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49-689: The Strawberry Valley Project was an early project planned and constructed by the Reclamation Service in the Uinta Basin of Utah. Reclamation approved the project in 1905, and in 1908 the project became the first for the Service to generate hydropower. The project is also notable for its interbasin transfer of water, from the Uinta Basin in the Colorado River major watershed to the Bonneville Basin in

98-538: A major Reclamation Bureau dam led to subsequent strengthening of its dam-safety program to avoid similar problems. Even so, the failure of Teton Dam, the environmental movement, and the announcement of President Carter 's "hit list" on water projects profoundly affected the direction of Reclamation's programs and activities. Reclamation operates about 180 projects in the 17 western states. The total Reclamation investment for completed project facilities in September 1992

147-587: A more constant water supply in the summer. The area had suffered a severe drought in 1961, followed by severe flooding in 1962. The Bureau of Reclamation proposed the Teton Dam in 1963 and Congress passed, without opposition, an authorizing bill the following year. The planned dam was to be an earthen structure 310 feet (94 m) high and 0.6 miles (1.0 km) long, creating a reservoir 17 miles (27 km) in length. The impounded water would be used to generate hydroelectric power . An environmental impact statement

196-462: A sale of project lands, reimbursing $ 1.25 an acre for 56,858.51 acres. Completed in 1922, the project delivered irrigation water to 25,000 acres of land. Agriculture in southern Utah Valley, as a result of the transfer of water, developed considerably, particularly with regard to sugar beets. The Strawberry Valley Project would go on to form the basis for the Bonneville Unit, authorized in 1968, of

245-485: Is composed of basalt and rhyolite, both of which are considered unsuitable for dam construction because of their high permeability . This was confirmed by long-term pump-in tests at rates of 165 to 460 US gal (620 to 1,740 L) per minute. Test cores, drilled by engineers and geologists employed by the Bureau of Reclamation, showed that the canyon rock at the dam site is highly fissured and unstable, particularly on

294-577: Is periodically reviewed for resistance to seismic activity, for internal faults, and for physical deterioration. The dam safety program identified two other dangerous dams – Fontenelle , which very nearly failed 11 years earlier, when it was filled, in a manner similar to the Teton Dam, and again in May 1985; and the Jackson Lake Dam , which would have failed during an earthquake on the nearby Teton Fault . Teton Canyon ends about six miles (10 km) below

343-692: Is to "manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in an environmentally and economically sound manner in the interest of the American public". In redirecting its programs and responsibilities, Reclamation substantially reduced its staff levels and budgets but remains a significant federal agency in the West. On October 1, 2017, the Hoover Dam Police Department was closed and the National Park Service took over law enforcement duties for

392-727: The Central Utah Project . Strawberry Dam is constructed of earthen fill, and the reservoir has a capacity of 298,000 acre-feet. United States Bureau of Reclamation#History On June 17, 1902, in accordance with the Reclamation Act , Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock established the U.S. Reclamation Service within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The new Reclamation Service studied potential water development projects in each western state with federal lands. Revenue from sale of federal lands

441-486: The 1960s and earlier drew to an end. Reclamation wrote that "The arid West essentially has been reclaimed. The major rivers have been harnessed and facilities are in place or are being completed to meet the most pressing current water demands and those of the immediate future". Emphasis in Reclamation programs shifted from construction to operation and maintenance of existing facilities. Reclamation's redefined official mission

490-887: The Department of the Interior. Frederick Haynes Newell was appointed the first director of the new bureau. Beginning with the third person to take over the direction of Reclamation in 1923, David W. Davis, the title was changed from Director to Commissioner. In the early years, many projects encountered problems: lands or soils included in projects were unsuitable for irrigation ; land speculation sometimes resulted in poor settlement patterns; proposed repayment schedules could not be met by irrigators who had high land-preparation and facilities-construction costs; settlers were inexperienced in irrigation farming; waterlogging of irrigable lands required expensive drainage projects; and projects were built in areas which could only grow low-value crops. In 1923

539-583: The Great Basin major watershed, accomplished through the four-mile long Strawberry Tunnel. In 1879, Mormon settlers in the town of Daniel began constructing a diversion from the headwaters of the Strawberry River over the ridge, marking a precursor to the Strawberry Valley Project, despite having no legal right to the water. The Reclamation Service began drafting plans in 1903 for a reservoir on

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588-467: The Hoover Dam. The Hoover Dam Police Department existed for more than 80 years. Reclamation commissioners that have had a strong impact and molding of the Bureau have included Elwood Mead , Michael W. Straus , and Floyd Dominy , with the latter two being public-power boosters who ran the Bureau during its heyday. Mead guided the bureau during the development, planning, and construction of the Hoover Dam,

