HYDROPOWER 



The first hydropower development in the basin was at the 

 Blackfoot Milling and Manufacturing sawmill at Bonner. Built 

 in 1885, the low timber dam provided power for electric 

 lighting at the mill and later provided additional electri- 

 city to the Missoula power system around 1890-95. The 

 Milltown Dam, or Bonner Development, completed in 1906-07, 

 was an outgrowth of this earlier power system (Horstman 

 1984) . 



When the Milltown Dam was completed, its generating 

 capacity was 2,400 kilowatts. In 1926, a fifth unit of 640- 

 kilowatt capacity was added to make a total plant capacity of 

 3,040 kilowatts. Repairs were made to the dam system 

 following a major flood in 1908, and additional modifications 

 were made in 192 0. The Montana Power Company (MFC) purchased 

 the dam, power plant, and water rights in 1929 (Horstman 

 1984) . 



The original Flint Creek development on Flint Creek, 

 eight miles south of Philipsburg, was started in 1890 by the 

 Flint Creek Electric Power Company but was never completed. 

 In 1899, the Granite-Bimetallic Consolidated, a local silver 

 mining company, established a subsidiary, the Montana Water, 

 Electric Power and Mining Company, which completed construc- 

 tion of the dam, flume, and powerhouse in 1890. The plant 

 began full-time operation in 1901. Around 1906, the 

 Amalgamated Copper Company took over the Flint Creek dam and 

 power plant. The Anaconda Copper Mining Company (successor 

 to the Amalgamated Copper Company, which disbanded in 1915) 

 eventually carried out some major alterations at Flint 

 Creek. It raised the dam five feet in 1919 by constructing a 

 concrete cap along the crest of the masonry dam. The added 

 height allowed the structure to impound floodwaters in 

 Georgetown Lake that were usually lost over the spillway. 

 This additional water was piped to the smelter in Anaconda. 



The Montana Power Company acquired the Flint Creek 

 project in 1935. The dam has a generating capacity of 1,100 

 kilowatts and Georgetown Lake has a capacity of 31,000 acre- 

 f6et. 



MPC currently owns Kerr Dam, located on the lower 

 Flathead River about four miles southwest of Poison. The 

 dam, built in 1938, is a "peaking power" facility, which 

 results in wide fluctuations in discharge rates. The rated 

 capacity is 180,000 kilowatts. 



The Thompson Falls, Noxon Rapids, and Cabinet Gorge dams 

 impound the lower 60 miles of the Clark Fork in Montana. The 

 Thompson Falls Dam was built between 1913 and 1917 and is 



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