page_title: Moses-Saunders Power Dam
section_title: Design and operation
hierarchical_section_title: Moses-Saunders Power Dam / Design and operation
caption_attribution_description: English: Control room at the RH Saunders Generating Station. English: Poste de commande de la centrale RH Saunders.
context_page_description: The Moses-Saunders Power Dam, short for Robert Moses-Robert H. Saunders Power Dam, is a dam on the Saint Lawrence River straddling the border between the United States and Canada. It is located between Massena in New York and Cornwall in Ontario. The dam supplies water to two adjacent hydroelectric power generating stations, the United States' 912 MW St. Lawrence-Franklin D. Roosevelt Power Project and Canada's 1,045 MW R.H. Saunders Generating Station. Constructed between 1954 and 1958, the dam created Lake St. Lawrence and is part of a larger project called the Saint Lawrence Seaway. Aside from providing significant amounts of renewable power, the dam regulates the St. Lawrence River and affords passage for the navigation of large vessels. Despite the enormous economic advantages to the dam, it required the relocation of 6,500 people and caused harm to the surrounding environment. Positive efforts have been made over the years to improve shoreline and fish habitats.
context_section_description: The 195.5 ft (60 m) tall and 3,212 ft (979 m) long dam is situated in between the Canadian shore at Cornwall and New York's Barnhart Island. To create the reservoir, the Long Sault Dam was constructed 3.5 mi (6 km) upstream in between Barnhart Island and one of the Long Sault Islands. In between the Long Sault Island the New York shore is the Eisenhower and Snell Locks. Located 7.5 mi (12 km) upstream is the Massena Intake. Further securing the reservoir is 10.9 mi (18 km) of dikes. The Long Sault Dam, completely in the U.S., is 2,960 ft (902 m) long and 109 ft (33 m) high. It serves as a spillway to pass flood waters on the river. The Massena Intake is 721 ft (220 m) long and 108 ft (33 m) high. It provides water for industry and local civil consumption. The power station at the Moses-Saunders Dam contains 32 turbine generators. Ontario Power Generation operates units 1-16 and the New York Power Authority operates 17-32. The Canadian side of the power station, R.H. Saunders Generating Station, contains 16 x 65.3 MW fixed-pitch Kaplan turbine-generators and the U.S. power station, St. Lawrence-FDR contains 16 x 57 MW vertical fixed-pitch Kaplan turbine-generators. The dam affords the turbines 81 ft (25 m) of hydraulic head. The Eisenhower and Snell Locks can pass ships up to 730 ft (223 m) in length and 76 ft (23 m) wide a height of 38 ft (12 m) (Eisenhower) and 43 ft (13 m) (Snell).
  Further Reading
  Macfarlane, Daniel (2014) Negotiating a River: Canada, the US, and the Creation of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Vancouver: UBC Press.
caption: R.H. Saunders control room.
exif: {"Image Make": "EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY", "Image Model": "KODAK Z885 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "480", "Image YResolution": "480", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "504", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "10876", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6448", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/50", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:02:19 09:38:59", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:02:19 09:38:59", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "17/3", "EXIF ApertureValue": "3", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "377/50", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3264", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2448", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "10572", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "400", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "36", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}