| Douglas Dam | |
 Douglas Dam from downstream |
|
| Official name | Douglas Dam |
|---|---|
| Impounds | French Broad River |
| Locale | Sevier County, Tennessee, USA |
| Length | 1,705 feet (520 m) |
| Height | 202 feet (62 m) |
| Construction began | February 2, 1942 |
| Opening date | February 19, 1943 |
| Reservoir information | |
| Creates | Douglas Lake |
| Geographical Data | |
 |
|
| Coordinates | 35°57′6″N 83°32′4″W / 35.95167°N 83.53444°WCoordinates: 35°57′6″N 83°32′4″W / 35.95167°N 83.53444°W |
| Maintained by | Tennessee Valley Authority |
Douglas Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the French Broad River in Sevier County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The dam is operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which built the dam in record time in the early 1940s to meet emergency energy demands at the height of World War II. Douglas Dam is a straight reinforced concrete gravity-type dam 1705 feet (520 m) long and 202 feet (62 m) high, impounding the 28,420-acre (11,500 ha) Douglas Lake. The dam was named for Douglas Bluff, a cliff overlooking the dam site prior to construction.[1]
Contents |
Location and access
The French Broad River winds its way westward from the Appalachian Mountains, gaining considerable strength after absorbing the Pigeon River and Nolichucky River near Newport before eventually joining with the Holston River at Knoxville to form the Tennessee River. Douglas Dam is located 32 miles (51 km) above the mouth of the French Broad. The area is a geological border between the Foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains (which rise to the south) and the Appalachian Ridge-and-Valley range. The reservoir includes parts of Sevier, Jefferson, Hamblen, and Cocke counties.
Road access is available by Tennessee State Hwy 338 which crosses just downstream of the dam. Interstate 40 (Exit 407) passes a few miles to the north.
The dam does not have any navigational locks.
Background and construction
In 1941 President Franklin Roosevelt asked Congress to approve funding for a dam on the French Broad River in East Tennessee. After the attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II, construction of the dam became a high priority to generate hydroelectricity for national defense purposes, particularly aluminum production.[2][3] When TVA first asked Congress for funds to build Douglas Dam in late 1941, U.S. Senator Kenneth McKellar of Tennessee opposed the project because it would flood some 40 square miles (100 km2) of fertile farmland important to the local canning industry.[2] McKellar succeeded in blocking the project for two months before his opposition was overridden due to defense needs, as the Office of Production Management predicted that wartime production would peak in 1943, and the generating capacity of existing and planned TVA projects would be short by 230,000 kilowatts.[3][1] Congress approved the project in January 1942 and Roosevelt signed the act into law January 30. Construction began as a rush project on February 2, using blueprints, engineers, and construction equipment from nearby Cherokee Dam,[2] which had been completed a few weeks earlier in 1941.[1]
The construction of Douglas Dam and its accompanying reservoir required the purchase of 33,160 acres (13,420 ha) of land, 5,182 acres (2,097 ha) of which were forested and had to be cleared. The project also required the relocation of 525 families and 32 cemeteries, and the redirection of several miles of roads.[1] Supplies for the construction of the dam were hauled to the site by the Smoky Mountain Railroad, which had constructed a branch line to the site from nearby Sevierville. Profits from dam operations saved the railroad from bankruptcy.[4]
The Douglas Project required the construction of ten smaller earthen saddle dams to fill in gaps along the adjacent ridgeline and permit a higher water elevation than would otherwise be possible. Most of these saddle dams are located in the hills southeast of the main dam, although one protects downtown Dandridge, which along with the communities of Shady Grove, Oak Grove, and Rankin was scheduled to be flooded.[1] The citizens of Dandridge appealed to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, however, pointing out that the town was the only place in the United States named for Martha Dandridge Washington, wife of first president George Washington. Mrs. Roosevelt made certain that a saddle dam was built to protect the town of Dandridge from flooding.[5] The saddle dam was built of earthen fill, and fortified on its lake-facing side by gravel and riprap.[1]
In spite of a four-week delay due to flooding, Douglas Dam was completed and the gates closed February 19, 1943, just 382 days after construction began, setting a world record for a project of its size.[2][1] The first generator went online March 21, 1943 and a second went online January 1, 1944. The dam operated at maximum capacity for most of its first year of operation.[1] After completion, Douglas furnished electric power for two critical war industries, aluminum production and the Manhattan Project operations at Oak Ridge.[2]
Power generation and flood control
Douglas Dam is a hydroelectric power generation facility consisting of 4 electric generation units with combined production capacity of 165,600 kW.[6]
In addition to power generation, a secondary purpose of Douglas Dam is flood control of the French Broad River. Douglas Lake has over 500 miles (800 km) of shoreline and has a water surface of nearly 30,000 acres (120 km²). Flood-storage capacity is 1,081,880 acre feet (1.3 km³) of water.[6]
Recreational Use
Douglas Lake is a popular recreational destination for up to 2 million visitors a year. Primary uses are fishing, boating, water skiing, camping, hiking and wildlife viewing. In addition to a number of private campgrounds, TVA maintains the Douglas Dam Headwater Campground and the Douglas Dam Tailwater Campground for public use. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency stocks the reservoir with tens of thousands of sauger and crappie each year for recreational fishing.[7]
Ecological effects
One of the issues of hydroelectric power generation is the reduction of dissolved oxygen in the dam tailwaters. Three systems are used at Douglas Dam to improve oxygenation.[8]
- 1. Turbine venting - injection of oxygen at the turbines.
- 2. Surface water pumps - pumps that push surface water downward to the turbines.
- 3. Water pulsing - release of water through turbines to maintain some water flow at all times.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Tennessee Valley Authority, The Douglas Project: A Comprehensive Report on the Planning, Design, Construction, and Initial Operations of the Douglas Project, Technical Report No. 10 (Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1949), 1-12, 28.
- ^ a b c d e Estle Muncy, Jefferson County. Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, 2002. Retrieved: 8 January 2009.
- ^ a b Feud. Time, May 25, 1942. Retrieved: 8 January 2009.
- ^ William Robert Rogers, A Brief History of the Smoky Mountain Railroad. Originally published in Sevier County: Its History and Heritage, 1994. Retrieved: 8 January 2009.
- ^ Jefferson County, Tennessee History for Kids website
- ^ a b Tennessee Valley Authority, Douglas Reservoir. Retrieved: 8 January 2009.
- ^ Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency — Reservoir Fish Stocking 2008. Retrieved: 8 January 2009.
- ^ TVA article on tailwater improvements for oxygenation
External links
- Douglas Reservoir — official TVA site
- Photo gallery of the construction of Douglas Dam
- Douglas Reservoir — TWRA information
|
||||||||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
