Dams and Navigation
The West Fork River is not navigable by commercial barge traffic; it is classified by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources as "recreationally navigable" for canoes and similar craft. During the early history of the United States, the government of Virginia attempted to maintain commercial navigability on the river, chartering a company for that purpose in 1793 and requiring that dams for milling operations provide a chute for boats to pass downstream. Construction of a system of locks, dams, and chutes was begun by the Monongahela Navigation Company in 1817; the project was abandoned following damage by floods in 1824.
Three miles (5 km) south of Weston, the river is dammed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to form Stonewall Jackson Lake. The project was authorized by the federal Flood Control Act of 1966 for flood control, improvement of water quality and water supply, improvement of habitat for fish and wildlife, hydropower, and recreation. Construction of the dam was delayed by the opposition of local residents and began in the mid-1980s at an ultimate cost of $208 million; it became fully operational in 1988. The dam is 95 feet (29 m) tall and forms a 2,650-acre (1,070 ha) lake, with a larger capacity during periods of flood. Land along the lake is leased as a wildlife management area and Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park.
Between the years of 1905 and 1931, four small dams were constructed by the Clarksburg Water Board on a sixteen-mile (26 km) stretch of the river upstream (south) of Clarksburg, for the provision of local drinking water. While the dams in later years have come to be regarded as good fishing areas, the Water Board is working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on plans to remove them.
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