California-1938: Dam Releasing Water Against Mountain Backdrop

$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
LocationCalifornia, United States
Duration6s
Price$149 USD
Collection1938 California

$149 · CommercialDirect license: commercial and editorial use

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

Need 10+ clips? Send your brief and get a curated shortlist →

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

Dam Releasing Water Against Mountain Backdrop — Clip Details

Shot on 8mm film in 1938, this vintage home movie captures a dramatic view of a concrete dam releasing water into a river, set against a rugged mountain backdrop in California. The footage shows the dam's spillway in action, with white water cascading over its structure. The film exhibits classic Super 8 grain, slight color fading, and natural film imperfections, conveying a nostalgic, archival quality. The camera remains steady, offering a clear, wide-angle perspective of the engineering feat and surrounding natural landscape.

Licensing & Technical Details

Original Format: 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie
Resolution: 4K restored master (MP4)
License: Direct license: commercial and editorial use
Delivery: Instant Digital Download
Duration: 6s
Price: $149 USD
Clip ID: 127417653

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 1153 · 8mm · 5″ reel
Original reel label: bucks lake,lake tahoe,emerald bay,martins lodge
Reel-level year note: 1938
Reel-level location note: california
Date: 1938 Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Date evidence: Catalog estimate. A reel-level note shows the same year, but the clip-to-reel link is itself a catalog match, so this is not counted as independent confirmation.
Location: California, United States Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Location evidence: Catalog estimate. A reel-level location note is linked, but the clip-to-reel link is itself a catalog match, so this is not counted as independent confirmation.
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.

View source reel context Open Clip Documentation Record Request source information

Topics & Keywords

mountain
water
war fall
dam
control
national
scenario
view
flow
nature
california
1938
1938 California dam footage
vintage 8mm film
Super 8 home movie
dam spillway
water release
mountain landscape
archival footage
historic engineering
old film
water flow
1930s
nostalgic
river

Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit: Useful for 1930s California infrastructure, water management, engineering, river landscape, or home-movie cutaways in documentary and educational edits.
Period detail: The 8mm color home-movie view may show a 1938 dam spillway in California, with concrete bays, open water, dry hills, and a distant mountain backdrop visible.
Home-movie behavior: The framing has a visitor-shot perspective, holding on the dam and spillway action from across the river rather than staging people or activity for the camera.
What appears in frame: Visible elements include the concrete dam, spillway gates, white water discharge, river surface, rocky shoreline, dry hills, mountain slopes, and rounded 8mm frame edges.
Film character: The clip carries soft 8mm texture, muted color, visible grain, slight exposure variation, and contact-frame borders that support its archival home-movie character.
Edit role: An editor could use it as an infrastructure insert, water-control cutaway, regional transition, or visual memory beat around dams, rivers, landscape, or public works.
Historical context: The scene visually places a substantial water-control structure within a rugged California landscape, without identifying the specific dam or making claims about its project history.
Research note: No people, faces, logos, or audible music are indicated, but users should still verify copyright status and any property or landmark permissions needed for their use.
Research search match: Matches searches for 1938 8mm California dam footage, vintage spillway release, home movie river water control, mountain dam landscape, and archival infrastructure footage.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with other shots from the same reel, then with California 1938 landscape or infrastructure footage, and then with broader vintage dam, river, or water-management scenes.

Still Frames From This Clip

1938 California 8mm frame showing a concrete dam and spillway releasing water into a river with rugged hills behind it. — Wide visitor-shot view of the dam spillway with water flowing into the river below.

8mm California home-movie frame of the dam from across the river, with spillway spray and dry mountains in the background. — The camera holds across the river as water surges from the dam spillway.

1938 California 8mm frame with the dam partly at right, white spillway water, river foreground, and arid hillside beyond. — White water spreads below the dam, with the structure partly cropped at the right edge.

8mm home-movie frame from California showing dam spillway discharge, river rocks, and dry mountain terrain in soft archival color. — The final frame emphasizes the rushing spillway water and rocky river foreground.

Visually Similar Clips