Hauser Dam facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Hauser Dam |
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Hauser Dam in late 1908 during its reconstruction.
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| Official name | Hauser Dam |
| Location | Lewis and Clark County, Montana, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 46°45′55″N 111°53′13″W / 46.76528°N 111.88694°W |
| Construction began | 1905 (first dam); 1908 (second dam) |
| Opening date | 1907 (first dam); 1911 (second dam) |
| Operator(s) | NorthWestern Corporation |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Impounds | Missouri River |
| Height | 80 feet (24 m) (second dam) |
| Length | 700 feet (210 m) (second dam) |
| Reservoir | |
| Creates | Hauser Lake |
| Power station | |
| Installed capacity | 17.7 MW |
| Annual generation | 135.34 GWh (2009) |
| Power transmission: 69 kV single-circuit | |
The Hauser Dam is a large structure on the Missouri River in Montana, United States. It's also known as Hauser Lake Dam. This dam helps create electricity using the power of water. It's located about 14 miles northeast of Helena, Montana.
The first dam built here, between 1905 and 1907, broke in 1908. This caused a lot of flooding and damage downstream. A new dam was then built in the same spot, starting in 1908 and finishing in 1911. This is the dam you see today. The current Hauser Dam is about 700 feet long and 80 feet tall.
The water held back by the dam forms Hauser Lake, also called Hauser Reservoir. This lake is about 25 miles long. It covers an area of 3,800 acres and can hold a huge amount of water. Hauser Dam is a "run-of-the-river" dam. This means it can make electricity without needing to store extra water behind it. The dam's power plant has six generators. They can produce 17 megawatts of power.
Contents
Building the Hauser Dam
The First Dam's Construction (1905-1907)
The first Hauser Dam was built by the Missouri River Power Company. Later, this company became the United Missouri River Power Company. The dam was named after Samuel Thomas Hauser. He was a former governor of Montana from 1885 to 1887. Samuel Hauser was involved in many businesses like banking and mining. He decided to get into the new business of making electricity from water.
In 1905, Hauser and others started the Helena Power Transmission Company. These two companies joined together in 1906 to form the United Missouri River Power Company. The dam was built by the Wisconsin Bridge and Iron Company. An engineer named J.F. Jackson designed the dam.
A big challenge was that part of the dam had to be built on gravel, not solid rock. To solve this, special steel sheets were pushed 35 feet deep into the riverbed. The dam's steel was then attached to these sheets. The dam was 630 feet long and 75 feet high. It cost about $1.5 million to build. The first Hauser Dam started working on February 12, 1907.
Why the First Dam Collapsed (1908)
On April 14, 1908, the Hauser Dam broke. Water pressure caused the base of the dam to weaken. First, muddy water started gushing out. A worker quickly warned everyone to leave the power plant. About 15 minutes later, the base gave way. A 30-foot wide hole opened in the dam. Six minutes after that, a 300-foot wide section of the dam broke off.
A huge wave of water, 25 to 30 feet high, rushed downstream. Luckily, the parts of the dam still attached to solid rock held back some water. This helped reduce how destructive the flood was. People at the dam quickly sent warnings by telephone and telegram to towns downstream. A train was even sent to Great Falls, Montana, 70 miles away, to warn people.
These warnings saved many lives. The construction camp for another dam, Holter Dam, was swept away. Future movie star Gary Cooper and his family were warned and moved to safety before the flood hit their ranch. The flood reached the town of Craig, Montana, but the narrow river canyons helped slow the water down. Most residents were evacuated. Only a few small buildings were destroyed.
The flood caused over $1 million in damages. Even though the dam broke because its foundation was not strong enough, engineers stopped using steel to build dams after this event. They thought steel dams looked too weak. No other steel dam has been built since.
Rebuilding the Dam (1908-1911)
The United Missouri River Power Company started rebuilding Hauser Dam in July 1908. The new dam was finished in the spring of 1911. The Foundation Company of New York rebuilt it. Jesse Baker Snow, a famous engineer, helped supervise the work.
The current Hauser Dam has four main parts. It has a spillway where water can flow over, and strong support sections on each side. There's also a section with the power plant and a deep area of water in front of it. The spillway is 493 feet long. It has five gates and 17 movable boards to control the water flow. Hauser Dam needs only a small amount of water to make its 17 megawatts of power.
In 2015, NorthWestern began to fix and update the original turbines from 1911. They plan to refurbish one pair of turbines each year.
Hauser Lake: The Dam's Reservoir
Hauser Lake, the reservoir created by the dam, is about 15.5 miles long. It varies in width from 0.1 miles to 1.1 miles. The lake covers 3,800 acres and can hold 98,000 acre-feet of water when full. Hauser Lake is about 26 feet deep on average, with a maximum depth of 70 feet.
Hauser Lake also led to the creation of nearby Lake Helena. The water held back by Hauser Dam flooded the lower part of Prickly Pear Creek, forming Lake Helena. A narrow, deep canyon connects Hauser Lake with Lake Helena. Lake Helena is very shallow and has a lot of plants. This makes it an important place for birds to nest, rest, and find food.
The next lake downstream from Hauser Dam is Holter Reservoir, about 4.6 miles away. There are several fun places to visit along Hauser Lake, like White Sandy Recreation Area and Black Sandy State Park.
Who Owns Hauser Dam?
Building the Holter Dam and the problems with the first Hauser Dam almost caused Samuel Hauser to go bankrupt. He sold his share in the United Missouri River Power Company to John D. Ryan. In 1912, Ryan combined several power companies to form the Montana Power Company. This new company took over Hauser Dam and other dams.
In 1999, Montana Power Company announced it was selling all its dams and power plants to PPL Corporation. This sale was worth $1.6 billion. In 2001, some Montana citizens tried to get the state to buy all of PPL's hydroelectric dams, including Hauser Dam. But Montana voters said no to this idea in 2002.
In 2013, NorthWestern Energy announced it would buy 11 hydroelectric facilities in Montana, including Hauser Dam, from PPL Montana. The deal was approved in 2014, and NorthWestern Energy bought the dams for $890 million.
