![]() “Putting “Loafing Streams” to Work: The Building of Lay, Mitchell, Martin, and Jordan Dams, 1910-1929.” Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1997. “Developed for the Service of Alabama: The Centennial History of the Alabama Power Company, 1906-2006.” Birmingham: Alabama Power Company, 2006. Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Montgomery.Ĭredit: Atkins, Leah Rawls. The deep, open-water areas provide needed habitat for pelagic species such as striped bass and shad.ġ(Greene et al., 2005) Greene, J.C., D.L. The lake’s extensive shoreline and sloughs provide habitat for warm-water species such as black bass and sunfish. Lake Martin provides a variety of recreational experiences such as boating, water skiing and wake-boarding, swimming, sailing and fishing. Each watershed has distinct characteristics. Lake Martin has a distinctive shape that features multiple arms where Kowaliga Creek, Manoy Creek, Wind Creek, Sandy Creek and Blue Creek flow into the lake. Lake Martin extends 31 miles upstream of Martin Dam and has a shoreline of about 880 miles at the full pool elevation of 491 feet above sea level. Martin Dam is almost 61 miles upstream from the junction of the Tallapoosa and Coosa rivers, which form the Alabama River. Harris, Martin, Yates and Thurlow – before joining the Coosa River. The Tallapoosa meanders southwest through four Alabama Power hydroelectric dams – R.L. The Tallapoosa River begins in Paulding County, Georgia and enters Alabama in Cleburne County. At the time of its construction in the 1920’s, Lake Martin was the largest man-made lake in the world. The lake borders four incorporated communities in east central Alabama: Alexander City, Jackson’s Gap, Dadeville and Eclectic. Lake Martin is a 41,150-acre reservoir on the Tallapoosa River that incorporates parts of Coosa, Elmore and Tallapoosa counties. In 2018, the dam’s four generating units had a capacity of 182,500 kilowatts. Three generators began operating in 1926, with a fourth added in 1952. The water depth at the dam is 155 feet and the highest operating head (the difference between the top of the pool above the dam and the top of the pool below the dam) is 150 feet. In 1926, the dam, and subsequently the lake, was named for Alabama Power President Thomas Wesley Martin but was not dedicated officially until 1936. ![]() The total floodgate capacity is 3,016,000 gallons per minute. The dam included 431,000 cubic yards of concrete and was completed and the gates closed in 1926 however, the lake did not fill completely until heavy rains on April 23, 1928, forced the company to open several of the 20 floodgates for the first time. (See picture gallery below for photos of some of the early buildings including a complete working hospital). Through its construction company, Dixie Construction, Alabama Power built a complete village for workers, including housing, a mess hall, a commissary, a recreation hall and a hospital. Land clearing began in July 1923, and tracks were laid from the nearest rail-head at Kent so supplies could reach the isolated construction site ( Click here for our Trails that trace the old railroad bed ). The communities of Susanna (Sousanna) and Benson, including several houses and churches, were razed, and the company relocated 12 cemeteries containing 923 graves. Until the dam and lake were dedicated it was simply known at the dam at Cherokee Bluffs. Many families had left the area long before the company completed the 168-foot-high dam that stretched 2,000 feet across the Tallapoosa River gorge at Cherokee Bluffs. As early as 1916, Alabama Power began acquiring options and purchasing land to be flooded.
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