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Home , Melton Hill Dam, Norris Dam, Norris Lake (Tennessee)

Coordinates: 36°13ʹ27ʺN 84°05ʹ29ʺW Norris From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Norris Dam is a hydroelectric and flood control structure located on the in Anderson County and Campbell County, , United States. Its construction in the mid-1930s was the first major project for the Tennessee Valley Authority, which had been created in 1933 to bring economic development to the region and control the rampant flooding that had long plagued the Tennessee Valley. The dam was named in honor of Senator George Norris (1861–1944), a longtime supporter of government-owned power in general, and supporter of TVA in particular.[3] Norris Dam Norris Dam is a straight concrete gravity-type dam. The dam is 1860 feet (570 m) long and 265 feet (81 m) high. , the largest on a tributary of the , has 33,840 acres (137 km²) of water surface and 809 miles (1302 km) of shoreline. The dam has a maximum generating capacity of 132,000 kilowatts.[4]

Location of Norris Dam in Tennessee Contents Official name Norris Dam Location Anderson County and Campbell County, Tennessee, 1 Location United States 2 Background and construction Coordinates 36°13ʹ27ʺN 84°05ʹ29ʺW Construction began October 1, 1933 3 References Opening date March 4, 1936 4 External links Operator(s) Tennessee Valley Authority Dam and spillways Location Impounds Clinch River Height 265 feet (81 m) The Clinch River flows southwestward for 300 miles Length 1,860 feet (570 m) (480 km) from its headwaters in Virginia through the rugged, Reservoir sparsely populated hills of northeastern Tennessee before emptying into the Tennessee River near Kingston. Norris Creates Norris Lake Dam is located at just over 79 miles (127 km) upstream from Total capacity 2,552,000 acre·ft the mouth of the Clinch, immediately downstream from the (3,148,000 dam3)[1] river's confluence with Cove Creek, which joins the river from the northwest. The reservoir includes parts of Anderson, Catchment area 2,912 sq mi (7,540 km2)[1] Campbell, Union, Claiborne, and Grainger counties. Norris Reservoir spans a 73-mile (117 km) stretch of the Clinch Commission date 1936 from the dam to River Ridge at the Claiborne-Grainger Turbines 2 x 66 MW Francis-type county line. The reservoir also covers the lower 56 miles (90 km) of the Powell River, which empties into the Clinch Installed capacity 132 MW[2] 10 miles (16 km) upstream from Norris Dam. The dam's tailwaters are part of Melton Hill Lake, which stretches for 56 miles (90 km) along the Clinch from Norris to .

Norris Freeway, a section of U.S. Highway 441 widened in the 1930s to aid in dam construction, crosses the top of Norris Dam and connects the area to Interstate 75 at Rocky Top, Tennessee to the west and Knoxville, Tennessee to the south. Along with the reservation maintained by TVA for the operation of Norris Dam, most of the lower Norris Reservoir is surrounded by conservation lands, including adjacent to the reservation, the Cove Creek Wildlife Management Area across the lake to the north, and the Chuck Swan State Forest, which protects a large undeveloped area a few miles upstream.

Background and construction

As early as 1911, the present site of Norris Dam— initially called the "Cove Creek site"— was identified as a prime location for a sizeable dam. Several government and private entities believed that a dam in the upper Tennessee Valley, working in conjunction with at Muscle Shoals, Alabama, could provide badly needed flood control to and help keep the Tennessee River consistently navigable year-round. In the early 1920s, several entities— including the Tennessee Electric Power Company (TEPCo), the Knoxville Power & Light Company, and Union Carbide— applied for permits to build a dam at the Cove Creek site, although all were eventually withdrawn or rejected. Part of the opposition was from Senator Norris, who Workers at Norris Dam, Tennessee advocated a government-sponsored dam at the site, arguing that a Valley Authority, 3 November 1933 private entity would be almost wholly concerned with power generation rather than flood control and coordination with projects elsewhere in the valley. Norris proposed constructing a network of dams throughout the valley to help regulate its outflow into the lower . Throughout the late 1920s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers made several proposals to build a dam at the site, but all were rejected by Congress or vetoed by President Calvin Coolidge.[3]

The Tennessee Valley Authority was formed in 1933 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's legislation. The act authorizing TVA's establishment (signed on May 18, 1933) authorized TVA to immediately begin construction on a dam at the Cove Creek site. On July 30, TVA renamed the Cove Creek project for Senator Norris and began preparations for the dam's construction. As the agency lacked any engineering or dam construction experience, it relied heavily on the Army Corps' original design, and received ample consulting from the U.S. Bureau of Design plan for Norris Dam, c. Reclamation.[3] Hungarian-American architect Roland Wank (1898–1970) 1933 revised the initial plans from Bureau of Reclamation engineers, and gave the poured-concrete Norris Dam a modernist style, which was controversial and advanced for the era of construction, but the result would eventually succeed in elevating Roland Wank to the position of Chief Architect for TVA from 1933 through 1944.[5] Construction began on October 1, 1933.

