Glen Canyon Dam

The First Lady Lady Bird Johnson dedicated Glen Canyon Dam on September 22, 1966, though the Colorado had been backing up behind it since 1963. At 710 feet it is the second-highest concrete-arch dam in the country, after Hoover. It generates power for millions across the Southwest and stores water drawn on in drought. It also drowned Glen Canyon itself, the labyrinth of side canyons Powell had named, a loss that galvanized the modern environmental movement and still stirs argument about what the West traded away here.

What the plaque says

The Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement 1964 Awarded in a National Competition Glen Canyon Dam By the American Society of Civil Engineers Glen Canyon Dam Colorado River Storage Project Dedicated by the First Lady Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson September 22, 1966 United States Department of the Interior Stewart L. Udall, Secretary Bureau of Reclamation Floyd E. Dominy, Commissioner

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Antelope Canyon — 7.9 mi
  Tsé bighánílíní — where the water runs through the rock

More markers nearby

• Glen Canyon Bridge — steps away
• Major John Wesley Powell — steps away
• Hydroelectric Power — steps away
• Colorado River Storage Project — steps away