Swan Falls Dam is a concrete gravity type hydroelectric dam in the western United States, on the Snake River in southwestern Idaho, United States. At the dam, the river is the border of Ada and Owyhee counties; it is approximately five miles (8 km) east of Murphy, the seat of Owyhee County.

Swan Falls Dam
Swan Falls Dam is located in the United States
Swan Falls Dam
Location in the United States
Swan Falls Dam is located in Idaho
Swan Falls Dam
Location in Idaho
CountryUnited States
LocationAda / Owyhee counties, Idaho
Coordinates43°14′36″N 116°22′46″W / 43.24333°N 116.37944°W / 43.24333; -116.37944
Opening date1901; 123 years ago (1901)[1]
Operator(s)Idaho Power Company
Dam and spillways
ImpoundsSnake River
Height107 feet (33 m)[2]
Length1,150 feet (350 m)[2]
Reservoir
Total capacity7,425 acre-feet (9,159,000 m3)[2]
Catchment area41,900 square miles (108,500 km2)[2]
Surface area1,525 acres (6.17 km2)[2]
Swan Falls Dam and Power Plant
Area2 acres (0.81 ha)
Built1900
ArchitectWiley, A.J.
NRHP reference No.76000667[3]
Added to NRHPJuly 06, 1976

Description

edit

Built 123 years ago in 1901 to generate power, Swan Falls is the oldest hydroelectric dam on the Snake River. In the 1990s, the original power plant was replaced.[1] The dam was built with fish passage facilities, but they proved to be very poor in performance. For this reason, among others, the C. J. Strike Dam, built upriver from Swan Falls in the early 1950s, was not equipped with fish passage facilities. Thus, the two dams combined to become the first artificial barrier to anadromous fish migration up the Snake River. Today, Hells Canyon Dam (1967) is the first total barrier to fish migration on the Snake.[4]

Swan Falls Dam and its reservoir lie within the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area;[1] the dam and power plant were listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c Swan Falls Dam, Idaho Power
  2. ^ a b c d e Swan Falls Dam, NPDP Dam Directory
  3. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  4. ^ Middle Snake Subbasin Plan, Northwest Power and Conservation Council

Further reading

edit
edit