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All the United States Montana Nashua Fort Peck Dam

Fort Peck Dam

This record-setting hydraulic dam in the Montana badlands was one of FDR's most ambitious public works.

Nashua, Montana

Added By
Ed Lynch
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Aerial view of Fort Peck Dam, showing both powerhouses and dam. Missouri River, Fort Peck, Montana   US Army Corps of Engineers, Photographed by Robert Etzel
Aerial view of Fort Peck Dam, showing both powerhouses and dam. Missouri River, Fort Peck, Montana   US Army Corps of Engineers, Photographed by Robert Etzel
Fort Peck Dam on the Missouri River   Harry Weddington, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
DOT sign from Circle, the only town in that county   Ed Lynch / Atlas Obscura User
Milk River Observation Point   Ed Lynch / Atlas Obscura User
30s powerhouse color   Ed Lynch / Atlas Obscura User
Road signs are for reference   Ed Lynch / Atlas Obscura User
Fort Peck Dam information sign   Ed Lynch / Atlas Obscura User
Marker, with dam in background   Ed Lynch / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Fort Peck is not your average dam. Over 20,000 feet long and 250 feet high, it is capable of disgorging 250,000 cubic feet of water per second, withstanding the water pressure from a 135-mile reservoir. It creates Fort Peck Lake—the fifth-largest manmade lake in the country which has more shoreline than the California coast—in the Montana badlands.

Fort Peck Dam was featured on the debut cover of Life magazine as FDR’s largest and perhaps most ambitious public works project, putting over 10,000 people to work in a state that, due to severe drought, began its Great Depression 10 years before the rest of the country. It is the largest manmade hydraulic dam in the world.

The Army Corps of Engineers built the dam from 1933 to 1940 for flood control, irrigation, water supply, and navigating the unnavigable Missouri river. (In 1943 they added hydroelectric power into the mix.) Some 200 laborers at the site broke a world record in August of 1935 when they drove steel plates over 160 feet into shale bedrock to create walls that are over 2.5 miles long.

Bunkhouses were built for the workers, but Montana law gave hiring preference to men with families, so, in order to accommodate these families and their new money, 18 boomtowns mushroomed in the area, some with names like Delano and New Deal. Fifty thousand people, many desperate for work, converged upon the previously desolate area, today only a few hours from North Dakota’s recent natural gas boom.

In that scrub land of rattlesnakes, ticks and black widows, drinking appears to have been the most popular off-duty pastime.  For the November 23, 1936 Life article, Margaret Bourke-White shot some striking photos of the area, including an outtake of a one-legged and apparently armless woman standing in front of a beauty shop, and several of people drinking in front of a sign that says “NO BEER SOLD TO INDIANS.”  

In 1938, tragedy struck. At 1:15 on September 22, the embankment collapsed, sinking railroad tracks and dredge pipes, devouring men and machines, as 5 million cubic yards of dirt slid into the reservoir, creating an island. Eight men were killed; six are still buried there. The shale and bentonite beneath had been unable to endure the force.  But two years later, on October 11, 1940, the dam was finished and has since proven to be safe and reliable.

Related Tags

Dams Technology Public Works Engineering

Know Before You Go

You take your chances when traveling the back roads. My Prius got stuck in a rut going to Milk River Observation Point, so I my back-road exploring ended there. A 4 x 4 should be fine. The fishing is supposed to be excellent.

Community Contributors

Added By

Ed Lynch

Edited By

cdanesh, Meg

  • cdanesh
  • Meg

Published

August 10, 2016

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Sources
  • http://www.wolfpoint.com/lake.htm
  • time.com/3764198/lifes-first-ever-cover-story-building-the-fort-peck-dam-1936/
  • http://www.defenders.org/black-footed-ferret/basic-facts
Fort Peck Dam
MT-24
Nashua, Montana, 59248
United States
48.002795, -106.416147
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Nearby Places

Valley County Pioneer Museum

Glasgow, Montana

miles away

Great Plains Dinosaur Museum

Malta, Montana

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Montana

Montana

United States

Places 66
Stories 20

Nearby Places

Valley County Pioneer Museum

Glasgow, Montana

miles away

Great Plains Dinosaur Museum

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miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Montana

Montana

United States

Places 66
Stories 20

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