Dams Sites

Chickamauga Dam is located on the Tennessee River in south-central Tennessee just east of downtown Chattanooga. Construction began in 1936 as a part of Tennessee Valley Authority’s area improvements and was completed in 1940. Before the dam’s construction, the city of Chattanooga often experienced major flooding. The dam provides hydroelectric power to the area and creates Chickamauga Lake, which is used for recreation and a wildlife reserve. Two segregated recreation areas- Booker T. Washington State Park and Harrison Bay State Park- were also created with the construction of the dam and lake. "When the Tennessee Valley Authority was formed in the...

"Virgin white pine of northeastern Wisconsin attracted early settlers to northern Oconto County. When the virgin forests were depleted, the rocky, sandy soil and the northern climate proved too hard to make a living. Marginal farms were abandoned and the area was destitute and under-employed during the late 1920s and early 1930s. The area looked very bleak and desolate. The answer appeared to be the growing resort industry. The WPA built Chute Pond Dam corrected and conserved the flowage of the Oconto River. This dam was constructed in 1937 on the site of an old log dam (parts of which...

A Works Progress Administration (WPA) dam enlargement project was undertaken to increase the municipal water reserves of Crowell, Texas in an effort completed in 1936. "The capacity of city lake was more than doubled by a WPA project completed last spring. The dam of the lake was raised three and one-half feet and the spillway three feet."

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked to develop during the 1930s what is now known as Clarence Fahnestock Memorial State Park. NYSParks.com: "The original core of land around and including Canopus Lake was developed through the use of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps which were established in the park and began development of the picnic area and campground, comfort stations, bridle paths, shelters, roads, and dams at Pelton Pond, Canopus and Stillwater lakes."

The park was built by CCC Co. 3804 who were at the park from the spring of 1935 to Aug 1940. According to "Parks for Texas," CCC work includes the dam and lake, a limestone residence and maintenance area, entrance portals, and fireplace units. Additional work was completed by the WPA in 1941, including a bathhouse and concession building, plus a water and sewer system.

"Conchas Dam is the oldest and one of the largest water projects of the US Army Corps of Engineers in New Mexico. Begun under the New Deal's Emergency Relief Act of 1935, the construction of the dam and associated facilities provided employment for nearly 2400 people. The WPA supported school teachers for the children of the work crews and after the dam was completed, the work camp provided housing for CCC crews building onsite recreational facilities. Today the headquarters building is still in use, and five other units provide housing for staff." -Treasures on New Mexico Trails The following quotes are all...

“Extensive repairs were made to Creque Reservoir in St. Croix where silting and increasing seepage endangered the dam structure which impounds 9,000,000 gallons of potable water. The dam footings have been strengthened and the reservoir area cleaned and put in order for the storage of water when the rains fall.” Built in 1926, the Creque Dam is a 45-foot high arch dam that stores water for Frederiksted. Today, the water in the reservoir sometimes runs low because of a leak.

The CCC did extensive work on the lake and surroundings. The Stone bridge pictured is on the National historical registry site. The dam and lake were constructed by CCC labor. The superintendent’s house pictured was started by CCC and completed after WW2.

Daingerfield State Park, located in Morris County, Texas, is a 506.913-acre recreational area (including an 80-surface-acre lake), deeded in 1935 by private owners and opened in 1938. The park offers picnicking, camping, boating, fishing, swimming, hiking and nature study. The original improvements were made by two companies of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Company 2891 and Company 1801(C) developed the park from 1935 to 1939. Both companies used local timber and stone as well as concrete to construct distinctive features. The companies built the entrance sign, boat house, fisherman’s barracks, combination building, Lake Daingerfield, retaining walls, culverts, steps, trails, two cabins and Park...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed the dam, near Mormon Gap on Highway 21.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a dam in or near Plymouth, Indiana, impounding a 300-acre-foot lake. The location and status of the structure is unknown to Living New Deal.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) constructed this dam in 1934.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted a massive dam on the John Lubeck farm southwest of Orleans, Nebraska. The farm is placed three miles west and four miles south of Orleans, per an article in The Orleans Enterprise. The dam was "350 feet long and 22 to 23 feet in height, measuring 110 feet at the base and 13 feet across at the top." It was planned that the lake impounded by the dam would become a resort. Per Google Maps, a lake called Lubeck Reservoir is impounded by a dam that generally fits the dimensions above. The structure is located...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed a "dam to create Darling Pond" during the 1930s.

In ca. 1939 at Kanawha, CCC workers built Davis Creek Dam to form the 1.5-acre Ellison Pond. Pinned to the solid rock streambed and built of concrete and cut sandstone, the impoundment dam is 100 feet in length and approximately 10 feet high. The dam was recently removed to re-establish the original stream.

