Project scope
The unit’s principal structures are Canyon Ferry Dam and Powerplant, with Canyon Ferry Reservoir. The source describes a concrete gravity dam about 1,000 feet long along its crest and 225 feet high, with a central spillway controlled by four radial gates, four river outlets, a pumping intake for the Helena Valley Pumping Plant, and three penstocks. The downstream-toe powerplant houses three vertical-shaft generators. The same unit page also describes upper-lake waterfowl-enhancement works, including a dike system and habitat facilities.
Reported status and procurement
- Reported development
The reservoir is reported to have a total capacity of 2,050,900 acre-feet and to store water for irrigation development, including source-stated potential to irrigate 155,600 acres of new land and supplement irrigation on 82,000 acres. The dam also stores unused floodwater and unappropriated water and regulates flows for downstream powerplants. The powerplant is rated at 50,000 kilowatts; the source says its generated electricity is marketed by the Missouri River Basin Transmission Division. A recreation development program described by the source includes picnicking, camping, boating, fishing, and swimming.
- Procurement availability
- Unknown / not established
A source report alone does not establish current progress or an open buying window.
Project summary
Canyon Ferry Unit is part of the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program in Montana. The source describes its principal infrastructure as Canyon Ferry Dam and Powerplant with Canyon Ferry Reservoir; it places the dam and powerplant on the Missouri River about 17 miles northeast of Helena. The powerplant is reported as rated at 50,000 kilowatts and having three generating units.
The source records dam construction from May 24, 1949, to June 23, 1954, and gives operating dates for the first unit and the other two. It also says the upper-lake wildlife-enhancement construction began in 1972 and was essentially complete in 1978, following an earlier plan and federal assistance request.
A historical section reports that fine material from exposed upper-lake flats contributed to air pollution near the lake after initial filling in 1955, with adverse effects described locally. It gives a Townsend deposition figure of 301 tons per square mire per month, versus 15–20 tons considered acceptable; the area unit in the source is unclear.
Evidence limits and unknowns
The source does not establish the dam, powerplant, reservoir, or wildlife facilities’ present condition or current operating status. It identifies the Bureau of Reclamation as the operating agency and dates the transfer to operation and maintenance to January 1, 1955, but does not establish whether that status remains current.
No current procurement, supplier opportunity, contract, cost, or funding commitment is established. The historical account describes a federal assistance request for wildlife-enhancement works and says construction was essentially complete in 1978.
The supplied page content does not state a publication or last-verification date for its capacity, benefits, and recreation descriptions; their currentness is therefore unknown.
The page lists a Canyon Ferry Unit History document, but that linked document’s contents are not assessed here.
