| Nolichucky Dam | |
|---|---|
 Nolichucky Dam in the 1940s | |
| Location | Greene County, Tennessee, United States |
| Coordinates | 36°03′53″N 82°52′00″W / 36.06478°N 82.86653°W |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Impounds | Nolichucky River |
Nolichucky Dam is a dam on the Nolichucky River near Greeneville, Tennessee, maintained by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). [1] The dam is located just over 46 miles (74 km) upstream from the mouth of the Nolichucky, and impounds Davy Crockett Lake, [1] [2] which extends 6 miles (9.7 km) upstream from the dam. [2] [3]
The dam is a concrete gravity overflow type dam 94 feet (29 m) high and 482 feet (147 m) long. [2] [3] The dam has an ogee-type spillway with a flashboard crest. Its reservoir, Davy Crockett Lake (named for the folk figure who was born a few miles upstream from the modern dam site in 1786), has roughly 800 acres (320 ha) of water surface. [3]
Nolichucky Dam was built by the Tennessee Eastern Electric Company (TEEC) in 1912-1913 for hydroelectricity generation. [4] The dam was initially equipped with two generators, and TEEC added two more in 1923. [3] In 1941, the East Tennessee Light & Power Company obtained ownership of the dam when it purchased TEEC's assets. [5] The Tennessee Valley Authority purchased East Tennessee Light & Power in 1945 for a lump sum that included $1.47 million for Nolichucky Dam. TVA made various improvements, and at its height, the dam was capable of producing 10,640 kilowatts of electricity. [3] TVA used the dam for power generation until 1972, when sediment buildup in Davy Crockett Lake made continued electricity generation impractical. [2] The dam and reservoir are now used for flood control and recreation; [1] the reservoir is a wildlife management area. [2] The continued sediment buildup is resulting in upstream flooding.
References
- ^ a b c Nolichucky River, in Tennessee Watersheds - EAST, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation website
- ^ a b c d e Nolichucky Dam and Davy Crockett Reservoir, Tennessee Valley Authority website
- ^ a b c d e Tennessee Valley Authority, Design of TVA Projects Volume3: Mechanical Design of Hydro Plants, Technical Report No. 24 (Washington, D.C.: Tennessee Valley Authority, 1952), 301-302.
- ^ Tennessee Valley Authority, Nolichucky Reservoir Flood Remediation Environmental Impact Statement. ca. 2001-2002. Retrieved: 21 January 2009. PDF file.
- ^ Finding Aid for East Tennessee Light and Power Company Records. East Tennessee State University — Archives of Appalachia. Retrieved: 21 January 2009.
External links
- Nolichucky Dam and Davy Crockett Reservoir — TVA site
- Davy Crockett Reservoir — Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
- Archives of Appalachia - East Tennessee Light and Power Company Records