Hebgen Dam is a

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...

-core earthen embankment dam in the

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, located on the

Madison River The Madison River is a headwater tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 183 miles (295 km) long, in Wyoming and Montana. Its confluence with the Jefferson and Gallatin rivers near Three Forks, Montana forms the Missouri River. Th ...

in southwestern

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

. The dam is tall and in length; its purpose is to store and regulate water for other downstream reservoirs and hydroelectric

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an el ...

s. Montana Power Company originally built the dam,

PPL Corporation PPL Corporation is an energy company headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. History Pennsylvania Power & Light was founded in 1 ...

purchased it in 1997 and sold it to

NorthWestern Corporation NorthWestern Corporation owns NorthWestern Energy, a utility company that serves South Dakota, Nebraska, and Montana that is based in Sioux Falls. , the company serves approximately 718,000 customers. The company's corporate headquarters are loc ...

in 2014.

History

Hebgen Dam was built across the Madison River in 1914 by Montana Power Company to create

Hebgen Lake Hebgen Lake is a reservoir created by the Hebgen Dam, located in Gallatin County in southwest Montana. It is well known for the 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake (magnitude 7.1 to 7.5) which occurred nearby on August 17, 1959, forming Quake Lake, whic ...

. During the 7.5 magnitude

1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake The 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake (also known as the 1959 Yellowstone earthquake) occurred in the western United States on August 17 at 11:37 pm ( MST) in southwestern Montana. The earthquake measured 7.2 on the moment magnitude scale, caused a hu ...

in mid-August, the dam was damaged, primarily because of such intense ground movement that water surged over the dam crest four different times, but it was fixed several weeks later. The epicenter of the quake was determined to be beneath the bottom of Hebgen Lake. Seismologists reported it to be the fourth largest quake recorded in the United States up to that time.Tuholske, Lily. "Yellowstone Earthquake at the Madison River." Distinctly Montana. September 9, 1998.
Accessed March 18, 2018. On August 30, 2008, two of the dam's four hydraulic gates failed, releasing per second of water into the Madison River. The normal discharge of the dam is per second and the gate failure caused a 1-foot rise in the river.

References

External links

"Yellowstone earthquake at the Madison River." Tuholske, Lily. "Yellowstone Earthquake at the Madison River." Distinctly Montana. September 9, 1998.
Accessed March 18, 2018. Dams in Montana Buildings and structures in Gallatin County, Montana Earth-filled dams NorthWestern Corporation dams Dams completed in 1914 {{US-dam-stub

History

See also

References

External links