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Photostory #373A: Quebec's Colossal Power Project: The Manicouagan Dam

Photographers
Chris Lund
Maker
National Film Board of Canada
Release Date
September 22, 1964
Collection
CMCP fonds
Credit Line
Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography fonds, National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives
Main Text
Foremost among the seven hydro-electric wonders of the world is Canada's gigantic power project - Manicouagan damsite No. 5 - now rising up in awesome majesty deep in the rugged scenery of wilderness Quebec. Part of a multi-dam engineering feat to harness more than seven million horsepower, this modern concrete colossus will have a towering central arch big enough to shelter Montreal's 600-foot-high Place Ville Marie skyscraper. Already, with diversion tunnels closed, this man-made complex massif, welded with engineering mastery to the sub-surface bedrock is taking the first strain of what eventually will become an 800-square-mile inland sea upstream. As a continuous procession of 22-ton buckets of concrete passes high overhead on cableways and 3,500 men toil in concerted effort, the 4,000-foot-long, 703-foot-high dam grows apace to meet its 1969 completion date. At that time Canada will be richer by another 5,000,000 kilowatts of vital power - made possible by the technology of Quebec's skillful hydro-engineers.