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52-607: The Little Tennessee River (known locally as the Little T ) is a 135-mile (217 km) tributary of the Tennessee River that flows through the Blue Ridge Mountains from Georgia , into North Carolina , and then into Tennessee , in the southeastern United States. It drains portions of three national forests— Chattahoochee , Nantahala , and Cherokee — and provides the southwestern boundary of

104-478: A 25-foot (7.6 m) high platform mound overlooking a central plaza. By 1400, the village covered 4.8 acres (0.019 km), surrounded by a clay-covered palisade. Several Cherokee Middle Towns, including Nikwasi , Watauga , Jore , and Cowee , were located along the upper Little Tennessee River's section in present-day North Carolina section. Mounds built about 1000 CE by ancestral Mississippian culture people have survived at these sites. As noted above,

156-497: A 60-by-360-foot (18 by 110 m) lock that raises and lowers boats about 70 feet (21 m) between Fort Loudoun Lake (upstream) and Watts Bar Lake (downstream). There are four hydroelectric generators at the dam with a combined generation capacity of 155.6 megawatts of electricity. To augment Fort Loudoun's power production capacity, water from the Little Tennessee River is diverted into Fort Loudoun Lake via

208-566: A dam— at the time known as the "Fort Loudoun extension"— across the mouth of the Little Tennessee River, and divert the water via canal into the Fort Loudoun Reservoir. With the new dam extension planned, TVA received authorization for a fourth 32,000-kW generator. However, the War Production Board gave the dam's third and fourth generators a "low priority" rating, which effectively killed funding for

260-546: A major highway for riverboats through the South, and today they are frequently used along the river. Major ports include Guntersville, Chattanooga , Decatur , Yellow Creek, and Muscle Shoals . This river has contributed greatly to the economic and industrial development of the Tennessee Valley as a whole. The economies of cities such as Decatur and Chattanooga would not be as dynamic as they are today, were it not for

312-739: A publication of the Tennessee Bar Association. In 2008, as a result of a serious drought and resulting water shortage, the Georgia General Assembly passed a resolution directing the governor to pursue its claim in the United States Supreme Court . According to a story aired on WTVC-TV in Chattanooga on March 14, 2008, a local attorney familiar with case law on border disputes, said the U.S. Supreme Court generally will maintain

364-588: A series of long-term goals that called for the construction of a series of dams along the Tennessee River to provide a minimum 9-foot (2.7 m) navigation channel along the entire length of the river, control flooding in the Tennessee Valley, and bring electricity to the area. The Fort Loudoun project was initially known as the Coulter Shoals project, named for a site identified by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 6 miles (9.7 km) upstream from

416-486: A short canal extending from Tellico Reservoir a short distance upstream of the nearby Tellico Dam. The canal is roughly a half-mile long and effectively creates an island with Fort Loudoun Dam at its northeastern tip and Tellico Dam at its southwestern tip. The canal also allows navigation by barge-size craft between the Tellico Reservoir and Fort Loudoun Lake. In the mid-1930s, TVA drafted its "unified plan,"

468-663: A shorter trip for river traffic going from the Tennessee to most of the Ohio River, and for traffic going down the Cumberland River toward Tennessee. The Tennessee River and its tributaries host some 102 species of mussel . Native Americans ate freshwater mussels. Potters of the Mississippian culture used crushed mussel shell mixed into clay to make their pottery stronger. A "pearl" button industry

520-588: Is derived from the Cherokee town, Tanasi , which was located on the Tennessee side of the Appalachian Mountains. The river appears on French maps from the late 17th century with the names "Caquinampo" or "Kasqui." Maps from the early 18th century call it "Cussate," " Hogohegee ," "Callamaco," and "Acanseapi." A 1755 British map showed the Tennessee River as the "River of the Cherakees." By

572-521: Is impounded in several places by sequential dams, some created as part of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) system. They form a string of reservoirs in western North Carolina and East Tennessee down to the river's confluence with the Tennessee. Near the state line between North Carolina and Tennessee, the Little Tennessee River is impounded by the 480-foot (150 m) Fontana Dam , completed in 1944, forming Fontana Lake along

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624-516: Is named after Fort Loudoun , an 18th-century British colonial fort built during the French and Indian War . The fort— which was located about 10 miles (16 km) south of the dam site— was named for John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun , commander of British forces in North America during this period. Fort Loudoun Dam is located at just over 602 miles (969 km) upstream from the mouth of

676-423: Is projected to have a new lock built, but it has been delayed due to a lack of funding. The river not only has many economic functions, such as the boat building industry and transportation, but it also provides water and natural resources to those who live near the river. Many of the major ports on the river are connected to a settlement that was started because of its proximity to the river. On October 15, 2022,

