The Largest Dry Bed Dam East of the Mississippi River

The Largest Dry Bed Dam East of the Mississippi River. . , (left panel) , Looking Left – Upstream , A Dry Dam… A Protected River , Why is there no reservoir upstream of the dam? The Genesee River Basin provides beautiful scenic, natural, recreational, cultural, geological and ecological benefits to the area. The Genesee River Protection Act of 1989 was enacted to protect and preserve these benefits. As a result, Mount Morris does not maintain an upstream reservoir. The dam's only function is to store floodwaters for protection of communities downstream. As flood conditions in the river subside, water is later released downstream. Thus, the upstream side is kept "dry" to maximize water storage capacity. , Backed-up Water , Wondering why there is more water in front of the dam than behind it? Water in front of the dam is backed up by a small weir type dam that crosses the river at the power-station located downstream near the town of Mount Morris. The station produced electricity until the year 2000., Debris Boom , Debris floating down the river is caught by a log boom that floats on the water and is anchored to the gorge walls. This is done to keep the debris from going through the conduits. A contractor removes the debris with a chipper, excavator and bulldozer every year. The debris is loaded into semi-trailers that are very often too heavy to pull with a tractor. Heavier semi-trailers must be pushed up the road with a bulldozer., (right panel) , Right - Looking Downstream , No Power? , Mount Morris Dam was authorized under the Flood Control Act of 1944. Any dam constructed under this act was required to have the capability to produce electricity. Mount Morris Dam does not produce electricity, but could have the capability if necessary. However, to produce enough pressure through the power generators to create the electricity, the pool behind the dam would need to be maintained at a height of 100 feet. A pool this size would cause irreparable damage to the total environment of the Genesee Gorge and reduce the flood storage capacity severely., Controlling the Waters Flow , The water coming through the dam is powerful and needs to be tamed before it flows down river. The stilling basin consists of 73, eight-foot high concrete battles set in two separate rows that absorb the waters energy, reduce its velocity, and control the flow. The water in this area is approximately 10 feet deep. The training walls located along the sides of the stilling basin are designed to keep the water "trained" towards the stilling basin before going down stream. If not for these structures, discharged currents would erode the stream banks in the area where the dam ties into the gorge wall and compromise the dam structure.