Chickamauga Dam

Chickamauga Dam
Chickamauga Dam
Official name	Chickamauga Dam
Location	Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States
Coordinates	35°06′14″N 85°13′46″W / 35.10389°N 85.22944°W / 35.10389; -85.22944
Construction began	January 13, 1936
Opening date	January 15, 1940
Operator(s)	Tennessee Valley Authority
Dam and spillways
Impounds	Tennessee River
Height	129 ft (39 m)[1]
Length	5,800 ft (1,800 m)[1]
Reservoir
Creates	Chickamauga Lake
Total capacity	737,300 acre⋅ft (909,400 dam3)[1]
Catchment area	20,790 sq mi (53,800 km2)[1]

The Chickamauga Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. The dam is owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the late 1930s as part of a New Deal era initiative to improve navigation and bring flood control and economic development to the Tennessee Valley. The dam impounds the 36,240-acre (14,670 ha) Chickamauga Lake and feeds into Nickajack Lake. The dam and associated infrastructure were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.

Chickamauga Dam is named for the Chickamaugas, a politically detached branch of the Cherokee whose chief village was located just north of the dam site during the 18th century.^[2] The tribe's name has also been applied to several streams in the Chattanooga area, as well as an important American Civil War battle and a sandbar that existed at the dam site prior to its construction.^[3]