728-795: The Chattahoochee National Forest in northeast Georgia 's Rabun County . After flowing north through the mountains past Dillard into southwestern North Carolina , it is joined by the Cullasaja River at Franklin . The river turns northwest, flowing through the Nantahala National Forest along the north side of the Nantahala Mountains . It crosses into eastern Tennessee and joins the Tennessee River at Lenoir City , 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Knoxville . The lower river

780-491: The Great Smoky Mountains National Park . Numerous dams were erected on the river in the 20th century for flood control and hydropower generation. The river flows through five major impoundments: Fontana Dam , Cheoah Dam , Calderwood Dam , Chilhowee Dam , and Tellico Dam , and one smaller impoundment, Porters Bend Dam. The Little Tennessee River rises in the Blue Ridge Mountains , in

832-509: The Muscle Shoals area, and eventually forms a small part of the state's border with Mississippi , before returning to Tennessee. The river misses Georgia by about 250 feet (76 m). The Tennessee River's route northerly through Tennessee defines the boundary between two of Tennessee's Grand Divisions : Middle and West Tennessee . The Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway , a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project providing navigation on

884-719: The Tombigbee River and a link to the Port of Mobile , enters the Tennessee River near the Tennessee-Alabama-Mississippi boundary. This waterway reduces the navigation distance from Tennessee, north Alabama, and northern Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico by hundreds of miles. The final part of the Tennessee's run is north through western Kentucky , where it separates the Jackson Purchase from

936-548: The aluminum plant at Alcoa, Tennessee . To ensure efficiency in operation, Alcoa coordinates the operation of its hydro system with TVA, making sure that reservoir and river water levels are safe for recreational use (primarily boating and fishing) and that proper flows of water continue down the river. The final impoundment is Tellico Dam , which is just above its mouth into the Tennessee River at Lenoir City, Tennessee . It creates Tellico Reservoir . The dam does not have its own hydroelectric generators, but serves to increase

988-601: The 1970s show evidence of interaction with the Hopewell people of what is now Ohio. Mississippian period (c. 1000-1500 A.D.) sites in the Little Tennessee Valley include the Toqua site (at the river's confluence with Toqua Creek), Tomotley (adjacent to Toqua), Citico (at the river's Citico Creek confluence), and Bussell Island (at the mouth of the river). Toqua's Mississippian inhabitants constructed

1040-636: The 19th century, the Tennessee River was considered to start at the mouth of Clinch River (at Kingston ). An 1889 declaration by the Tennessee General Assembly designated Kingsport (on the Holston River ) as the start of the Tennessee, but the following year a federal law was enacted that finally fixed the start of the river at its current location. At various points since the early 19th century, Georgia has disputed its northern border with Tennessee. In 1796, when Tennessee

1092-712: The English and French. The fort has been reconstructed as an historic site. Two early American sites are located along the Little Tennessee—; the Tellico Blockhouse , an outpost at the river's Nine Mile Creek confluence, and Morganton , a river port and ferry town near modern Greenback , which thrived in the early 19th century. The Hazel Creek section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, located on

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1144-477: The J. Carmichael Greer Bridge atop Fort Loudoun Dam and connected the area to Interstate 75 and Interstate 40 to the north and to Maryville and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to the south. US-321 intersects U.S. Route 11 just over a mile north of the dam in Lenoir City. Interstate 140 and several federal and state highways cross Fort Loudoun Lake further upstream. A new bridge south-east of

1196-654: The Little Tennessee on this side of the mountains, most notably at Icehouse Bottom, Rose Island, Calloway Island (near the river's confluence with Toqua Creek), Thirty Acre Island (near the river's confluence with Nine Mile Creek), and Bacon Bend (between Toqua and Citico Beach). Salvage archeological excavations in the 1970s before completion of the Tellico Dam uncovered large groups of Woodland-period burials on both Rose and Calloway islands in present-day Tennessee. Pottery fragments uncovered at Icehouse Bottom in

1248-553: The Tennessee River and nearly 50 miles (80 km) downstream from the river's source at the confluence of the Holston and French Broad at Knoxville . The river's natural confluence with the Little Tennessee River is located approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) downstream, although the Tellico Reservoir, which covers most of the lower Little Tennessee, is connected to Fort Loudoun Lake via canal which empties into

1300-602: The Tennessee River to be more significant than the Mississippi. The Tennessee River begins at mile post 652, where the French Broad River meets the Holston River, but historically there were several different definitions of its starting point. In the late 18th century, the mouth of the Little Tennessee River (at Lenoir City ) was considered to be the beginning of the Tennessee River. Through much of

1352-429: The Tennessee River. Many companies still rely on the river as a means of transportation for their materials. In Chattanooga, for example, steel is exported on boats, as it is much more efficient than moving it on land. In addition, locks along the Tennessee River waterway provide passage between reservoirs for more than 13,000 recreational craft each year. The Chickamauga Dam , located just upstream from Chattanooga,

