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June 1942. "Wheeler Dam, Alabama (Tennessee Valley Authority). Gantry crane." Acetate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the U.S. Foreign Information Service. View full size.
Thanks, Old Joe, you're right! The plans on Wikipedia (bottom left) show there are two cranes - an 85 ton gantry crane over the roadway, and a 270 ton gantry crane (from the photo) to service the generators. The 270 ton framework has one side short, one side tall. The original photo is of the tall side, possibly from the parking lot. One of the older Street View photos shows both cranes moved forward with the 270 ton crane on the left:
Archfan is looking at the wrong gantry crane. The picture was taken from the downstream side of the dam. In your Google view, if you move forward (or back up) and look to the right you can see the heavy gantry crane that is in the picture.
The frame looks like it hasn't changed, but they may have reconfigured the hoists. It appears it is maintained and used regularly, if not often.
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