Misplaced Pages

#816183

25-654: Calderwood Dam was one of four dams—along with Cheoah , Santeetlah , and Chilhowee —built in the Little Tennessee Valley by Alcoa in the 20th century to provide electricity to its aluminum smelting operations in Blount County. The dam was one of the last to be completed in the Tennessee River watershed before TVA took control of the watershed in 1933. Alcoa developed the community of Calderwood, Tennessee , just downstream from

50-417: A 24-gate arched-crest spillway. A 40-foot (12 m) lower-gravity "cushion" dam is located 370 feet (110 m) downstream from the main dam, creating a pool of water that protects the riverbed. The pool's effectiveness is enhanced by a deflection unit at the base of the main dam. Calderwood's powerhouse is located 1.2 miles (1.9 km) downstream from the dam, on the opposite side of the horseshoe bend in

75-566: A drainage area of 1,856 square miles (4,810 km). The elevation of Calderwood Reservoir is 1087.8 feet (USGS), and the reservoir covers an 8-mile (13 km) stretch of the river. About half of Calderwood Reservoir lies in Tennessee, with the remainder extending into North Carolina . Alcoa began developing the Little Tennessee Valley in 1909 to provide the enormous amounts of electricity needed to power to its aluminum smelting operations in Blount County. Superintendent I.G. Calderwood oversaw

100-583: A gorge in the mountains 30 miles (48 km) east of the city—was considered a prime candidate for hydroelectric power by the region's early electric companies. In 1910, the C.M. Clark Company, an electrical transportation holding firm, formed the Eastern Tennessee Power Company to build two hydroelectric dams on the Ocoee and market their electricity output primarily to Chattanooga. Work on Ocoee Dam No. 1 began later that year and

125-469: A maximum discharge of 45,000 cubic feet per second (1,300 m /s). Parksville Lake has 109 miles (175 km) of shoreline, and the lake's water levels fluctuate by about 9 feet (2.7 m) per year. The rapid growth of industry in Chattanooga in the late 19th century and early 20th century brought an increasing demand for electricity, and the rapid-flowing Ocoee River—which passes through

150-707: Is a hydroelectric dam on the Ocoee River in Polk County in the U.S. state of Tennessee . The dam impounds the 1,930-acre (780 ha) Parksville Reservoir (often called Ocoee Lake or Parksville Lake) and is the farthest downstream of four dams on the Toccoa/Ocoee River owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority . Completed in 1911, Ocoee No. 1 was one of the first hydroelectric projects in Tennessee. Ocoee No. 1

175-401: Is equipped with three Francis turbines . The powerhouse, a larger brick structure adjacent to the valve house, is equipped with three Westinghouse generators with a combined capacity of 140.4 megawatts. The powerhouse complex, located adjacent to a rockslide-prone slope, is protected by a V-shaped reinforced concrete wall. Calderwood's reservoir covers approximately 570 acres (230 ha) with

200-408: Is located along the upstream end of this bend, and the powerhouse, service building, and old Calderwood community (now a recreation area) are located along the downstream end of this bend. The service building, recreation area, and historical community structures are accessible via Housley Road (gated at night), which connects US-129 to Growdon Road at the service building. Growdon Road continues past

225-567: Is located approximately 12 miles (19 km) upstream from the mouth of the Ocoee, in an area where the river emerges from its winding trek through the Appalachian Mountains and enters the Tennessee Valley . The community of Parksville is located on the north side of the dam, and Chattanooga is roughly 30 miles (48 km) to the west. The Ocoee Scenic Byway —part of U.S. Route 64 —passes just north of

250-529: Is primarily dependent on releases from TVA 's Fontana Dam , the primary flow control facility for the lower Little Tennessee River. Tapoco operated the Cheoah Development until 2012, when it was sold to Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners, forming Brookfield Smoky Mountain Hydropower. When completed in 1919, the 225-foot (69 m) dam was the world's highest overflow dam. The turbines were

275-666: The Little Tennessee River between river miles 51 and 52. The Cheoah Development consists of a dam and powerhouse, the first of several constructed by the Tallassee Power Company (now Tapoco ), a subsidiary of Aluminum Company of America (now Alcoa ), in order to generate electricity to smelt aluminum in Alcoa, Tennessee . The Cheoah project began in 1916 as a construction camp at the Narrows, where

SECTION 10

#1732802386817

300-482: The Little Tennessee River flowed through a narrow gorge, and it was completed in 1919. Cheoah Dam created the long, narrow Cheoah Reservoir, which covers approximately 644 acres (261 ha) of the normal full pool area and a drainage area of 1,608 square miles (4,160 km ). The elevation of Cheoah Reservoir is 1,276.8 feet (389.2 m) (USGS). A scenic highway runs the length of the reservoir. The water inflow for Cheoah, like that of Calderwood and Chilhowee ,

