The Hebgen Dam is a concrete-core earthen embankment dam on the Madison River in the U.S. state of Montana. The dam is 85 feet tall and 721 feet long. The dam is owned and operated by PPL Montana and its purpose is to store and regulate water for other downstream reservoirs and hydroelectric power plants.
The dam was built in 1914 and created Hebgen Lake. After the 1959 Yellowstone earthquake, the dam was damaged but it was fixed several weeks later. On August 30, 2008, two of the dam's four hydraulic gates failed, releasing 3,400 cubic feet (96 m3) per second of water into the Madison River. The normal discharge of the dam is 900 cubic feet (25 m3) per second and the gate failure caused a 1-foot rise in the river.
Famous quotes containing the word dam:
“The devil take one party and his dam the other!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)