Lake Allatoona (officially called Allatoona Lake) is a

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

on the

Etowah River The Etowah River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 27, 2011 waterway that rises northwest of Dahlonega, Georgia, north of Atlanta. On Matthew Carey's 1795 ...

in northwestern part of the

State of Georgia Georgia is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee and North Carolina; to the northeast by South Carolina; to the southeast by the Atlantic Ocean; to the south by Florida; and to the west by ...

. This reservoir is mostly in southeastern

Bartow County Bartow County is located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 108,901, up from 100,157 in 2010. The county seat is Cartersville. Traditionally considered part of northwest Georgia, B ...

and southwestern

Cherokee County Cherokee County is the name of eight counties in the United States: * Cherokee County, Alabama * Cherokee County, Georgia * Cherokee County, Iowa * Cherokee County, Kansas * Cherokee County, North Carolina * Cherokee County, Oklahoma * Cherokee Co ...

. A small portion is located in

Cobb County Cobb County is a county in the U.S. state of Georgia, located in the Atlanta metropolitan area in the north central portion of the state. As of 2020 Census, the population was 766,149. Its county seat and largest city is Marietta. Along with ...

near Acworth.

Cartersville Cartersville is a city in Bartow County, Georgia, Bartow County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States; it is located within the northwest edge of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city ha ...

is the nearest city to Allatoona Dam. Also,

Red Top Mountain State Park Red Top Mountain State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is located in the northwestern part of the state, on the northwestern edge of metro Atlanta, in southeastern Bartow County near Cartersville. Named for iron-rich Red T ...

is located on its shores, on the

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

between the two arms of the lake. Most of the north side of the lake remains protected from

land development Land development is the alteration of landscape in any number of ways such as: * Changing landforms from a natural or semi-natural state for a purpose such as agriculture or housing * Subdividing real estate into lots, typically for the purpose ...

because of its isolated location, mostly blocked by the lake. The major highways

Interstate 75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from S ...

and U.S. Highway 41 pass along the southern and western sided of Lake Allatoona, and they cross the Etowah River downstream from the

Allatoona Dam Lake Allatoona (officially called Allatoona Lake) is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reservoir on the Etowah River in northwestern part of the State of Georgia. This reservoir is mostly in southeastern Bartow County and southwestern Cherokee Coun ...

Allatoona Dam

Allatoona Dam is a concrete

gravity dam A gravity dam is a dam constructed from concrete or stone masonry and designed to hold back water by using only the weight of the material and its resistance against the foundation to oppose the horizontal pressure of water pushing against it. ...

on the

, authorized by the Flood Control Acts of 1941 and

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

. Delayed due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, construction on the dam began in 1946. The reservoir began to fill in during December 1949 and the dam and power station were in operation in January 1950. The power station has an installed capacity of 85 MW and the dam facility is owned and operated by the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

Operations

Allatoona serves seven authorized purposes: # Flood Control # Hydropower generation # Water supply # Recreation # Fish and wildlife management # Water quality # Navigation There are several private

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...

s and public

boat ramp A slipway, also known as boat ramp or launch or boat deployer, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats, and for launching and retrieving small ...

s on the banks of the lake. Lake Allatoona also supplies much of the

drinking water Drinking water is water that is used in drink or food preparation; potable water is water that is safe to be used as drinking water. The amount of drinking water required to maintain good health varies, and depends on physical activity level, a ...

for the three counties that it is in. The water is supplied mostly by the

, and its major

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

the

Little River Little River may refer to several places: Australia Streams New South Wales *Little River (Dubbo), source in the Dubbo region, a tributary of the Macquarie River * Little River (Oberon), source in the Oberon Shire, a tributary of Coxs River (Haw ...

(which joins the lake at

Bell's Ferry Bell's is a brand of blended Scotch whisky produced by Diageo in Scotland. It was originally produced by Arthur Bell & Sons Ltd. It is the best selling whisky in the UK. History The Bells distillery was founded in 1798. In 1851, Arthur Bel ...

), and in turn

Noonday Creek Noonday Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 27, 2011 stream in Cobb and Cherokee counties in the U.S. state of Georgia. The stream begins near Kennesaw Mounta ...

. The other major arm of the lake is

Allatoona Creek Allatoona is an unincorporated community in Bartow County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. The community is located along Allatoona Creek, southeast of Cartersville. It was once a small mining community until a dam was erected at the base of the ...

, extending down to Acworth, where pre-existing Lake Acworth now empties directly into Allatoona at Lake Acworth Drive (

Georgia 92 State Route 92 (SR 92) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Georgia. Its southern terminus is an intersection with US 19 Bus./ US 41 Bus./ SR 16 in Griffin. Its northern terminus is an intersection with SR 9/ ...

). Other significant

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

s include

Kellogg Creek Kellogg Creek is a tributary, about long, of the Willamette River in the Portland metropolitan area of the U.S. state of Oregon. It begins near Lake Lenore in Johnson City, Oregon, Johnson City and flows northwest to meet the river at Milwaukie, O ...

and Rose Creek. The Allatoona Dam holding back the lake was completed in 1949 on the Etowah River, which in turn merges with the

Oostanaula River The Oostanaula River (pronounced "oo-stuh-NA-luh") is a principal tributary of the Coosa River, about long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 27, 2011 formed by the co ...

