POTD: Water Comb #2

Water Comb #2
Ft. Peck, Montana
2022

Another view of the water comb at Ft. Peck, with one of the two powerhouses at the dam in the background.

4 thoughts on “POTD: Water Comb #2”

  1. This photo makes me think of the Margaret Bourke-White photo on the cover of the first Life magazine issue. In that photo there are no power lines or poles as there are here. And I wonder whether the dam was not completely finished to the point of connecting the power grid when she made that photograph. Do you know anything more about it?

    Fun to see this web page about that first story in the first issue:
    https://www.life.com/history/lifes-first-ever-cover-story-building-the-fort-peck-dam-1936/

    1. Margaret Bourke-White’s photo was actually of the overflow spillway for the dam which is maybe a half-mile or more from the two powerhouses at Ft. Peck. My recollection is that the powerhouses were not constructed until some time after the dam itself was finished. Or at least that’s true for the second powerhouse anyway, which is of a similar but more modern architectural design compared to the first one.

  2. Thanks for the clarification, Larry! Would be cool to see the dam in person as you have. I imagine it is so large that it’s difficult to photograph, to say nothing of access restrictions.

    1. The dam itself is very accessible as the highway goes right across it. It is not particularly photo worthy though as it’s just an impressively long dike of earth. The powerhouses and the spillway are more interesting and manageable photographically, and would be more so if it weren’t for the access restrictions you mentioned. Just out of view between me and the powerhouse in my photos is a big tall security fence with ominous signs on it. That is not an issue Bourke-White had to deal with I don’t imagine.

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