Wilson Dam is a

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

on 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 ...

Lauderdale Lauderdale is the valley of the Leader Water (a tributary of the River Tweed, Tweed) in the Scottish Borders. It contains the town of Lauder, as well as Earlston. The valley is traversed from end to end by the A68 road, A68 trunk road, which run ...

and Colbert counties of

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, United States. Completed in 1924 by the

United States Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wo ...

, it impounds Wilson Lake, and is one of nine

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 ...

(TVA) dams on the Tennessee River. It was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

on November 13, 1966, for its role as the first dam to come under the TVA's administration.Polly M. Rettig and Horace J. Sheely, Jr. (February 1976) , National Park Service and The dam is named for President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

Description

Wilson Dam is located at

river mile A river mile is a measure of distance in miles along a river from its river mouth, mouth. River mile numbers begin at zero and increase further upstream. The corresponding metric unit using kilometre, kilometers is the river kilometer. They are an ...

259.4 of the Tennessee River, spanning the river in a roughly north–south orientation between

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

and

Muscle Shoals Muscle Shoals is the largest city in Colbert County, Alabama, United States. It is located on the left bank of the Tennessee River in the northern part of the state and, as of the 2010 census, its population was 13,146. The estimated popula ...

in northern Alabama. The dam is high and long. The dam cost almost $47 million (equivalent to $ in ). The main

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

at Wilson Dam is wide by long. The lock lift is . It is the highest single lift lock east of the Rocky Mountains. An auxiliary lock has two wide by long chambers that operate in tandem. Over 3,700 vessels pass through Wilson Dam's locks each year. The net dependable capacity of Wilson Dam is 663

megawatts 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 in honor o ...

of electricity.

History

The origins of the dam lie in the treacherous Muscle Shoals section of the Tennessee River, an area of dangerous shallows and turbulent currents, impeding commerce and navigation. The expansion of steamboat travel and plantation agriculture along the Tennessee Valley inspired many largely unsuccessful efforts in the late 19th century to tame the shoals, including a canal around the area. This final effort to tame the Muscle Shoals was spurred on by the possibility of US entry into the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. US Officials feared that the

German Navy The German Navy (, ) is part of the unified (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Marine'' (German Navy) became the official ...

could disrupt the supply of

nitrate Nitrate is a polyatomic ion with the chemical formula . salt (chemistry), Salts containing this ion are called nitrates. Nitrates are common components of fertilizers and explosives. Almost all inorganic nitrates are solubility, soluble in wa ...

s, used in the manufacturing of explosives, which were primarily imported in the form of bat or bird

guano Guano (Spanish from ) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. Guano is a highly effective fertiliser due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. Guano was also, to a le ...

from

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. The

National Defense Act of 1916 The National Defense Act of 1916, , was a United States federal law that updated the Militia Act of 1903, which related to the organization of the military, particularly the National Guard. The principal change of the act was to supersede provi ...

mandated the construction of two nitrate plants, powered by an adjacent hydroelectric plant in order to create a domestic supply of this vital resource. Federal Engineers decided on Muscle Shoals after determining that it had the greatest hydroelectric potential east of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

. Construction of Wilson Dam by the Army Corps of Engineers began in 1918 under the supervision of Hugh L. Cooper and was the largest hydroelectric installation in the world at the time of construction. During construction, the site briefly became a city in its own right, employing over 18,000 workers and consisting of over 1,700 temporary buildings, 236 permanent buildings, 185 residential units, 165 miles of sewage pipeline, and 685 miles of electrical cabling. The settlement's mess halls served over 20,000 meals a day, and it also contained a school with capacity for 850 students, three barbershops, and a hospital. However the dam was not finished by the war's end in 1919 and did not contribute to its outcome. With peace, interest in the dam rapidly declined, and Congress was unwilling to front costs for more public works projects, yet wasting the millions of dollars in costs to that point was similarly anathema. The

Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

, John Weeks sought private sector investment in order to complete the project in the post-war political climate. In 1921,

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automob ...

offered to take on a 99-year lease on the dam for 5 million dollars, in which he promised to finish the dam and construct a new one upstream. Ford promised to use the dam and create a planned city in the yet-nonexistent

which he would make the "Detroit of the South." The dam would be used to fuel industrial development in his new planned city, and gathered widespread support among the populace and in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

. However, Senator George Norris believed that the dam would do more good in public hands than under Ford's ownership, and should be used as part of a large scale public works program and development scheme across the Tennessee Valley. Norris' plan would address three major concerns affecting the

Tennessee Valley The Tennessee Valley is the drainage basin of the Tennessee River and is largely within the U.S. state of Tennessee. It stretches from southwest Kentucky to north Alabama and from northeast Mississippi to the mountains of Virginia and North C ...

