New Deal Accomplishment: 6.7 million dams - from small and temporary (95+ percent), to mid-size and multi-use, to large and power-producing

Above: The description for this photograph--taken in May 1940--reads: "Erosion gully, with CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) building a check dam. Monona County, Iowa." From 1933-1942, the CCC built 6,659,223 check dams - 6,341,147 were temporary and 318,076 were permanent. Check dams slow down water run-off after heavy rains, thereby reducing soil erosion and downstream pollution, and also allow water more time to sink into the ground. They are often built in non-fish-bearing gullies, ditches, wet weather streams, and other areas that are dry most of the year. Check dams allow for re-vegetation of eroded areas. Photo above by John Vachon, Farm Security Administration, and provided courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: Members of CCC Company 3747--stationed at Camp SCS [Soil Conservation Service]-Mo-12, Paris, Missouri--installing check dams. These were probably temporary check dams, designed to slow down the velocity of water run-off until vegetation--planted by the CCC--could take hold. Photo from: Civilian Conservation Corps, Official Annual, 1937, Missouri-Kansas District, Seventh Corps Area (Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Direct Advertising Co., 1937). Used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: A more permanent type of check dam, being constructed by enrollees of CCC Company 1742, working out of Camp SCS-Mo-3, Tarkio, Missouri. "When rainfall does not quickly leave watersheds as surface runoff, it has the opportunity to infiltrate, providing soil moisture that supports vegetation and wildlife" ("Restoring Water Flows on Private Land," U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, accessed December 5, 2025). For photo credit, see previous caption.

Above: The CCC also built larger dams, such as this one being constructed by CCC Company 4755, stationed at Camp SCS-27, Marion, Kansas. This dam created Marion County Lake, designed to relieve drought and provide recreation. Today, it is on the National Register of Historic Places. For photo credit, see two captions above.

Above: WPA workers building the Johnsons Pond Dam, Salisbury, Maryland, 1936. This dam was part of a broader project to repair, replace, and improve infrastructure (including an older dam) that had failed during a flood in 1933. The aftermath of the flood had turned a pond "noted for its scenic beauty" into a stagnant "harbor for mosquito breeding" ("Isabella Dam, Pond Project Put Up To WPA," The Salisbury Times, August 17, 1935, p. 1). Photo from the University of Maryland College Park Archives.

Above: Small dams built by the WPA, in Silver Spring Township, Pennsylvania, to facilitate trout fishing, 1937. The WPA built tens of thousands of dams for a variety of purposes, for example, erosion control check dams, flood control dams, and dams to provide recreation, irrigation, and drinking water for nearby areas. In conjunction with the U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey (merged with the Bureau of Fisheries in 1939 to create the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service) the WPA constructed "dams, dikes, and ditches to improve water areas and create marshes, thus promoting the growth of cover and food required by migratory water fowl and shore birds" (Report on Progress of the WPA Program, June 30, 1939, p. 123). Photo from the National Archives.

Above: Most of the dams built by the WPA were on the smaller side, but some were fairly large, such as Rockview Dam in Pennsylvania, built to supply water for a nearby prison. This dam also highlights the risk of over-counting some New Deal projects. The dam was started by the New Deal's Civil Works Administration (CWA), likely continued under the Work Division of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), and then completed by the WPA. Though worked on by three agencies it is obviously just one New Deal project. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: The New Deal's Public Works Administration (PWA) funded many hydro-electric dams, such as the Mansfield Dam, near Austin, Texas. This photo shows the dam under construction between 1937 and 1942. The Mansfield Dam was "intended primarily for flood control but also will generate electric power and provide water for irrigation" ("Marshall Ford Dam Dedicated By Secretary Harold Ickes," The Amarillo Globe (Amarillo, Texas), February 19, 1937, p. 2). Photo from the National Archives.

Above: A map showing the locations of hydro-electric dams receiving PWA funds. From the PWA publication, America Builds: The Record of PWA (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1939).

Above: The PWA-financed Bonneville Dam, between Oregon and Washington, nearing completion, ca. 1938. The electricity produced by the dam provided power for defense industries in the region during World War II. After the war, President Harry Truman said: "Without Grand Coulee [another New Deal project] and Bonneville dams it would have been almost impossible to win this war." Today, the Bonneville Dam is a National Historic Landmark with "18 turbine units and a total generating capacity of over 1,200 megawatts - enough to power 900,000 homes" ("Bonneville Dam and Lake Bonneville," U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, accessed December 5, 2025). Photo from the National Archives.

Above: Dams disrupt ecosystems, and it has been an ongoing challenge to minimize their impact. The description for this photograph, taken ca. 1938, reads: "The man sitting on the platform at the left counts salmon as they use a Bonneville Dam fish ladder to work upstream. These ladders at the Dam were constructed by PWA." Photo from the National Archives.