"Follow the gravel road on the right, past the metal gate and a pit toilet beyond, to the west end of Day Pond and the stone dam that was restored in 1935 by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The original dam, constructed by the Colonialera Day family, once powered a sawmill. The pond’s root-beer-colored water, stained by tannins, now tumbles unimpeded over the spillway."

"A c. 1940 poured concrete dam with metal gates and fixtures. Built with federal funds during the Depression era to help control drainage, flooding on Deer Creek" (Embree, 2004, p. 12).

Several New Deal agencies contributed to the construction of the Deerfield Dam in the vicinity of Hill City and the Black Hills National Forest, SD. Construction began before the Roosevelt Administration, continued during the New Deal, and finished after World War II. According to the Bureau of Reclamation, "Construction was started on July 7, 1942, by the Farm Security Administration and was later continued by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Civilian Public Service Camp under the Works Projects Administration during World War II. The facilities were completed by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1947."

Dos Bocas Dam, a hydroelectric generation facility, was constructed as part of a large rural electrification plan undertaken by the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration, a New Deal agency. Construction began in 1937 and was completed in 1942. The plant is located in the north central part of Puerto Rico, on on Lago Dos Bocas and the Rio Grande Arecibo. The work “consisted of a concrete dam and two generation units directly below the lake measuring a combined 12,450 horsepower of electric power, enough to generate more than 30 million kilowatt hours per year.”

"Douglas Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the French Broad River in Sevier County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The dam is operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which built the dam in record time in the early 1940s to meet emergency energy demands at the height of World War II. Douglas Dam is a straight reinforced concrete gravity-type dam 1705 feet long and 202 feet high, impounding the 28,420-acre Douglas Lake. The dam was named for Douglas Bluff, a cliff overlooking the dam site prior to construction." (Wikipedia)

From the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs: "CCC features at Douglas include a picnic pavilion, administration building, stone culverts and well maintained water holes."

"The East Barre Dam was one of four flood damage reduction projects constructed in Vermont by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. Construction was overseen by the Corps’ North Atlantic Division. The construction costs of East Barre Dam were not calculated separately because of accounting procedures, but instead lumped together with the construction costs of Waterbury Reservoir, Wrightsville Reservoir, and the Winooski River Local Protection Project. The construction costs of these four projects totaled $13.7 million. Following completion, East Barre Dam was turned over to the State of Vermont for operation and maintenance. The project provides flood protection primarily to...

The Works Progress Administration built the spillway at the Elm Lake Dam in Frederick SD between 1936 and 1938. The dam at Elm Lake was originally built both to provide a recreation destination and to create a water source for the city of Aberdeen, SD. It still serves this purpose today. The work on Elm Dam included an earthen embankment, low level outlet, concrete-lined primary spillway, and earth-cut auxiliary spillway. A ten-span bridge was also built over the approach channel to the primary spillway.

The Epping-Springbrook Dam was the "largest earthfill dam in the State. Constructed as an FERA and WPA project, it was completed in 1936. This bulwark on STONY CREEK has created a lake covering 180 acres, which, including a strip of land around the water, will be made into a State park devoted entirely to recreation." The exact location and current status of the project is unknown to Living New Deal, though we believe the dam to be no longer extant.

"Fontana Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Little Tennessee River in Swain and Graham counties, North Carolina, United States. The dam is operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the early 1940s to accommodate the skyrocketing electricity demands in the Tennessee Valley at the height of World War II. At 480 feet high, Fontana is the tallest dam in the Eastern United States, and at the time of its construction, it was the fourth tallest dam in the world." (Wikipedia)

Fort Loudon Dam is one of many New Deal dams built by the Tennessee Valley Authority: "In the mid-1930s, TVA drafted its "unified plan," a series of long-term goals that called for the construction of a series of dams along the Tennessee River to provide a minimum 9-foot (2.7 m) navigation channel along the entire length of the river, control flooding in the Tennessee Valley, and bring electricity to the area. The Fort Loudoun project was initially known as a the Coulter Shoals project, named for a site identified by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 6 miles (9.7 km) upstream from the...

Fort Necessity National Battlefield in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, preserves the site of the Battle of Fort Necessity. "In 1935-37, a Civilian Conservation Corps camp was located at Fort Necessity. The Corps constructed barracks and other support buildings at the site of the present day administration and maintenance facilities. The Fort Necessity Memorial Association had hoped the CCC would repair and restore the tavern, but very little, if any, of this work was actually done by the Corps. The Corps planted trees, constructed small dams, built bridges, culverts, picnic areas and roadways. The buildings were razed, but many of the other structures...

Fort Niobrara NWR - Valentine NE Fort Niobrara Wildlife Refuge was established by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 by Executive Order.  The principal aim was to protect bison and elk herds which had dwindled almost to extinction under the pressure of market hunting in the 19th century.  It was created out of the old frontier Fort Niobrara and today covers almost 20,000 acres of grasslands and riparian forest in Nebraska. In October 1933, the CCC began work in the refuge. A number of projects were identified, including a big game fence measuring twenty-one miles, a seven mile four-wire stock fence, fire prevention...

