Hells Canyon Dam
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| Hells Canyon Dam | |
 Aerial view of Hells Canyon Dam |
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| Official name | Hells Canyon Dam |
|---|---|
| Impounds | Snake River |
| Creates | Hells Canyon Reservoir |
| Locale | Hells Canyon |
| Maintained by | Idaho Power Company |
| Height | 330 ft (100 m) |
| Opening date | 1967 |
| Reservoir information | |
| Capacity | 188,000 acre-feet (232,000,000 m³) |
| Catchment area | 73,300 square miles (189,800 km²) |
| Surface area | 2,430 acres (10 km²) |
| Geographical Data | |
| Coordinates | |
Hells Canyon Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Snake River (river mile 247) in Hells Canyon on the Idaho-Oregon border. The dam impounds the Snake River in Hells Canyon Reservoir; its spillway elevation is 1680 feet (512 m) above sea level.
It is the third and final hydroelectric dam of the Hells Canyon Project, which includes Brownlee Dam (1959) and Oxbow Dam (1961), all built and operated by Idaho Power Company. The contractor for the Hells Canyon Dam was Morrison-Knudsen.
The Hells Canyon Dam powerhouse contains three generating units, with a total nameplate capacity of 391 megawatts. Power generation began with two units in 1967, the third came on line the following year.
Lacking passage for migrating salmon, the three dams of the Hells Canyon Project blocked access by anadromous salmonids to a stretch of the Snake River drainage basin from Hells Canyon Dam up to Shoshone Falls, which naturally prevents any upstream fish passage to the upper Snake River basin.
[edit] External links
- Hells Canyon Dam, Columbia Basin Research
- Hells Canyon Dam, Northwest Power and Conservation Council
- Hells Canyon Project, Idaho Power
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