Wilson Dam

About this property

Wilson Dam is a dam on the Tennessee River in Lauderdale and Colbert counties of Alabama, United States. Completed in 1924 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, it impounds Wilson Lake, and is one of nine Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) dams on the Tennessee River. It was declared a National Historic Landmark on November 13, 1966, for its role as the first dam to come under the TVA's administration. The dam is named for President Woodrow Wilson. Wilson Dam is located at river mile 259.4 of the Tennessee River, spanning the river in a roughly north–south orientation between Florence and Muscle Shoals in northern Alabama. The dam is 137 feet (42 m) high and 4,541 feet (1,384 m) long. The dam cost almost $47 million (equivalent to $680 million in 2024). The main lock at Wilson Dam is 110 feet (34 m) wide by 600 feet (180 m) long. The lock lift is 94 feet (29 m). It is the highest single lift lock east of the Rocky Mountains. An auxiliary lock has two 60 feet (18 m) wide by 300 feet (91 m) long chambers that operate in tandem. Over 3,700 vessels pass through Wilson Dam's locks each year. The net dependable capacity of Wilson Dam is 663 megawatts of electricity. Wilson Dam is one of 29 conventional hydroelectric dams that provide flood control, navigation, electrical power, recreation, and water supply for the seven-state Tennessee Valley region and is the largest conventional facility in the TVA System. Over 3,600 vessels pass through the locks each year and the dam currently serves as the training facility for all of TVA's hydroelectric workers. Wilson Lake provides 166 miles (267 km) of shoreline and 15,500 acres (6,300 ha) of water surface for recreational activities, and the adjoining reservation provides miles of hiking trails and campground. The origins of the dam lie in the treacherous Muscle Shoals section of the Tennessee River, an area of dangerous shallows and turbulent currents, impeding commerce and navigation. The expansion of steamboat travel and plantation agriculture along the Tennessee Valley inspired many largely unsuccessful efforts in the late 19th century to tame the shoals, including a canal around the area. This final effort to tame the Muscle Shoals was spurred on by the possibility of US entry into the First World War. US Officials feared that the German Navy could disrupt the supply of nitrates, used in the manufacturing of explosives, which were primarily imported in the form of bat or bird guano from Chile. The National Defense Act of 1916 mandated the construction of two nitrate plants, powered by an adjacent hydroelectric plant in order to create a domestic supply of this vital resource. Federal Engineers decided on Muscle Shoals after determining that it had the greatest hydroelectric potential east of the Rocky Mountains.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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