SHASTA DAM, Calif. — Team members at the Shasta Dam wished a happy birthday to the second largest concrete dam in the United States on Dec. 22, the day marks it’s 80th anniversary since the final cement bucket was poured on the massive structure.
Construction of the monument, lead by engineer Frank Crowe, involved several feats of engineering. From the start they had to build at the time, the world’s largest conveyor belt. It went from Turtle Bay to the dam’s site for carrying aggregate about 9.6 miles. That cement was then constantly being directed in massive, multi-ton cement buckets 24/7 from the start of construction in 1938, to it’s completion on Dec. 22nd, 1944.
Despite it’s size the dam’s team shared construction crews finished ahead of schedule. Sending out power from the newly installed turbines to San Francisco’s military shipyards 80 years ago. Showing a level of dedication the dam’s crew celebrates even now.