1404-523: The University of Tennessee Volunteers football team defeated the University of Alabama Crimson Tide 52–49 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, on a game-winning field goal by Chase McGrath as time expired. In celebration of this victory, the fans stormed the field, tore down the goalposts, and threw them into the Tennessee River after an impromptu parade in which fans carried the goalposts around

1456-722: The city of Knoxville. The river has been dammed numerous times since the 1930s by Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) projects. The construction of TVA's Kentucky Dam on the Tennessee River and the Corps of Engineers' Barkley Dam on the Cumberland River led to the development of associated lakes, and the creation of an area called the Land Between the Lakes . A navigation canal located at Grand Rivers, Kentucky , links Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley . The canal allows for

1508-691: The dam itself. Some water is also diverted from the nearby Santeetlah Dam on the Cheoah River to power another hydroelectric generator at the Santeetlah Powerhouse . This water is brought to the Little Tennessee River through 7 miles (11 km) of tunnels through the Great Smoky Mountains . Chilhowee, Calderwood, and Cheoah Dams and the Santeetlah Powerhouse were originally built by Alcoa to power

1560-415: The dam was completed in the summer of 2017 and now carries Parkway traffic across the river. Fort Loudoun Dam is 122 feet (37 m) high and stretches 4,190 feet (1,280 m) across the Tennessee River . The reservoir has 379 miles (610 km) of shoreline, 14,600 acres (5,900 ha) of water surface, and a flood storage capacity of 111,000 acre-feet (137,000,000 m ). The dam is equipped with

1612-480: The disputed portion of the river entirely in Tennessee. Georgia made several unsuccessful attempts to correct what Georgia felt was an erroneous survey line "in the 1890s, 1905, 1915, 1922, 1941, 1947 and 1971 to 'resolve' the dispute", according to C. Crews Townsend, Joseph McCoin, Robert F. Parsley, Alison Martin and Zachary H. Greene, in their May 12, 2008, article for the Tennessee Bar Journal ,

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1664-559: The flow through those at nearby Fort Loudoun Dam on the Tennessee by means of a canal that diverts much of the flow of the Little Tennessee. The proposed project to build the dam and reservoir was the subject of environmental controversy during the 1970s because of the discovery of the snail darter , an endangered species . It was the first major legal challenge to the Endangered Species Act . The Little Tennessee River and its immediate watershed comprise one of

1716-518: The installation of four 24-megawatt units, but was modified to three 32-megawatt units after the construction of Cherokee Dam alleviated the need for flexibility. The dam's lock was designed by the Army Corps of Engineers and completed in June 1943. The reservoir submerged part of Louisville, Tennessee , and required modifications to Knoxville's riverfront. In 1942, TVA received approval to build

1768-406: The issue once and for all. The Atlantic Wire , in commenting on Georgia's actions stated: "The Great Georgia-Tennessee Border War of 2013 Is Upon Us Historians, take note: On this day, which is not a day in 1732, a boundary dispute between two Southern states took a turn for the wet. In a two-page resolution passed overwhelmingly by the state senate, Georgia declared that it, not its neighbor to

1820-470: The lake upstream from the dam. Lenoir City is located immediately north of Fort Loudoun Dam. The reservoir includes parts of Loudon, Blount , and Knox counties. Fort Loudoun Dam was built across three small islands (known as the "Belle Canton Islands"), although the construction of the dam and the later construction of Tellico Dam required a drastic modification of the landscape. The northern and eastern parts of these islands are now submerged, whereas

1872-663: The late 17th century. There is some evidence that Spanish explorers Hernando De Soto and Juan Pardo passed through the Little Tennessee Valley in 1540 and 1567, respectively. In 1756 the English built Fort Loudoun , located at the river's confluence with the Tellico River, for defenses during the French and Indian War . This was the name for the North American front of the Seven Years' War in Europe between

1924-489: The late 18th century, it had come to be called "Tennessee," a name derived from the Cherokee village named Tanasi . The Tennessee River is formed at the confluence of the Holston and French Broad rivers in present-day Knoxville, Tennessee . From Knoxville, it flows southwest through East Tennessee into Chattanooga before crossing into Alabama . It travels through the Huntsville and Decatur area before reaching

1976-588: The mouth of the Tennessee River upstream. Fort Loudoun Dam The dam impounds the 14,600-acre (5,900 ha) Fort Loudoun Lake and its tailwaters are part of Watts Bar Lake . The generating capacity of Fort Loudoun Dam is enhanced by the Tellico Reservoir , from which water is diverted via canal to Fort Loudoun Lake. It and associated infrastructure were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. Fort Loudoun Dam

2028-531: The north shore of the river's Fontana Lake impoundment, was home to a substantial European-American Appalachian community in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tennessee River The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River . It is approximately 652 miles (1,049 km) long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley . The river