637-466: The Strawberry River that would transfer water to Utah County. Anticipating that the Uintah and Ouray Reservation would be allotted soon, Reclamation successfully lobbied to have land set apart for the reservoir when the reservation was opened. The reservation was allotted in 1905, and the Strawberry Valley Project gained approval later that same year, with construction beginning in 1906. In 1910, Congress forced

686-608: The United States Bureau of Reclamation. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 16, 2017. Burman is the first woman to ever lead the Bureau of Reclamation. David Murillo was serving as the acting commissioner of the bureau. Burman resigned on January 20 after the inauguration of the Biden Administration . The current Commissioner is Camille Calimlim Touton , the first Filipino American to head

735-585: The United States' first multiple-purpose dam. John W. Keys , the 16th Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation who served from July 2001 to April 2006, was killed two years after his retirement on May 30, 2008, when the airplane he was piloting crashed in Canyonlands National Park , Utah . On June 26, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Brenda Burman to serve as the Commissioner of

784-401: The abutments of the dam that allowed water to seep around and through the earth-fill dam. The permeable loess was found to be cracked. The combination of these flaws is thought to have allowed water to seep through the dam and to lead to internal erosion , called piping, that eventually caused the dam's collapse. An investigating panel had quickly identified piping as the most probable cause of

833-542: The agency was renamed the "Bureau of Reclamation". In 1924, however, in the face of increasing settler unrest and financial woes, the "Fact Finder's Report" spotlighted major problematic issues; the Fact Finders Act in late 1924 sought to resolve some of these problems. In 1928 Congress authorized the Boulder Canyon ( Hoover Dam ) Project, and large appropriations began, for the first time, to flow to Reclamation from

882-493: The agency. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 4, 2021. Teton Dam The Teton Dam was an earthen dam in the western United States, on the Teton River in eastern Idaho . It was built by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation , one of eight federal agencies authorized to construct dams. Located between Fremont and Madison counties, it suffered a catastrophic failure on June 5, 1976, as it

931-544: The breach into the remaining 6 miles (10 km) of the Teton River canyon, after which the flood spread out and shallowed on the Snake River Plain . By 8:00 pm, the reservoir had completely emptied, although over two-thirds of the dam wall remained standing. Study of the dam's environment and structure placed blame for the collapse on the permeable loess soil used in the core and on fissured (cracked) rhyolite in

980-492: The construction. Opponents of the dam questioned the project's justifications. They argued that damming a wild and scenic river would result in the destruction of its trout fishery and other wildlife habitat and "replace a unique resource with a vulgar one." The suit questioned the economic return on the investment, the bureau's compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act, and the geologic soundness of

1029-477: The dam had failed, the bureau continued to insist that the grouting was appropriate. In December 1972, concerned about the geological conditions of the Teton River Canyon, USGS geologist David Schleicher wrote about the Teton Dam while it was still under construction, "A final point is that flooding in response to seismic or other failure of the dam—probably most likely at the time of highest water—would make

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1078-570: The dam site in the previous five years, two of which had been of significant magnitude. This information was provided to the Bureau of Reclamation in a memorandum, but the geologists' concerns were considerably watered down in the 6-month redrafting process before the USGS sent the final version of the memo to the USBR in July 1973. In 1973, when the dam was only half built, but almost $ 5 million had already been spent on

1127-485: The dam site, where the river flows onto the Snake River Plain. When the dam failed, the flood struck several communities immediately downstream, particularly Wilford at the terminus of the canyon, Sugar City , Salem, Hibbard, and Rexburg . Thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed. The small agricultural communities of Wilford and Sugar City were wiped from the river bank. Five of the 11 deaths attributed to

1176-572: The dam's location. Concerns over the seismic conditions of the dam site delayed the bid process pending further review by the Department of the Interior. Pressure from Idaho's congressional delegation stopped the review, and in spite of the lawsuit, bids were taken in Idaho Falls on October 29, 1971. The $ 39 million contract was awarded in December 1971 to Morrison-Knudsen Co. of Boise , assisted by Peter Kiewit Sons Co. of Omaha, Nebraska . In spite of

1225-453: The dam, although the water running through the leaks was clear and such leaks are not unexpected for an earthen dam . At the time, the reservoir was almost at capacity, with a maximum depth of 240 feet (73 m). The only structure that had been initially prepared for releasing water was the emergency outlet works , which could carry just 850 cubic feet per second (24 m /s). The main outlet works and spillway gates were not yet in service;

