Wheeler Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the
Tennessee RiverThe 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...
between
Lauderdale CountyLauderdale County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. Its name is in honor of Colonel James Lauderdale, of Tennessee. It is part of the Florence - Muscle Shoals Metropolitan Statistical Area known as "The Shoals". As of 2006 the population was 87,891. Its county seat is Florence Lauderdale...
and
Lawrence CountyLawrence County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is included in the Decatur Metropolitan Area, as well as the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. Its name is in honor of James Lawrence, a captain in the United States Navy from New Jersey. As of the 2006 census estimates, the...
in the
U.S. stateA U.S. state is any one of 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government . Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile...
of
AlabamaAlabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States of America. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its...
. It is one of nine dams on the river owned and operated by the
Tennessee Valley AuthorityThe 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 impacted...
, which built the dam in the mid-1930s as part of a
New DealThe New Deal was the name that United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave to his complex package of economic programs 1933-36 with the goals of what historians call the 3 Rs, of giving Relief to the unemployed and badly hurt farmers, Reform of business and financial practices, and promoting...
-era initiative to improve navigation on the river and bring flood control and economic development to the region. The dam impounds the
Wheeler LakeWheeler Lake is located in the northern part of the United States state of Alabama, between Rogersville and Huntsville. Created by Wheeler Dam along the Tennessee River, it stretches 60 miles from Wheeler Dam to Guntersville Dam...
of and its tailwaters feed into
Wilson LakeWilson Lake is the reservoir created by Wilson Dam as part of the Tennessee Valley Authority. The lake stretches from Wilson Dam to Wheeler Dam.-See also:*Dams and reservoirs of the Tennessee River*List of Alabama dams and reservoirs...
. Wheeler Dam is named for
Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
general and U.S. Congressman
Joseph "Joe" WheelerJoseph Wheeler was an American military commander and politician. He has the rare distinction of serving as a general during war time for two opposing forces: first as a noted cavalry general in the Confederate States Army in the 1860s during the American Civil War, and later as a general in the...
, who once lived in the area. Congressman Wheeler was an early advocate of federal development of the Muscle Shoals area.
Location
Wheeler Dam is located above the mouth of the Tennessee River, a few miles downstream from the river's Elk River confluence. The dam is roughly southwest of
RogersvilleRogersville is a town in Lauderdale County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Florence - Muscle Shoals Metropolitan Statistical Area known as "The Shoals". As of the 2000 census, the population of the town is 1,199.-Geography:...
and about downstream from
DecaturDecatur is a city in Limestone and Morgan Counties in the U.S. state of Alabama. The city, known as "The River City", is located in Northern Alabama on the banks of Wheeler Lake, along the Tennessee River. It is the largest city and county seat of Morgan County...
. The dam's reservoir stretches for along the river to the base of
Guntersville DamGuntersville Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River in Marshall County, in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is one of nine dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the late 1930s as part of a New Deal era initiative to create a...
to the east. Wilson Dam and the city of
Muscle Shoals* Muscle Shoals, Alabama* Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section* Muscle Shoals Sound Studio...
are located just downstream of Wheeler Dam.
Alabama State Route 101State Route 101 is a north-south route in the northwestern part of the state. The southern terminus of the route is at its junction with the former route of State Route 24 west of Moulton...
(Wheeler Dam Highway) crosses the top of the dam.
Capacity
At high, Wheeler is the shortest of TVA's Tennessee River dams. The dam is long at its crest, and has an electrical generating capacity of 411,800 kilowatts. The dam's spillway is equipped with 60
tainter gateThe Tainter gate is a type of radial arm floodgate used in dams and canal locks to control water flow. It is named for Wisconsin structural engineer Jeremiah Burnham Tainter....
s with a combined discharge of . The dam's reservoir has of shoreline and of water surface, and has a flood-storage capacity of .
Wheeler Dam has two locks for river traffic, the main lock being by and an auxiliary lock measuring by . The locks raise and lower vessels up to between Wheeler and Wilson lakes.
Background and construction
The stretch of the Tennessee River between Decatur and
FlorenceFlorence is a city in and the county seat of Lauderdale County, Alabama, United States, in the northwestern corner of the state.According to the 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the city's population was 36,721....
drops over in elevation, creating what was once a series of rapids known as the Muscle Shoals and the Elk River Shoals. Along with the
Tennessee River GorgeThe Tennessee River Gorge is a canyon formed by the Tennessee River. It is the fourth largest river gorge in the Eastern United States. The gorge is cut into the Cumberland Plateau as the river winds its way into Alabama from Tennessee. The Tennessee River Gorge is home to endangered species...
to the east, these shoals had long been an impediment to river navigation, effectively isolating the upper Tennessee Valley from the nation's major inland waterways. Canal work in the 19th century had improved navigation through the shoals, but were insufficient for major river traffic. In 1898, Congressman Joe Wheeler introduced legislation in Congress that obtained federal funding for navigation improvements. The construction of Wilson Dam in the 1920s and various other improvements helped create a channel over the shoals, but even then navigation was only possible during times of high water flow. The Corps of Engineers had planned to build a dam at the Wheeler site in the early 1930s, and had gained authorization for the dam's lock, although the project was assumed by the Tennessee Valley Authority shortly after the Authority's creation in 1933. Construction work on Wheeler Dam began on November 21, 1933, the second major dam construction project (after
NorrisNorris Dam is a hydroelectric and flood control structure located on the Clinch River in Anderson County and Campbell County, Tennessee, USA. 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...
) attempted by TVA.
The construction of Wheeler Dam required the purchase of of land, of which had to be cleared. 840 families, 176 graves, and of roads had to be relocated. Work began as soon as possible as an unemployment relief measure, and at peak activity the project employed 4,700 workers. As TVA lacked dam construction experience, the Authority relied heavily on the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for the dam's design. The Army Corps also designed and built the dam's locks.
Wheeler Dam was completed on November 9, 1936, constructed at a cost of $87,655,000. Dredge work continued until the following year to extend the navigation channel to Guntersville Dam, which at the time was under construction.
See also