Owyhee Dam facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Owyhee Dam |
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View from the north
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| Location | Malheur County, Oregon |
| Coordinates | 43°38′31″N 117°14′33″W / 43.64194°N 117.24250°W |
| Construction began | 1928 |
| Opening date | 1932 |
| Construction cost | $6 million |
| Operator(s) | Owyhee Irrigation District (Operator) |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Impounds | Owyhee River |
| Height | 417 feet (127 m) |
| Length | 833 feet (254 m) |
| Width (crest) | 30 feet (9.1 m) |
| Width (base) | 265 feet (81 m) |
| Reservoir | |
| Creates | Owyhee Reservoir |
| Total capacity | 1,183,300 acre-feet (1.4596×109 m3) |
The Owyhee Dam is a large concrete dam located on the Owyhee River in Eastern Oregon, near Adrian, Oregon, United States. It was finished in 1932 during a tough time called the Great Depression. This dam is important because it helps make electricity and provides water for farms in Oregon and nearby Idaho.
When it was built, the Owyhee Dam was the tallest dam of its kind in the world. It held this record for about two years. The dam is also part of the Owyhee Dam Historic District. This district is a special place listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which means it's important to history.
The dam creates the Owyhee Reservoir, which can hold almost 1,200,000 acre-feet (1.5 km3) of water. The dam is over 400-foot (120 m) tall. It is owned by the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) and run by the Owyhee Irrigation District. You can even drive across the top of the dam on Haystack Rock Road, which is 833-foot (254 m) long.
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Building the Owyhee Dam
In August 1927, the US Congress decided that a dam should be built in the Owyhee River canyon. Construction started in 1928. The main goal was to provide water for farming projects. The dam was built on strong rock formations near the Owyhee Mountains.
The Bureau of Reclamation was in charge of the project. They hired a company from Seattle called General Construction Company to build the dam.
On July 17, 1932, the dam was officially opened. At that time, it was the highest dam of its type in the world. Former Oregonian and then United States President Herbert Hoover dedicated the dam. His message was delivered by Secretary of the Interior Ray Lyman Wilbur. The way Owyhee Dam was built helped engineers learn how to build even bigger dams, like the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River. For example, they learned to use refrigeration to cool the concrete.
The dam itself cost $6,000,000 to build. The entire project, including all the irrigation systems, cost $18,000,000. Frank A. Banks designed Owyhee Dam. He also designed other famous dams, such as the Grand Coulee Dam. In the 1980s, the dam was updated to produce electricity. From 1990 to 1993, more remodeling work was done.
Because the dam was so tall, it was not possible to build a special fish ladder for salmon. This meant that Chinook salmon could no longer swim upstream in the Owyhee River as they used to. On September 23, 2010, the dam became part of the National Register of Historic Places.
How the Dam Works
| Owyhee Dam bridge | |
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| Carries | Haystack Rock Road |
The water stored in the Owyhee Reservoir is used to water about 120,000 acres (490 km2) of farmland. Four different irrigation districts use this water.
Between 1985 and 1993, three power plants were added to the dam. These plants use the force of the water to generate electricity. They have turbines that produce seven megawatts and five megawatts of power. This electricity is sold to the Idaho Power Company.
Owyhee Dam has a very special spillway. A spillway is a channel that lets extra water out of the dam safely. This one is located part way up the dam. It uses a 60-foot (18 m) wide tunnel to send extra water down to the river below, especially during Spring when there's a lot of runoff. The United States Bureau of Reclamation owns the dam, and the Owyhee Irrigation District manages its daily operations.
Climate Around Owyhee Dam
The weather near Owyhee Dam can be quite extreme. The hottest temperature ever recorded was 112 °F (44 °C) in July 2002. The coldest was -22 °F (-30 °C) in January 1962. The area doesn't get much rain, usually less than 10 inches (25 cm) per year. In summer, the temperature can change a lot between day and night.
| Climate data for Owyhee Dam, OR | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 67 (19) |
70 (21) |
81 (27) |
92 (33) |
102 (39) |
110 (43) |
112 (44) |
111 (44) |
103 (39) |
93 (34) |
80 (27) |
70 (21) |
112 (44) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 39.0 (3.9) |
46.2 (7.9) |
56.0 (13.3) |
64.8 (18.2) |
74.2 (23.4) |
82.9 (28.3) |
93.6 (34.2) |
91.7 (33.2) |
81.4 (27.4) |
67.8 (19.9) |
50.8 (10.4) |
41.0 (5.0) |
65.8 (18.8) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 22.4 (−5.3) |
27.0 (−2.8) |
32.2 (0.1) |
37.5 (3.1) |
44.0 (6.7) |
49.6 (9.8) |
54.4 (12.4) |
53.1 (11.7) |
46.6 (8.1) |
38.5 (3.6) |
29.5 (−1.4) |
24.2 (−4.3) |
38.3 (3.5) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −22 (−30) |
−13 (−25) |
11 (−12) |
14 (−10) |
24 (−4) |
34 (1) |
35 (2) |
35 (2) |
27 (−3) |
11 (−12) |
−4 (−20) |
−16 (−27) |
−22 (−30) |
| Average precipitation inches (mm) | 0.97 (25) |
0.76 (19) |
0.82 (21) |
0.82 (21) |
1.11 (28) |
0.98 (25) |
0.30 (7.6) |
0.36 (9.1) |
0.48 (12) |
0.63 (16) |
0.85 (22) |
1.03 (26) |
9.11 (231.7) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 4.4 (11) |
1.3 (3.3) |
0.4 (1.0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0.6 (1.5) |
2.9 (7.4) |
9.6 (24.2) |
| Source: https://wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?or6405 | |||||||||||||
Dam Size and Features
The Owyhee Dam is 833 feet (254 m) long at the very top, which is called the crest. The crest itself is 30 feet (9.1 m) wide. At its base, the dam is much wider, measuring 265 feet (81 m). The dam stands 417 feet (127 m) tall. The top of the dam is 2,675 feet (815 m) above sea level.
This dam is an arch-gravity style dam. This means it's curved like an arch to help it hold back the water, and it's also very heavy (gravity) to add strength. A huge amount of concrete was used to build it: 537,500 cubic yards (410,900 m3).
The dam's spillway can release a lot of water, up to 41,790 cubic feet (1,183 m3) per second. Its tunnel can handle 1,100 cubic feet (31 m3) per second, and the outlet works can release up to 2,530 cubic feet (72 m3) per second. If the reservoir is completely full, it would hold 1,183,300 acre-feet (1.4596×109 m3) of water and stretch for 53 miles (85 km). The total area that drains water into the dam and reservoir is 10,900 square miles (28,000 km2). This area covers parts of Eastern Oregon and western Idaho.
Owyhee Dam was the tallest dam in the world for a short time. It was surpassed by the Lac du Chambon dam in France, which was built in 1934 and is 136.7 meters (448 feet) tall.
Images for kids
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The unique spillway of Owyhee Dam
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A side view showing the top of the dam
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Close-up details of the dam's crest