Rome, Georgia Rome is the largest city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, it is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia metropolitan area, Rome, Georgia, metropolitan statisti ...

to form the

Coosa River The Coosa River is a tributary of the Alabama River in the U.S. states of Alabama and Georgia. The river is about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 27, 2011 ...

of Georgia and Alabama. Its basin upstream (mostly northeast) of Lake Allatoona covers about . This is nearly as large as the basin of

Lake Lanier Lake Lanier (officially Lake Sidney Lanier) is a reservoir in the northern portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. It was created by the completion of Buford Dam on the Chattahoochee River in 1956, and is also fed by the waters of the Chestatee Ri ...

(Atlanta's biggest water source), but since Lake Allatoona is smaller, it drains and fills more rapidly than Lake Lanier during

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

s and

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

s. The lake's summer level has averaged

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. During major

s it has dropped as much as below this, exposing old

tree stump After a tree has been cut and felled, the stump or tree stump is usually a small remaining portion of the trunk with the roots still in the ground. Stumps may show the age-defining rings of a tree. The study of these rings is known as dendrochrono ...

s and former

hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct Summit (topography), summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally con ...

s which are normally submerged at depth safe for navigating boats. Its maximum capacity or

flood stage Flood stage is the water level or stage at which the surface of a body of water has risen to a sufficient level to cause sufficient inundation of areas that are not normally covered by water, causing an inconvenience or a threat to life and property ...

is +

AMSL Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

though it has never been known to reach this level, and flooding of boat ramps and other lakeside facilities begins to occur well below it.

Hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

power generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its delivery ( transmission, distribution, etc.) to end users or its stor ...

at Allatoona returns more than $3.5 million to the

U.S. Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...

annually. The Corps of Engineers has 662 campsites on Allatoona.

History

Allatoona Pass was the site of an intensive 8-hour battle during the Atlanta Campaign of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

in June 1864. More than 1,500 Union and Confederate soldiers were killed, wounded, or missing in this battle. Lake Allatoona was authorized by the

Flood Control Act In the United States, there are multiple laws known as the Flood Control Act (FCA). Typically, they are enacted to control irrigation because of floods or other natural disasters and are administered by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Th ...

s of 1941 and 1946. The creekside town of

Allatoona, Georgia Allatoona is an unincorporated community in Bartow County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. The community is located along Allatoona Creek, southeast of Cartersville. It was once a small mining community until a dam was erected at the base of the ...

was destroyed by the creation of the lake. Several roads were also severed or rerouted, including the Acworth-

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Highway. The general contractor for construction of Allatoona Dam was National Constructor Inc. The total cost of the Allatoona project for construction, land, clearing, and relocation was $31,500,000 in 1950. The record high water on Allatoona of occurred on April 9, 1964. Visitors to Allatoona spent more than $12 million for consumable goods in 1999. The Corps collected more than $1 million in

camping Camping is an outdoor activity involving overnight stays away from home, either without shelter or using basic shelter such as a tent, or a recreational vehicle. Typically, participants leave developed areas to spend time outdoors in more nat ...

and day use fees in 2006. From 1950 through 2006, 281

drowning Drowning is a type of suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where others present are either unaware of the victim's situation or unable to offer a ...

s have occurred in Allatoona. The power plant began operation January 31, 1950. Since 1957 the summer pool elevation has been

. Since 1957 the winter draw-down has been AMSL. Two municipalities withdraw water from the lake. The city of Cartersville uses . Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority uses . During the late 1980s, there was a prolonged drought. The peak of the drought in 1986 exposed vast portions of the lake bed revealing

s, roads, and foundations of houses (Wilson's farm).

Grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

grew in some places and children were seen to mow the grass and play

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

on the newfound vacant lots. In 1998 Allatoona clocked 86,813,126 hours, which were more visitor hours than any of the other 450 Corps of Engineer projects in the United States, and exceeded that in 2006 with more than 92 million visitor hours.

Facilities

Marinas

There are eight privately operated marinas that provide fuel, storage, boat repairs, rentals, supplies, and/ or other boater's needs. There are also two yacht-clubs, one off Kellogg Creek Road towards the middle of the lake and the other off Red Top Mountain State Park Rd.

Boat ramps

The Corps of Engineers provides fifteen public boat ramps throughout the lake area located in three counties: Cobb, Cherokee and Bartow. These are used for water sports, water park area, paddle boating, picnic place, for the south-western part of the lake. Parking is provided.

Recreation

Camping: The Corps of Engineers operates seven campgrounds and campsites on the Lake Allatoona area.

Hunting: All hunting seasons are set by the appropriate state or local governing authority. State hunting licenses are required at all areas open to hunting on the Corps of Engineers property.

References

External links

LakeAllatoona.com

Lake Allatoona News

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers site for Lake Allatoona
* at

GNIS The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...

Lake Allatoona Preservation Authority

Flooding

* ttp://www.allatoonalake.org/ Lake Allatoona Recreation Information
Lake Allatoona Information Source
{{authority control Dams in Georgia (U.S. state) United States Army Corps of Engineers dams Dams completed in 1949 Protected areas of Cherokee County, Georgia Protected areas of Bartow County, Georgia Protected areas of Cobb County, Georgia

Allatoona Allatoona is an unincorporated community in Bartow County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. The community is located along Allatoona Creek, southeast of Cartersville. It was once a small mining community until a dam was erected at the base of the ...

Bodies of water of Cherokee County, Georgia Bodies of water of Bartow County, Georgia Bodies of water of Cobb County, Georgia