1274-438: The disaster, victims had filed over 4,800 claims totaling $ 194 million and the federal government had paid 3,813 of those claims worth $ 93.5 million. The claims program was originally scheduled to end in July 1978, but continued until January 1987, when the federal government had paid 7,563 claims for a total amount of $ 322 million. No plans have been made for rebuilding the Teton Dam, but its reconstruction has been discussed over

1323-405: The embankment material began to wash out. Crews with bulldozers were sent to plug the leak, but were unsuccessful. Local media appeared at the site and at 11:15, officials told the county sheriff's office to evacuate downstream residents. Work crews were forced to flee on foot as the widening gap, now larger than a swimming pool, swallowed their equipment. The operators of two bulldozers caught in

1372-399: The eroding embankment were pulled to safety with ropes. At 11:55 am MDT (UTC−17:55), the crest of the dam sagged and collapsed into the reservoir; two minutes later, the remainder of the right-bank third of the main dam wall disintegrated. Over 2,000,000 cubic feet per second (57,000 m /s) (many times the average flow rate of Niagara Falls ) of sediment-filled water emptied through

1421-426: The failure, then focused its efforts on determining how the piping started. Two mechanisms were possible. The first was the flow of water under highly erodible and unprotected fill, through joints in unsealed rock beneath the grout cap and development of an erosion tunnel. The second was "cracking caused by differential strains or hydraulic fracturing of the core material." The panel was unable to determine whether one or

1470-402: The filling rate to deal with the additional spring run-off, while continuing to inspect for leaks and monitor the groundwater. A month later, though monitoring showed that groundwater was flowing a thousand times faster than had been originally anticipated, the filling rate was doubled again, to 4 feet (1.2 m) a day. On June 3 and 4, 1976, three small springs were discovered downstream of

1519-400: The flood arrived. That dam held and the flood was effectively over, but tens of thousands of acres of land near the river were stripped of fertile topsoil. The force of the failure destroyed the lower part of the Teton River, washing away riparian zones and reducing the canyon walls. This damaged the stream's ecology and hurt the native Yellowstone cutthroat trout population. The force of

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1568-521: The flood occurred in Wilford. The similar community of Teton , on the south bank of the river, is on a modest bench and was largely spared. One Teton resident was fishing on the river at the time of the dam failure and was drowned. An elderly woman living in the city of Teton died as a result of the evacuation. An estimated 80% of existing structures were damaged in the Hibbard and Rexburg area, whose population

1617-501: The flood of February 1962 look like small potatoes. Since such a flood could be anticipated, we might consider a series of strategically placed motion-picture cameras to document the process." The dam was completed in November 1975 and filling the reservoir began at the standard rate of one foot (300 mm) a day. However, snows were heavy that winter, and five months later, the project's construction engineer requested permission to double

1666-406: The gates were cordoned off by steel walls while they were being painted. On Saturday, June 5, 1976, at 7:30 am MDT , a muddy leak appeared, suggesting sediment was in the water, but engineers did not believe there was a problem. By 9:30 am, the downstream face of the dam had developed a wet spot, which began to discharge water at 20 to 30 cubic feet per second (0.57 to 0.85 m /s) and

1715-459: The general funds of the United States. The authorization came only after a hard-fought debate about the pros and cons of public power versus private power. The heyday of Reclamation construction of water facilities occurred during the Depression and the 35 years after World War II . From 1941 to 1947, Civilian Public Service labor was used to carry on projects otherwise interrupted by

1764-494: The ground surface beyond the right end of the dam and grout curtain. The largest fissures were actually caves . One of them was 11 feet (3.4 m) wide and 100 feet (30 m) long. Another one was 9 feet (2.7 m) wide in places and 190 ft (60 m) long. These were not grouted because they were beyond the keyway trench and beyond the area where the bureau had decided grouting was required. This necessitated using twice as much grouting as had been originally anticipated;

1813-477: The lawsuit, work began in February 1972. After various motions, amended complaints, attempted injunctions, and appeals, the suit was dismissed on December 23, 1974. The eastern Snake River Plain is almost entirely underlain by basalt erupted from large shield volcanos on top of rhyolitic ash -flow tuff and ignimbrites . The tuff , a late- Cenozoic volcanic rock , is 1.9 million years old. The dam site

