Douglas Dam

Douglas Dam
Douglas Dam from downstream
Douglas Dam is located in Tennessee
Douglas Dam
Location of Douglas Dam in Tennessee
Official nameDouglas Dam
LocationSevier County, Tennessee, United States
Coordinates35°57′40″N 83°32′20″W / 35.96111°N 83.53889°W / 35.96111; -83.53889
PurposeFlood control, electricity
Construction beganFebruary 2, 1942
Opening dateFebruary 19, 1943
Operator(s)Tennessee Valley Authority
Dam and spillways
ImpoundsFrench Broad River
Height202 feet (62 m)
Length1,705 feet (520 m)
Reservoir
CreatesDouglas Lake
Total capacity1,461,000 acre⋅ft (1,802,000 dam3)
Catchment area4,541 sq mi (11,760 km2)
Power Station
Commission date1942–1954
Turbines2 × 41 MW, 2 × 32 MW Francis-type
Installed capacity146 MW[1]

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 (520 m) long and 202 feet (62 m) high, impounding the 28,420-acre (11,500 ha) Douglas Lake. The dam was named for Douglas Bluff, a cliff overlooking the dam site prior to construction.[2]

  1. ^ "Hydroelectric Plants in Tennessee". IndustCards. Archived from the original on 13 September 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  2. ^ Tennessee Valley Authority, The Douglas Project: A Comprehensive Report on the Planning, Design, Construction, and Initial Operations of the Douglas Project, Technical Report No. 10 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1949), pp. 1–12, 28.