Guntersville Dam

Guntersville Dam
Guntersville Dam
Official nameGuntersville Dam
LocationMarshall County, Alabama, United States
Coordinates34°25′16″N 86°23′35″W / 34.42111°N 86.39306°W / 34.42111; -86.39306
Construction beganDecember 4, 1935
Opening dateJanuary 17, 1939
Operator(s)Tennessee Valley Authority
Dam and spillways
ImpoundsTennessee River
Height94 ft (29 m)
Length3,979 ft (1,213 m)
Reservoir
CreatesGuntersville Lake
Total capacity1,049,000 acre⋅ft (1,294,000 dam3)[1]
Catchment area24,450 sq mi (63,300 km2)[1]

Guntersville 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 continuous navigation channel on the entire length of the river and bring flood control and economic development to the region. The dam impounds the Guntersville Lake of 67,900 acres (27,500 ha), and its tailwaters feed into Wheeler Lake.

Guntersville Dam is named for the city of Guntersville, Alabama, which is located about 10 miles (16 km) upstream.[2] The city is named for its first settler, John Gunter (d. 1836), who arrived in the late 18th century.[3]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference NPDP was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Tennessee Valley Authority, The Guntersville Project: A Comprehensive Report on the Planning, Design, Construction, and Initial Operations of the Guntersville Project, Technical Report No. 4 (Knoxville, Tenn.: Tennessee Valley Authority, 1941), pp. 1-14, 44, 243, 256, 265.
  3. ^ Lake Guntersville Chamber of Commerce, History of Guntersville Archived 2009-02-03 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved: 15 January 2009.