The building of Norris Dam and its accompanying reservoir required the purchase of over 152,000 acres (62,000 ha) of land. 2,841 families and 5,226 graves were relocated. The community of Loyston, located about 20 miles (32 km) upstream from the dam site, was entirely inundated. Approximately one-third of Caryville, at the head of the reservoir's Cove Creek embayment, was flooded and a number of structures in the town had to be moved. Several smaller 30-foot (9.1 m) earthen dams were built along reservoir tributaries to house fish hatcheries. As the project called for the construction of recreational areas along the lakeshore, TVA built two supplemental dams— Caryville Dam and Big Ridge Dam "Arthur Roberts and Sam Mynatt — to impound Cove Lake and Big Ridge Lake, respectively, and ensure drilling in lateral test shaft for these small lakes would remain filled year-round. The Civilian examination of substrata at base of Conservation Corps built recreational facilities and aided in the removal Norris Dam." Photograph taken by [3] Lewis Hine October 27, 1933 of various structures. The town of Norris, Tennessee was initially built as a to house the workers involved in the construction of this dam.[6]

Norris Dam was completed and the gates closed on March 4, 1936, constructed at a cost of $36 million. The dam's first generator went online July 28, 1936. Although Norris was the first dam built by TVA, it is not the oldest dam owned and operated by the agency. TVA subsequently purchased the assets of the former Tennessee Electric Power Company, including some dams which had been built prior to Norris Dam. The building of Norris Dam and the changes it brought to the region inspired films, books, stage plays, and songs. Folk songs from the construction period express enthusiasm for the benefits that the dam project brought to the region.[3][7]

References

1. "Norris Dam". National Performance of Dams Program, National Inventory of Dams. Stanford University. Retrieved 2012-10-10. 2. "Hydroelectric Plants in Tennessee". IndustCards. Retrieved 13 May 2014. 3. Tennessee Valley Authority, The Norris Project: A Comprehensive Report on the Planning, Design, Construction, and Initial Operations of the Tennessee Valley Authority's First Water Control Project, Technical Report No. 1 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1940), pp. 1-12, 46-47, 65, 531. 4. Tennessee Valley Authority, Norris Reservoir (http://www.tva.gov/sites/norris.htm). Retrieved: 9 January 2009. 5. TVA — Design for the Public Good (http://www.tva.gov/heritage/design/). Retrieved: 9 January 2009. 6. The Planned Community of Norris, Tennessee (http://newdeal.feri.org/tva/tva08.htm). Retrieved: 9 January 2009. 7. Bob Fulcher, "The Songs of Norris Dam (http://www.state.tn.us/environment/tn_consv/archive/songs.htm)", The Tennessee Conservationist, July 2000.

External links

Norris Reservoir (http://www.tva.gov/sites/norris.htm) — official Wikimedia Commons has TVA site media related to Norris "Slopes of Norris Dam Rising to Tame a River" Popular Dam. Mechanics, October 1935 (https://books.google.com/books?id=w N8DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA485) Norris Dam (http://structurae.net/structures/data/index.cfm?ID=s0003580) at Structurae Photo Gallery, Norris Dam, TN (http://newdeal.feri.org/library/q_o_ar.htm) at New Deal Network Norris Reservoir (http://www.tnfish.org/NorrisReservoir_TWRA/NorrisLakeInformation_TWRA.htm) — Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency fishing information for Norris Reservoir

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Categories: Dams in Tennessee New Deal in Tennessee Buildings and structures in Anderson County, Tennessee Buildings and structures in Campbell County, Tennessee Tennessee Valley Authority dams Hydroelectric power plants in Tennessee Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks Dams completed in 1936 Energy infrastructure completed in 1936 1936 establishments in Tennessee

This page was last modified on 30 April 2016, at 19:17. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. BUSINESS TVA planning Norris Dam celebration, says lakes will be full by June 1

Opened in 1936, Norris Dam is 80 years old this year, and TVA is planning a celebration in observance of the anniversary. The dam carries U.S. 441 across its top, and is a popular tourist attraction just a few miles off Interstate 75 near Rocky Top. It also spawned the town of Norris, which TVA built initially to house workers building the dam. G. CHAMBERS WILLIAMS III/NEWS SENTINEL

By Ed Marcum of the Knoxville News Sentinel May 18, 2016 � 0 ✉ ⎙

Some of the lake levels are a bit low now, but as normal rainfall continues, TVA are on track to be at the desired level This plaque at the Norris for the summer recreation season, TVA officials said Wednesday. Dam Overlook off U.S. 441 shows the TVA system of dams, with information about Norris, which was completed in 1936. G. They also said they're planning a July celebration to observe the CHAMBERS WILLIAMS III/NEWS SENTINEL 80th anniversary of Norris Dam, the first to be completed in the TVA system.

As for lake levels, it's a mixed picture, with most of the 10 reservoirs filling up well, but Norris is about six feet below, Cherokee is about 11 feet below and Fontana is 12 feet below their target elevations for the June 1 beginning of the recreation season, said David Bowling, TVA's general manager of river management.

"It's good and not so good, but it's not nearly as bad as we've seen in the past," he said.

May is seeing normal rainfall and if that continues, all the reservoirs should be at their proper levels by the beginning of June, Bowling said.

As Bowling spoke, TVA marked one milestone and is preparing for another. May 18, was the 83rd anniversary of the signing of the TVA Act, which created the federal utility, and July 28 will mark the 80th anniversary of Norris Dam beginning operations, said Pat Bernard Ezzell, TVA's historian.

Norris started what would ultimately transform the entire Tennessee Valley, she said.

In April, Norris Dam was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Ezzell said. TVA is planning a public celebration at Norris Dam July 29-30, with tours of the powerhouse and dam, music, food and various activities.

As it gets the reservoirs ready for summer, TVA is also getting its recreational facilities ready. It has completed upgrading its picnic sites to make the pavilions, picnic tables and other features more accessible, said Jerry Fouse, a TVA specialist in recreation strategy and tourism development.

One significant project was the completion of the 7.3-mile Mill Creek Loop at the Loyston Point Recreation Area on Norris Lake, he said.

"That is seeing huge amounts of use," he said.

Providing recreation opportunities is an important part of the TVA mission, said TVA spokesman Travis Brickey.