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Fort Peck Dam Case Study

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Fort Peck Dam Construction The Fort Peck Dam, located in northeastern Montana, is the world’s largest earthen hydraulically-filled dam. It is the first of six dams on the main stem of the Missouri River. The primary purposes of the dam at the time of construction were flood control and navigation on the river. The dam was authorized by the 1927 Congressional Rivers and Harbors act and was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during Franklin Roosevelt’s first term as president. In 1933 National Industrial Recovery Act appropriated over $3 billion in public works in hopes of recovering the U.S. economy. In October of 1933, $84 million was allocated to the construction of Fort Peck Dam. News of employment spread like wildfire, bringing in desperate men from all over to work. The promise of fifty-cents an hour and a full week of work, brought in over 10,000 new labors for the build. …show more content…

Privately own lands were taken from landowners by imminent domain, and in return given fair market value for their loss. Most land that was taken had been part of the Homestead Act and fair market value was almost nothing in 1933, leaving many feeling as if the government had stolen from them. Railroads and roads would be first on the list to be built, without a mode of transportation, goods and equipment could not be taken to the construction site. This was followed closely by 54,000-volt transmission lines, brought all the way from Rainbow Dam. Weather tested the men working these jobs, with temperatures dropping to -60 degrees. The need for a permeant town would become a necessity to house and supply workers and soon 261 temporary houses, a 40 bed hospital, movie theatre, shopping mall, and other stores opened for

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