News Release Archive

Deadwood Safety of Dams Modifications Completed

Media Contact: John Redding, (208) 378-5212, 07/19/2004 11:30
Larry Wolf, lwolf@pn.usbr.gov

For Release: July 19, 2004

Recent modifications to Deadwood Dam passed final inspection yesterday, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. The modifications were necessary to stabilize the left abutment under certain static and seismic loading conditions. Deadwood Dam is located in a remote area of the Boise National Forest about 90 miles northeast of Boise, Idaho.

The inspection follows a year after modification work was performed by the Johnson Western Gunite Company of San Leandro, California. The $680,125 contract called for the installation of 60 rock bolts through three massive rock blocks located just downstream of the dam in the left abutment. Work was completed in late October 2003, but due to weather, a final inspection was not conducted until now.

Deadwood Dam was completed by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1931. The 165 foot high, concrete arch dam can store 161,900 acre-feet of water, of which Emmett Irrigation District owns 90 percent of the contracted space. Water released from Deadwood Dam is also used for power generation at Black Canyon Dam and other facilities further downstream.

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