report also recommended changes to the dam's construction. The dam was finally completed the next year on October 11, 1940. Visitors can learn more about the dam's construction and the wildlife refuge at the Fort Peck Interpretive Center, which also offers tours of one of the powerhouse.

Sources

"About the Refuge." U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Accessed July 27, 2020. https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Charles_M_Russell/about.html.

"Fort Peck Dam and Reservoir Fact Sheet." U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Retrieved from the WebArchive July 27, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20100216021707/http://www.nwo.usace.army.mil/html/Lake_Proj/fortpeck/factsheet.pdf.

"Historical Vignette: Fort Peck Dam." U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. January 26, 2015. https://www.nwo.usace.army.mil/Media/Fact-Sheets/Fact-Sheet-Article-View/Article/562344/historical-vignette-fort-peck-dam.

"History." U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Accessed July 27, 2020. https://www.nwo.usace.army.mil/Missions/Dam-and-Lake-Projects/Missouri-River-Dams/Fort-Peck.

Otto, Rebecca J. "Fort Peck Dam." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. August 13, 1986. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/88502085-bd69-4f38-882e-16fcd06d7c0f.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

All images via Wikimedia Commons