By JO HARRIS

In August 1941, President Roosevelt petitioned Congress for funds to construct a dam on the French Broad River in East Tennessee. With the war in Europe and the instability in other parts of the world creating unease in the United States, power generation for our national defense was becoming essential.

When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December, the need for power quickly rose to an urgent level.

Congress appropriated funds for the project in January 1942 after Tennessee Sen. Kenneth McKellar’s opposition had blocked the project for several weeks. McKellar opposed the project because it would flood some of East Tennessee’s most productive farmland vital to the local canning industry. This fertile land along the French Broad River provided 40-50 percent of the vegetables packaged by four local canneries such as Bush and Stokely.

There were opponents of the project other than McKellar, including the Tennessee County Farm Bureau President’s Conference. This group, like some others, was concerned about the nation’s security, but at the same time worried about the social and economic impact for those involved.

Citizens in Jefferson and Cocke counties united to fight the project, but Sevier Countians voiced little public opposition. Proponents argued that Sevierville would benefit through construction payrolls.

One business that benefited from the construction was Smoky Mountain Railroad. A temporary bridge was built below the dam for use by vehicles, pedestrians, and the railroad. Smoky Mountain Railroad built a spur line to the site and became the major transporter of construction materials. This increased business kept the struggling railroad out of bankruptcy, at least temporarily.

President Roosevelt signed the bill for Douglas Dam on Jan. 30, 1942. On that same day, TVA received a teletype message from its D.C. office that read: DOUGLAS DAM BILL SIGNED. START DIGGING.

A little over 33,000 acres were purchased, with prices set by TVA appraisers. Over 5,000 acres were forested and had to be cleared.

Construction on the dam began Feb. 2, 1942. It was built on the William Trotter farm, thereby destroying Sevier County’s finest example of Antebellum architecture: the James Trotter home built in 1856. Trotter’s Crossroads, a community consisting of a general store, blacksmith shop, distillery and the Trotter Store post office, was destroyed.

Tentative plans called for the dam to be known as the Trotter Dam. Instead it was named after Douglas Bluff, a cliff overlooking the dam site and the Douglas family of Jefferson County.

Hundreds of families were displaced in Sevier, Jefferson, Cocke and Hamblen counties. At least 60 percent of these were farmers in Jefferson County. In Sevier County, 73 families consisting of 288 residents were relocated. Most all of these were farmers.

Along with Trotter’s Crossroads, some other communities in Sevier County affected were Flat Creek, Allensville, Catlett, Union Grove and Jones Chapel. The Allensville and Catlett schools were flooded. Providence Baptist Church had to be relocated.

Overall, the reservoir, which extends over 40 miles upriver, destroyed or displaced at least 10 schools, 13 churches, a post office, 11 gristmills, 3 sawmills, the Zimmerman Indian mound, a meat packing plant, a cannery, stores, homes and barns. A few log structures built in the early 19th century were also destroyed.

Over 2,500 graves in 32 cemeteries were surveyed within the reservoir area. Of those graves 2,449 were reinterred by TVA. The remaining 104 were left undisturbed by request of kin and consequently inundated.

Construction on Douglas Dam progressed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except for Christmas. An elaborate lighting system was rigged for nighttime visibility. Some employees worked 7 days a week, 10-15 hours a day. There were approximately 6,000 workers hired for the project with half coming from surrounding counties.

Sevier County workers commuted to the construction site when possible while others lived at the Douglas Dam construction camp. About 700 people were housed in dorms for unmarried workers and in the 92-unit, pre-fab trailer camp for families. Children of workers who lived at the site were sent to schools in Dandridge.

The construction camp was very much like a town. Along with housing facilities, the camp had a cafeteria, library, laundry, bath and toilet facilities. A community building was open 24 hours a day and was used for church services on Sundays. There were buildings for offices, tool storage and explosives.

The site had a compressor house, machine shop, barber shop, police station, fire truck, commissary, carpenter shop, telephone exchange, and a three-story administration building overlooking the entire project.

The work was hazardous. According to TVA’s publication The Douglas Project published in 1949, it took over 12 million man hours to complete Douglas Dam, yet there were only 4 fatalities and 157 disabling injuries, including 11 permanent or partial disabilities. There was a hospital on site and first aid stations with trained medical personnel available around the clock.

At the peak of employment, medical service staff included a medical officer in charge, 3 associate medical officers, a chief nurse, eight graduate nurses, 9 junior aides, and 4 orderlies.

Douglas Dam cost $41.8 million, the most expensive project ever undertaken in Sevier County. The dam is gravity type of straight, reinforced concrete stretching 1,705 feet across the French Broad River. It is 202 feet high and impounds over 28,000 acres — Douglas Lake.

A project of this magnitude normally took 3 years to complete. Douglas Dam was built in record time — 382 days. Completion was two weeks ahead of schedule despite a delay caused by heavy rains and flooding. Since the nearby Cherokee Dam had been completed a few weeks earlier, many of that dam’s features were duplicated. Some of the buildings were also moved from Cherokee Dam, and the use of Cherokee’s engineers, designers and draftsmen, as well as some of the equipment and blueprints, saved valuable time.

Construction was completed and floodgates closed on Feb. 19, 1943. For most of its first year, Douglas Dam operated at near 100 percent capacity furnishing power for ALCOA and Y-12, two critical war industries.

Patriotism flourished at the Douglas Dam project site and was spurred by signs such as: “One day’s power from Douglas Dam will make aluminum to build 7 bombers.”

The dam led to a five-span truss bridge across the French Broad River at Kyker’s Ferry. This bridge was first used in Chattanooga, then in Dandridge, and finally was purchased by Sevier County. The bridge was moved from Dandridge and rebuilt by TVA engineers at the Highway 66 location. The bridge became known as Old Shaky.

It was replaced with a concrete bridge as promised by Lamar Alexander who noticed the bridge’s obvious deterioration when he walked across Old Shaky during his 1,000-mile walk across Tennessee as part of his 1978 gubernatorial campaign.

When taking private land for public use, officials always have to balance the public needs against the rights of a few. Douglas Dam created problems and heartache for many, but provided much needed work for others. The confiscation of property for the dam served the greater good; just like it had a few years earlier when the government bought land for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The initial benefit of Douglas Dam was hydroelectric power for the war effort. A major lasting benefit has been flood control. The flood damage averted in Knoxville and Chattanooga in the first few years after the dam was built was more than enough to cover the $41.8 million construction cost.

The nearly 30,000-acre lake and 500 miles of shoreline creates various recreational activities for both residents and tourists.Douglas Dam was officially dedicated on March 7, 1943.

Banners at the ceremony proclaimed: These TVA dams are needed for victory--Douglas Dam called to serve.

— Jo Harris is a freelance writer residing in Kodak. The Upland Chronicles series celebrates the heritage and past of Sevier County. If you suggestions for future topics, would like to submit a column or have comments, please contact Carroll McMahan at 453-6411 or email to cmcmahan@scoc.org; or Ron Rader at 604-9161 or email to ron@ronraderproperties.com.