Garrison Dam

Garrison Dam is located between Riverdale and Pick City, and named after the town of Garrison, directly north of the dam, across the reservoir. The dam is approximately midway between Bismarck and Minot, about {{convert|10|miles|km}} west of U.S. Highway 83.

Image:Map Pick–Sloan Missouri Basin Program.png, and affected Indian reservations.]]

The dam was part of a flood control and hydroelectric power generation project named the Pick-Sloan Project along the river, after the two plan developers, Col. Lewis A. Pick and William Glenn Sloan. Local communities in the area had resisted having the dam built at other locations on the river where they would be affected.

In order to construct the dam, the US government needed to purchase {{convert|152,360|acre|km2}} of bottomlands in the Fort Berthold Reservation that would be flooded by the creation of Lake Sakakawea. These lands were owned by the Three Affiliated Tribes, and the territory "had been their home for perhaps more than a millennium".{{cite book|author= Meyer, Roy W|year= 1977|title= The Village Indians of the Upper Missouri: The Mandans, Hidatsas, and Arikaras|location= Lincoln|publisher= University of Nebraska Press}}{{rp|234}}

Threatened by confiscation under eminent domain, the tribes protested. A complete block of Garrison Dam power was denied because it would violate the 1935 Rural Electrification Act. The tribes gained remuneration, but lost 94% of their agricultural land{{rp|59–60}} in 1947, when they were forced to accept $5,105,625. This amount was increased to $7.5 million in 1949, but it did not fully compensate them for the loss of their important farmlands, homes, towns, and graves. They had cultivated the bottomlands and were able to be largely self-sufficient.{{rp|61}}

The final settlement legislation denied the tribes' right to use the reservoir shoreline for traditional grazing, hunting, fishing or other purposes, including irrigation development and royalty rights on all subsurface minerals within the reservoir area.{{rp|61}} About 1,700 residents were forcibly relocated, some to New Town, North Dakota at the northern end of the reservation.{{cite web|title=The History and Culture of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Sahnish |url=http://www.ndstudies.org/resources/IndianStudies/threeaffiliated/historical_1900s_garrison.html |work=North Dakota Studies curriculum for grades 4 and 8|publisher=State of North Dakota|access-date=12 Feb 2012|date=n.d.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007181537/http://www.ndstudies.org/resources/IndianStudies/threeaffiliated/historical_1900s_garrison.html|archive-date=7 October 2011|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}

Thus construction of Garrison Dam almost totally destroyed the traditional way of life for the Three Affiliated Tribes and made them much more dependent on the federal government. In addition, the size the lake, and the lack of bridges to cross it for decades, disrupted traditional relations among the peoples. It created new divisions among the segments on the reservation{{cite book|author=Lawson, Michael L.|year=1982|title= Dammed Indians: the Pick-Sloan Plan and the Missouri River Sioux, 1944–1980|publisher= University of Oklahoma Press|location=Norman}}{{rp|p27}} Construction on the $300-million dam project began in 1947, and its embankment was enclosed in April 1953. The dam was dedicated by President Eisenhower two months later. The Corps of Engineers completed earthwork in the fall of 1954.

Garrison Dam is one of six Missouri River Main stem dams operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District. The dam upstream of Garrison Dam is Fort Peck Dam (near Fort Peck, Montana). The dams downstream of Garrison Dam are: Oahe Dam (near Pierre, South Dakota), Big Bend Dam (near Fort Thompson, South Dakota), Fort Randall Dam (near Pickstown, South Dakota), and Gavins Point Dam (near Yankton, South Dakota). These six mainstem dams impound these Missouri River reservoirs with a total combined water storage capacity of approximately {{cvt|73129000|acre feet|km3}} and approximately {{convert|1111884|acre|ha}} of water surface area.

