Hauser The Powerhouse Under Construction. Canyon Ferry Bridge, On May 24, , construction of the present Canyon Ferry Dam began about 1. The new dam was totally completed on June 23, , but it began generating electricity earlier, on December 18, The old Canyon Ferry Dam and power plant were dismantled prior to the completion of the new, with some remnants being submerged under the rising Canyon Ferry Lake.
Unlike the first dam, the new one was not built with private funds, but with federal Bureau of Reclamation dollars. Construction was authorized by the Flood Control Act of December 22, Construction of Coffer Dam. The dredge placed backfill against the dam. A second coffer dam was built ' downstream. These dams allowed engineers to divert the river around the construction area through a gigantic flume, which emptied downstream from the second coffer dam.
This exposed ' of dry riverbed for construction of the dam. Missouri River channel bedrock, March 20 The flume was 63' wide, ' long, and varied in height from 23' at the intake to 18' at the discharge.
The steel framework of the flume was covered with three layers: 4-inch-thick wooden planks, building paper, and shiplap. It could carry 23, cubic feet of water per second. There were problems with the flume. On June 10, , a section of the flume near the upstream coffer dam was undermined by high water, and the construction area was flooded see clipping below.
On Sept. In April of , the outlet end of the flume needed extensive bracing with timbers and concrete because the rushing waters from the flume had washed away all of the earth fill from under the outlet end. The head of the diversion flume, summer of The site of the flume failure, summer The first Canyon Ferry Dam powerhouse, June 8 , passing 34, cubic feet per second. Railroad tracks, bridge approaches and telegraph lines were wiped out.
Several buildings in Craig were washed off their foundations. Great Falls received 7' floodwaters the next day, but fortunately no lives were lost in the dam break or the resulting flood. Samuel Hauser, who was in New York City at the time of the disaster, was nearly ruined financially. By creditors took control of Hauser's Missouri River interests.
In , Butte Electric, which had been supplying steam-generated electricity to Amalgamated, merged with the Great Falls company to form the Montana Power Company, which still operates Hauser Dam.
Hauser Dam after the break, A series of photos showing construction of the present Hauser Dam. Privately built by Samuel Hauser's Missouri River Power Company from , this dam generated 7, kilowatts of electricity for Helena and much of central Montana. One interesting aspect of the dam is a daily wind situation that exists here in the summer.
According to a colleague of mine who used to do a lot of wind surfing, a significant wind develops by the middle of sunny summer days in the area between the dam and Cemetery Island. The wind, which blows from the dam to the island, is most likely caused by the fact that land heats up faster than water. As the morning sun shines on the area, the island warms up faster than the surrounding water.
By mid-day this hotter air above the island begins to rise. Almost immediately upon departing the Three Forks area, the newly formed Missouri is neatly tucked into a mini-gorge. Then, only 16 miles from its inception, the Toston Reservoir and Dam decelerate its flow.
A foot high dam was built in , and construction on the replacement, present-day Canyon Ferry Dam, began in May and was completed in June The resulting mile long Canyon Ferry Lake has 76 miles of shoreline. By this time, the river has covered 42 miles of gentle meanders. It then enters an almost mile long stretch of the series of Canyon Ferry, Hauser and Holter lakes and dams.
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