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The Chief Joseph Dam is a concrete
gravity dam A gravity dam is a dam constructed from concrete or stone masonry and designed to hold back water by using only the weight of the material and its resistance against the foundation to oppose the horizontal pressure of water pushing against it. ...
on the
Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...
, upriver from
Bridgeport, Washington Bridgeport is a city in Douglas County, Washington. It is part of the Wenatchee− East Wenatchee Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bridgeport's population was 2,409 at the 2010 census. Bridgeport is located near the Chief Joseph Dam. History Th ...
. The dam is upriver from the mouth of the Columbia at
Astoria, Oregon Astoria is a port city and the seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1811, Astoria is the oldest city in the state and was the first permanent American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. The county is the northwest corne ...
. It is operated by the
USACE , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...
Chief Joseph Dam Project Office and the electricity is marketed by the
Bonneville Power Administration The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) is an American federal agency operating in the Pacific Northwest. BPA was created by an act of Congress in 1937 to market electric power from the Bonneville Dam located on the Columbia River and to constr ...
.


History

The dam was authorized as Foster Creek Dam and Powerhouse for power generation and irrigation by the ''River and Harbor Act of 1946''. The ''River and Harbor Act of 1948'' renamed the project
Chief Joseph ''Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt'' (or ''Hinmatóowyalahtq̓it'' in Americanist orthography), popularly known as Chief Joseph, Young Joseph, or Joseph the Younger (March 3, 1840 – September 21, 1904), was a leader of the Wal-lam-wat-kain (Wallowa ...
Dam in honor of the
Nez Perce The Nez Percé (; autonym in Nez Perce language: , meaning "we, the people") are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who are presumed to have lived on the Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest region for at least 11,500 years.Ames, K ...
chief who spent his last years in exile on the
Colville Indian Reservation The Colville Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in the northwest United States, in north central Washington, inhabited and managed by the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, which is federally recognized. Established in ...
. Because of its lack of
fish ladder A fish ladder, also known as a fishway, fish pass, fish steps, or fish cannon is a structure on or around artificial and natural barriers (such as dams, locks and waterfalls) to facilitate diadromous fishes' natural migration as well as movemen ...
s, Chief Joseph Dam completely blocks salmon migration to the upper Columbia River system. Construction began in 1950, with the main dam and intake structure completed in 1955. Installation of the initial generating units was started in 1958 and completed in 1961. Ten additional turbines were installed between 1973 and 1979, and the dam and lake were raised , boosting the capacity to , making Chief Joseph Dam the third largest hydroelectric power producer in the United States.Chief Joseph Dam
US Army Corps of Engineers


Type

Chief Joseph Dam is a
run-of-the-river Run-of-river hydroelectricity (ROR) or run-of-the-river hydroelectricity is a type of hydroelectric generation plant whereby little or no water storage is provided. Run-of-the-river power plants may have no water storage at all or a limited amou ...
dam which means the lake behind the dam is not able to store large amounts of water. Water flowing to Chief Joseph Dam from
Grand Coulee Dam Grand Coulee Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation water. Constructed between 1933 and 1942, Grand Coulee originally had two powerhous ...
must be passed on to
Wells Dam Wells Dam is a hydroelectric embankment dam located on the Columbia River, downstream from the confluence of the Okanogan River, Methow River, and the Columbia River in Washington state. The dam, associated structures, and machinery make up the ...
at approximately the same rate. With 27 main generators in the powerhouse, it has the hydraulic capacity of . In the event more water flows to Chief Joseph Dam than could be used for power generation, the spillway gates would be opened to pass the excess water. With an average annual flow rate of , the Columbia River seldom exceeds the powerplant's capability to pass water, and spilling of water is infrequent at Chief Joseph Dam.


Reservoir

The
reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
behind the dam is named Rufus Woods Lake, and runs up the river channel.
Bridgeport State Park Bridgeport State Park is a public recreation area located two miles east of Bridgeport, Washington, on the north shore of Rufus Woods Lake, the Columbia River reservoir created by the Chief Joseph Dam. The state park was built through a partners ...
, on the lake, is adjacent to the dam.


See also

*
Hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River There are more than 60 dams in the Columbia River watershed in the United States and Canada. Tributaries of the Columbia River and their dammed tributaries, as well as the main stem itself, each have their own list below. The dams are listed i ...
*
List of power stations in Washington This is a list of electricity-generating power stations in the U.S. state of Washington, sorted by type and name. These include facilities that are located in more than one state. In 2020, Washington had a total summer capacity of 30,669 MW ...
*
List of dams in the Columbia River watershed There are more than 60 dams in the Columbia River watershed in the United States and Canada. Tributaries of the Columbia River and their dammed tributaries, as well as the main stem itself, each have their own list below. The dams are listed in ...
*
List of largest hydroelectric power stations in the United States Hydroelectricity is, as of 2019, the second-largest renewable source of energy in both generation and nominal capacity (behind wind power) in the United States. In 2021, hydroelectric power produced 31.5% of the total renewable electricity, a ...


References


External links


Chief Joseph Dam - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
(Official site) * {{Authority control Dams on the Columbia River Dams in Washington (state) Buildings and structures in Douglas County, Washington Hydroelectric power plants in Washington (state) Buildings and structures in Okanogan County, Washington Run-of-the-river power stations United States Army Corps of Engineers dams Dams completed in 1955 Energy infrastructure completed in 1958 Energy infrastructure completed in 1973 Energy infrastructure completed in 1979 Gravity dams 1979 establishments in Washington (state) 1955 establishments in Washington (state)