Rainbow Dam

Rainbow Dam
Official name Rainbow Dam
Location Cascade County, Montana, US
Coordinates 47°32′04″N 111°12′18″W / 47.53444°N 111.20500°WCoordinates: 47°32′04″N 111°12′18″W / 47.53444°N 111.20500°W
Opening date 1910
Operator(s) PPL Montana
Dam and spillways
Impounds Missouri River
Height 29 ft (8.8 m)
Length 1,055 ft (321.6 m)

Rainbow Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Missouri River, 29 feet (8.8 m) high and 1,055 feet (322 m) long, located six miles northeast of Great Falls in the U.S. state of Montana.[1] The dam is named for the downstream Rainbow Falls, a 45 ft (14 m) waterfall that is the third of the five Great Falls of the Missouri. Built in 1910, the dam furnishes water to an eight-unit hydroelectric plant with a capacity of 36 megawatts. As the dam's power plant is located over a half-mile downstream, the flow of water over Rainbow Falls and downstream Crooked Falls is significantly reduced during the dry season. The water from the penstocks re-enters the river a few hundred yards east of Crooked Falls.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Rainbow Dam". PPL Montana. Retrieved 2009-03-28.