Guntersville Dam - Background and Construction

Background and Construction

In the early 1900s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers investigated several possible dam sites in the Guntersville vicinity in hopes of flooding a significant stretch of the river upstream from the city, which had unreliable water levels and had long been an impediment to major navigation in the upper Tennessee Valley. The Corps recommended building a dam at a site approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) upstream from the present dam site in 1914, but never obtained the necessary funding from Congress. More extensive investigations in the 1920s identified several more sites, including the present dam site, which they called the Coles Bend Bar site. After the Tennessee Valley Authority was formed in 1933, the Authority assumed control of all navigation and flood control projects in the Tennessee Valley. In 1935, TVA followed up the Army Corps investigations, deeming a dam at Guntersville necessary to extend the navigation channel beyond Wheeler Lake, which at that time was under construction. Guntersville Dam was authorized November 27, 1935, and construction began a few days later on December 4.

The construction of Guntersville Dam and its reservoir required the purchase of 110,145 acres (44,574 ha) of land, of which 24,426 acres (9,885 ha) were forested and had to be cleared. 1,182 families, 14 cemeteries, and over 90 miles (140 km) of roads had to be relocated. A large dike was built to protect the city of Guntersville from reservoir backwaters, and substantial dredging was necessary to extend the navigable 9-foot (2.7 m) channel up to Hales Bar Dam (this dam has since been dismantled and replaced by Nickajack Dam, shortening Guntersville Lake). Widows Bar Dam, a small dam and lock approximately 58 miles (93 km) upstream from Guntersville Dam, was partially dismantled and submerged under the lake waters.

Guntersville Dam was completed on January 17, 1939, constructed at a cost of $51 million. The dam's lock was designed by the Army Corps of Engineers and went into operation on January 24, 1939. The dam's first generator went online August 8, 1939.