A historical marker explains the CCC's role in developing the Fort Parker State Park: "In August 1935, construction of a state park began here on the former town site of Springfield under the direction of the Civilian Conservation Corps. The group assigned to build Fort Parker State Park was Company 3807(C), an African American CCC Camp. From 1935 to 1942, the park company constructed park buildings, roads and facilities, erected a dam across the Navasota River, and reconstructed old Fort Parker. Located nearby, old Fort Parker was rebuilt in preparation for a Texas Centennial observance in 1936, and was the first...

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of a dam on the Frazier River. The dam was part of the Denver water supply system.

Fremont Lake, north of Pinedale, Wyoming, is a large natural lake created by glacial scouring and a terminal moraine that has been expanded by the construction of modern dams.  Today, the lake is about 12 miles long and 1/2 mile wide.  It lies entirely within the Bridger-Teton National Forest. In the 1930s, a concrete and rubble stone dam was built that raised the level of the lake by 2 feet.  Relief workers from the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) participated in the construction of that dam. We do not know exactly which years the work was done. A...

"During the Great Depression in the 1930s, the Federal government purchased much of the land used for charcoal production as part of a national project to reclaim marginal lands. This project provided jobs and improved local economies by developing recreation sites called recreation demonstration areas. Two Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps were built at French Creek and operated until the early 1940s. The camps built two dams, two group camps, several tent camping areas, beaches, roads, picnic areas, and started the restoration process for the historic core of Hopewell Furnace." "The National Park Service built five Recreation Demonstration Areas through CCC and...

"Chain Lakes Project - Montana - Contract for the construction of Fresno Dam across the Milk River has been awarded but no work will be done until the spring of 1937. The dam, for storage and flood control purposes, is of the earth and rock fill type. It will be about 80 feet high and 2,000 feet long, and will contain 1,870,000 cubic yards of material. The storage capacity will be 126,000 acre feet."

The Friant Dam is one of three major dams in the giant Central Valley Project in Northern California, along with Shasta and Folsom, built by the federal Bureau of Reclamation. Initial funding for the CVP came through the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935. Friant was aided by funds from the Public Works Administratin (PWA).  The concrete dam, which impounds the San Joaquin River, is 320 feet high and 3,500 feet long at the crest.  The reservoir, Millerton Lake, holds about one-half million acre-feet of water at capacity. The chief purpose of the dam is irrigation water supply.  Water from Millerton Reservoir is shipped...

Garzas Dam, a hydroelectric generation facility, was constructed as part of a large rural electrification plan undertaken by the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration, a New Deal agency. Construction began in 1935 and it included "the reservoir, hydroelectric plant, and three minor river diversions.”

The Civilian Conservation Corps built a camp, dam, stone overlook, and other structures in General Butler State Park (Butler Memorial Park) in Carrollton KY.

The idea for the dam was originally proposed by William M. Clapp in 1917. Feasibility studies were performed in the 1920s, and a final report in favor of the dam was presented to Congress in 1931, but work on the dam did not begin until President Franklin D. Roosevelt promised federal support in 1933. The Public Works Administration began work on the dam in 1934. "Grand Coulee Dam is a gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation. It was constructed between 1933 and 1942, originally with two power...

Prior to colonial settlement, the area of Granville State Forest was inhabited by the Tunxis Native American tribe. In the mid-1700s, English pioneer Samuel Hubbard purchased the land for farming and pasturage, and the river that runs through the forest is now named the Hubbard River. The property was bought and owned by Tiffany and Pickett Lumber Company near the turn of the 20th century. In the 1920s, the Commonwealth obtained the land from the lumber company but little improvements were made before the CCC Camp was established. The Civilian Conservation Corps began work on Granville State Forest in 1933. CCC...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park occupies large areas of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. The park’s creation was a decades-long process, including advocacy in the late 19th century; legislation signed by President Calvin Coolidge in 1926; and donations and land acquisitions from small donors, the governments of North Carolina and Tennessee, and charitable organizations, such as the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Fund. Once the park’s existence was firmly established, funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) and labor from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made it both accessible and accommodating to the public. President Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the park on...

Multiple New Deal agencies worked to develop Green Brook Park in Plainfield, New Jersey beginning in 1933. The project involved the construction of a 1.55-acre artificial lake (which could be converted into an ice skating rink during the winter); the stocking of said lake with fish; the building of a footbridge across the brook; grass seeding; small dams to create modest waterfalls along the brook; paths around the lake and through the park; construction of a baseball diamond; and the planting of more than 2,000 trees, shrubs, and other plants.