The Corps of Engineers' Allatoona Dam

Allatoona Dam impounds Lake Allatoona, another very close to metro Atlanta (where we are unfortunate enough to live!). The dam is very close to Red Top Mountain State Park, which we have not visited yet. We grabbed these couple of shots on a trip up to Chattanooga to visit Jan's Mom, which is also when we bagged Nickajack and Chickamauga. At most corps dams, tours of the powerhouses USED to be offered (prior to 9/11/01) so we thought we might have an opportunity to grab some better shots... now we are not so sure.

The Dam is 190 feet high by 1,250 feet long. The power house has two 36 megawatt generators, with room for a third, and one 2 megawatt generator for "house" power, similar to West Point Dam. Construction on Allatoona was started in 1941, but was interrupted by World War II, being completed in January, 1950. The dam is on the Etowah River, joining with the Oostanaula River at Rome, GA, to become the Coosa River, emptying into Lake Weiss on the Georgia-Alabama line between Coosa, GA, and Cedar Bluff, AL.