Oahe Dam dam upstream is Garrison Dam, near Riverdale, North Dakota, and the next dam downstream is Big Bend Dam, near Fort Thompson, South Dakota. In September and October 1804, the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through what is now Lake Oahe while exploring the Missouri River. Oahe Dam was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1944, and construction by the United States Army Corps of Engineers began in 1948. The world’s first rock tunnel boring machine (TBM) was invented in 1952 by James S. Robbins for the Oahe Dam project, which marked the beginning of machines replacing human tunnelers. The
Norris Dam State Park power, providing cheap electricity and allowing the area to modernize to a considerable extent. The city of Norris, located a few miles south of the dam, was developed as a planned city alongside the dam project. The construction of Norris Dam began on October 1, 1933 and its gates were closed on March 4, 1936. The east section of Norris Dam State Park was developed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps as a "demonstration recreational project" of the Tennessee Valley Authority. The CCC built a lodge, several rustic cabins, and an amphitheater. The land was sold to the