Bonneville Dam Oregon-1938: View Of Dam Releasing Water On A Clear Sunny Day

Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit

1930s 8mm footage of Bonneville Dam releasing water supports documentary, museum, and educational requests for New Deal-era infrastructure and hydroelectric public works visuals.

Period detail

The concrete spillway, control towers, black-and-white 8mm image, and 1938 metadata place the view in the late 1930s at Bonneville Dam in Oregon.

Home-movie behavior

The clip has a visitor-shot viewpoint from across the water, holding on the dam as spillway discharge churns below without staged action or narration.

What appears in frame

Visible elements include the concrete dam face, open spillway gates, control towers, turbulent water, river surface, tree-covered hillside, and dark film-frame edges.

Film character

The footage shows 8mm grain, slight vignetting, soft contrast, and minor frame weave that give the infrastructure view a physical home-movie texture.

Edit role

An editor could use this as a brief establishing insert, infrastructure cutaway, transition into hydroelectric history, or visual beat for 1930s travel footage.

Historical context

The view documents a public works structure in operation, showing the scale of controlled river flow against a forested Columbia River Gorge setting.

Research note

No people, logos, or brands are visible, but users should still confirm film copyright status and any location or government-works considerations for their use.

Research search match

Useful search matches include 1938 8mm Bonneville Dam, Oregon dam spillway, hydroelectric infrastructure home movie, and 1930s public works footage.

Archive pairing path

Pair first with footage from the same reel, then other 1938 Bonneville Dam or Oregon travel scenes, then broader dam, river, and public-works material.