Old Alabama Books: The Guntersville Project [1941]

The downsizing of my book collection continues, and I recently let this one go--it quickly sold on eBay. The book has some interesting aspects, so I thought I would discuss it here. 

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers began scouting the Guntersville area for a dam site in the early 1900s. Area farmers suffered from frequent flooding and the Tennessee River at that point was too shallow for navigation. By 1914 the Corps had settled on a site about five miles upstream from the current one but Congress made no appropriations. 

In 1935 a new federal agency, the Tennessee Valley Authority, recommended construction of a dam that would make the entire river in that section navigable, as well as control flooding and aid economic development and electricity generation. To that end TVA purchased over 110,000 acres, relocated over 1200 families, raised what is now US 431, moved numerous cemeteries and loads of materials from several hundred Cherokee archaeological sites. 

The Encyclopedia of Alabama entry gives construction details:

"The TVA began construction of the dam on December 4, 1935, and completed it on January 24, 1939. The project used 295,700 cubic yards of concrete and 4,600 tons of reinforcing steel while employing a crew of 1,800 men, three of whom died during the construction. The dam generates 140,400 kilowatts of electricity with four hydraulic turbines and four generators. It stands 94 feet high and 3,979 feet wide. Water below the dam averages 20 to 30 feet deep. At a cost of $51 million, it has been so far the most expensive project ever undertaken in Marshall County."

As Guntersville Lake rose behind the dam, the town was left on a peninsula. In subsequent years the location has become a major destination for bass fisherman and water enthusiasts of all types. 

This volume is the TVA's official report on the project and was published two years after the dam's completion. In its more than 400 pages, in addition to the text, are numerous illustrations and tables. 

Further comments are below some of the images beginning about halfway down, in the ones from Chapter 4, "Employee Housing and Access".  

Guntersville Dam

Source: Wikipedia

This map shows the layout of the village built for construction workers and support personnel. Note the dormitories for white and black males and females. I presume there were no black women at the site. Also listed are a recreation building for blacks and single family homes. Support services included a cafeteria and store and hospital. 

This page shows the three types of the 36 single family homes, differing mainly in the number of bedrooms. 

The cafeteria was constructed to hold 168 whites and 24 blacks at a time. 

The community building had an auditorium, lounge, library, post office, workshop, and classrooms.

The recreation building for blacks included class rooms, game room, and a living room/library.

The site hospital was located a distance away from the main camp to be closer to actual construction. Facilities included white and black wards, isolation room, nurses' rooms, an operating room, doctor's office and quarters, dentist office, x-ray room and more. You can see it's location on the village map above on page 124. 

The entire cost of village construction was just over $372,000.