Water Under the Dam

Since today is Cowboy's birthday he wanted to take a drive to Ft. Peck since they are letting water out of the spillway.  It was such a breathtaking site.  That water was running so fast!  They are letting out about 50,000 cubic feet per second.  Here are some pictures Bill took. 

Looking from the lake side.



This is one gate that we are seeing.  Cowboy held my hand and told me that I would hate myself if I didn't walk over to the fence and look over and see all the water.  He was right but you would think I was standing on a cliff and there was no fence and the sound of the rushing water would pull me in!



This is the water coming through.

These two pictures are out of order, but you know computers!  Ugh!  It won't let me make this one larger.  Cowboy said, "It needs to be larger."  I know, but how?  when it is too late to call my personal tech support for computers!  Ha!  Oh, I finally figured it out!!

Here are all 16 gates open at the same time.  Impressive.



Looking down the spillway from the top of the bridge.  It was all I could do to stand there and look.  Bill had to take the pictures.  The water was moving so fast that it was mesmerizing.  It felt like the water could pull me in at any second and it was so FAST.  It made me queasy in my stomach.  I don't think that I would have made a very good sailor. 

At the bottom.

A closeup of the bottom.  Do you suppose it is eroding some of the dirt down there?  There is a lot of force behind that water.  I am thinking of all those people down river.  What about their ranches, towns?  This has been the most unusual year for moisture.  First we had snow since October and then when we still had snow on the north side of the foothills, it started raining and really hasn't let up much.  Are we complaining.  Not loudly as it is filling dams and rivers and reservoirs that haven't had water for a really long time.  That rain is soaking into the ground like we haven't seen and it is over due.  Cowboy says we could be three weeks from a drought because as we know this is Montana! 





Cowboy had to lean over the bridge and take another good picture.  For a man that is afraid of the water, this does not bother him in the least.  He trusts that cement to hold him!  Imagine!

This our last picture.  It is gorgeous.  There wasn't any wind and the lake looked like a mirror.  One can have a special love for this lake, but she can turn on you just like that!  There is so much turbulent water that is unseen going to the spillway.  We heard there is a warning for boats not to go into that portion of the lake because they could be sucked to the gates because of the undercurrent.

This is something we have never seen before and probably won't see again in our lifetime.