Ocoee Dam Number 1 is a

hydroelectric dam 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 ...

on the

Ocoee River The Toccoa River and Ocoee River are the names in use for a single river that flows northwestward through the southern Appalachian Mountains of the southeastern United States. It is a tributary of the Hiwassee River, which it joins in Polk Coun ...

Polk County Polk County is the name of twelve counties in the United States, all except two named after president of the United States James Knox Polk: * Polk County, Arkansas * Polk County, Florida * Polk County, Georgia * Polk County, Iowa * Polk Count ...

in the U.S. state of

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. The dam impounds the

Parksville Reservoir Parksville may refer to: * Parksville, British Columbia, a city in Canada ** Parksville Junction, British Columbia, an unincorporated community in the city * Parksville, Kentucky, a town in the United States * Parksville, South Carolina, a town in ...

(often called Ocoee Lake), and is the farthest downstream of four dams on the Toccoa/Ocoee River owned and operated by the

Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina ...

. Completed in 1911, Ocoee No. 1 was one of the first hydroelectric projects in Tennessee.Tennessee Valley Authority
Parksville Reservoir
Retrieved: 21 January 2009.

Location

Ocoee No. 1 is located approximately upstream from the mouth of the Ocoee, in an area where the river emerges from its winding trek through the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

and enters the Tennessee Valley. The community of Parksville is located on the north side of the dam, and the city of

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

is roughly to the west. The

Ocoee Scenic Byway The Ocoee Scenic Byway is a National Forest Scenic Byway and Tennessee Scenic Byway that traverses through the Cherokee National Forest, in East Tennessee. It is part of both U.S. Route 64 and U.S. Route 74, and features the Ocoee Whitewater C ...

— part of

U.S. Route 64 U.S. Route 64 (US 64) is an east–west United States highway that runs for 2,326 miles (3,743 km) from Nags Head in eastern North Carolina to just southwest of the Four Corners in northeast Arizona. The western terminus is at U.S. Route 1 ...

— passes just north of the dam. Parksville Lake extends for several miles eastward up the Ocoee and several miles southward up Baker Creek, which once emptied into the Ocoee just upstream from the dam. Ocoee Dam No. 2 is located just over upstream from Ocoee No. 1.

Capacity

Ocoee No. 1 is high and long, and has a generating capacity of 24,000 kilowatts, up from an original 19,200 kilowatts after being refurbished in 1989-1991. The dam's concrete gravity arched 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. Parksville Lake has of shoreline and the lake's water levels fluctuate by just per year.

History

The rapid growth of industry in Chattanooga in the late 19th century and early 20th century brought an increasing demand for electricity, and the rapid-flowing Ocoee River— which slices through a gorge in the mountains east of the city— was considered a prime candidate for hydroelectric power by the region's early electric companies. In 1910, the C.M. Clark Company, an electrical transportation holding firm, formed the Eastern Tennessee Power Company to build two hydroelectric dams on the Ocoee, and market their electricity output primarily to Chattanooga. Work on Ocoee Dam No. 1 began later that year, and was completed in late December 1911. On January 27, 1912, Ocoee Dam No. 1's four units began commercial operation. A fifth unit was added in 1914. The five units provided a total capacity of 18 MW. Power was distributed primarily to Chattanooga, and also to

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state's ...

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

, and

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 ...

, as well as the aluminum industries in

Alcoa Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for Aluminum Company of America) is a Pittsburgh-based industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primary ...

. A coal burning station known as the Parksville Steam Plant was built adjacent to the dam in 1916 to provide generation during periods of low water flow. It was last used in 1954. In 1922, the Eastern Tennessee Power Company and several other entities merged to form the Tennessee Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which overhauled Ocoee No. 1 in the 1930s.Tennessee Valley Authority, ''Design of TVA Projects Volume 3: Mechanical Design of Hydro Plants'', Technical Report No. 24 (Washington, D.C.: Tennessee Valley Authority, 1952), pp. 302-304. In 1933, the TVA Act created the Tennessee Valley Authority and gave the Authority oversight of the

Tennessee River The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names, ...

watershed, which includes the Ocoee River. The head of TEPCO, Jo Conn Guild, was vehemently opposed to the creation of TVA, and with the help of attorney

Wendell Willkie Wendell Lewis Willkie (born Lewis Wendell Willkie; February 18, 1892 – October 8, 1944) was an American lawyer, corporate executive and the 1940 Republican nominee for President. Willkie appealed to many convention delegates as the Republican ...

, challenged the constitutionality of the TVA Act in federal court. The

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

upheld the TVA Act, however, in its 1939 decision ''Tennessee Electric Power Company v. TVA''. On August 16, 1939, TEPCO was forced to sell its assets to TVA for $78 million (equivalent to $ in ), which included $2.68 million (equivalent to $ in ) for Ocoee Dam No. 1.Timothy Ezzell,
Jo Conn Guild
" ''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2009. Retrieved: 11 February 2013.

References

External links

— official TVA site {{Tennessee Valley Authority Facilities 1911 establishments in Tennessee Buildings and structures in Polk County, Tennessee Dams completed in 1911 Dams in Tennessee Dams on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee Energy infrastructure completed in 1911 Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee Dams on the Hiwassee River Hydroelectric power plants in Tennessee Tennessee Valley Authority dams National Register of Historic Places in Polk County, Tennessee