325-604: The Tennessee River . The area is surrounded by mountains on all sides, with the Great Smoky Mountains rising to the north and the Unicoi Mountains rising to the south. U.S. Route 129 runs roughly parallel to the Blount County side of the river, providing the only major road access to the Calderwood area. The Calderwood complex graces a horseshoe bend in the river known as "The Narrows." The dam

350-488: The community was largely abandoned in the 1950s. Its houses were all razed, but the school and theater (now used as storage) were added to Calderwood Dam's National Register listing in 2004. 35°29′33″N 83°58′45″W  /  35.49263°N 83.97928°W  / 35.49263; -83.97928 Cheoah Dam The Cheoah Dam is a hydroelectric dam located in Graham and Swain counties, North Carolina , on

375-461: The dam and powerhouse, was developed in 1912 to house construction crews for Alcoa's Little Tennessee projects. This community was initially known as "Alcoa," but its name was changed to "Calderwood" in 1920 when the company reapplied its name to its main company town north of Maryville . The Calderwood community grew to include nearly two dozen houses, two churches, a school, and a theater, but as construction and maintenance crews were no longer needed,

400-591: The dam to house construction and maintenance crews for its Little Tennessee Valley operations. In 1989, Calderwood Dam was placed on the National Register of Historic Places . The listing was expanded in 1990 and again in 2004 to include most of the dam's substructures. Calderwood Dam is located approximately 44 miles (71 km) upstream from the mouth of the Little Tennessee River, which flows westward from North Carolina and empties into

425-502: The dam. Parksville Lake extends for several miles eastward up the Ocoee and several miles southward up Baker Creek, which once emptied into the Ocoee just upstream from the dam. Ocoee Dam No. 2 is located just over 12 miles (19 km) upstream from Ocoee No. 1. The dam is 135 feet (41 m) high and 840 feet (260 m) long and has a generating capacity of 24,000 kilowatts, up from an original 19,200 kilowatts after being refurbished in 1989-91. The concrete gravity arched spillway has

450-399: The extension of a railway line from Chilhowee to what is now Calderwood (railroad bridge support columns are still visible in the river just downstream from the dam). Southern Railway engineers had suggested that the construction of this rail line would take six months, but Calderwood and his team accomplished the task in just six weeks. The first of Alcoa's Little Tennessee Valley dams, Cheoah,

475-476: The largest in the world, and the 150,000-volt transmission line had the highest voltage and the longest span for a transmission line—5,010 feet (1,530 m) across the river below Cheoah Dam. The dam and associated structures were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. The dam was used as a filming location for the 1993 movie The Fugitive , starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones . Ocoee Dam No. 1 Ocoee Dam Number 1

500-435: The river. A submerged intake just upstream from the dam diverts water into a 2,150-foot (660 m) concrete tunnel, which carries the water to the other side of the peninsula where it spills down three penstocks to a valve house. The penstocks measure approximately 18 feet (5.5 m) in diameter, and range in length from 330 feet (100 m) to 388 feet (118 m). The valve house is built of steel-reinforced concrete and

525-556: The service building to the powerhouse, although this section of the road is only publicly open to foot traffic. The Calderwood Overlook, located along US-129 just south of the road's intersection with Housley Road, provides a sweeping view of the Calderwood Reservoir. A gravel road, also open only to public foot traffic, connects the overlook to Calderwood Dam. Calderwood Dam is a thin-section concrete structure 232 feet (71 m) high and 916 feet (279 m) wide, and has

SECTION 20

#1732802386817

550-720: Was built adjacent to the dam in 1916 to provide generation during periods of low water flow. It was last used in 1954. In 1922, the Eastern Tennessee Power Company and several other entities merged to form the Tennessee Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which overhauled the dam in the 1930s. In 1933, the TVA Act created the Tennessee Valley Authority and gave the Authority oversight of the Tennessee River watershed, which includes

575-415: Was completed in 1919, and the second, Santeetlah, was completed in 1928. Preliminary work on Calderwood Dam began in 1918, but test drilling suggested the site might not be satisfactory. Subsequent tests confirmed the site's stability, however, and construction began in 1927. The first two generating units went into operation in 1930, and a third unit was added in 1938. The "cushion pool" design of Calderwood

600-480: Was completed in late December 1911. On January 27, 1912, the dam's four units began commercial operation. A fifth unit was added in 1914. The five units provided a total capacity of 18 MW. Power was distributed primarily to Chattanooga and also to Knoxville , Nashville , and Rome, Georgia , as well as the aluminum industries in Alcoa . A coal burning station known as the Parksville Steam Plant

625-667: Was influenced by natural cascade waterfall formations. The dam's arched-crest design may have been influenced by the design of Ocoee Dam No. 1 , which was completed in 1911 along the Ocoee River a few miles to the south. Calderwood's use of a conduit tunnel to carry water to a powerhouse further downstream resembles the Great Falls Dam complex, completed in 1916 on the Caney Fork in Middle Tennessee . The community of Calderwood, Tennessee, located downstream from

#816183