, persistent flooding, soil erosion, and lack of electrical power. Norris blocked the Ford proposal in the Senate, and Ford ultimately withdrew his bid in 1924, citing the delays. Construction on the dam itself was finally finished in 1924, with the first electricity generating unit going into service in September 1925. The finished dam and locks finally allowed free navigation of the Muscle Shoals for steamboats and barges. Over the next few years only 40 percent of electric generating capacity was installed. The debate over what the dam should be used for raged throughout the 1920s, with Norris' Muscle Shoals Bill being vetoed by President

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...

in 1931 as "socialistic." This all changed with the advent of the Great Depression and the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

in 1932. After his election, President-elect Roosevelt inspected the dam and threw his support behind Norris' public works plan, and in 1933, the Tennessee Valley Authority was created, with Wilson Dam as one of the cornerstones in the new agency's plans. TVA and Wilson Dam brought power to thousands in the Lauderdale and Colbert County areas as part of the TVA's overall plan of

rural electrification Rural electrification is the process of bringing electrical power to rural and remote areas. Rural communities are suffering from colossal market failures as the national grids fall short of their demand for electricity. As of 2019, 770 million ...

and, in the words of one economist, gave residents "universally high standards of living, new jobs, leisure, freedom and an end to drudgery, congestion, noise, smoke and filth." Wilson Dam also served as TVA's first headquarters, until it was gradually moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, where it is still based. The nitrate plants that Wilson Dam was initially constructed to power were used for the production of fertilizer throughout the 1930s, and by the

Second World War 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 ...

Wilson Dam Was finally used for its initial purpose, as the nitrate and phosphorus plants in the area were used to produce munitions for the war effort. These plants continued to serve throughout the Cold War, supplying a major portion of the phosphorus used in munitions by the United States Armed Forces. In 1959, a new lock was constructed for Wilson Dam, which was the largest single-chamber lock in the world at the time of construction. This lock remains today the largest single-chamber lock in the continental United States east of the Rockies. President

John Fitzgerald Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

visited the dam in 1963 with Alabama Governor George C. Wallace to make remarks on TVA and Wilson Dam's role in the agency's success and the role of the Federal Government in the Valley's history. In 1966, the Department of the Interior designated Wilson Dam a National Historic Landmark and added it to the National Register of Historic Places for its role as the first dam under TVA supervision. Wilson Dam is one of 29 conventional hydroelectric dams that provide flood control, navigation, electrical power, recreation, and water supply for the seven-state Tennessee Valley region and is the largest conventional facility in the TVA System. Over 3,600 vessels pass through the locks each year and the dam currently serves as the training facility for all of TVA's hydroelectric workers. Wilson Lake provides of shoreline and of water surface for recreational activities, and the adjoining reservation provides miles of hiking trails and campground.

Gallery

File:Wilson Dam Construction in 1919.jpg, Construction of Wilson Dam under way around 1919. Jackson Island, seen in the background, is now covered by Lake Wilson. File:Wilson Dam Construction in 1919 2.jpg, Wilson Dam construction around 1919. File:USACE Wilson Lock and Dam.jpg, Wilson Lock and Dam on the Tennessee River at Florence, Alabama File:Alabama - Muscle Shoals - NARA - 23933525 (cropped).jpg, Muscle Shoals Nitrate Plant, powered by the dam, 1931 File:Boat Exiting Wilson Dam Main Lock 1982.jpg, Barge exiting the main lock at Wilson Dam in 1982. File:Wilson Dam Fish Catch 1940 USGS.jpg, Fish catch downstream of Wilson Dam in 1940. File:Wilson Dam Auxiliary Lock.jpg, Wilson Dam Auxiliary Locks in 1982.

References

External links

Wilson Reservoir
(TVA site) * *

Historic American Engineering Record Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS). It administers three programs established to document historic places in the United States: Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American E ...

(HAER) documentation, filed under Tennessee River at Wilson Dam Road (Route 133), Muscle Shoals, Colbert County, AL: ** ** ** ** ** ** {{National Register of Historic Places Dams on the Tennessee River Dams in Alabama Bridges over the Tennessee River Buildings and structures in Colbert County, Alabama Buildings and structures in Lauderdale County, Alabama Tennessee Valley Authority dams Dams completed in 1924 Energy infrastructure completed in 1924 Hydroelectric power plants in Alabama United States Army Corps of Engineers National Historic Landmarks in Alabama National Register of Historic Places in Colbert County, Alabama National Register of Historic Places in Lauderdale County, Alabama Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area Historic American Engineering Record in Alabama Multiple-arch dams Dams on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama Locks of Alabama

Description

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links