On the third day of our trip in Northern BC we were on our way to Fort St. John (actually Charlie Lake just north of the city). It was a long day of driving, but I knew that the one stop I really wanted to make was at the WAC Bennett Dam. It was a bit of a detour and we even debated about going for a minute, but in the end I knew I’d regret it if we didn’t stop. We were all glad we did in the end!
In BC all of our power comes from water. We don’t talk about our electric bills up here, we talk about our Hydro bills, because our power company is called BC Hydro, after the fact that our power is hydro-electric. That of course means dams. The WAC Bennett Dam is the largest in BC, and was built in 1967. It is one of the largest earth-filled structures in the world. According to the info we saw at the Visitor’s Centre (one of the best I’ve been to), if you took the fill and started to build a wall 1m wide by 2m high, you could build a wall from Vancouver to Halifax. It took 12 years to complete. That’s a lot of dirt!! We had a lot of fun at the Visitor’s Centre, and even got to drive across the massive dam (no stopping though!) and back, to look down at the canyon below. This dam supplies 25% of the power in the province, which wasn’t hard to believe given its size!
A great stop on our trip, and an important part to understanding the development and history of this massive province.
oh wow, this is unbelievably huge!! I had no idea, amazed by the example you shared on how big it is, Vancouver to Halifax? Absolutely amazing. Where DID they put all that dirt? Hmmm?
So glad you perservered & also to show us this adventure.
By: 1treblemaker1 on November 16, 2012
at 12:53 pm
What an impressive sight!!!! Well worth a visit! Ros
By: snoopydog365 on November 18, 2012
at 9:46 am
Whoops! Wrong log-in! Ros
By: snoopydog on November 18, 2012
at 9:50 am
Wow. That’s impressive to say the least. I remember when I was a child, we visited Hoover Dam and I just couldn’t take in the size of the thing…I’d probably have a similar problem with this one.
By: Rachel on November 18, 2012
at 1:23 pm
wow. so very amazing!
By: melissa on November 19, 2012
at 7:21 am