Bonneville, << BON uh `vihl,` >> Dam lies on the Columbia River about 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of Portland, Oregon. The dam is 3,463 feet (1,056 meters) long. It supplies electric power and helps control the river’s flooding.
Bonneville Dam has two power plants. One plant has 10 generators that can produce 526,200 kilowatts of electric power. The other plant has 10 generators that can produce 558,000 kilowatts of power. The Bonneville Power Administration of the United States Department of Energy markets this power, mostly in the Pacific Northwest. It sells excess hydroelectric power to California utilities.
There are two locks in Bonneville Dam. The original lock is no longer used. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and thus preserved by the U.S. government. A larger navigation lock opened in Bonneville Dam in 1993. It is 86 feet (26 meters) wide and 675 feet (206 meters) long. Ships use it to move between the Columbia River and the dam’s reservoir. This lock, and others, allows ships to transport cargo about 465 miles (748 kilometers) from the Pacific Ocean to Lewiston, Idaho.
Waterways called fish ladders allow salmon, steelhead, and other migratory fish to swim around the dam on their way upstream to spawn. Special passages built into the dam let the spawned fish pass by the dam on their way to the ocean.
The U.S. government began building the dam in 1933 and dedicated it in 1937. The dam was named for Benjamin de Bonneville, a U.S. Army captain.
