Wheeler Dam is a
hydroelectric dam on the
Tennessee River between
Lauderdale County and
Lawrence County in
Alabama. It is one of nine dams on the river owned and operated by the
Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the mid-1930s as part of a
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
-era initiative to improve navigation on the river and bring
flood control and economic development to the region. The dam impounds the
Wheeler Lake of and its tailwaters feed into
Wilson Lake.
Wheeler Dam is named for
Civil War general and U.S. Congressman
Joseph Wheeler. Congressman Wheeler was an early advocate of federal development of the Muscle Shoals area.
[Tennessee Valley Authority, ''The Wheeler Project: A Comprehensive Report on the Planning, Design, Construction, and Initial Operations of the Wheeler Project'', Technical Report No. 2 (Knoxville, Tenn.: Tennessee Valley Authority, 1940), pp. 1-9, 39, 48, 111, 219, 231, 239.] The dam was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places in 2016.
Location
Wheeler Dam is located above the mouth of the Tennessee River, a few miles downstream from the river's
Elk River confluence. The dam is roughly southwest of
Rogersville and about downstream from
Decatur. The dam's reservoir stretches for along the river to the base of
Guntersville Dam to the east.
Wilson Dam
Wilson Dam is a dam spanning the Tennessee River between Lauderdale County and Colbert County in the U.S. state of Alabama. Completed in 1924 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, it impounds Wilson Lake, and is one of nine Tennessee Va ...
and the city of
Muscle Shoals are located just downstream of Wheeler Dam.
Alabama State Route 101
State Route 101 (SR 101) is a north–south state highway in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. The southern terminus of the highway is at an intersection with County Route 460 (CR 460), the former route o ...
(Wheeler Dam Highway) crosses the top of the dam.
Capacity
At high, Wheeler is the longest of TVA's Tennessee River dams. The dam is long at its crest, and has an electrical generating capacity of 411,800
kilowatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...
s. The dam's spillway is equipped with 60
tainter gates with a combined discharge of . The dam's reservoir has of shoreline and of water surface, and has a flood-storage capacity of .
[Tennessee Valley Authority]
Wheeler Reservoir
Retrieved: 16 January 2009.
Wheeler Dam has two locks for river traffic, the main lock being and an auxiliary lock measuring . The locks raise and lower vessels up to between Wheeler and Wilson lakes.
Background and construction
The stretch of the Tennessee River between Decatur and
Florence drops over in elevation, creating what was once a series of rapids known as the Muscle Shoals and the Elk River Shoals. Along with the
Tennessee River Gorge to the east, these shoals had long been an impediment to river navigation, effectively isolating the upper Tennessee Valley from the nation's major inland waterways. Canal work in the 19th century had improved navigation through the shoals, but were insufficient for major river traffic. In 1898, Congressman Joe Wheeler introduced legislation in Congress that obtained federal funding for navigation improvements. The construction of
Wilson Dam
Wilson Dam is a dam spanning the Tennessee River between Lauderdale County and Colbert County in the U.S. state of Alabama. Completed in 1924 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, it impounds Wilson Lake, and is one of nine Tennessee Va ...
in the 1920s and various other improvements helped create a channel over the shoals, but even then navigation was only possible during times of high water flow. The Corps of Engineers had planned to build a dam at the Wheeler site in the early 1930s, and had gained authorization for the dam's lock, although the project was assumed by the Tennessee Valley Authority shortly after the Authority's creation in 1933. Construction work on Wheeler Dam began on November 21, 1933, the second major dam construction project (after
Norris) attempted by TVA.
The construction of Wheeler Dam required the purchase of of land, of which had to be cleared. 840 families, 176 graves, and of roads had to be relocated. Work began as soon as possible as an unemployment relief measure, and at peak activity the project employed 4,700 workers. As TVA lacked dam construction experience, the Authority relied heavily on the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation for the dam's design. The Army Corps also designed and built the dam's locks.
Wheeler Dam was completed on November 9, 1936, constructed at a cost of $87,655,000. Dredge work continued until the following year to extend the navigation channel to Guntersville Dam, which at the time was under construction.
See also
*
Dams and reservoirs of the Tennessee River
The Tennessee Valley Authority operates the Tennessee River system to provide a wide range of public benefits: year-round navigation, flood damage reduction, affordable electricity, improved water quality and water supply, recreation, and economi ...
*
List of crossings of the Tennessee River
*
List of Alabama dams and reservoirs
References
*
External links
Wheeler Reservoir(TVA site)
{{Tennessee Valley Authority Facilities
Dams on the Tennessee River
Dams in Alabama
Bridges over the Tennessee River
Buildings and structures in Lauderdale County, Alabama
Buildings and structures in Lawrence County, Alabama
Tennessee Valley Authority dams
Hydroelectric power plants in Alabama
Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area
Dams completed in 1936
Energy infrastructure completed in 1936