The Fort Peck Dam is the highest of six major dams along the Missouri River, located in northeastern Montana. At 21,206 feet in length and over 250 feet in height, it is the largest hydraulically filled dam in the United States, and creates Fort Peck Lake, the 5th largest man-make lake in the U.S. It currently lies with in the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge ; the dam and 134-mile-long lake exist for the purposes of hydroelectric power generation, flood control, and water quality management.
Originally authorized by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933, construction on the Fort Peck Dam employed over 11,000 workers at its peak in 1939. The dam, named for a 19th-century trading post, was completed in 1940, and began generating electricity in July 1943. The site is located near Glasgow, Montana, and the community of Fort Peck, Montana originally developed as a boomtowm during the dam's construction. The dam presently has a power-generating capacity of 185,250 kilowatts.
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Last updated: 08-17-2005 01:46:37
