Fort Peck - Alphabet Soup Solution

Before the Great Depression Montanans were already experiencing hard times after years of drought and hordes of grasshoppers made the promise of homesteading crumble like the earth in their fields. Roosevelt's New Deal agencies such as the WPA, the CCC and the PWA came to the rescue by way of the construction of the Fort Peck Dam in near Nashua in northwest Montana.

Fort Peck Dam has many superlatives associated with it. It is the tallest dam on the Missouri. It is the largest hydraulically filled dam in the US and creates Lake Peck, which is the 5th largest dammed lake in the US. 

To accommodate workers the town of Fort Peck was created near the dam site. Dormitories that would house up to 6000 men were built. A large recreation hall and a theater that showed movies 24 hours a day were constructed along with a hospital and a hotel. 

This is the theater building today, where we attended a performance of "Hank Williams - Lost Highway"

This is one dorm building under construction

But there was a problem. The dormitories were meant for men, only. Many men traveled to Fort Peck for work with their families. Several boom towns sprung up around the dam construction site for families. 

Many of the families lived in small, crude shanties that barely kept them warm in the frigid winters. 

Working on the dam was grueling. At the height of construction over 10,000 men were working in 3 shifts over 24 hours each day. In all, close to 50,000 men were employed by the project. There were 61 fatalities in the years of construction, eight caused by a landslide.

Vickie & Kaitlyn below Fort Peck Dam

The dam has an excellent interpretive center. Some of the center deals with local flora and fauna, and even includes some displays of live fish. There is an impressive geologic and paleontology exhibit of fossils, as well as information about construction of the dam and life around Fort Peck.