New Deal in the Big Sky

Fort Peck, Montana

In the vastness of Montana's high plains, making a lasting impression on the landscape requires the herculean efforts of many men and machines.

That's what took place here between 1933 and 1940 when the world's largest earth-filled dam was constructed.

President Franklin Roosevelt personally approved construction of Fort Peck Dam on the Missouri River during the height of the Great Depression, and the project provided much-needed work for legions of unemployed men.

"At the peak of construction in 1936, 10,500 Depression-bled workers were hired to plug the Missouri River," writes John B. Wright in Montana Places. "A trestle spanned the site, and railroad cars dumped countless loads of fill into the valley bottom. The government built a centrally planned town called Fort Peck complete with a 1,600-seat movie theater."

Fort Peck Dam

Standing 249 feet high and 21,432 feet long, the dam is so colossal that its enormity is difficult to comprehend. When filled to capacity, it impounds a reservoir of 247,000 acres. Fort Peck Reservoir offers almost limitless opportunities for boating and fishing. It has "an excellent and diverse fishery noted for northern pike, walleye, lake trout, shovelnose sturgeon, sauger, burbot, paddlefish, and channel catfish. The rare pallid sturgeon is found here as well," according to Montana Places.

Fort Peck Townsite

The Fort Peck Dam Powerhouse Museum offers a fossil record of the plants and creatures of the late Cretaceous period to help explain the geological history of the river. The lobby has models and exhibits which tell the story of the building, operation, and benefits of the dam. Tours of the massive power plant are also available.

The Fort Peck townsite crowns a hill overlooking the dam. "The anachronistic Fort Peck Hotel dominates the town," writes Genevieve Rowles in Adventure Guide to Montana. "Many structures remain from the 1930s, incongruous reminders of a time when the woodsy Adirondacks-style was synonymous with the boonies, whether indigenous to it or not."

Fort Peck Theatre

The Fort Peck Summer Theatre performs each summer in the beautiful chalet-style all-wood theater that remains from the dam construction days. A mix of professional and local amateur actors present at least three presentations from mid-June to late August to audiences drawn from hundreds of square miles. Reservations are not needed; tickets may be purchased at the door.

Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2019, the Fort Peck Summer Theatre is managed by the Fort Peck Fine Arts Council, PO Box 973, Glasgow, MT 59230. Call for more information at 406-228-9216 or visit their website.