In June 2011, in response to the 2011 Missouri River Floods, the dam was releasing more than {{convert|140000|cuft/s|m3/s}}, which greatly exceeded its previous record release of {{cvt|65000|cuft/s|m3/s}} set in 1997.{{cite web|title=Missouri River Mainstem Reservoir Bulletin |url=http://us.vocuspr.com/ViewAttachment.aspx?EID=NMIJ1IcKk3oTji9VTTk54guAE5jwT%2brGsFlq0KHy1pg%3d |publisher=Army Corps of Engineers |access-date=18 June 2011 |format=pdf }}{{dead link|date=January 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} The first use of the emergency spillway due to flooding started on June 1, 2011, at 8:00am.{{cite news|url=http://www.minotdailynews.com/page/content.detail/id/555429/Spillway-spectacle.html?nav=5010|title=Spillway spectacle|work=Minot Daily News|date=June 4, 2011|access-date=1 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151019094504/http://www.minotdailynews.com/page/content.detail/id/555429/Spillway-spectacle.html?nav=5010|archive-date=2015-10-19|url-status=dead}}

Hydropower turbines at Garrison Dam have an electric power generating nameplate capacity of 583.3 MW. Average production of 257 MW serves several hundred thousand customers.2,250,000 kWh / (365 days x 24 hours/day x 583.3 MW) = 44% capacity factor. 583.3 MW X 44% = 256.65 MW

The Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery is the world's largest walleye and northern pike producing facility and also works to restore endangered species, such as the pallid sturgeon.{{Cite web|url=https://www.recreation.gov/camping/poi/203858|title=Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery}}

A segment of the North Country National Scenic Trail passes through the National Fish Hatchery and includes a stretch along the Missouri River shoreline where trail users are simultaneously on the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail.{{Cite web|url=https://nct.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Viewer/index.html?appid=23a2c0d674cb443ea9835af2e8c5f13a&extent=-101.4657,47.4777,-101.3559,47.5101|title=Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery NCT segment map}}

• Lake Sakakawea
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
• Riverdale, North Dakota
• Lake Audubon
• List of dams and reservoirs in North Dakota

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• [https://www.nwo.usace.army.mil/Missions/Dam-and-Lake-Projects/Missouri-River-Dams/Garrison/ U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Garrison Project]
• [http://www.history.nd.gov/nhdinnd/turningpoints/GarrisonDam.htm North Dakota State Historical Societyl]{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} - Finding Aid - The Garrison Dam and Lake Sakakawea
• [http://www.fws.gov/garrisondam/ U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725155251/http://www.fws.gov/garrisondam/ |date=2008-07-25 }} - Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery
• Historic American Engineering Record documentation, all filed under Riverdale, McLean County, ND:
• {{HAER |survey=ND-15 |id=nd0136 |title=Garrison Dam |photos=7 |cap=1 |link=no}}
• {{HAER |survey=ND-15-A |id=nd0137 |title=Garrison Dam, Powerhouse |photos=18 |dwgs=2 |data=15 |cap=2 |link=no}}
• {{HAER |survey=ND-15-B |id=nd0138 |title=Garrison Dam, Penstocks and Surge Tanks |photos=9 |color=1 |dwgs=6 |data=8 |cap=1 |link=no}}
• {{HAER |survey=ND-15-C |id=nd0139 |title=Garrison Dam, Switchyard |photos=5 |dwgs=1 |data=7 |cap=1 |link=no}}
• {{HAER |survey=ND-15-D |id=nd0140 |title=Garrison Dam, Intake House |photos=3 |dwgs=1 |data=10 |cap=1 |link=no}}
• {{HAER |survey=ND-15-E |id=nd0141 |title=Garrison Dam, Spillway |photos=5 |dwgs=1 |data=8 |cap=1 |link=no}}
• {{HAER |survey=ND-15-F |id=nd0142 |title=Garrison Dam, Project Administration Building |photos=13 |dwgs=1 |data=11 |cap=2 |link=no}}

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{{Omaha District dams}}

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Category:Dams in North Dakota

Category:Buildings and structures in McLean County, North Dakota

Category:Buildings and structures in Mercer County, North Dakota

Category:Dams on the Missouri River

Category:Earth-filled dams

Category:Historic American Engineering Record in North Dakota

Category:United States Army Corps of Engineers dams

Category:Dams completed in 1953

Category:Forcibly depopulated communities in the United States

Category:Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation

Category:1953 establishments in North Dakota