Watauga Dam is a
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 ...
and flood control dam on the
Watauga River in
Carter County, in the
U.S. state of
Tennessee. It is owned and operated by the
Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the 1940s as part of efforts to control flooding in the
Tennessee River watershed. At , Watauga is the second-highest dam in the TVA river and reservoir system (behind only
Fontana
Fontana may refer to:
Places
Italy
*Fontana Liri, comune in the Province of Frosinone
*Fontanafredda, comune in the Province of Pordenone
*Fontanarosa, comune in the Province of Avellino
*Francavilla Fontana, comune in the Province of Brindisi
* ...
), and at the time of its completion was one of the highest earth-and-rock dams in the United States. The dam impounds the
TVA Watauga Reservoir of , and its tailwaters feed into Wilbur Lake.
[Tennessee Valley Authority, ''The Upper Holston Projects: Watauga, South Holston, Boone, and Fort Patrick Henry; a Comprehensive Report on the Planning, Design, Construction, Initial Operations, and Costs of Four Hydro Projects in the Holston Basin at the Eastern Tip of Tennessee'', Technical Report No. 14 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1958), pp. 1-6, 13-14, 23, 31, 42-43.]
Its namesake, the Watauga River,
[ was named after a Cherokee settlement—the Watauga Old Fields—once located along the river at modern ]Elizabethton
Elizabethton is a city in, and the county seat of Carter County, Tennessee, United States. Elizabethton is the historical site of the first independent American government (known as the Watauga Association, created in 1772) located west of both th ...
.[James Mooney, ''Myths of the Cherokee and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokee'' (Nashville, Tenn.: C and R Elder, 1972), p. 546.] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 11, 2017. The top of the dam is crossed by the Appalachian Trail,
Location
Watauga Dam is located above the mouth of the Watauga, at a point where the westward-flowing river veers north to slice a water gap through the middle of Iron Mountain. The dam is about downstream from Butler, Tennessee
Butler is an unincorporated community in Johnson County in the northeastern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is located along the northern shore of Watauga Lake.
Butler is served by a post office, assigned ZIP Code 37640.
Demographics
...
, and upstream from Elizabethton. Watauga Lake stretches for along the river, nearly reaching the Tennessee- North Carolina state line, and includes parts of Carter County and Johnson County in Tennessee. Roan Creek, Cobb Creek, and the Elk River form substantial embayments along the reservoir.
Capacity
Watauga Dam is an earth-and-rock dam high and long, and has a generating capacity of 57,600 kilowatts.[Tennessee Valley Authority]
Watauga Reservoir
Retrieved: 2 February 2009. The dam's fixed-crest morning glory spillway has a maximum discharge of .[Tennessee Valley Authority, ''The Nickajack Project: A Report on the Planning, Design, Construction, Initial Operations, and Costs'', Technical Report No. 16 (Knoxville, Tenn.: Tennessee Valley Authority, 1972), pp. 10-11.] Watauga Lake has of shoreline and a storage capacity of ,[ of which is reserved for flood control.][ The reservoir's operating levels vary by about in a typical year.][
Watauga's powerhouse is located nearly a mile downstream from the dam, and is connected to the reservoir intake by a tunnel. Just above the powerhouse, the tunnel splits into two steel conduits that carry the water to a valve house just above the turbines.][
]
Background and construction
The hydroelectric potential of the Watauga River had been recognized since the early 1900s, when the Watauga Power Company built Wilbur Dam downstream from the modern Watauga Dam site. In the 1920s, the Holston River Power Company began making plans for a large-scale dam-building project in the South Fork Holston River watershed, and had identified two possible dam sites along the Watauga, one of which was the current site of Watauga Dam (the company called it the "Cardens Bluff" site). In the early 1940s, the Tennessee Valley Authority, which had assumed oversight of flood control operations in the Tennessee River watershed in the previous decade, suggested a dam at the Cardens Bluff site to provide badly needed flood storage and help with the region's World War II energy demands. The dam project garnered widespread local support, especially from Elizabethton, which had been ravaged by a flood in 1940. The Watauga project was authorized December 17, 1941, and work on the dam began on February 16, 1942.[
The construction of Watauga Dam and its reservoir required the purchase of of land, of which had to be cleared. This required the relocation of 761 families, 1,281 graves, and of roads and the construction of three new bridges. Wilbur Dam, located just downstream, had to be raised and outfitted with a new spillway. The town of ]Butler
A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some a ...
had to be moved. In October 1942, the U.S. War Production Board ordered TVA to halt the Watauga project, deeming it unnecessary for the nation's wartime needs. TVA spent several weeks securing the dam site and tunnel, and the project was set aside until the end of the war. Construction proceeded on May 22, 1946.[
Watauga Dam was completed, and its gates opened December 1, 1948. The dam's first generator went online August 30, 1949, and the second went online September 29, 1949.][ The total cost of the Watauga project was just over $32 million.][
]
Popular culture
The Old Crow Medicine Show song "Half Mile Down", on the 2012 album ''Carry Me Back
''Carry Me Back'' is the fourth studio album by folk/country/ old time band Old Crow Medicine Show, released on July 17, 2012. It was the group's first release on ATO Records, and their first album produced by Ted Hutt. The album was the band's ...
'', is about the flooding of the narrator's home town (Butler, Tennessee
Butler is an unincorporated community in Johnson County in the northeastern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is located along the northern shore of Watauga Lake.
Butler is served by a post office, assigned ZIP Code 37640.
Demographics
...
) due to the construction of the dam.
See also
*South Holston Dam
South Holston Dam is a hydroelectric and flood control dam on the South Fork Holston River in Sullivan County, in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the uppermost of three dams on the South Fork Holston owned and operated by the Tennessee Val ...
References
External links
Watauga Dam Project Film, ca. 1942-1949
-- Film of the dam's construction
— official TVA site
— Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
{{Tennessee Valley Authority Facilities
Dams on the Watauga River
Dams in Tennessee
Tennessee Valley Authority dams
Buildings and structures in Carter County, Tennessee
Hydroelectric power plants in Tennessee
Dams completed in 1948
Energy infrastructure completed in 1949