-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(other)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
The following cache will bring you to the Southern side of Wheeler Dam. Here you will find a man made Hydrologic Modification. Whether you notice it or not, water is continuously on the move all around us. It's falling to the land in the form of precipitation. It's moving across landscapes making its way to streams. Streams are running to rivers and rivers are running to oceans. Water is the ultimate recycled element thanks to the hydrologic cycle, which constantly moves water from the atmosphere-down to the planet's surface and then back into the atmosphere. Wheeler Reservoir is a major recreation and tourist center, attracting about four million visits a year. Along with camping, boating, and fishing, visitors enjoy the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge several miles upstream from the dam. The refuge features Alabama's only significant concentration of wintering Canada geese. Barge traffic on Wheeler has made it one of the major centers along the Tennessee waterway for shoreline industrial development. Private industry has invested about $1.3 billion in the waterfront plants and terminals at Decatur, Alabama, the largest city on the reservoir. Construction of Wheeler Dam began in 1933 and was completed in 1936. Wheeler provides 1,027 miles of shoreline and 67,070 acres of water surface. Wheeler was the second dam TVA built. It was finished only seven months after Norris Dam. Wheeler Dam is 72 feet high and stretches over a mile-6,342 feet-across the Tennessee River. Wheeler has a flood-storage capacity of 326,484 acre-feet. Wheeler has two locks-one 110 by 600 feet, and another 60 by 360 feet-that lift and lower barges as much as 52 feet between reservoirs. The generating capacity of Wheeler is 411,800 kilowatts of electricity.
Capacity
At 72 feet (22 m) high, Wheeler is the shortest of TVA's Tennessee River dams. The dam is 6,342 feet (1,933 m) long at its crest, and has an electrical generating capacity of 411,800 kilowatts. The dam's spillway is equipped with 60 tainter gates with a combined discharge of 542,000 cubic feet per second. The dam's reservoir has 1,027 miles (1,653 km) of shoreline and 67,070 acres (27,140 ha) of water surface, and has a flood-storage capacity of 326,484 acre-feet. Wheeler Dam has two locks for river traffic, the main lock being 110 feet (34 m) by 600 feet (180 m) and an auxiliary lock measuring 60 feet (18 m) by 360 feet (110 m). The locks raise and lower vessels up to 52 feet (16 m) between Wheeler and Wilson lakes.
Background and construction
Throughout the 19th century, a series of river rapids known as the Muscle Shoals were a major impediment to navigation along the Tennessee River and effectively isolated the upper stretches of the river (namely Knoxville and Chattanooga) from the nation's major inland waterways. The construction of Wilson Dam by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the 1920s and the construction of Wheeler Dam by the Tennessee Valley Authority in the 1930s flooded a large section of the shoals, but serious obstacles still remained between Riverton and Florence, especially in the vicinity of Tuscumbia. As Wheeler Dam neared completion in 1935, TVA knew a third dam would be necessary to connect the reservoirs at Muscle Shoals with the lower part of the river. Several private entities had investigated the possibility of building a dam at Parker's Landing (a few miles upstream from Pickwick), but the Corps of Engineers— which had surveyed the area in the 1920s— suggested TVA build a dam at Pickwick Landing. The Pickwick Landing project was authorized on November 19, 1934, and work began in 1935.
The stretch of the Tennessee River between Decatur and Florence drops over 130 feet (40 m) in elevation, creating what was once a series of rapids known as the Muscle Shoals and the Elk River Shoals. Along with the Tennessee River Gorge to the east, these shoals had long been an impediment to river navigation, effectively isolating the upper Tennessee Valley from the nation's major inland waterways. Canal work in the 19th century had improved navigation through the shoals, but were insufficient for major river traffic. In 1898, Congressman Joe Wheeler introduced legislation in Congress that obtained federal funding for navigation improvements. The construction of Wilson Dam in the 1920s and various other improvements helped create a 6-foot (1.8 m) channel over the shoals, but even then navigation was only possible during times of high water flow. The Corps of Engineers had planned to build a dam at the Wheeler site in the early 1930s, and had gained authorization for the dam's lock, although the project was assumed by the Tennessee Valley Authority shortly after the Authority's creation in 1933. Construction work on Wheeler Dam began on November 21, 1933, the second major dam construction project (after Norris) attempted by TVA.
The construction of Wheeler Dam required the purchase of 103,400 acres of land, 31,228 acres of which had to be cleared. 840 families, 176 graves, and 30 miles of roads had to be relocated. Work began as soon as possible as an unemployment relief measure, and at peak activity the project employed 4,700 workers. As TVA lacked dam construction experience, the Authority relied heavily on the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for the dam's design. The Army Corps also designed and built the dam's locks.
Wheeler Dam was completed on November 9, 1936, constructed at a cost of $87,655,000. Dredge work continued until the following year to extend the navigation channel to Guntersville Dam, which at the time was under construction.
To log this cache, you will have to complete a few requirements. All requirements must be done within 3 days of logging or it will be deleted. 1) (Optional but highly desirable) Take a picture of yourself or your geocaching group with the dam in the background. 2) Calculate the flow rate in "Feet Per Second" for Tennessee River at this location. This may be done by measuring a distance along each of the rivers banks, floating an object from your starting point to the ending point, and recording the time it takes the object to float the distance. Once the "Distance" and "Time" are determined, calculate the "Feet Per Second".
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)