The John Day Dam is a concrete gravity

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 A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, a ...

spanning 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, ...

in the northwestern United States. The dam features a

navigation lock A lock is a device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercraft between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water lev ...

plus fish ladders on both sides. The John Day Lock has the highest lift (at ) of any U.S. lock. The reservoir impounded by the dam is

Lake Umatilla Lake Umatilla is a long reservoir on the Columbia River in the United States, between the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. It was created in 1971 with the construction of John Day Dam, and stretches upstream to the McNary Dam. It lies in p ...

, and it runs up the river channel to the foot of the McNary Dam. John Day Dam is part of the Columbia River Basin system of dams.

Location

John Day Dam is located east of the city of The Dalles, Oregon, and just below the mouth of the

John Day River The John Day River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, in northeastern Oregon in the United States. It is known as the Mah-Hah River by the Cayuse people, the original inhabitants of the region. Undammed along its entire ...

. The closest town on the

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

side is Goldendale, north. The closest town on the Oregon side is Rufus, Oregon. Its crest elevation is approximately above sea level. It joins

Sherman County, Oregon Sherman County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,870, making it the second-least populous county in Oregon after nearby Wheeler. The county seat is Moro, and the largest city i ...

with Klickitat County, Washington, upriver from the mouth of the Columbia near

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 corn ...

History

Construction of the dam began in 1958 and was completed in 1971,https://usace.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/api/collection/p16021coll11/id/426/download making it the newest dam on the lower Columbia, at a total cost of US$511 million. The pool was filled in 1968 and a dedication ceremony was held on September 28, 1968. John Day Dam was built and is operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The condemnation of land upstream of the dam led to the Supreme Court case ''United States v. Rands'', a well-known case regarding the constitutional doctrine of

navigable servitude Navigable servitude is a doctrine in United States constitutional law that gives the federal government the right to regulate navigable waterways as an extension of the Commerce Clause in Article I, Section 8 of the constitution. It is also some ...

. The dam's power generation capacity is 2,480,000 kW (overload capacity). The dam underwent a major repair to the upper lock gate in 2010, as documented in an episode of the National Geographic Channel program '' World's Toughest Fixes''.

Specifications

* Altitude: 266 feet (81 m) above sea level * Height: 183 feet (56 m) * Length: 7,365 feet (2,327 m) * Navigation lock: ** Single-lift ** 86 feet (26 m) wide ** 675 feet (206 m) long * Powerhouse ** Sixteen 135,000 kW units ** Total capacity: 2,160 MW ** Overload capacity: 2,485 MW * Spillway ** Gates: 20 ** Length: 1,228 feet (374 m)

Images

Sources

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References

External links

John Day Dam US Army Corps Engineers
{{Crossings navbox , structure = Crossings , place =

, bridge = John Day Dam , bridge signs = , upstream =

Umatilla Bridge The Umatilla Bridge is the collective name for a pair of bridges in the northwest United States, carrying Interstate 82/U.S. Route 395 (I-82/US 395) across the Columbia River at the Washington–Oregon border. The older bridge opened in Jul ...

, upstream signs = , downstream = Sam Hill Memorial Bridge , downstream signs = Dams on the Columbia River Dams in Oregon Dams in Washington (state) Hydroelectric power plants in Washington (state) Hydroelectric power plants in Oregon Buildings and structures in Sherman County, Oregon Buildings and structures in Klickitat County, Washington Run-of-the-river power stations United States Army Corps of Engineers dams Dams completed in 1971 Energy infrastructure completed in 1971 1971 establishments in Oregon Gravity dams 1971 establishments in Washington (state) Dams with fish ladders