110th Anniversay of Hauser Dam Failure, Montana

Abstract Only - Named after former Montana Territorial Governor Samuel Thomas Hauser and founder of the Missouri River Power Company, Wisconsin Bridge and Iron Company constructed Hauser Dam from 1905 to 1907. The dam impounded the Missouri River in a narrow canyon, about 20 miles northeast of the Capital City, Helena. The dam was 75 feet high and 630 feet long, with a spillway 500 feet wide and 13 feet deep. Construction materials for the dam consisted of a combination of steel, sheet pile, masonry, and concrete on top of a foundation that varied from bedrock to alluvium. The powerhouse had 10 turbines that produced 14,000 kilowatts of power. At about 2:30 PM on April 14, 1908, a 300-foot wide section of the dam breached. The breach sent a 25 to 30 foot high wall of water downstream toward the construction site of the Holter Dam and the town of Craig. The flood wave would eventually reach the city of Great Falls, 70 miles to the North, while retaining a depth of about 7 feet. A combination of telephone calls from the dam site, telegrams, and a dispatched locomotive warned residents downstream of the immanent flood. Accounts credit these communication efforts with saving many lives. Despite major flooding at the Holter Dam construction site and in the towns of Craig and Ulm, no lives were lost. Damages from the flood reached over $1 million. United Missouri River Power reconstructed the dam from 1908 to 1911 as a concrete dam 80 feet high and 700 feet long. Northwestern Energy currently owns the dam, which produces 14,000 kilowatts of power.