Greers Ferry Dam EarthCache

Greers Ferry Dam on the Little Red River, approximately three miles north of Heber Springs (Cleburne County), is a concrete dam built between 1959 and 1962. The dam’s primary function is flood control, but it also serves as a hydroelectric power plant. Greers Ferry Lake, created as a result of the dam, is a popular recreational destination.

The flow of the Little Red River was uncontrolled during the first half of the twentieth century, resulting in almost yearly flooding downstream; high water levels in the Little Red River could compound flooding problems further downstream along the White River. In 1938, Congress passed the Flood Control Act, which authorized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build dams on most of the country’s major free-flowing river systems. North Arkansas’s White River basin, which includes the Little Red River, was among the chosen waterways.

Shortly after the passage of the Flood Control Act, engineers began surveying the White River and its tributaries for locations to build a series of high, concrete dams. Several locations were selected, and in 1944, the first of five dams that would eventually be built in the White River basin was completed at Norfork (Baxter County). The Norfork Dam was followed by the Bull Shoals Dam in 1951 and Table Rock Dam in 1959. In 1960, construction began simultaneously on the Beaver and Greers Ferry dams. Greers Ferry Dam, named after a ferry operated on the Little Red River near where the dam was built, was completed in 1962 and was dedicated on October 3, 1963, by President John F. Kennedy, in what would be one of his last major public appearances before his assassination. The dam measures 1,704 feet in length and stands 243 feet above the streambed of the Little Red River. It cost $46.5 million and created a reservoir of between 30,000 and 40,000 acres, depending on water level, and over 340 miles of shoreline in Cleburne and Van Buren counties.

The construction of the dam required the relocation of families living on the bottomland along the river, and upon the dam’s completion, at least four communities were submerged. While there were many who were opposed to the construction of the dam, at the time the dam was constructed, no citizen protest had ever successfully halted plans for a Corps of Engineers Reservoir, and most viewed opposition as futile. Despite the inundation of the majority of the county’s most productive farmland, the positive economic impact of the dam and lake was immediate. Cleburne County’s population grew from 9,000 in 1960 to over 24,000 in 2000. The Corps of Engineers estimated that over 5.5 million people visited the lake and surrounding area by 2000, generating over $130 million in revenue. Popular tourist destinations associated with the lake include the William Carl Garner Visitor Center, eighteen recreational areas offering camping, swimming, and boat access, and three nature trails. The Greers Ferry National Fish Hatchery, located below the dam, is another popular destination. The hatchery, operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, primarily raises rainbow trout, which thrive in the colder water.

In 1970, a group of volunteers met the weekend following Labor Day and cleaned the lake’s shoreline. The cleanup has become a yearly event, and the success of the program inspired the first Great Arkansas Cleanup in 1979. In 1984, the Greers Ferry program was used as a model for Keep America Beautiful’s first National Public Lands Day.

Foundation rock underlying Greers Ferry Dam is revealed in these specimens of 34″ Calyx cores which were cored in 1957. This rock is a hard, fine grained, shaly sandstone belonging to the Atoka formation. The Dam is founded on alternating beds of sandstone and shale. Calyx holes were drilled during preliminary investigations of the foundation rock in the Dam site area and served several purposes. The deep open Calyx holes themselves reveal the true nature of the foundation rock and are inspected by geologists who are lowered into them to map features such as bedding planes. Joint systems, fractures, cavities, water inflow and rock quality. These specimens of 34″ Calyx cores represents but a small portion of the total 309 feet of Calyx core that was extracted in the Dam area. The deepest Calyx hole was 128 feet deep.

Please include in your online log:

A picture showing you and/or your GPS with the Dam in the background. As always uploading pictures are optional, but they will help keep things interesting so if you are able to, please do so.

DAY USE AREA – Gates are open from dawn until dusk. Hours change throughout the season. Park closes at 4PM in winter.

Please Do Not attempt this earthcache in hours of limited visibility