Owyhee Dam
| Owyhee Dam | |
|---|---|
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°WCoordinates: 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) |
| Owyhee Dam bridge | |
|---|---|
| Carries | Haystack Rock Road |
Owyhee Dam (National ID # OR00582) is a concrete arch-gravity dam on the Owyhee River in Eastern Oregon near Adrian, Oregon, United States. Completed in 1932 during the Great Depression, the dam generates electricity and provides irrigation water for several irrigation districts in Oregon and neighboring Idaho. At the time of completion, it was the tallest dam of its type in the world (it was surpassed about two years later). The dam is part of the Owyhee Dam Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The dam impounds the river to create the Owyhee Reservoir, with storage capacity of nearly 1,200,000 acre feet (1.5 km3) of water. The more than 400-foot (120 m) tall concrete-arch gravity dam is owned by the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) and operated by the Owyhee Irrigation District. Haystack Rock Road is carried over the 833-foot (254 m) long crest of the dam.
In August 1927, the US Congress authorized the building of a dam in the canyon of the Owyhee River. Construction of the dam began in 1928 to provide water for irrigation projects. It was built on a foundation of massive rhyolite, massive pitchstone, and associated unmassive pitchstone agglomerate geologic formations adjacent to the Owyhee Mountains. A project of the Bureau of Reclamation, they hired General Construction Company from Seattle to build the dam.
Former Oregonian and then United States President Herbert Hoover dedicated what was the highest dam of its type in the world on July 17, 1932. Secretary of the Interior Ray Lyman Wilbur delivered Hoover’s message at the dam. Owyhee's construction served as a prototype for the larger Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, including the use of refrigeration to cool the concrete.
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