2080-471: The north, controls part of the Tennessee River at Nickajack . Georgia doesn't want Nickajack. It wants that water.". The Tennessee River is an important part of the Great Loop , the recreational circumnavigation of Eastern North America by water. The main channel is accessible to recreational watercraft at over 200 public access points along the river's course. The Tennessee River has historically been

2132-474: The original borders between states and avoid stepping into border disputes, preferring the parties work out their differences. The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported on March 25, 2013, that Georgia senators approved House Resolution 4 stating that if Tennessee declines to settle with them, the dispute will be given to the state attorney general, to take Tennessee before the Supreme Court to settle

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2184-563: The outbreak of World War II brought increased funding and urgency, and the dam was completed and the gates closed August 2, 1943. The first generator went online November 9, 1943 and the second went online January 15, 1944. The Fort Loudoun Dam project required the purchase of 16,200 acres (6,600 ha) of land and flowage rights. 317 residents, 6 cemeteries, and over 60 miles (97 km) of roads had to be relocated. Construction efforts required 582,000 cubic yards of concrete and 122,000 cubic yards of riprap . Plans originally called for

2236-481: The present dam site in the early 1930s. After surveying the area, TVA moved the project to the Belle Canton Islands. The TVA proposed the project in 1939 and it was authorized on April 18, 1940. Construction began on July 8, 1940, using much of the construction organization that had been used in previous months on TVA's Hiwassee River projects. TVA originally planned to complete the dam in 1944, but

2288-511: The rest of the state. It flows into the Ohio River at Paducah, Kentucky . The river valley was once home to several Native American tribes. At Painted Bluff , in northeast Alabama, painted glyphs dating to ca. 1400 A.D. have been discovered among cliffs overlooking the river. The first major battles of the American Civil War occurred along the river in 1862. The commander in the western theater, General Henry Halleck , considered

2340-542: The richest archaeological areas in the southeastern United States, containing substantial indigenous habitation sites dating to as early as 7,500 B.C. Cyrus Thomas , who conducted a survey in the 1880s of earthwork mounds in the area for the Smithsonian Institution , wrote that the Little Tennessee River was "undoubtedly the most interesting archaeological section in the entire Appalachian district." Substantial Archaic period (8000-1000 B.C.) sites along

2392-649: The river include the Icehouse Bottom and the Rose Island sites, both located near the confluence of the Tellico River with the Little Tennessee in present-day Tennessee. These sites were probably semi-permanent base camps, the inhabitants of which may have sought the chert deposits on the bluffs above the river which they used to create tools. Evidence of Woodland period (1000 B.C. - 1000 A.D.) habitation has been uncovered at numerous sites along

2444-462: The river was the spine of most of the major Overhill Cherokee towns, the most prominent of which included Chota , Tanasi , Toqua, Tomotley, Mialoquo (near Rose Island), Chilhowee (at the river's Abrams Creek confluence), Tallassee (near modern Calderwood), Citico, and Tuskegee (adjacent to Fort Loudoun ). Euro-American traders were visiting the Overhill towns along the Little Tennessee by

2496-591: The southern and western parts were combined with part of the original mainland and part of Bussell Island (at the mouth of the Little Tennessee) to form one large island. This new island is separated from the mainland by the Tellico canal to the south and the main Tennessee River channel to the north. From 1963 until the bridge's closure in July 2017, Lamar Alexander Parkway (part of U.S. Route 321 ) crossed

2548-483: The southern boundary of Great Smoky Mountains National Park . It is also impounded by Cheoah Dam in North Carolina, and by Calderwood and Chilhowee dams in Tennessee. The reservoirs provide flood control and hydroelectric power . Calderwood and Cheoah dams divert water through short tunnels slightly downstream of the dams to hydroelectric generators. Chilhowee has power generators built directly into

2600-525: Was admitted to the Union, the border was originally defined by United States Congress as located on the 35th parallel, thereby ensuring that at least a portion of the river would be located within Georgia. As a result of an erroneously conducted survey in 1818 (ratified by the Tennessee legislature, but not Georgia), however, the actual border line was set on the ground approximately one mile south, thus placing

2652-405: Was established in the Tennessee Valley beginning in 1887, producing buttons from the abundant mussel shells. Button production ceased after World War II when plastics replaced mother-of-pearl as a button material. Mussel populations have declined drastically due to dam construction, water pollution, and invasive species . Tributaries and sub-tributaries are listed hierarchically in order from

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2704-522: Was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names, as the Cherokee people had their homelands along its banks, especially in what are now East Tennessee and northern Alabama . Additionally, its tributary, the Little Tennessee River , flows into it from Western North Carolina and northeastern Georgia, where the river also was bordered by numerous Cherokee towns. Its current name

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