Holter Dam
| Holter Dam | |
|---|---|
Holter Dam in 1918
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| Official name | Holter Dam |
| Location | Lewis and Clark County, Montana, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 46°59′30″N 112°00′21″W / 46.99167°N 112.00583°WCoordinates: 46°59′30″N 112°00′21″W / 46.99167°N 112.00583°W |
| Construction began | 1908 |
| Opening date | 1918 |
| Operator(s) | NorthWestern Corporation |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Impounds | Missouri River |
| Height | 124 feet (38 m) |
| Length | 1,364 feet (416 m) |
| Reservoir | |
| Creates | Holter Lake |
Holter Dam is a hydroelectric straight gravity dam on the Missouri River about 45 miles (72 km) northeast of Helena, Montana, in the United States. The dam, which was built between 1908 and 1918, is 1,364 feet (416 m) long and 124 feet (38 m) high. The reservoir formed by the dam, Holter Lake (also known as Holter Reservoir) is 25 miles (40 km) long and has a storage capacity of 243,000 acre feet (300,000,000 m3) of water when full. The dam is a "run-of-the-river" dam because it can generate electricity without needing to store additional water supplies behind the dam.
Holter Dam was built by the United Missouri River Power Company and the Montana Power Company. Samuel Thomas Hauser, a former Territorial Governor of the state of Montana from 1885 to 1887, had had a lengthy career in banking, mining, railroads, ranching, and smelting, but had encountered a series of financial setbacks after the Panic of 1893 which had nearly ruined him financially. In his early 60s, Hauser began to rebuild his finances by branching out into the relatively new industry of hydroelectric power generation. In 1894, he formed the Missouri River Power Company, and won the approval of the United States Congress to build a dam 2 miles (3.2 km) below Stubbs' Ferry (which later was known as Hauser Dam). In 1905, Hauser and other directors of the Missouri River Power Company formed the Helena Power Transmission Company (also known as the "Helena Power and Transmission Company"). The two companies merged on February 16, 1906, to form the United Missouri River Power Company. The merged company completed Hauser Dam on February 12, 1907. The dam was a steel dam built on masonry footings on top of gravel, with the ends of the dam anchored in bedrock on either side of the river. On April 14, 1908, Hauser Dam failed after water pressure undermined the masonry footings (the steel dam itself being structurally sound). United Missouri River Power began reconstruction of Hauser Dam in July 1908 (completing the dam in the spring of 1911).
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