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Part 1: Douglas Lake & Dam vs. Watauga Lake & Dam The Douglas Dam May 2010  All photos and illustrations by Pat Johns ©2010
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Although work began on the Douglas Dam and the Watauga Dam in the same year, 1942, the processes which led to their completions and the impact on the local towns were dramatically different. One was needed urgently, the other could be delayed. One town was saved and another had to be torn down and moved. And, with both, the decisions were made in conjunction with the country's strategy to win World War II. The French Broad River, the largest tributary of the Tennessee River, had been identified early on by the TVA as a potential source of hydroelectric power for the TVA system. However, because the dam and resulting lake would flood thousands of acres of rich farm land and hurt the local canning industry, other projects were given higher priorities. America's entry into World War II changed all of that. As factories were built or converted to products to support the war, the need for electricity grew. In particular, Alcoa Aluminum's new North Plant south of Knoxville, needed significantly more electricity to fuel its increased production: |
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"World War II proved immensely profitable for ALCOA, as aluminum was needed for aircraft construction. Production increased 600% during the war, and the company's Alcoa operations workforce swelled to 12,000. In the early 1940s, the company built its North Plant, which at the time of its completion was the world's largest plant under a single roof." |
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With those circumstances the fates of both the Watauga Dam and Douglas Dam projects were sealed. The kilowatt output of the Douglas Dam project would far exceed that of the Watauga Dam project so the design and building of Watauga Dam (and the South Holston Dam) were put on hold and resources were diverted west to the Douglas Dam project. Adding to the urgent need for the Douglas Dam's hydroelectric power was the Manhattan Project work in nearby Oak Ridge Tennessee. The Manhattan Project was the codename for the project to develop the first atomic bomb. |
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"Beginning in late 1942, the United States Army Corps of Engineers began acquiring more than 60,000 acres (240 kmē) for the CEW (Clinton Engineering Works ) under authority of the Corps' Manhattan Engineer District (MED). The K-25, S-50, and Y-12 plants were each built in Oak Ridge to separate the fissile isotope uranium-235 from natural uranium, which consists almost entirely of the isotope uranium-238." |
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The Douglas Dam was completed 1 year and 17 days after the project began, the fastest of any project of its kind in the world at that time. There were 2 primary reasons for this. The first was the focus of so many resources on the project from the beginning and the second was that nearby Cherokee dam had just been completed and the Douglas Dam was built with the same plans with some modifications. |
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The Douglas Dam created Douglas Lake which did cover many acres of rich farmland and created a lake much larger than Watauga Lake. Some comparisons: 
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 Those familiar with the story of Watauga Lake know that World War II delayed the inevitable. Soldiers in the Butler Tennessee area left to fight in the war. While many soldiers throughout the country who returned from the war moved away from their rural communities and went off to college or to larger cities to work, Butler's returning soldiers had no choice. Some helped build the dam and many watched and helped with the dismantling and moving of Butler to its new location. However, the Douglas Dam project was also scheduled to flood a town with rich history just like Butler. But that town, Dandridge, Tennessee received a reprieve, in part because of its name . . . . Click here to go to Part II: Dandridge Tennessee . . .
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