Bonneville Dam Oregon-1938: The Camera Pans Across The Dam And Captures The Water Pouring Through Spillways

$149 · CommercialDirect license: commercial and editorial use. $149 flat from Stockfilm. Royalty-free worldwide license for commercial and editorial use, delivered as the restored 4K master.

Year1938
Decade1930s
LocationBonneville Dam, Oregon, United States
Duration6s
Price$149 USD
Collection1938 Bonneville Dam Oregon

$149 · CommercialDirect license: commercial and editorial use

$149 USD flat · royalty-free worldwide · 4K restored master (MP4)

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Stockfilm licenses the rights identified in the applicable agreement. Additional use-specific review may be required. See the Licensing Guide and Archive Integrity.

The Camera Pans Across The Dam And Captures The Water... — Clip Details

Shot on 8mm film in 1938, this vintage home movie captures the Bonneville Dam in Oregon, with water powerfully pouring through its spillways. The camera pans across the massive concrete structure, revealing its engineering scale against a backdrop of forested mountains. The grainy black-and-white footage, framed by the film's natural vignette, evokes a sense of mid-20th century industrial progress and archival Americana. This historic clip offers authentic, unfiltered views of early 20th-century infrastructure and hydroelectric power.

Licensing & Technical Details

Original Format: 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie
Shot details: ExteriorBlack & white
Resolution: 4K restored master (MP4)
License: Direct license: commercial and editorial use
Delivery: Instant Digital Download
Duration: 6s
Price: $149 USD
Clip ID: 127260470

Rights & Clearance

$149 · Commercial Direct license: commercial and editorial use. $149 flat from Stockfilm. Royalty-free worldwide license for commercial and editorial use, delivered as the restored 4K master.

No recognizable people, logos, or music are flagged. Lower-risk for commercial use, subject to your own review.

People visible: No
Logos / trademarks: No
Audible music: No

Flags come from automated catalog metadata, not a legal opinion. The source is an original 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie reel. For high-stakes commercial use, request a full rights review.

Source & Documentation

Source reel: Reel record not linked for this clip
Date: 1938 Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Date evidence: Catalog estimate based on source metadata and visual or technical evidence; no reel-level note is linked.
Location: Bonneville Dam, Oregon, United States Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Location evidence: Catalog estimate based on source metadata and visual evidence such as signage, landmarks, or terrain; no reel-level note is linked.
Licensing route: Direct license available from Stockfilm

Confidence labels are defined on Archive Integrity. Fields without a recorded value are shown as not recorded rather than assumed.

Open Clip Documentation Record Request source information

Topics & Keywords

Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit: 1930s 8mm footage of Bonneville Dam supports documentary requests for New Deal-era infrastructure, hydroelectric power, and Pacific Northwest engineering cutaways.
Period detail: The concrete spillway gates, black-and-white 8mm stock, and visitor vantage point fit the supplied 1938 Bonneville Dam context.
Home-movie behavior: The clip has a visitor-shot perspective, panning across the dam from a fixed public viewpoint without staging or visible performers.
What appears in frame: Visible elements include the dam face, spillway openings, white water discharge, a small service structure, rocky foreground, forested slopes, and mountain backdrop.
Film character: The footage shows soft 8mm grain, high-contrast black-and-white exposure, slight vignette, and handheld framing typical of home-movie travel records.
Edit role: An editor could use this as an infrastructure insert, hydroelectric transition, regional establishing cutaway, or brief memory beat within a 1930s sequence.
Historical context: The view places large-scale water-control engineering against a wooded Columbia River landscape, emphasizing public infrastructure rather than individual activity.
Research note: No people, faces, logos, or audible music are indicated, but copyright status and any location or property permissions should still be reviewed separately.
Research search match: Likely matches searches for 1938 Bonneville Dam 8mm footage, Oregon dam spillways, hydroelectric infrastructure, and vintage Pacific Northwest home movies.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with adjacent same-reel travel footage, then other 1938 Bonneville Dam views, then broader dam, river, power, and engineering scenes.

Still Frames From This Clip

1938 8mm view of Bonneville Dam in Oregon, showing spillway gates releasing white water beneath wooded slopes. — Water pours from the dam spillways as the concrete structure fills the frame.

Bonneville Dam spillways release white water while a small service building appears near the right edge of the 8mm frame. — The camera pan brings a small structure and more of the spillway face into view.

The pan across Bonneville Dam shows spillway bays, bright water discharge, a service structure, and rocky riverbank foreground. — Spillway water churns below the dam as the pan continues toward the right side of the structure.

A 1938 home-movie frame of Bonneville Dam shows the right-side spillways, walkway railings, service building, and turbulent water. — The right side of the dam and adjacent rocky bank appear as water continues pouring through the gates.

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