This film is part of Free

Mettur Dam

The monumental task of building Tamil Nadu's Mettur Dam (or Stanley Dam)

Amateur film 1931 7 mins Silent

Overview

The epic undertaking that was the Mettur Dam, on the river Kaveri in Tamil Nadu, took nine years to complete. This amateur-shot film gives us a rare glimpse of the work in progress, some three years before the dam opened. The backbreaking quarrying of stones - with little in the way of modern equipment to help the thousands of workers - calls to mind the building of the pyramids.

The Dam was later given the name the Stanley Dam in honour of the then-Governor of Madras, Sir George Frederick Stanley.