Brownlee Dam facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Brownlee Dam |
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View from northeast
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Location in Idaho##Location in the United States
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| Official name | Brownlee Dam |
| Country | United States |
| Location | Hells Canyon, Baker Co., Oregon / Washington Co., Idaho |
| Coordinates | 44°50′10″N 116°54′00″W / 44.836°N 116.9°W |
| Construction began | 1955 |
| Opening date | May 9, 1958 |
| Operator(s) | Idaho Power Company |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Impounds | Snake River |
| Height | 420 feet (128 m) |
| Reservoir | |
| Creates | Brownlee Reservoir |
| Total capacity | 1,426,700 acre-feet (1.7598 km3) |
| Catchment area | 72,590 square miles (188,000 km2) |
| Surface area | 15,000 acres (61 km2) |
| Normal elevation | 2,070 feet (630 m) |
| Power station | |
| Installed capacity | 585.4 MW |
| Annual generation | 2,406.8 GWh |
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Brownlee Dam is a hydroelectric earth fill embankment dam in the western United States, on the Snake River along the Idaho-Oregon border (Washington County, Idaho in and Baker County in Oregon). In Hells Canyon at river mile 285, it impounds the Snake River in the 58-mile-long (93 km) Brownlee Reservoir.
Description
The dam is part of the Hells Canyon Project that also includes Hells Canyon Dam and Oxbow Dam, all built and operated by Idaho Power Company. The first and upper-most of the three dams, its contractor was Morrison-Knudsen of Boise. Filling started 66 years ago on May 9, 1958, flooding the community of Robinette, Oregon.
The dam's powerhouse contains five generating units with a total nameplate capacity of 585.4 megawatts.
Lacking passage for migrating salmon, the three Hells Canyon Project dams 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.
Heliport
There is a 100-by-60-foot (30 by 18 m) private heliport, Brownlee Heliport (FAA LID: OR75), located near the dam.
