When was ky dam built

Above: Looking north toward Gilbertsville and the RR bridge. Photo source unknown and dated August 30, Above: Gilbertsville on the banks of the Tennessee River.

Photo source unknown, dated August 30, Above: Downtown Gilbertsville. Above: Train crossing the Tennessee River at Gilbertsville. Source unknown. The original plans for Kentucky Dam. Gilbertsville RR bridge before Kentucky Dam was created. And did you know that thousands of people were relocated when the Tennessee Valley Authority TVA purchased over , acres of land to form a national recreation area?

Something of this magnitude doesn't seem possible. But it happened, beginning in and lasting over the next 30 years. The creation of today's Kentucky Lake began way back in the s when frustrations grew with frequent flooding on the Tennessee River causing problems for residents in the Tennessee Valley. Additionally, most rural residents in this region outside of towns didn't have electricity.

Efforts began creating a hydroelectric dam somewhere along the Tennessee River in western Kentucky to help solve these problems. In the late s, most locals wanted the dam at Aurora, and the Tennessee Valley Authority TVA considered this area to be a potential site until around The present-day site at Gilbertsville was chosen. TVA began constructing Kentucky Dam in and completed it in At maximum normal operating level, Kentucky Lake covers , acres and features 2, miles of shoreline.

More important than the project's size are the jobs it performs. The huge job of building Kentucky Dam took six years from the start of construction on July 1, , until the reservoir began filling on August 30, At the peak of construction TVA had nearly 5, men at work building the dam and preparing the reservoir area.

To provide a dry river bed for construction, huge cofferdams were built in three stages, starting on the east side and working to the west embankment. The first stage enclosed 26 acres for workers to construct the navigation lock. In the second stage, 40 acres were enclosed for constructing the powerhouse and 9 of the spillway bays.

The third stage enclosed about 30 acres for completion of the remaining spillway bays. The impact Kentucky Dam would have on flood control and commercial navigation was foreseen by TVA designers. Electrical generation was not a top priority in the original design; but today's generators contribute about 1. The dam, which is more than a mile long and rises feet above its foundation, required 1,, cubic yards of concrete and 5,, cubic yards of earth and rockfill.

The Tennessee River is the nation's fifth largest river within the lower 48 states in terms of flow.