Crystal Dam Crystal Dam Crystal Dam is a double curvature, concrete thin arch dam located six miles downstream from Morrow Point Dam on the Gunnison River in Colorado, United States. Crystal Dam is the newest of the three dams in Curecanti National Recreation Area; construction on the dam was finished in 1976. The dam impounds Crystal Reservoir. Crystal Dam and reservoir are part of the Bureau of Reclamation's Wayne N. Aspinall Unit of the Colorado River Storage Project, which retains the waters of the Gunnison River and its tributaries for agricultural and municipal use in the American Southwest. The dam's primary purpose
Shasta Dam behind it, the dam was completed to its final shape and the last bucket of concrete was poured on January 2, 1945. During this time, the Shasta Dam powerplant, with a capacity of 379 MW, was also under construction. Five steel penstocks, each in diameter, were installed to provide water to drive the turbines in the power station. The powerhouse was a reinforced concrete structure standing above the river; electricity was first generated there in 1944. The dam was completed at the dawn of 1945. When Shasta was completed, it was the second highest dam in the world – surpassed