Lower Salmon Falls Dam | |
---|---|
Location | Twin Falls County / Gooding counties, Idaho |
Coordinates | 42°50′30″N114°54′13″W / 42.841586°N 114.903696°W Coordinates: 42°50′30″N114°54′13″W / 42.841586°N 114.903696°W |
Opening date | 1910 |
Operator(s) | Idaho Power Company [1] |
Dam and spillways | |
Impounds | Snake River |
Height | 38 feet (12 m) [1] |
Length | 983 feet [1] |
Reservoir | |
Total capacity | 10,900 acre-feet (13,400,000 m3) [1] |
Surface area | 750 acres (1.03 km²) [1] |
Power Station | |
Commission date | 1910, 1949 |
Turbines | 4 |
Installed capacity | 60 MW |
Lower Salmon Falls Dam is a concrete gravity-type hydroelectric dam on the Lower Salmon Falls of the Snake River, in the U.S. state of Idaho. The dam is located 5 miles downstream from Upper Salmon Falls, between Gooding County and Twin Falls County, Idaho. [2]
The Salmon Falls includes a series of falls on the Snake River. The Lower Salmon Falls are approximately 5 miles downstream from Upper Salmon Falls, in between Gooding County and Twin Falls County, Idaho. [3] [4] Half of the Lower Falls have been inundated by the Lower Salmon Falls Dam. [5] [6] [7]
The Lower Salmon Falls Dam was originally built in 1910 by the Greater Shoshone and Twin Falls Water Power Company. Idaho Power Company acquired the plant in 1916 and rebuilt it in 1949. It's located at river mile 573.0. Nearby cities are Twin Falls, Mountain Home, and Hailey, Idaho.
The newer dam is 983 feet long, including a 180-foot, 38-foot-high overflow dam and has a powerhouse containing four turbine generator units with a capacity of 60 MW. Its reservoir is 6.6 miles long, with a 750-acre surface area, with a storage capacity of 10,900 acre-feet. It includes a 6-foot-wide, 510-foot-long fish ladder. [1]
Along with the Upper Salmon Falls Dam and Bliss Dam is part of Idaho Power Company's Mid-Snake Projects. [8] The Mid-Snake Projects in total have a nameplate capacity of 169.5 MW. [8]
The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest region in the United States. At 1,078 miles (1,735 km) long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, in turn, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Snake River rises in western Wyoming, then flows through the Snake River Plain of southern Idaho, the rugged Hells Canyon on the Oregon–Idaho border and the rolling Palouse Hills of Washington, emptying into the Columbia River at the Tri-Cities in the Columbia Basin of Eastern Washington.
Hells Canyon is a ten-mile-wide (16 km) canyon in the Western United States, located along the border of eastern Oregon, a small section of eastern Washington and western Idaho. It is part of the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area which is also located in part of the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. It is North America's deepest river gorge at 7,993 feet (2,436 m). Notably, Hells Canyon runs deeper than the better-known Grand Canyon in Arizona.
The Cowlitz River is a river in the state of Washington in the United States, a tributary of the Columbia River. Its tributaries drain a large region including the slopes of Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, and Mount St. Helens.
The Tuolumne River flows for 149 miles (240 km) through Central California, from the high Sierra Nevada to join the San Joaquin River in the Central Valley. Originating at over 8,000 feet (2,400 m) above sea level in Yosemite National Park, the Tuolumne drains a rugged watershed of 1,958 square miles (5,070 km2), carving a series of canyons through the western slope of the Sierra. While the upper Tuolumne is a fast-flowing mountain stream, the lower river crosses a broad, fertile and extensively cultivated alluvial plain. Like most other central California rivers, the Tuolumne is dammed multiple times for irrigation and the generation of hydroelectricity.
The Pend Oreille River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately 130 miles (209 km) long, in northern Idaho and northeastern Washington in the United States, as well as southeastern British Columbia in Canada. In its passage through British Columbia its name is spelled Pend-d'Oreille River. It drains a scenic area of the Rocky Mountains along the U.S.-Canada border on the east side of the Columbia. The river is sometimes defined as the lower part of the Clark Fork, which rises in western Montana. The river drains an area of 66,800 square kilometres (25,792 sq mi), mostly through the Clark Fork and its tributaries in western Montana and including a portion of the Flathead River in southeastern British Columbia. The full drainage basin of the river and its tributaries accounts for 43% of the entire Columbia River Basin above the confluence with the Columbia. The total area of the Pend Oreille basin is just under 10% of the entire 258,000-square-mile (670,000 km2) Columbia Basin. Box Canyon Dam is currently underway on a multimillion-dollar project for a fish ladder.
Shoshone Falls is a waterfall in the western United States, on the Snake River in south-central Idaho, approximately three miles (5 km) northeast of the city of Twin Falls. Sometimes called the "Niagara of the West," Shoshone Falls is 212 feet (65 m) in height, 45 feet (14 m) higher than Niagara Falls, and flows over a rim nearly one thousand feet (300 m) in width.
