Watauga Dam is a

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

and flood control dam on the

Watauga River The Watauga River () is a large stream of western North Carolina and East Tennessee. It is long with its headwaters in Linville Gap to the South Fork Holston River at Boone Lake. Course The Watauga River rises from a spring located south to ...

in Carter County, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. It is 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 Carolin ...

, which built the dam in the 1940s as part of efforts to control flooding in the

Tennessee River The Tennessee River is a long river located in the Southern United States, southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. Flowing through the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, it begins at the confluence of Fren ...

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 The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

settlement—the Watauga Old Fields—once located along the river at modern Elizabethton. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on August 11, 2017. The top of the dam is crossed by the

Appalachian Trail The Appalachian Trail, also called the A.T., is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian Tra ...

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 area#United States, unincorporated community in Johnson County, Tennessee, 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 ser ...

, and upstream from Elizabethton. Watauga Lake stretches for along the river, nearly reaching the Tennessee-

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

state line, and includes parts of Carter County and Johnson County in Tennessee.

Roan Creek Roan Creek is a tributary of the Watauga River that rises near the border between the U.S. states of Tennessee and North Carolina. Its source is located along the slopes of Snake Mountain near Trade in Johnson County, Tennessee. From its source ...

, 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 Morning glory (also written as morning-glory) is the common name for over 1,000 species of flowering plants in the family Convolvulaceae, whose taxonomy and systematics remain in flux. These species are distributed across numerous genus, gene ...

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 Wilbur Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Watauga River in Carter County, in the U.S. state of Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeaster ...

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 The Holston River is a river that flows from Kingsport, Tennessee, to Knoxville, Tennessee. Along with its three major forks (North Fork, Middle Fork and South Fork), it comprises a major river system that drains much of northeastern Tennessee, ...

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

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 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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 pantries, pantr ...

had to be moved. In October 1942, the U.S.

War Production Board The War Production Board (WPB) was an agency of the United States government that supervised war production during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established it in January 1942, with Executive Order 9024. The WPB replaced the Su ...

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. Many details went into the preparation of closing off the dam, including but not limited to, pouring concrete over the plug, relocating roads, construction of bridges and culverts, and removal of different debris and rocks. 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 Old Crow Medicine Show is an Americana (music), Americana string band based in Nashville, Tennessee, that has been recording since 1998. They were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on September 17, 2013. Their ninth album, ''Remedy (Old Crow Med ...

song "Half Mile Down", on the 2012 album '' Carry Me Back'', is about the flooding of the narrator's home town (

) due to the construction of the dam.

References

External links