Above: From a 2013 Army Corps of Engineers visitor brochure, for Bonneville Dam. Scanned from a personal copy.

Above: Another image from the 2013 brochure, showing systems--in addition to the fish ladders--that are designed to allow fish to pass by the Bonneville Dam. Scanned from a personal copy.

Above: The PWA-funded Tygart Dam in Grafton, West Virginia, built primarily to control flooding. The dam created the 10-mile long Tygart Lake which provides numerous recreation opportunities, such as hiking, playgrounds, swimming, water-skiing, fishing, and even scuba diving. The dam was designed to be retrofitted with electric-producing turbines, and recently a firm has committed to do just that ("Agilitas Energy Acquires Hydropower Projects in West Virginia and Maryland," The Well News, June 26, 2025). Photo by Brent McKee, 2012.

Above: The entrance to the PWA-funded Tygart Dam, Grafton, West Virginia. According to a 2013 article by the Army Corps of Engineers, "The Tygart Dam was part of the second wave of President Roosevelt’s New Deal, which was designed to help revitalize struggling communities during the Great Depression... At the peak of construction in May 1936, 1,701 men worked on the structure. Jobs at the dam were in high demand, with men being paid 45 cents an hour for unskilled labor and $1.10 an hour for skilled labor... The main purposes the dam serves are flood control, navigation... public water supply, recreation, land conservation and fish and wildlife preservation... Since its completion, the dam has prevented flood damages in excess of $1.4 billion." The Tygart Dam is on the National Register of Historic Places. Photo by Brent McKee, 2012.

Above: The Dos Bocas Dam, Puerto Rico, 2017. This dam was constructed by the New Deal's Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA), between 1937 and 1942, and was part of a larger initiative to bring more electricity to more Puerto Ricans (for a full discussion on these projects, see pp. 114-137 in Geoff Burrow's book, The Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration: New Deal Public Works, Modernization, and Colonial Reform, University of Florida Press, 2024). The Dos Bocas Dam is currently producing electricity at well below intended capacity, but there are efforts to restore the facility to full electric production (see, e.g., "Hydro Energy Reborn," Cooperativa Hidroeléctrica de la Montaña, accessed December 5, 2025). Photo by an employee of the U.S. Government, provided courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Above: "Spillway, Ashokan Dam," an oil painting by Arnold Wiltz (1889-1937), created while he was in the New Deal's Public Works of Art Project, 1934. The Ashokan Reservoir is located in Ulster County, New York, and helps supply water to New York City. Image from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Dammed if you do, dammed if you don't

Just using statistics from the CCC, WPA, and National Youth Administration (NYA) (see "Statistical Note" below) we arrive at 6.7 million new dams constructed, and over 181,000 other projects to maintain or improve existing dams.

The vast majority of these new dams--temporary check dams--were very beneficial and had few downsides, especially those installed in non-fish-bearing (and normally dry) gullies and ditches. In most instances, these were installed to correct problems created by deforestation, less-than-ideal farming methods, and extreme weather events. They aided soil conservation, plant growth, and wildlife preservation.

Other dams have more mixed records, since the costs--disruptions of ecosystems--can be very significant. There is currently a movement to remove dams that have outlasted their usefulness and let nature return to its pre-dam state in those areas (see, e.g., "Why America Is Removing Thousands of Dams and Letting Rivers Run Free: Excerpt," Resilience, December 5, 2025).

Hydro-electric dams present the dilemma of (a) large amounts of efficient, clean, and relatively inexpensive electricity, vs. (b) their disruption to rivers. To see how contentious debates can be about their existence and removal, see the comments section for the article, "Four Things To Know About the Impacts of Dam Removal on the Klamath River" (American Rivers, May 17, 2024).

Every source of energy has its downsides and detractors, for example: fossil fuels are heating the planet and killing millions (likely making it the worst energy source); nuclear power has caused catastrophes; wind turbines kill birds and bats; solar farms are creating land conflicts; geothermal projects can cause earthquakes; and our increasing use of batteries is raising waste management issues.

Perhaps the best we can do is just keep trying, trying, and trying to make energy--from various sources--more efficient, clean, safe, and equitable. As FDR said, "It is common sense to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something."

(Statistical note: Due to a variety of factors--such as (a) single work projects that spanned over the course of multiple work-relief agencies, (b) more than one agency working on the same project at the same time, and (c) inadequate reporting--calculating the total New Deal work product for any category of projects can range from mildly challenging to extraordinarily difficult. I therefore use several methods--for example, leaving out the work product of one or more agencies--to keep the estimates modest, as opposed to overblown. My earliest blog posts go into these difficulties and methods in more detail.)