Dam Fort Peck Dam and Power Plant Museum

Address

215 Yellowstone Road
Fort Peck, MT 59223 View on Map Own or manage this business?

Website https://www.nwo.usace.army.mil/Missions/Dam-and-Lake-Projects/Missouri-River-Dams/Fort-Peck/ Email susan.e.dalbey@usace.army.mil Phone 406-526-3493

Overview Service & Activities

About The Fort Peck Power Plant Museum is in the lobby of Power Plant #1 on Lower Yellowstone Road, 2 miles northeast of Fort Peck. The museum recalls the history of the construction of the dam and power plants. There is a display of fossils collected from the area, including a Triceratops skull. Tours of the Fort Peck Powerhouse are not available this season. If you need additional information, please contact the Fort Peck Interpretive Center at 406-526-3493.. Fort Peck Dam is the largest hydraulically filled earth dam in the world, measuring 21,026 feet long, with a height of 250.5 feet. The five turbines can generate 185,250 kilowatts of power. Its original purpose was not only to control floods but to create jobs in a depression-saddled economy. In 1933, the undertaking was the nation's largest public works project. The building of the dam, at its peak in 1936, provided 10,456 jobs; it was completed in 1940. The dam spans across the Missouri River from bluff to bluff covering 3.5 miles. The construction spawned shanty boom towns that were scattered around the work area; Square Deal, New Deal, Park Grove, Delano Heights and Wheeler. These places disappeared almost as quickly as they grew. Some, including Midway, are now covered by water. All that's left today of any of them is the rebuilt Buckhorn Bar; the original burned down in 1983. The name is derived from an old trading post that was located here. Colonel Campbell K. Peck and Commander E.H. Durfee established a trading post and Indian agency in 1867 a few miles from the present dam site. Fort Peck established a monopoly on fur trade with the Assiniboine and Sioux. Immediately adjacent to the powerhouses is the Fort Peck Dam Interpretive Center and Museum.

Contact

MAILING ADDRESS PO Box 208
Fort Peck, MT 59223

CONTACT 406-526-3493

FAX 406-526-3593

Details

SEASON Memorial Day - September 30

HOURS Daily 9:00am - 5:00pm Memorial Day - Labor Day: Tours available 9:30am, 11:30am, 1:30pm, and 3:30pm weekdays. Weekends Tours are every hour, 9:30, 10:30. 11:30, 12:30, 1:30, 2:30, 3:30 4:30. Labor Day - September 30: Tours available 11:30am and 1:30pm

RESERVATIONS Group Reservations Required

SPECIAL DIRECTIONS Take Highway 24 from Glasgow 17 miles south to Fort Peck, Montana. The power plants are approximately two miles northeast of town on Lower Yellowstone Road.

SERVICES Handicapped Accessible

ACTIVITIES Art History Tour