 In 1944 , the United States Bureau of Reclamation chief design engineer , John L. Savage , surveyed the area and drew up a dam proposal for the ' Yangtze River Project ' . Some 54 Chinese engineers went to the U.S. for training . The original plans called for the dam to employ a unique method for moving ships ; the ships would move into locks located at the lower and upper ends of the dam and then cranes with cables would move the ships from one lock to the next . In the case of smaller water craft , groups of craft would be lifted together for efficiency . It is not known whether this solution was considered for its water @-@ saving performance or because the engineers thought the difference in height between the river above and below the dam too great for alternative methods . Some exploration , survey , economic study , and design work was done , but the government , in the midst of the Chinese Civil War , halted work in 1947 . 
