Part of the Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP), the Flaming Gorge Dam on the Green River - a major tributary of the Colorado - holds over 3,000,000 acre-feet of water and supplies enough power to serve about 50,000 households in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nebraska, and Nevada. Construction of the dam began in 1958 and was completed in 1962, when the waters of the Green River began to flood Flaming Gorge Canyon and the surrounding rapids and ranchlands and affecting the ecosystem of the river.
The resulting Flaming Gorge Reservoir and National Recreation Area extends from Dutch John, Utah - originally founded in 1958 as a community to house dam construction workers and future employees - into southwestern Wyoming. Once the reservoir was filled, the first power generator at Flaming Gorge Powerplant was activated by President John F. Kennedy on September 27, 1963. The dam was officially dedicated by First Lady Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson on August 17, 1964.
The Flaming Gorge Bureau of Reclamation video (1963) consists of a VHS dub of a film created by the United States Bureau of Reclamation celebrating the completion of Flaming Gorge Dam, located about 10 miles west of the current town of Dutch John, Utah. The film follows the history of the dam from its constcution - beginning in 1958 - to the ceremonioal start of its first generator by President John F. Kennedy in September 1963. Flaming Gorge Dam forms Flaming Gorge Reservoir, which extends 91 miles along the Green River from eastern Utah into southern Wyoming. This item has been digitized and is available to view on DVD.
Audio-visual materials can be fragile and require specialized equipment to play back. For this reason, access to audio-visual materials is provided through digital copies, and it might take longer to provide access to items that are not yet digitized. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law, condition of the material, or by donor.
It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.
Permission to publish material from the Flaming Gorge Bureau of Reclamation video must be obtained from the Special Collections Multimedia Archivist.
Processed by Roy Webb in 1998.
See also the Flaming Gorge photograph collection (P0540) and the Williams family ranch home movies (A1072), which feature areas now flooded by Flaming Gorge Reservoir.
Produced by the United States Bureau of Reclamation, this government film celebrates the Flaming Gorge Dam project, outlines the proposed benefits of the dam, and chronicles the history of the area and of the dam's construction. The film features footage of the last bucket of concrete poured and of President John F. Kennedy starting the dam's first power generator. 25 minutes.