Great Falls Dam (Tennessee)
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Great Falls Hydroelectric Station
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Great Falls Dam
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| Location | Warren / White counties, Tennessee, United States |
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| Nearest city | Rock Island, Tennessee |
| Coordinates | 35°48′7″N 85°37′20″W / 35.80194°N 85.62222°WCoordinates: 35°48′7″N 85°37′20″W / 35.80194°N 85.62222°W |
| Built | 1915-1916 |
| NRHP Reference # | 90001004 |
| Added to NRHP | 1990 |
Great Falls Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Caney Fork, straddling the county line between White County and Warren County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the only dam outside the Tennessee River watershed owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority. The dam impounds the 1,830-acre (740 ha) Great Falls Lake, and its tailwaters feed into Center Hill Lake. The completion of Great Falls Dam in 1917 was an engineering triumph, marking the first successful attempt to impound the volatile and flood-prone Caney Fork. The dam is also notable for its design, utilizing a mostly underground conduit to carry water from the reservoir via a tributary to the Power House 0.75 miles (1.21 km) downstream from the dam.
Great Falls Dam is named for the rapids and waterfalls on the Caney Fork downstream from the dam. The section of river below the Power House is world-renowned for whitewater kayaking. The dam and its tailwaters are surrounded by Rock Island State Park.
Great Falls Dam is located approximately 94 miles (151 km) above the mouth of the Caney Fork, immediately downstream from the Caney Fork's confluence with the Collins River. The confluence of these two rivers (the Collins flowing from the southwest and the Caney Fork from the east) creates a peninsula. The two rivers nearly meet at the Narrows, a "land bridge" connecting the peninsula to the mainland. Two tunnels deliver water from the Collins River section of the Great Falls Reservoir to the dam's powerhouse located on the Caney Fork 0.75 miles (1.21 km) downstream from the dam.
Great Falls Reservoir stretches behind the dam for 22 miles (35 km) along the Caney Fork and for roughly 10 miles (16 km) along the lower Collins River. The lake also includes a small stretch of the lower Rocky River, which empties into the Caney Fork about a mile east of the dam.
Great Falls Dam is a concrete gravity diversion type dam 92 feet (28 m) high and 800 feet (240 m) long, and has a generating capacity of 33,800 kilowatts. The dam's spillway has 18 gates with a combined discharge of 150,000 cubic feet (4,200 m3) per second. Great Falls Reservoir has approximately 49,000 acre feet (60,000,000 m3) of flood storage, 120 miles (190 km) of shoreline, and 1,830 acres (740 ha) of water surface.
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