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| Street View, Jul 2024 |
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| MainSpringConserves, 1939 TVA photo |
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| Sara Raxter posted The Ela dam on the Oconaluftee River, then and now. This dam is slated for demolition. |
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| fws, Ela Dam under construction, Kelly Bennett. Courtesy of Western Carolina University Hunter Library./Western Carolina University Hunter Library, Copyrighted, All Rights Reserved - Used by Permission, https://www.fws.gov/media/ela-dam-under-construction "Nearly all land upstream of the dam is either part of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ Qualla Boundary or Great Smoky Mountains National Park. There isn’t another dam in the watershed – Ela Dam is the only thing keeping the Oconaluftee River from being a completely free-flowing river....The dam came online in 1925, with the capacity to produce 0.98 megawatts." The 1mw capacity could be replaced by a 10-acre solar farm. |
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| fws, Ela Dam under construction, Kelly Bennett. Courtesy of Western Carolina University Hunter Library./Western Carolina University Hunter Library, Copyrighted, All Rights Reserved - Used by Permission, https://www.fws.gov/media/ela-dam-under-construction-0 |
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| AmericanRivers, photo by Erin McCombs |
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| AmericanRivers, courtesy of Mainspring Conservation Trust After an accidental sediment release in Oct 2021, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) and other partners purchased the dam so that it could be removed. |
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| StoryMaps, this webpage has a lot of information about the Cherokee culture and the rare fish & wildlife in the area. The dam was sold to the Ela Dam Project, LLC (EDP) in Mar 2025 and disconnected from the grid. |
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| StoryMaps "Over the years, the Bryson Project has experienced considerable sedimentation above the dam, resulting in the need to periodically draw down the lake and mechanically remove sediment, as shown in these photographs below taken by Swain Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD)." The accidental sediment release was caused by a glitch in the software that "caused the unexpected opening of the dam's two tainter [Parker] gates." "The drawdown resulted in heavy sedimentation of the one-half mile of the Oconaluftee River between the dam and the Tuckasegee, causing severe impacts to aquatic habitat and faunal diversity. Sediment removal began on December 23, 2021 using hose suction and sediment bags to filter sediment. No mechanical dredging was conducted in order to minimize the disruption of the riverbed." |
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