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Apalachia Dam

1943 establishments in North CarolinaBuildings and structures in Cherokee County, North CarolinaBuildings and structures in Polk County, TennesseeDams completed in 1943Dams in North Carolina
Dams on the Hiwassee RiverDams on the National Register of Historic Places in North CarolinaEnergy infrastructure completed in 1943Hydroelectric power plants in North CarolinaNational Register of Historic Places in Cherokee County, North CarolinaTennessee Valley Authority dams
Apalachia Dam
Apalachia Dam

Apalachia Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Hiwassee River in Cherokee County, in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The dam is the lowermost of three dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the early 1940s to provide emergency power for aluminum production during World War II. While the dam is in North Carolina, an 8.3-mile (13.4 km) underground conduit carries water from the dam's reservoir to the powerhouse located 12 miles (19 km) downstream across the state line in Polk County, Tennessee. The dam and associated infrastructure were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. Apalachia Dam is classified by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a high-hazard dam, meaning a dam failure may pose a deadly threat to nearby residents. The dam's condition is not made available to the public due to security concerns. Apalachia Dam is named for the crossroads community of Old Apalachia, located near the dam site in North Carolina, and the community's L&N railroad stop, known simply as Apalachia, which was further downstream on the Tennessee side of the state line.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Apalachia Dam (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 35.167777777778 ° E -84.295555555556 °
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Address


37333
North Carolina, United States
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Apalachia Dam
Apalachia Dam
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Copper Basin (Tennessee)
Copper Basin (Tennessee)

The Copper Basin, also known as the Ducktown Basin, is a geological region located primarily in Polk County, Tennessee, that contains deposits of copper ore and covers approximately 60,000 acres (24,000 hectares). Located in the southeastern corner of Tennessee, small portions of the basin extend into Fannin County, Georgia, and Cherokee County, North Carolina. The basin is surrounded by the Cherokee National Forest, and the cities of Ducktown and Copperhill, Tennessee, and McCaysville, Georgia are located in the basin. Copper was first discovered in the basin in 1843, and by the 1850s large mining operations, spearheaded by German-born businessman Julius Eckhardt Raht, were taking place. The mines were seized by the Confederacy during the American Civil War and were the source of about 90% of the copper used by the Confederate Army. After the Civil War, smelting operations, which were used to separate sulfur from the copper ore, resulted in acid rain in the area. Combined with the logging of nearby forests to fuel the smelters, this resulted in a massive environmental disaster that left the surrounding landscape barren for more than a century. Several mines, the largest of which was the Burra Burra Mine, operated in the basin. By the 1950s, mining operations in the Copper Basin began to decline, with the final mine closing in 1987. Today, the Ducktown Basin Museum chronicles the geological record and history of the mining operations in the basin.