Lower Granite Lock and Dam is a concrete gravity run-of-the-river dam in the northwest United States. On the lower Snake River in southeastern Washington, it bridges Whitman and Garfield counties. Opened 47 years ago in 1975, the dam is located 22 miles (35 km) south of Colfax and 35 miles (56 km) north of Pomeroy.
Dworshak Dam is a concrete gravity dam in the western United States, on the North Fork of the Clearwater River in north central Idaho. In Clearwater County, the dam is located approximately four miles (6 km) northwest of Orofino and impounds the Dworshak Reservoir for flood control and hydroelectricity generation.
The American Falls Dam is a concrete gravity-type dam located near the town of American Falls, Idaho, on river mile 714.7 of the Snake River. The dam and reservoir are a part of the Minidoka Project on the Snake River Plain and are used primarily for flood control, irrigation, and recreation. When the original dam was built by the Bureau of Reclamation, the residents of American Falls were forced to relocate three-quarters of their town to make room for the reservoir. A second dam was completed in 1978 and the original structure was demolished. Although the dam itself is located in Power County, its reservoir also stretches northeastward into both Bingham County and Bannock County.
There are two rivers in Idaho named "Lost", the Big Lost River and the Little Lost River. They are often considered separate streams, but both flow into the same depression and become subterranean, feeding the Snake River Aquifer. The rivers are located in Custer County and Butte County, in Idaho in the United States. Via the aquifer and numerous springs, they are tributaries of the Snake River.
Hells Canyon Dam is a concrete gravity dam in the western United States, on the Snake River in Hells Canyon along the Idaho-Oregon border. At river mile 247, the dam impounds Hells Canyon Reservoir; its spillway elevation is 1,680 feet (512 m) above sea level.
Oxbow Dam is a hydroelectric run-of-the-river rockfill dam in the western United States, on the Snake River in Hells Canyon along the Idaho-Oregon border. Completed 61 years ago in 1961, it is part of the Hells Canyon Project that also includes Hells Canyon Dam and Brownlee Dam, all built and operated by Idaho Power Company.
Bliss Dam is a concrete gravity-type hydroelectric dam on the Snake River, in the U.S. state of Idaho. The dam is located near Bliss, Idaho.
Idaho Power Company (IPC) is a regulated electrical power utility. Its business involves the purchase, sale, generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in eastern Oregon and southern Idaho. It is a subsidiary of IDACORP, Inc. The company's 24,000-square-mile (62,000 km2) service area generally follows the area around the Snake River and its tributaries.
Salmon Falls Creek is a tributary of the Snake River, flowing from northern Nevada into Idaho in the United States. Formed in high mountains at the northern edge of the Great Basin, Salmon Falls Creek flows northwards 121 miles (195 km), draining an arid and mountainous basin of 2,103 square miles (5,450 km2). The Salmon Falls Creek valley served as a trade route between the Native American groups of the Snake River Plain and Great Basin. Today, most of its water is used for irrigation.
The Minidoka Project is a series of public works by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to control the flow of the Snake River in Wyoming and Idaho, supplying irrigation water to farmlands in Idaho. One of the oldest Bureau of Reclamation projects in the United States, the project involves a series of dams and canals intended to store, regulate and distribute the waters of the Snake, with electric power generation as a byproduct. The water irrigates more than a million acres (4,000 km²) of otherwise arid land, producing much of Idaho's potato crop. Other crops include alfalfa, fruit and sugar beets. The primary irrigation district lies between Ashton in eastern Idaho and Bliss in the southwestern corner of the state. Five main reservoirs collect water, distributing it through 1,600 miles (2,600 km) of canals and 4,000 miles (6,400 km) of lateral distribution ditches.
Twin Falls is a waterfall in the western United States, on the Snake River in the Snake River Canyon of south-central Idaho. The falls are located on the border of Jerome and Twin Falls counties, a few miles east of its namesake city, Twin Falls. They are upstream (east) of Pillar Falls and Shoshone Falls and just downstream from Milner Dam.
Salmon Falls, is the series of falls on the Snake River, in Twin Falls County, Idaho, comprising the Upper Salmon Falls and Lower Salmon Falls, near Hagerman. The Upper Salmon Falls are about 40 miles West of Shoshone Falls, in between Gooding County and Twin Falls County, Idaho, USA. It is situated ≈ 25 miles below Anger Falls.
Moore Dam is a major hydroelectric dam on the Upper Connecticut River between Grafton County, New Hampshire and Caledonia County, Vermont in the northeastern United States. The dam is located near Littleton, New Hampshire, and forms the 3,490-acre (1,410 ha) Moore Reservoir. The Moore Station is the largest conventional hydroelectric plant in New England, in terms of installed capacity and average power generation. The dam and reservoir also provide flood control, recreational boating and fishing.