Rainbow Dam
Encyclopedia
Rainbow Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Missouri River
, 29 feet (8.8 m) high and 1055 feet (321.6 m) long, located six miles northeast of Great Falls
in the U.S. state
of Montana
and just upstream of Rainbow Falls
, a 45 ft (14m) waterfall that is the third of the five Great Falls of the Missouri. The dam, built in 1910, generates 36 MW of electricity from 8 turbines. Building the dam reduced the flow of water over Rainbow Falls and downstream Crooked Falls, and they can almost completely dry up if less water exits the dam. The water from the penstocks re-enters the river a few hundred yards east of Crooked Falls.
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
, 29 feet (8.8 m) high and 1055 feet (321.6 m) long, located six miles northeast of Great Falls
Great Falls, Montana
Great Falls is a city in and the county seat of Cascade County, Montana, United States. The population was 58,505 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Great Falls, Montana Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Cascade County...
in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
and just upstream of Rainbow Falls
Rainbow Falls (Missouri River)
Rainbow Falls is a waterfall on the Missouri River in Great Falls, Montana, just upstream from Crooked Falls and downstream from Colter Falls and Rainbow Dam. It is 47 feet high and 1,320 feet wide. The waterfall is part of the five Great Falls of the Missouri...
, a 45 ft (14m) waterfall that is the third of the five Great Falls of the Missouri. The dam, built in 1910, generates 36 MW of electricity from 8 turbines. Building the dam reduced the flow of water over Rainbow Falls and downstream Crooked Falls, and they can almost completely dry up if less water exits the dam. The water from the penstocks re-enters the river a few hundred yards east of Crooked Falls.