Cabinet Gorge Dam
History:
The Cabinet Gorge
Dam was built by Morrison Knudsen Corporation, a worldwide
construction firm headquartered in Boise, Idaho. The dam was a
project sponsored by the Defense Program. The designer and
supervisor of the project, Ebasco Services, Inc., contracted with
Morrison-Knudsen. Construction began in 1951 and ended in April of
1952. Total cost of the dam was $47 million.
Interesting
Facts:
The dam had to be
constructed in one season so spring floods would not wash away the
temporary cofferdams. The dam was actually completed in half the
time estimated by the Defense Program. The construction company
claims that it was also completed at half the cost. It takes a lot
of force to keep a dam standing against the incredible force of the
water. The strength of the Cabinet Gorge Dam lies in the outward
forces the arch design places on the canyon walls.
Statistics:
The dam is a true
arch dam, which is 208 ft high and 600 ft long. Throughout the
whole dam its thickness never exceeds 40 ft. The first step in
construction was the diversion of the Clark Fork River to clear a
construction site. 32 tons of dynamite blasted 50,000 cubic yards
of rock down the canyon walls of the river. The blast was felt 32
miles away in Sandpoint. Water was then shunted through a pair of
tunnels each 1000-ft. long. Cofferdams were built above and below
the site to divert the water. Half a million cubic yards of rock
were excavated.
Location:
The dam is located
outside of Clark Fork, Idaho on the Pend Oreille Scenic Byway,
Idaho Highway 200. Clark Fork is about a fifteen-minute drive from
the Idaho-Montana border.
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The cache is NOT located at the dam or dam property, but at the
east entrance just off the highway. It is a very well camoed lock
& lock with a log book and loaded with geo-swag. There’s
plenty-of-parking but not quite handi-cachable due to
brush.
Hope you have the time to drive down the road to the
viewpoint.