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KENTUCKY LAKE HISTORY
 Birmingham... Down Under · The Rock Quarry Formation

The Construction of Kentucky Dam

At 8,422 feet, Kentucky is TVA's Longest dam.  Construction on the dam began in 1938 and the reservoir began filling six years later.  To provide a dry river bed for construction, huge cofferdams were built in three stages, starting on the east side and working to the west embankment.  The first stage enclosed 26 acres for workers to construct the navigation lock.  In the second stage, 40 acres were enclosed for constructing the powerhouse and 9 of the spillway bays.   The third stage enclosed about 30 acres for completion of the remaining spillway bays.  The impact Kentucky Dam would have on flood control and commercial navigation was foreseen by TVA designers.  Electrical generation was not a top priority in the original design; but today's generators contribute about 1.3 billion kilowatt hours of   electricity each year for TVA's power system.

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HOLD MOUSE OVER pictures below for descriptions

More that 48,500 acres, mainly farmland, wooded areas and swampland were cleared for the reservoir which stretches for 184 miles from Kentucky through Tennessee To obtain information about foundation rock for the dam, workers drilled several hundred exploratory holes of various depths.. Drilling was done along parallel ranges 150 ft apart. The work was synchronized so both drills would reach bedrock at the same time, providing valuable information on the extent and size of underground rock streams. The drilling barges were kept in alignment by TVA engineers with transits on shore. Borings were made at specific intervals across the Tennessee River.
A typical house built for supervisory construction workers contained two bedrooms,a living room, kitchen and bath. A screened porch connected the garage and house. The community center complex was a group of permanent buildings at the construction site. The community building housed a library, drug store, post office, lounge and commissary Employees were transported to work aboard barges. At the peek of construction there were more than 4,800 workers. TVA constructed eight dormitories with a total capacity of 480 employees at Kentucky Dam. Service buildings at the construction village included construction offices, cafeterias, a hospital, recreation centers, a school and an auditorium..
Aggregate was hauled from the quarry, 7 1/2 miles upstream, to the concrete plant at the construction site. The aggregate was carried to the site in hopper-bottom railroad cars where it was stock-piled until needed in mixing concrete. The navigation lock chamber is 110 by 660 feet and contains more than 384,000 cubic yards of concrete. Concrete was placed in 61 blocks of varying lengths from 48 to 64 feet and widths ranging from 8 feet to 86 feet. Each layer of concrete is about 10 feet deep. The dam spillways were built in two stages. The powerhouse and nine of the spillways were concreted in the first stage. The remaining sections followed and connected the dam to the west bank of the river. Workers rotated on a three-shift basis, 7 days a week, during most of the construction. Employee fatigue and the introduction of workers into the military resulted in high employee turnover.
The second stage of construction required the cofferdam enclosing 30 acres of riverbed for constructing 14 spillway sections and the abutment wall connecting the dam to the river's. A railroad bridge for the Illinois Central Railroad was relocated to cross the top of the dam structure. The first train passed over the dam on November 2, 1944. On October 10, 1945, President Harry S. Truman, officially dedicated Kentucky Dam in ceremonies attended by dignitaries, TVA officials and employees. TVA Chairman of the Board David Lilienthal, President Harry S. Truman and TVA Board member James P. Pope celebrate Kentucky Dam's official opening.
A 1945 aerial view of the completed project. The pilings in the river down stream are all that remain of the Illinois Central Railroad bridge near the dam. The tracks were relocated to cross the dam and the bridge spans became a part of a new bridge 11 miles down stream.