W. A. C. Bennett Dam
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The W. A. C. Bennett Dam is a large hydroelectric earthfill dam on the Peace River in northern British Columbia, Canada. The dam, located 19 kilometres (12 mi) west of Hudson's Hope, and 85 kilometres (53 mi) northwest of Chetwynd, is named after the late former premier William A. C. Bennett, and came on-line in 1968.
During the planning and construction phase it was called the "Portage Mountain Dam". The complex consists of the main earthfill dam, which holds back Williston Lake, and the underground Gordon M. Shrum Generating Station. It is one of the largest hydroelectric dams in the world, and is capable of generating 2,730 megawatts of electricity at peak capacity.
It was originally conceived by the British Columbia Electric Company (now BC Hydro), under the direction of Dal Grauer. The assets of that private electric utility company were expropriated by the Provincial Government just as construction of the Peace River hydroelectric dam was about to commence. Dal Grauer quit the company. He was soon followed by his head of operations for the dam project, who was required to work under the direction of two political appointees, Gordon Shrum and Robert Bonner. After the dam was built, and the reservoir flooded to create the largest man-made lake in the world, the heads of that provincial government, Bennett and Williston, named both the dam and the lake after themselves.
Premier Bennett absolved his government of all responsibility for the aboriginal inhabitants of the reservoir valley, the Tsay Keh Dene – formerly known as the Ingenika band. Some 125 families were moved from their traditional village site where they supported themselves by hunting and trapping to what were supposed to be model reserves a couple of hundred kilometres south near the booming mill town of Mackenzie. The entire band received a total compensation of $35,000.
The move was a disaster for the Tsay Keh Dene, many of whom spoke no English. Over the next couple of years, they drifted away. Many came back to Ingenika Point, a low bluff overlooking the water that covered their traditional home. That was where they were living 20 years later, when they were rediscovered by government officials, living in conditions that Social Credit Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Stephen Rogers called "the most primitive I've ever seen." A great many of them wound up living on the streets of Prince George and Vancouver, and, of those, many did not live long. The Tsay Keh Dene received additional compensation from the Province in the autumn of 2006.
The Peace River project was one of the largest developments of its kind in the world. It provided thousands of jobs and stimulated industrial growth. The G.M. Shrum Generating Station has an average energy capability of 1,310 gigawatt hours.
Stats:
- Location:
- Altitude: 2,165 feet (660 m) above sea level
- Height: 600 feet (183 m)
- Length: 1.25 miles (2000 m)
- Gordon M. Shrum Generating Station
- Ten 273,000-kilowatt units
- Total capacity: 2,730 megawatts
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