Archives West Finding Aid

The construction of Fort Peck Dam near Glasgow, Montana, was undertaken as one of the public works programs of the Franklin Roosevelt administration. Fort Peck, Public Works Project No. 30 was designed, in large part, to provide jobs and stimulate the depressed economy. The Army Corps of Engineers recommended the building of an earth-filled dam to provide flood control and to improve navigation on the Missouri River. On October 14, 1933, the Roosevelt administration announced that work would start on the Fort Peck Dam. At the height of construction (1935-1936) approximately 10,000 men were employed by the project. As a result of the population influx, eighteen shanty towns sprang up around the construction camp. The original project proposed a dam over four miles in length and a mile wide at its base, the world's largest earth-filled dam. Four mile-long diversion tunnels were built extending for a length of over a mile to carry controlled flows of water around the dam and a spillway capable of discharging 250,000 cubic feet of water was constructed. By 1938 it became apparent that the project had tremendous potential for hydroelectric power and generators were added to the construction. The Glasgow Courier, under the editorship of Sam Gilluly, was one of the larger daily newspapers in eastern Montana, and it covered from close range the planning, construction, and operation of the dam.