It was built in 1902 by the Golden Drift Mining Company to provide water for their mining operations. The dam served the Dry Diggings mine upriver from Grants Pass.
The locals hated the Ament Dam, because the salmon refused to go through the dark tunnel that was the fishway. They said the dam killed more salmon than were ever caught commercially. Now, instead of gathering to watch the fish, the local "artists" come out here to practice their craft.
It was reported that saboteurs dynamited the dam in 1912 and did major damage, however many thought it was just a malfunctioning in some of the dam equipment, and it was never proven that it was sabotage, but it makes for great reading. The owners repaired the damage , but a state fish warden dynamited a wing of the dam a few years later, according to reliable sources, and since the dam was hated by everyone anyway, a lot of people chose to accept this as fact.
Hard to believe that we are on the third level of this structure. There are two stories underneath here that are covered in sand and rock. Once the dam was removed, the wild Rogue floods reclaimed most everything. This room once held a huge turbine that was as big as an 18-wheel tractor-trailer -- it washed away, never to leave a trace!
In 1921, the Ament Dam was removed. It was to be replaced by the Savage Rapid dam, which was also removed in 2009.
