Saturday, March 4, 2023

1909 Boise River Diversion Dams and 1955,1986 Lucky Peak on Boise River

Boise River Diversion Dam: (Satellite)
Lucky Peak Dam: (Satellite)
Powerhouse: (Satellite)

1909 Boise River Diversion Dam


Dan, Jun 2022, cropped
 
Satellite

I noticed from a satellite image that this dam diverted water into an irrigation canal. The plaque below confirms that.
Juan Carlos Briseno, Dec 2021, cropped
 
New York Irrigation District

Note that the power plant was added in 1912. Those three years between 1909 and 1912 were significant in terms of the development of vertical shaft generating units. [Dennis DeBruler]
Christian Scott, Jul 2021

The head of the irrigation canal is a buttress dam.
Derek Fitzwater, Oct 2019

Bureau of Reclamation posted four photos with the comment:
At 68 feet high, with a power generating capacity of 3,300 kilowatts, Boise River Diversion Dam is far from the largest Reclamation dam. However, its importance to the development of the Boise Valley has earned it a spot on the National Register of Historic Places. The dam was completed in 1908 and was key to the early development of Reclamation’s Boise Project, which involved the expansion of canal systems and the creation of Lake Lowell. 
A 1,500-kilowatt power plant was built into the existing structure in 1912 to provide power to the Arrowrock Dam construction site. Boise River Diversion Dam was not originally designed to house a power plant, leaving #engineers with the challenge of designing and building a power plant that fit within the existing structure that would also withstand the load originally carried by the dam. Engineers also utilized diversion tunnels from the dam’s construction as discharge tunnels for the generators.
The power plant was rebuilt between 2002 to 2004, increasing its generating capacity to 3,300 kilowatts. During this modernization, great care was taken to preserve historic equipment that remains in the power plant today. #Reclamation
Reclamation photos
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Lucky Peak Dam


USACE
"The dam is a rolled earthfill dam about 250 feet above the streambed and 1,700 feet long at the crest. The spillway, located on the left abutment, has a 600 foot long, free-overflow concrete ogee crest. The outlet works, located in the left abutment, consist of a 23 foot diameter tunnel with six slide gates and one hollow jet valve. There are two 10 foot by 23 foot Broome-type emergency gates located in the intake tower."
[This text is repeated later on the page except it has "2,340" instead of "1,700."]
 
safe_image for Guarding the Treasure Valley: A history of Lucky Peak Dam

The original outlets by the powerplant are now only used to put on a "rooster tail" display for the public. The water reaches a height of about 150'. Construction of the power plant didn't begin until 1986.
2:21 video @ 0:32

The "cone valve" outlet on the right side of this photo is what is normally used now instead of the original rooster tail outlets. The concrete apron to the right of the dam's crest is the emergency spillway. I did not realize that until a saw a Street View of it.
By Bob Heims, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1796398

This 1960 photo captures the "rooster tail" spillage. The powerhouse has yet to be built.
"Lucky Peak Dam (Engineer recruitment program)", Columbia River Basin Project: Dam Construction in the Pacific Northwest, Digital Initiatives, University of Idaho Library
https://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/crbp/items/crbp1216.html

From the road over the dam.
Street View, Aug 2021

Note the diversion tunnel outlet in the lower-right corner.
WallaWallaUSACE posted
Construction on Lucky Peak Dam began in 1950 and was completed in 1955. Lucky Peak was built as a rolled earthfill dam, 1,700 feet long at the crest, containing Lucky Peak Lake.

WallaWallaUSACE posted two photos with the comment:
Lucky Peak Dam, a flood control project, was one of the first projects designed and built by the Walla Walla District.
1946 -- The project was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1946.
1948 -- Walla Walla District was created on Nov. 1, 1948!
1949 -- Construction of Lucky Peak Dam began in 1949. 
1950 -- Top image: June 9, 1950, looking upstream at the Lucky Peak Dam site from the basalt bluffs above today's Discovery Park and Sandy Point. 
1955 --Construction of Lucky Peak Dam was completed in 1955. It was dedicated June 23, 1955.
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