Written by Judy Ellinghausen
The five waterfalls on the Missouri River, the namesake of both the City of Great Falls and Cascade County, have served as a source of awe and beauty, and inspiration and bedevilment to many who have witnessed their grandeur over the years. Black Eagle, Colter, Rainbow, Crooked and the Great Falls, in order downriver have figured prominently in area history. Although there are five water falls and five hydroelectric dams in a 12 mile stretch of river, two of the dams are not located at waterfalls.
Black Eagle Falls of the Missouri and Black Eagle Dam, 2011. Photo by Ben Chovanak
Even though the falls on the upper Missouri were well known landmarks to the Plains Indians who utilized the region for countless generations, the first documented encounter with the falls came in mid June of 1805 when the 33 members of the Lewis and Clark expedition passed through the area in search of a continuous waterway to the Pacific.
The previous winter Hidatsa and Mandan Indians had informed the expedition about prominent features along the upstream journey including the great falls, which would indicate they were following the correct waterway. When Meriwether Lewis first approached the great falls on June 13, he could hear the roar from a great distance away and described the falls in his journal as “…the grandest sight I ever beheld…”. Knowing he had found the great falls as described by the Indians, the next day he continued on upriver and described another four waterfalls in his journal. William Clark would later draw a map indicating many topographic details of the area. Lewis’ awe at the beauty of the falls was tempered by the
Rainbow Falls of the Missouri and Rainbow Dam, photos by Dan Ball.
expedition’s need to make an eighteen mile, three week portage around the falls, dragging their canoes and cargo over difficult terrain and facing encounters with wind, hailstones, rattlesnakes, grizzly bears, mosquitoes and prickly pear cactus.
For the next 75 years what would become the Great Falls area remained much as it had been when the Lewis and Clark expedition encountered it in 1805. The fierce reputation of the Blackfeet, who hunted the area, kept trappers, traders and potential settlers away.
In 1853, the Issac Stevens Expedition came through the area, but concluded that the Missouri River Canyon with its waterfalls and ravines should be avoided as a transportation route.
Beginning in 1860 when the first steamboat came up the Missouri River
Crooked Falls of the Missouri and the Rainbow Falls. Forrest Service photo.
from St. Louis until the arrival of the railroad in the late 1880s, Fort Benton claimed the title of the head of navigation on the Missouri River. The great falls and series of other waterfalls, prevented river craft from journeying farther upstream. From Fort Benton, passengers and freight traveled to other Montana Territory destinations by land.
Tourists from Fort Benton frequently traveled to the falls of the Missouri to view the spectacular sights. One of these spectators from Fort Benton was Paris Gibson, a businessman from Minneapolis, who came to the area to pursue the wool business. After reading about the fabled waterfalls in the Lewis and Clark journals, Gibson made his first trip to the great falls in 1880. Two years later he returned to view the series of five waterfalls and quickly recognized the vast waterpower potential of the region. The same falls that had thrilled and bedeviled explorers Lewis and Clark inspired Paris Gibson to quickly set about acquiring land and gaining financial
Great Falls of the Missouri and Ryan Dam Photo by Dan Ball
backing to stake out a townsite between the confluence of the Sun and Missouri Rivers and Black Eagle Falls; the falls which offered the least difficult access. The fledgling community, established in 1884 and called Great Falls, wasted little time harnessing the water power. Black Eagle Dam, built above the 26-foot falls in 1890-91, by Gibson’s Great Falls Water Power and Townsite Company, at a cost of $175,000, became the first hydroelectric dam in Montana. It supplied power to the Boston and Montana Consolidated Copper and Silver Mining Company, later the Anaconda Company, which built a refinery on the north bank of the Missouri near Black Eagle Falls to take advantage of cheap and abundant water power. It also furnished mechanical power, by means of shaft or rope drive, to the Royal Milling Company built on the south side of the river. Originally built as a timber crib structure the dam was rebuilt in concrete in 1926-1927.
Black Eagle Falls of the Missouri, 1883 - Height 30 feet.
