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Satellite)
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TVA
As you can surmise by the date of 1943, this was another dam built to help supply electricity to for the war effort. It was completed on a crash schedule in just 12 months and 17 days.
"Birdwatchers enjoy the fall migration of shore birds, wading birds, and other waterfowl flock to Douglas from late July to early October. The birds rest and feed on the muddy shoreline and in areas of shallow water exposed as the reservoir level is lowered to winter flood control levels."
The text says it generates 111mwNet, but the list of facts specifies 182.
Height: 201' Length: 1,705'
Variance between summer and winter water levels: 44' Flood-storage capacity: 1m acre-feet
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I'm learning that eastern Kentucky and Tennessee is wilderness. I could not find a nearby town for the title. That makes the fast construction even more remarkable because they had to also build roads and housing for the workers.
Housing had to be built for 6,000 workers. Most sources will site aluminum production as the war time effort that needed electricity. Some sources, like this one, also admit that the electricity was needed for "Manhattan Project’s nuclear weapons research in Oak Ridge." There was some opposition because the reservoir displaced 525 families and inundated 32 cemeteries. It also threatened a key contributor to the area's economy, canning, because the reservoir covered thousands of acres of fertile farmland that was used to growing canned foods. "Dandridge, one of the state’s oldest towns, would have been drowned by the original dam plans. Citizens and local government leaders banded together to save their beloved town. The people of Dandridge pleaded their case to an unlikely figure, Eleanor Roosevelt. Their main argument for why their city should be saved was the origin of the town’s name. Dandridge is named after the wife of America’s first president. Dandridge was Martha Washington’s maiden name. Their fight was successful, and Eleanor promised that a saddle dam would be built to keep the reservoir from overtaking their city. A saddle dam, also known as a dike, builds up the sides of a reservoir where there are low points to prevent flooding. Today, the saddle dam is affectionately called “the dike that saved Dandridge” and the Jefferson County Courthouse has a mark representing where the water level would be without the dike." [
WhitePineTN]
The construction interval is even more remarkable because they had a 4-week delay due to flooding. And it wasn't just the plans that were provided by the
Cherokee Dam: "TVA completed nearby Cherokee Dam just a few weeks earlier and so was able to take advantage of the immediate availability of drawings, heavy equipment and seasoned engineers and construction workers on the Douglas project." The TVA wanted to build a dam here since 1936. But the impact on the canning industry deferred those plans. The bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1941, ended the debate. [
TVA-democracy]
The saddle dam was easy to find.
I found several photos of the spillway, but this is the only one I saw of it spilling water.
TVA
posted nine photos with the comment: "The construction of Douglas Dam began precisely 81 years ago today [Feb 2]! After the events of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Douglas Dam Bill was signed by congress on January 30, 1942. That afternoon TVA received a teletype from Washington that said, “DOUGLAS DAM BILL JUST SIGNED. START DIGGING.” and within four days, 1,800 employees were working on the dam. Through sheer determination, the dam was finished in little over a year! Learn more here:
http://tva.me/PoZ450MH3b5."
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