With round-the-clock efforts, Shasta Dam received the last bucket of concrete on Dec. 22, 1944 solidifying the keystone of the Central Valley Project
On the left is the original 1944 photo of the last bucket. On the right is the current staff with the dam in the background.
SHASTA LAKE, Calif. – Today, the Bureau of Reclamation recognizes the 80th anniversary of the last bucket of concrete poured in the making of Shasta Dam. The historic photo of the last bucket of concrete was recreated with the current Shasta Dam team in honor of the original dam workers. Workers began pouring concrete on July 8, 1940, and continued seven days a week/24-hours a day until the last bucket was poured on Dec. 22, 1944.
The story of Shasta Dam begins with its construction from 1938-1945. Frank Crowe was chosen by Pacific Constructors Inc. as their choice for job superintendent. Crowe had most recently finished his job as superintendent of the Hoover Dam project. Crowe oversaw 4,700 people and the construction of the second largest concrete dam in the country, at the time.
Construction began with the excavation of millions of tons of granite from the hillsides at the dam site. Workers used dynamite, diamond tipped drills, and sheer muscle to clear out giant keyways, allowing them to place concrete deep into the hills on either side of the river giving the dam a solid foundation.
More than twelve million tons of gravel were needed to build the massive dam; an abundant supply was found along the Sacramento River in Redding. To transport the gravel, the world’s longest conveyor belt was built to deliver the gravel to the old mining town of Coram, just downstream of the dam site. The belt was 9.6 miles long and operated 24-hours a day for several years.
Concrete was delivered to blocks using a huge cableway system. The headtower was connected to seven smaller towers by cables which carried large concrete buckets. These buckets were filled with freshly mixed concrete from the batch plant located at the base of the headtower and then delivered quickly to crews waiting below.
Huge eight cubic yard buckets full of freshly mixed concrete were delivered to waiting teams of workers who compacted the concrete using pneumatic vibrators to ensure each of the blocks was as dense and solid as possible.
Workers labored 24-hours a day placing concrete in blocks that were 50-feet by 50-feet each, five feet in depth. By the time they had finished four and a half years later, they had placed 15 million tons of concrete and built 16,900 blocks. It is these blocks that give Shasta Dam its strength.
There is enough concrete in Shasta Dam to build a sidewalk 3-feet-wide and 4-inches-thick all the way around the earth at the equator. The dam is 602 feet high, 883 feet thick and 3,460 feet in length. Shasta Dam is the keystone of the Central Valley Project that serves the water needs 500 miles south to Bakersfield, Calif.
“For the past 80-years many have worked at Shasta Dam and called this area home. Descendants of the original dam building are still living in the area and some even work here today,” said Elizabeth Hadley, Area Manager for the Northern California Area Office. “It is an honor to be a part of this legacy and to continue the mission of keeping the water flowing and the power generating,” added Hadley.
Shasta Dam was built and is maintained for the people by the people.
