7-547: Madison Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Madison River in Madison County, Montana , in the southwestern part of the state. The timber-crib dam was constructed in 1906 as a replacement for a similar 1901 dam and powerhouse on the same site. The dam is 39 feet (12 m) high and 257 feet (78 m) long at its crest, placed into the narrows of Bear Trap Canyon. As one of eight PPL Montana hydro projects, it has
14-409: A generating capacity of 9 megawatts (12,000 hp) in a run-of-the-river configuration. Montana Power Company acquired the dam in 1912 as part of a merger, PPL Corporation purchased it in 1997 and sold it to NorthWestern Corporation in 2014. The reservoir it creates, Ennis Lake , is 2.6 miles (4.2 km) long and has a maximum storage capacity of 42,053 acre-foot (51,872,000 m). The lake
21-475: Is a class I river in Montana for the purposes of access for recreational use . The Madison River is widely regarded as one of the finest trout fisheries in the world. It is classified as a blue ribbon fishery in Montana, where fly fisherman target brown trout , rainbow trout , cutthroat trout , and mountain whitefish . Grizzly bears and wolves reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park roam
28-731: Is located on the Madison at Three Forks. In its upper reaches in Gallatin County, Montana , the Hebgen Dam forms Hebgen Lake . In its middle reaches in Madison County, Montana , the Madison Dam forms Ennis Lake and provides hydroelectric power . In 1959, the 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake formed Quake Lake just downstream from Hebgen Dam. Downstream from Ennis, the Madison flows through Bear Trap Canyon, known for its class IV-V whitewater . The Bear Trap Canyon section
35-545: Is part of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness area. The river was named in July ;1805 by Meriwether Lewis at Three Forks. The central fork of the three, it was named for U.S. Secretary of State James Madison , who later succeeded Thomas Jefferson as President in 1809. The western fork, the largest, was named for President Jefferson and the east fork for Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin . The Madison
42-649: Is relatively shallow and warms significantly during the summer, which tends to decrease fish populations. The lake supports recreational fishing for brown trout and rainbow trout, camping, boating, and white-water rafting in Bear Trap Canyon downstream (north) of the dam. Madison River The Madison River is a headwater tributary of the Missouri River , approximately 183 miles (295 km) long, in Wyoming and Montana . Its confluence with
49-887: The Jefferson and Gallatin rivers near Three Forks, Montana forms the Missouri River. The Madison rises in Teton County in northwestern Wyoming at the confluence of the Firehole and Gibbon rivers, a location in Yellowstone National Park called Madison Junction . It first flows west, then north through the mountains of southwestern Montana to join the Jefferson and the Gallatin rivers at Three Forks. The Missouri River Headwaters State Park
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