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Compilation of Records of Surface Waters of the United States through September 1950 Part 3-B. Cumberland and Tennessee River Basins GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1306 Compilation of Records of Surface Waters of the United States through September 1950 Part 3-B. Cumberland and Tennessee River Basins Prepared under the direction of J. V. B. WELLS, chief, Surface Water Branch GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1306 UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1958 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR FRED A. S EATON, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Thomas B. Nolan, Director For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D. C. PREFACE This report contains summaries of streamflow records in the Cum­ berland and Tennessee River basins. It was prepared by the United States Geological Survey in the Water Resources Division, C. G. Paulsen, chief, under the general direction of J. V. B. Wells, chief, Surface Water Branch, and B. J. Peterson, chief, Basic Records Section. The data were compiled under general supervision of P. R. Speer, project engineer, by personnel in district offices under supervision of district engineers, Surface Water Branch, as follows: W. R. Eaton________________________Chattanooga, Tenn. E. B. Rice_____________________________Raleigh, N. C. F. F. Schrader__________________________Louisville, Ky. D. S. Wallace________________________Charlottesville, Va. in CONTENTS [See bar chart, p. 15-19 for list of gaging stations and individual page numbers in this report] Page Purpose and scope....................................... 1 Stream-gaging program .................................. 2 Description of data ...................................... 4 Publications ............................................ 9 Hydrologic conditions .................................... 13 Bar chart............................................... 15 Gaging-station records................................... 20 Index. .................................................. 349 ILLUSTRATIONS Page Plate 1. Map showing location of gaging stations. ..... In pocket Figure 1. Map of United States showing area covered by this report .............................. 11 2. Yearly discharge at three representative gaging stations in the area covered by this report .... 14 V COMPILATION OF RECORDS OF SURFACE WATERS OF CUMBERLAND AND TENNESSEE RIVER BASINS, THROUGH 1950 PURPOSE AND SCOPE This volume is one of a series of reports presenting monthly and yearly summaries of streamflow and reservoir data collected by the Geological Survey. Included with these data are some records furnished by other Federal, State, and private agencies. The purpose of this series of reports is to make available in summarized form all of the surface-water records collected up to September 30, 1950. The first known streamflow records to be systematically col­ lected in the United States are those for Eaton and Madison Brooks in Madison County, N. Y. , by John B. Jervis during 1835. Stream gaging by the United States Geological Survey was begun in 1888. At that time the Congress authorized the Irrigation Sur­ vey to be conducted by the Geological Survey in connection with special studies relating to irrigation. The work consisted of the measurement of stage and discharge of a few streams in the West. Since that time the work has expanded so that measurements of stage and discharge of streams and of stage and contents of lakes and reservoirs have been made at more than 12, 000 gaging sta­ tions in the 48 states and the territories of Hawaii and Alaska, of which about 6,400 were in operation on September 30, 1950. The details of the records collected at those stations are contained in annual reports, bulletins, and water-supply papers, which have been issued usually on an annual basis. Most of the records col­ lected over the years are found only in numerous individual vol­ umes, many of which are out of print and difficult to obtain. The records have been collected mainly in cooperation with State, municipal, and other Federal cooperating agencies and published in annual reports by the Geological Survey. This series of compilation reports has been prepared by the Geological Survey as a special project not included in the cooperative program. 2 COMPILATION OF SURFACE WATER RECORDS, PART 3-B The data presented in this series of reports consist of records of discharge of streams and contents of reservoirs summarized on a monthly and yearly basis. Results of miscellaneous dis­ charge measurements and, in general, stage records have been excluded. Also included are bar charts showing the period of record covered by each gaging station and a map of the area showing the location of each station (pi. 1). The reports of this series are uniform in the type of data they contain and in the form of presentation. In compiling the data for these summary reports, one important feature of the project was to review the analyses and computations originally made on the basis of all information now available. For some stations additional base data, obtained subsequently, allowed for reinterpretation and recomputation of more accurate records of discharge. All records were examined for major computation errors and tested wherever possible by comparison with records of discharge at other stations and weather data. Records that were found to be in need of substantial revision were recomputed or omitted if revision was not feasible. Estimates of discharge were made to fill short gaps to complete the continuity of the record, wherever practical. Records furnished by other agencies are incorporated in these reports when they supplement records collected by the Geological Survey, and appeared consistent and reliable. Furnished records were reviewed in the same manner as Geological Survey records whenever base data were available and detailed study was feasible. STREAM-GAGING PROGRAM The area covered by this report (fig. 1), which includes the Cumberland and Tennessee River basins, extends from the west­ ern slopes of the Appalachian Mountains westward across the Cumberland Plateau to the eastern borders of the lower Missis­ sippi River basin. The drainage area of the headwaters of the Tennessee River includes areas of the highest precipitation in the eastern part of the United States where the mean annual pre­ cipitation exceeds 80 inches in the highest altitudes. The control of floods, navigation, and water power provided the impetus for the earliest observation of stream flow in the area. The earliest records on the streams in the area covered by this report were begun as records of stage by the Army Signal Corps from which records of discharge were later computed by the Geological Survey when sufficient discharge measurements be­ came available to define the ratings. The first such gage was STREAM-GAGING PROGRAM O established on the Tennessee River at Florence, Ala., in 1871. This was followed closely by gages on the Cumberland River at Nashville, Tenn. , in 1873, Tennessee River at Chattanooga, Tenn. , in 1874, and the Tennessee River at Johnsonville, Tenn., in 1875. The operation of these gages was taken over by the Weather Bureau in 1891. The Geological Survey began to collect records of stream flow in the summer of 1893 when the first discharge measurement was made on the Tennessee River at Chattanooga, Tenn. In 1897 measurements were begun on a regular basis at this station, and records of discharges from January 1890 were computed and published using measurements made in 1893 by the LL S. Weather Bureau. At a later date this discharge record was extended back to the beginning of the gage-height record in 1874, and thus be­ comes the longest continuous record of discharge in the area. Similar discharge records have been compiled for the Tennessee River at Johnsonville, Tenn., since 1889, the Cumberland River at Nashville, Tenn., since 1893, and the Tennessee River at Florence, Ala., since 1894. The work in Alabama and Tennessee by the Geological Survey was followed closely by the establishment of four stations in North Carolina during 1895 96, four stations in Virginia in 1907, and three stations in Kentucky in 1915. The first observation of discharge recorded in the area was made in 1883 by the Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, on the Cumberland River at Nashville, Tenn. , and from that date until 1909 the Corps of Engineers made many discharge measurements at several points on the Cumber­ land and Tennessee Rivers. During the latter part of the neneteenth century water power became of major importance to the southeastern states, and in 1895 the Geological Survey began the first State cooperative stream-gaging program in the area with the State of North Carolina. This cooperation was continued through 1909. The rapid development of water power and the widespread movement for the acquisition by the Government of the forested lands within the Southern Appalachians for the conservation and regulation of the water supply and flow of streams resulted in a rapid ex­ pansion of the program on the headwaters during 1900. This ex­ pansion was augmented by cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service during 1907-9. In 1911 and 1918 the Geological Survey cooperated with the State of Tennessee on the establishment of severalsta- tions, and in 1918 the cooperative program with the State of North Carolina was resumed. Since then the program has expanded to include all the States in the area. 4 COMPILATION OF SURFACE WATER RECORDS, PART 3-B The area periodically

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