Called “Where the Canoe Went Over” by the Blackfeet, Black Eagle Falls was given the name by railroad surveyor Thomas P. Roberts
in 1872. The name comes from the fact that Lewis noted an eagle’s nest in a tree near the falls in 1805, and 67 years later Roberts saw a similar site and thought it fitting to christen it Black Eagle Falls.
About three miles downriver from Black Eagle Falls and located just above Rainbow Falls is Colter Falls. At six feet high it is the smallest of the falls and is now submerged by water backed up behind Rainbow Dam. Around 1882 the falls were named by Paris Gibson in honor of John Colter, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and noted frontiersman in his
Colter Falls – Height 12 feet, courtesy The Hisory Museum
own right.
Rainbow Falls, located three miles below Black Eagle Falls is 47 feet high. Described as “handsome” by Meriwether Lewis, the falls were named by Thomas P. Roberts in 1872, when he was impressed by the rainbow seen in the spray at the base of the falls.
A timber crib dam filled with concrete and rocks was constructed at the top of the falls in 1910 by the Great Falls Power Company. No excavation was required for the dam as solid bedrock was already exposed across the entire site. State-of-the-art transmission lines sent power directly to the mines of Butte and the smelter in Anaconda 150 miles away. In 1917, the height of the dam was increased. A new rubber bladder and concrete structure was installed in 1989.
Rainbow Falls of the Missouri – ca 1890, J.C. Cowles photo, Height 46 feet; width 1,200 feet. Courtesy The History Museum.
Crooked Falls, at 19 feet high and within sight downstream of Rainbow Falls, is the only visible falls left undammed. As its name implies, this unusual falls cascades sideways. It is also known as Horseshoe Falls by locals.
Below Rainbow Falls the river drops at a fairly uniform rate of 140 feet in four and a half miles, and then plunges down 96 feet, forming the Great Falls of the Missouri. This is the greatest drop of the Missouri in its entire length. Harnessing the power of the “Big Falls”, as it was known by locals, started shortly after the Montana Power Company was organized in 1912. Located about eight river miles from Black Eagle Falls and completed in 1916, the dam raised the water level to form a 152-foot falls. Originally called Volta Dam after pioneer Italian physicist Alessandro Volta, the dam was renamed Ryan in 1940 to honor John D. Ryan an organizer and president of the Montana Power Company. Constructed of solid concrete,
Crooked Falls of the Missouri – Height 20 feet. Courtesy The Histroy Museum
and resting on a rock foundation, it was the largest hydroelectric project in the Northwest at the time. Volta/Ryan helped provide electricity for the newly electrified Milwaukee Railroad.
The first three hydroelectric dams, Black Eagle, Rainbow and Volta/Ryan, were all constructed slightly above the falls so as not to obscure the natural falls. The last two Cascade County dams were not built at the site of waterfalls. Morony Dam, farthest downriver, was completed in 1930 by the Montana Power Company. It was named in honor of John J. Morony, one of Montana Power Company’s first directors, and a leading figure in Montana banking and finance was instrumental in the development of power plants in the Great Falls area. Located about 12 river miles from Black Eagle Dam, the 94-foot high, concrete gravity dam was built mainly to provide the extra power needed as a result of statewide industrial growth.
Cochrane Dam, the last of the series to be constructed, is located between
Great Falls of the Missouri – Height 96 feet. A drive of eight miles from the city. Courtesy The History Museum
Crooked Falls and the Great Falls. Built by the Montana Power Company in 1956-58 at a cost of $10 million, the 103-foot high dam was built to meet the growth in residential power demand. It was named in honor of Harry H. Cochrane, the Chief Consulting Engineer of the Montana Power Company who supervised the design of Ryan and Morony dams and a redesign of Black Eagle Dam. Once Cochrane was built the combined electrical capacity of the five dams totaled 220,000 kilowatts.
With a natural fall of over 400 feet in less than ten miles, the Missouri River near Great Falls was ideal for electric power development. True to Paris Gibson’s vision, the falls of the Missouri powered the copper refinery in Great Falls, which employed thousands of workers for almost 80 years and provided electricity to the copper mines in Butte and the smelter in Anaconda. In addition, the dams lit communities throughout Central Montana and electrified the Milwaukee Railroad. Is it any wonder that Great Falls became known as the “Electric City”?
