Opening date 1938 Length 541 ft (165 m) Height 62 m Catchment area 22,240 km² Construction began 1930 | Impounds Flathead River Surface area 191.5 sq mi (496 km) Opened 1938 Operator Energy Keepers, Inc. Impound Flathead River | |
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Location Flathead Indian Reservation, Lake County, Montana, USA Total capacity 1,217,000 acre·ft (1.501 km) Similar Polson Flathead Historical, Miracle of America Museum, Flathead Lake, Hungry Horse Dam, Pablo National Wildlife R | ||
The Kerr Dam, officially known as the Seli’š Ksanka Qlispe’, is a concrete gravity-arch dam located at river mile 72 of the Flathead River, increasing the size of Flathead Lake near Polson, Montana. The dam was designed for hydroelectricity but also serves recreational uses. The dam was originally named after Frank Kerr, president of the Montana Power Company at the time of the dam's completion in 1938; however, during the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe's celebration of their acquisition of the dam on September 5, 2015, the Tribal Council announced that the dam's name would henceforth be changed to reflect its new ownership.
Contents
- Map of Kerr Dam Polson MT 59860 USA
- ConstructionEdit
- Joint operation and change of ownershipEdit
- In literatureEdit
- References
Map of Kerr Dam, Polson, MT 59860, USA
ConstructionEdit
In 1930, construction began on the dam by Rocky Mountain Power. A year later in 1931, a lack of funding from the Great Depression caused construction to halt. Montana State Treasurer James Brett went to Atlanta in 1934 to ask President Franklin Roosevelt for $5,000,000 to complete the dam. Knowing that the area was in desperate need of jobs, Roosevelt gave Brett the money and he came home to a hero's welcome. In 1936, the Montana Power Company restarted the project and completed it in 1938. The dam only raised Flathead Lake by 10 feet so it is not completely responsible for the reservoir. The dam's hydro power plant consists of three units that receive water from three different penstocks 1700 feet upstream.
Joint operation and change of ownershipEdit
The dam and its related hydroelectric project are located inside the boundaries of the Flathead Indian Reservation, and operated jointly by NorthWestern Energy and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Today, with an installed capacity of 208 MW, it provides both power—enough for about 147,000 homes—and over $9 million in annual revenue for the tribes. NorthWestern Energy acquired the power plant from PPL Montana, LLC (the successor to the Montana Power Company) in 2015.
On September 4, 2015, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) successfully paid the conveyance price of $18.2 million to purchase the Kerr Hydroelectric Project from NorthWestern Energy, transferring its ownership to the tribally-owned Energy Keepers, Inc (EKI). CSKT and EKI officially celebrated their acquisition of the dam on September 5, 2015 with a ceremony held at Salish Kootenai College.
In literatureEdit
The plot of the novel "Wind from an Enemy Sky" by D’Arcy McNickle is centered around the construction of the Salish-Kootenai Dam.