Watauga Dam - Background and Construction

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 3 miles (4.8 km) 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 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 Tennessee River 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 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 11,700 acres (47 km2) of land, 1,663 acres (6.7 km2) of which had to be cleared. 761 families, 1,281 graves, and 55 miles (89 km) of roads had to be relocated, and three new bridges were built. Wilbur Dam, located just 3 miles (4.8 km) downstream, had to be raised and outfitted with a new spillway. The town of Butler had to be moved. In October 1942, the U.S. War Production Board 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.

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.