The hydroelectric generation process was discovered in 1831 by British experimental scientist Michael Faraday. The Spillway Albeni Falls Dam wasn't designed for water to flow over the spillway, but to flow under a series of 10 gates that are lifted and lowered by the gantry crane on top of the spillway. In this photo, you see all of the gates in the closed position. In times of high flood danger, all 10 gates are opened and the spillway is in the free-flow condition. In this configuration the spillway can release a maximum of 350,000 cubic feet per second of water.
Flood control continues through spring when snowmelt is coming down off the mountains.
In summer, the spillway gates are closed to bring Lake Pend Oreille up to the normal summer range of 2,062.0 to 2,062.5 feet above sea level for recreational and ecological purposes.