Nimbus Dam California-1982: Government Dam Sign Pans to Spillway Gates Releasing High Water

Catalog date: estimated · Catalog location: estimated. Review source evidence · Request a source quality check

$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.

Year1982
Decade1980s
LocationNimbus Dam, California, United States
Duration4s
Price$149 USD
Collection1982 · Nimbus Dam, California, United States
StatusStockfilm Exclusive

$149 · CommercialDirect license: commercial and editorial use

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

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From the same film reel

1982 · Sacramento & Nimbus Dam · Reel eb27900e contains 6 published Stockfilm-exclusive clips. Watch them in reel order and review the available reel documentation.

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Same year and place1982 · Nimbus Dam, California, United StatesExplore footage →Across the archiveFilmed in 1982Explore the year →Across the yearsNimbus Dam, California, United StatesExplore the place →

What is in this clip

flood
water release
infrastructure
federal water projects
hydroelectric power
river landscape
winter runoff

Shot type: medium
Camera: pan · handheld
Setting: outdoor · Riverbank below a concrete dam, with shrubs in the foreground and grassy oak-dotted hills beyond
Time and weather: day · winter · overcast
Lighting: soft diffuse daylight under cloud
People: 0 · No people visible.
Landmarks: Nimbus Dam
Objects: wooden sign · sign posts · spillway gates · gantry crane · power-line towers · shrubs
Readable signs: NIMBUS DAM AND POWER PLANT · UNITED STATES DEPT. OF THE INTERIOR · BUREAU OF RECLAMATION
Colors: brown · pale blue · green · grey · white
Master dimensions: 3840 × 2160
Audio: Silent
Date confidence: Low
Location confidence: High

Moments in the footage

Select a time to watch that moment in the preview.

The Nimbus Dam and Power Plant sign fills the frame above the river.
The camera begins panning left past the sign.
The concrete spillway gates and gantry crane come into view.
White water pours through the gates as the sign slides to the right edge.

Government Dam Sign Pans to Spillway Gates Releasing... — Clip Details

Nimbus Dam on the American River, California, circa 1982 home movie footage. An arch-topped wooden Bureau of Reclamation sign reading 'Nimbus Dam and Power Plant' fills the frame in front of the river and green hills. The handheld camera then pans left, sliding the sign to the right edge and revealing concrete spillway gates with white water pouring through them. Shot on Super 8 colour film under an overcast sky, with soft grain and muted greens.

Licensing & Technical Details

Original Format: 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie
Shot details: Wide shotInterior
Resolution: 4K restored master (MP4)
License: Direct license: commercial and editorial use
Delivery: Instant Digital Download
Duration: 4s
Price: $149 USD
Clip ID: 800002180

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: 1982 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: Nimbus Dam, California, 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.

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Topics & Keywords

Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit: Serves requests for early-1980s California flood or water-infrastructure footage that needs the facility name readable on screen.
Period detail: The wooden, routed-letter Bureau of Reclamation sign and the Super 8 colour rendition may show the look of federal facility signage in the early 1980s.
Home-movie behavior: A visitor stops at the roadside sign and pans to the dam, recording the flood release the way a local would document an event worth seeing.
What appears in frame: An arch-topped brown sign with blue trim, the grey swollen river, concrete spillway gates, a gantry crane, white water below the gates, and green hills with power-line towers.
Film character: Fine Super 8 grain, soft focus on the distant structure and cool, muted colour give the shot an authentic projected-film texture.
Edit role: Works as an establishing shot or on-screen place title that hands off from the named sign to the working spillway.
Historical context: Nimbus Dam, completed in 1955, regulates releases from Folsom Dam and marks the upstream start of the American River Parkway.
Research note: No people appear; the sign is federal government signage, and copyright in the home movie itself is separate from any property or location considerations.
Research search match: Researchers might search Nimbus Dam Super 8, American River flood 1980s, or Bureau of Reclamation dam sign home movie.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with this reel's Sacramento Bee flood headline, onlookers at the dam release and parkway sign clips, then other American River high-water footage, then wider themes of California winter floods.

Still Frames From This Clip

Bureau of Reclamation sign for Nimbus Dam and Power Plant beside the American River, California, circa 1982 — The Nimbus Dam and Power Plant sign, lettered for the US Department of the Interior and Bureau of Reclamation.
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Pan begins past the Nimbus Dam sign, showing the dam gantry and gates on the American River, circa 1982 — As the pan begins, the dam's gantry and gates start to show to the left of the sign.
License this still · $49

Nimbus Dam spillway gates releasing high water on the American River, California, circa 1982 Super 8 — The pan reveals the spillway gates releasing white water below grassy hills.
License this still · $49

Floodwater churning below Nimbus Dam gates as winter runoff swells the American River, circa 1982 — End of the pan: the dam and its churning release, with the sign's edge at the right of frame.
License this still · $49

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