1862-488: The other mechanism occurred, or a combination: The fundamental cause of failure may be regarded as a combination of geological factors and design decisions that, taken together, permitted the failure to develop. A wide-ranging controversy ensued from the dam's collapse. According to the Bureau of Reclamation, bureau engineers assess all reclamation dams under strict criteria established by the Safety of Dams program. Each structure

1911-509: The project, large, open fissures were encountered during excavation of the keyway trench near the right end of the dam, about 700 ft (210 m) from the canyon wall. The two largest, near-vertical fissures trended generally east–west and extended more than 100 ft (30 m) below the bottom of the key trench. Some of the fissures were lined with calcite, and rubble filled others. Several voids, as much as 6 in (15 cm) wide, were encountered 60 to 85 ft (18 to 26 m) below

1960-455: The right side (as one faces the direction of flow). The widest fissures were determined to be 1.7 inches (4.3 cm) wide. The bureau planned to seal these fissures by injecting grout into the rock under high pressure to create a grout curtain in the rock. In addition, an investigation of the area by geologists of the U.S. Geologic Survey indicated that it was seismically active; five earthquakes had occurred within 30 miles (50 km) of

2009-567: The subsequent fires practically destroyed the town. The flood waters traveled west along the route of the Henrys Fork of the Snake River , around both sides of the Menan Buttes , damaging the community of Roberts . The city of Idaho Falls , even further down on the flood plain, had time to prepare. At the older American Falls Dam downstream, engineers increased discharge by less than 5% before

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2058-552: The total injected grout included 496,515 ft of Portland cement, 82,364 ft of sand, 132,000 pounds of bentonite, and 418,000 pounds of calcium chloride, injected into 118,179 linear ft of drilled holes. Later, the report of a committee of the House of Representatives , which investigated the dam's collapse, felt that the discovery of the caves should have been sufficient for the Bureau of Reclamation to doubt its ability to fill them in with grout, but this did not happen. Even after

2107-451: The war effort. The last major authorization for construction projects occurred in the late 1960s, while a parallel evolution and development of the American environmental movement began to result in strong opposition to water development projects. Even the 1976 failure of Teton Dam as it filled for the first time did not diminish Reclamation's strong international reputation in water development circles. However, this first and only failure of

2156-703: The water and excessive sediment also damaged stream habitat in the Snake River and some tributaries, as far downstream as the Fort Hall bottoms. Debris clean-up began immediately and took the remainder of the summer. Rebuilding of damaged property continued for several years. Within a week of the disaster, President Gerald Ford requested a $ 200 million appropriation for initial payments for damages, without assigning responsibility for Teton Dam's failure. The Bureau of Reclamation set up claims offices in Rexburg, Idaho Falls, and Blackfoot . By January 4, 1977, seven months after

2205-641: Was about $ 11 billion. Reclamation projects provide agricultural, household, and industrial water to about one‑third of the population of the American West. About 5% of the land area of the West is irrigated, and Reclamation provides water to about one-fifth of that area, some 9,120,000 acres (37,000 km ) in 1992. Reclamation is a major American generator of electricity . As of 2007 , Reclamation had 58 power plants on‑line and generated 125,000 GJ of electricity. From 1988 to 1994, Reclamation underwent major reorganization as construction on projects authorized in

2254-399: Was about 10,000. The Teton River flows through the industrial, commercial, and residential districts of north Rexburg. Much of the damage in the area was done by thousands of logs dislodged from a lumber yard. Dozens of them hit a bulk gasoline-storage tank a few hundred yards away. The gasoline ignited and sent flaming slicks adrift on the racing water. The force of the logs and cut lumber and

2303-437: Was filling for the first time. The collapse of Teton Dam killed 11 people and 16,000 livestock. The dam cost about $ 100 million to build and the federal government paid over $ 300 million in claims arising from its failure. Total damage estimates have ranged up to $ 2 billion, and the dam was not rebuilt. Interest in building a dam in the eastern Snake River Plain had arisen for many years to control spring runoff and provide

2352-487: Was issued for the dam in 1971, but it did not raise the possibility of a collapse. Lack of funding and site preparation work and questions surrounding the required environmental impact statement stalled the project. Barely 14 pages long, the statement quickly drew the ire of opponents of the project. On September 27, 1971, several environmental and conservation groups filed a lawsuit in Idaho District Court to stop

2401-656: Was the initial source of the program's funding. Because Texas had no federal lands, it did not become a Reclamation state until 1906, when Congress passed a law including it in the provisions of the Reclamation Act. From 1902 to 1907, Reclamation began about 30 projects in Western states. Then, in 1907, the Secretary of the Interior separated the Reclamation Service from the USGS and created an independent bureau within

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