Operation BOLD: Libby Dam at Fifty

By Rich (Ray) Aarstad

On August 24, 1975, President Gerald Ford and Donald S. MacDonald, Canadian Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources, completed Operation B.O.L.D by flipping a symbolic wooden switch to signal the first turbine at Libby Dam to start producing electricity. This was the culmination of decades of speculation, planning, international negotiations and over nine years of construction work. To commemorate 50 years of flood control and energy production, Montana State Archivist Rich Aarstad leads us through the trials, tribulations and triumphs of the men and women who put together Libby Dam.

The book has over 130 illustrations, most of which were garnered from the US Army Corps of Engineers archives at Libby Dam chronicling the project from relocation of the Great Northern Railroad Mainline through the dedication by President Gerald Ford in August of 1975.

Aarstad also shares historical tidbits regarding the small towns that were drowned and the people forced to move by the rising waters of Lake Koocanusa behind the dam.

Aarstad graduated from the University of Montana in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts, followed two years later by Master of Arts in History. He works for the Montana Historical Society.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1886591385
• ISBN13: 9781886591387
• Release Date: July 2025
• Publisher: Blue Creek Press
• Length: 122 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 7.0" x 10.0"