page_title: Ross Dam
section_title: Third phase
hierarchical_section_title: Ross Dam / History / Third phase
caption_attribution_description: English: Dam on the Skagit River under construction.
context_page_description: Ross Dam is a 540-foot-high, 1,300-foot-long concrete thin arch dam across the Skagit River, forming Ross Lake. The dam is in Washington state, while Ross Lake extends 23 miles north to British Columbia, Canada. Both dam and reservoir are located in Ross Lake National Recreation Area, is bordered on both sides by Stephen Mather Wilderness and combined with Lake Chelan National Recreation Area they make up North Cascades National Park Complex.
  Built as part of the Skagit River Hydroelectric Project by Seattle City Light, the dam is part of a series of three dams through the Skagit Gorge that were built primarily to generate hydroelectricity from the massive elevation drop of over 1,000 feet from the Canada-U.S. border to Newhalem. The other two dams are Diablo Dam, directly below Ross Dam, and Gorge Dam, further downstream. Ross Dam can generate up to 460 MW of electricity. Hydro-electric dams provide approximately 92 percent of the electricity used in Seattle.
context_section_description: In 1939, superintendent of the Skagit Hydroelectric Project James Delmage Ross has died, so Ruby Dam was renamed Ross Dam in his memory. In 1943 a consortium of contractors including Morrison-Knudsen, which had previously participated in construction of Hoover Dam, began new construction on the dam ultimately raising its height to 475 feet (145 m).  Energy demands during World War II coincided with an energy shortage in Seattle, requiring that the dam be constructed quickly, but the dam did not generate any power until many years after the war ended. This third phase was finished in 1949, to 540 feet (160 m). This height would cause the reservoir at full pool to extend slightly past the Washington-British Columbia border. The reservoir, however, did not fill past the national border until 1954. As compensation for the flooded land, which totals about 500 acres (2.0 km²), Seattle City Light paid the Province of British Columbia $250,000, as well as an annual payment of $5,000. Two years prior to the reservoir reaching full pool, construction of the Ross Dam power plant began, and two turbines first went on line in 1956, generating 360 MW of power. Another two generators were added later, increasing the capacity to its current 460 MW.
caption: Ross Dam third construction phase, 1947
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