Ocoee Dam Number 1 is a hydroelectric dam on the Ocoee River in Polk County in the U.S. state of Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

. The dam impounds the 1930 acres (781 ha) Parksville Reservoir (often called Ocoee Lake), and is the farthest downstream of four dams on the Toccoa/Ocoee River owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority

Tennessee Valley Authority

The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...

. Completed in 1911, Ocoee No. 1 was one of the first hydroelectric projects in Tennessee and remains the oldest dam in the TVA system.

Location

Ocoee No. 1 is located approximately 12 miles (19.3 km) upstream from the mouth of the Ocoee, in an area where the river emerges from its winding trek through the Appalachian Mountains

Appalachian Mountains

The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...

 and enters the Tennessee Valley. The community of Parksville is located on the north side of the dam, and the city of Chattanooga

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...

 is roughly 30 miles (48.3 km) to the west. The Ocoee Scenic Byway— part of U.S. Route 64

U.S. Route 64

U.S. Route 64 is an east–west United States highway that runs for 2,326 miles from eastern North Carolina to just southwest of the Four Corners in northeast Arizona. The western terminus is at U.S. Route 160 in Teec Nos Pos, Arizona. The highway's eastern terminus is at NC 12 and U.S. Route...

— passes just north of 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

Ocoee Dam No. 2

Ocoee Dam Number 2 is a hydroelectric dam on the Ocoee River in Polk County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The dam impounds the Ocoee No. 2 Reservoir and is one of four dams on the Toccoa/Ocoee River owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Ocoee Dam No...

 is located just over 12 miles (19.3 km) upstream from Ocoee No. 1.

Capacity

Ocoee No. 1 is 135 feet (41.1 m) high and 840 feet (256 m) long, and has a generating capacity of 24,000, up from an original 19,200 kilowatts after being refurbished in 1989-1991. The dam's concrete gravity arched spillway has a maximum discharge of 45000 cuft/s. Parksville Lake has 109 miles (175.4 km) of shoreline and the lake's water levels fluctuate by just 9 feet (2.7 m) per year.

History

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 slices through a gorge in the mountains 30 miles (48.3 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 was completed in late December 1911. By January 27, 1912, electricity from Ocoee Dam No. 1 was flowing into Chattanooga.

In 1922, the Eastern Tennessee Power Company and several other entities merged to form the Tennessee Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which overhauled Ocoee No. 1 in the 1930s. In 1933, the TVA Act created the Tennessee Valley Authority and gave the Authority oversight of the Tennessee River

Tennessee River

The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...

 watershed, which includes the Ocoee River. The head of TEPCO, Jo Conn Guild

Jo Conn Guild

Josephus "Jo" Conn Guild, Jr. was an American businessman and engineer from Chattanooga, Tennessee. As president of the Tennessee Electric Power Company , he became one of the staunchest and most outspoken opponents of the newly formed Tennessee Valley Authority in the 1930s...

, was vehemently opposed to the creation of TVA, and with the help of attorney Wendell Wilkie, challenged the constitutionality of the TVA Act in federal court. The U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...

upheld the TVA Act, however, in its 1939 decision Tennessee Electric Power Company v. TVA. On August 16, 1939, TEPCO was forced to sell its assets to TVA for $78 million, which included $2.68 million for Ocoee Dam No. 1.

External links

• Parksville Reservoir — official TVA site