Garrison Dam
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Garrison Dam is an earth-embankment dam on the Missouri River in North Dakota, and is the fifth-largest earthen dam in the world [1]. 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 reservoir impounded by this dam is Lake Sakakawea. The lake averages between two and three miles in width and is six miles wide at its widest point. The maximum depth of the lake is 180 feet at the face of the dam.
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.
[edit] 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
