Garrison Dam
Garrison Dam is an earth embankment dam on the Missouri River in North Dakota, and is the fifth-largest earthen dam in the world [2]. The reservoir impounded by this dam is Lake Sakakawea.
Construction on the $294 million dam project began in 1947 and closure of the embankment occurred in April 1953. Earthwork was completed in the fall of 1954 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as part of a flood control and power generation project along the river.
The dam is between Riverdale and Pick City, North Dakota. The dam is named after Garrison, North Dakota.
Hydropower turbines at Garrison Dam have a generating capacity of 515 megawatts of electricity. Their average production is 240 megawatts, enough for several hundred thousand people.
The Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery is the world's largest walleye and northern pike producing facility and also works to restore endangered species, such as the pallid sturgeon.
Statistics
- Dam length: 11 300 ft (3.4 km) [1]
- Dam height: 210 ft (64 m) [1]
- Dam dedication: June 1953 by U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower.
- Garrison dam construction: 1947 to 1953; $300 million; 9 million truckloads of dirt; as 80 000 yd3 (60 000 m3) of earth being moved daily.
References
External links
- Garrison Dam: A Half Century Later North Dakota Outdoors
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Garrison Dam
- Mandan Hidatsa and Arikara Nation article on the Garrison Dam