Swan Falls Dam

Swan Falls Dam is a concrete gravity type hydroelectric dam in the western United States, on the Snake River in southwestern Idaho, United States. At the dam, the river is the border of Ada and Owyhee counties; it is approximately five miles (8 km) east of Murphy, the seat of Owyhee County.

Swan Falls Dam
Location in the United States Show map of the United States Location in Idaho Show map of Idaho
Country	United States
Location	Ada / Owyhee counties, Idaho
Coordinates	43°14′36″N 116°22′46″W
Opening date	1901; 123 years ago (1901)[1]
Operator(s)	Idaho Power Company
Dam and spillways
Impounds	Snake River
Height	107 feet (33 m)[2]
Length	1,150 feet (350 m)[2]
Reservoir
Total capacity	7,425 acre-feet (9,159,000 m3)[2]
Catchment area	41,900 square miles (108,500 km2)[2]
Surface area	1,525 acres (6.17 km2)[2]
Swan Falls Dam and Power Plant
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Area	2 acres (0.81 ha)
Built	1900
Architect	Wiley, A.J.
NRHP reference No.	76000667[3]
Added to NRHP	July 06, 1976

Description

Built 123 years ago in 1901 to generate power, Swan Falls is the oldest hydroelectric dam on the Snake River. In the 1990s, the original power plant was replaced.^[1] The dam was built with fish passage facilities, but they proved to be very poor in performance. For this reason, among others, the C. J. Strike Dam, built upriver from Swan Falls in the early 1950s, was not equipped with fish passage facilities. Thus, the two dams combined to become the first artificial barrier to anadromous fish migration up the Snake River. Today, Hells Canyon Dam (1967) is the first total barrier to fish migration on the Snake.^[4]

Swan Falls Dam and its reservoir lie within the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area;^[1] the dam and power plant were listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

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  1904
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  Swan Falls Dam at sunrise

See also

• Water portal
• Renewable energy portal

• List of dams and reservoirs in Idaho
• List of dams in the Columbia River watershed

References

1. Swan Falls Dam, Idaho Power
2. Swan Falls Dam, NPDP Dam Directory
3. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
4. Middle Snake Subbasin Plan, Northwest Power and Conservation Council

Further reading

• Swan Falls Dam
• Snake River Hydroelectric Plants

External links

• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) documentation, filed under Snake River, Kuna, Owyhee County, ID:
  • HAER No. ID-20, "Swan Falls Dam", 110 photos, 72 data pages, 12 photo caption pages
  • HAER No. ID-20-A, "Swan Falls Dam, Blacksmith Shop & Annex", 15 photos, 12 photo caption pages
  • HAER No. ID-20-B, "Swan Falls Dam, Restroom", 1 photo, 1 photo caption page
  • HAER No. ID-20-C, "Swan Falls Dam, Material Shed", 3 photos, 1 photo caption page
  • HAER No. ID-20-D, "Swan Falls Dam, Storage Shed A", 2 photos, 1 photo caption page
  • HAER No. ID-20-E, "Swan Falls Dam, Raw Stock Storage Crib", 1 photo, 1 photo caption page
  • HAER No. ID-20-F, "Swan Falls Dam, Carpenter Shop", 4 photos, 1 photo caption page
  • HAER No. ID-20-G, "Swan Falls Dam, Wood Shop", 4 photos, 1 photo caption page
  • HAER No. ID-20-H, "Swan Falls Dam, Storage Shed B", 2 photos, 1 photo caption page
  • HAER No. ID-20-I, "Swan Falls Dam, Garage", 2 photos, 1 photo caption page
  • HAER No. ID-20-J, "Swan Falls Dam, House", 2 photos, 1 photo caption page
  • HAER No. ID-20-K, "Swan Falls Dam, A-Frame Crane Gantry", 2 photos, 1 photo caption page