Oh my goodness I think we have arrived at one of, if not the, the most beautiful places we have visited so far. I know I have rambled on about the Tennessee but now we are up in the final 50 or so miles of the river and decided to take a side trip up the Little Tennessee River to the Tellico River also known as Tellico Lake. To borrow a term from the texting folks OMG it is spectacular here in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Every turn is a new “oooh or aaah”, sort of like when you are watching fireworks. The water is clear and, generally, deep which gives it gorgeous blue-green color.
Don’t think that all this beauty has caused me to abandon the pursuit of a history lesson, for the valley of the Little Tennessee is rich in history and I’m going to share some of its most recent story. The story of the construction of Tellico Lake covers a period of nearly 40 years, from before World War II until 1980.
Back in the late 1930’s the TVA built Fort Loudon Dam about 50 miles below Knoxville for the purposes of flood control and hydro-electric generation. Today we take electricity for granted and it is easy to forget how important the power generation was back then but remember that there were many rural areas that still did not have electricity on the eve of WWII. For balance it is also good to keep in mind that the TVA was, and still is a governmental type bureaucracy and was eager to build themselves an empire. Anyway shortly after Ft. Loudon Dam was completed the TVA proposed to create more storage space for flood control while at the same time providing more water for electric power generation. They could do this by constructing a dam on the Little Tennessee just above its mouth (which was about a mile below the Ft. Loudon Dam) and cutting a canal to connect the reservoir formed by that dam with the reservoir above the Ft. Loudon Dam. This project was referred to as the Ft. Loudon Extension and in 1942 was projected to cost $10.7 million. Funds were appropriated in June of 1942 but within a few months the TVA was told that the project must be postponed because of WWII.
It was 1963 before a new and improved (read “larger”) version of the project was revived, this time with a new name; the Tellico Project. The world was quite different in 1963 than it had been in the 40’s and as you might expect there was a great deal of controversy surrounding the Tellico Project. Proponents focused on the economic benefits, jobs, and growth potential. Opponents sited the loss of a free flowing river, loss of agricultural lands and the historic value of the land to the Cherokee Indian Culture (even though the Cherokee had been forced from this land in the 1800’s and relocated to Oklahoma). Congress ultimately appropriated $41 million dollars and construction on the project began in 1967.
In 1969 Congress enacted the National Environmental Policy Act. In 1971 the TVA was ordered to stop work on the project because the environmental impact studies required by the 1969 legislation were apparently more rigorous than those that had been completed when the project was approved and they were accused of proceeding with inadequate studies. It was 1973 before the courts ruled that the statements on file were acceptable and the project could continue.
OK friends it is time to get those neurons firing; check those cranial files for the term “snail darter”. Does it sort of ring a bell, but you just can’t place it? Yeah me too, but now I have the scoop. Sometime in 1971 or 72 a tiny little fish called a snail darter was found in an area of the Little Tennessee River that would be impounded by the Tellico Project. In 1973 environmentalists opposed to the project petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the snail darter as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. In 1975 when the Tellico Project was nearly 75% completed the snail darter was listed as endangered. Construction continued while the matter was argued in the courts, but in 1977 when the project (now $136.9 million) was 90 percent completed the TVA was prohibited from any further construction that might destroy or modify the snail darter’s habitat. A 1978 Supreme Court ruling upheld the endangered status for the fish but Congress passed an exemption to the Endangered Species Act in order to allow construction to proceed.
The dam was closed on November 29, 1979. Meanwhile small populations of the controversial snail darter were found throughout the U.S. and in four widely scattered areas of East Tennessee besides the valley of the Little Tennessee. Today the snail darter in no longer on the endangered species list.
Was the battle to build the dam and construct Tellico Lake worth it? We have been told that most locals today admit that they are better off economically, however some still resent being essentially forced from their land, sometimes land homesteaded by their grandparents and great grandparents. I can attest that the scenery and the water are some of the prettiest of anyplace we have traveled to, the water is clear and deep so it attracts boaters who freely spend money. Of course it would still be pretty in the natural state, that is as a shallow and rocky river, but the economic benefits may not be the same. The economy appears to be thriving as we still are seeing new residential construction in the developments that line one side of the first 20 miles of so of the lake. Today the area attracts retirees who come for the mild climate and the beautiful water. A lot of land is still open for public use such as camping and boat launching and other day use, this land is supposed to remain available for public use. There is almost no industry on this lake, the town of Vonore has built an industrial park but thus far they have found it difficult to entice sustainable industry to their community. The future of industry appears to be more uncertain than the future of residential use and in a way I'm not sorry about this because the impact of industry on the beauty and the water quality is not usually a good thing.
The spectacular scenery with the Blue Ridge Mountains in the background, much as it must have always looked.
The photo below shows the impact of the residential development that brings economic benefits to the region.
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