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The Tallest Dam (Tap to read)

10/15/2022

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Arrowrock Dam may not seem like an engineering marvel, but it was the tallest dam in the world at one time. It didn’t hold that distinction for long. At 348, 350, or 351 feet—different writers used different rulers, apparently—it held that title from 1915 until 1932 when the Owyhee Dam in Oregon knocked it off its pedestal by about 50 feet.
 
The postcard below trumpeted the dam’s status by calling it the “highest dam.” I don’t know what dam would be the highest in the world, since “highest” refers to elevation. In Idaho the dam at the highest elevation would probably be Palisades Dam. Anyway, they meant tallest.
 
Arrowrock doesn’t even make the Wikipedia list of tall dams today. The tallest on that list is the Jinping Dam in China, at 1,001 feet.
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    Author, Speaker

    Rick Just has been writing about Idaho history since 1989 when he wrote and recorded scripts for the Idaho Centennial Commission’s daily radio program, Idaho Snapshots. His latest book on Idaho history is Images of America, Idaho State Parks. Rick also writes a regular column for the Idaho Press.

    Rick does public presentations on Idaho's state park history and the history of the Morrisite war for the Idaho Humanities Council's Speakers Bureau.
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    Check out Rick's history of Idaho State Parks.
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