By Lee Roberts
ELMWOOD, Tenn. (Oct. 10, 2023) – Local communities, residents and officials celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Cordell Hull Dam Oct. 7 by paying tribute to residents that were displaced, featuring historical aspects of the dam’s construction, and noting the benefits that were realized for future generations when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers impounded the lake.
Underneath a large tent on the shoreline near the dam’s navigation lock, Rep. John Rose, Tennessee 6th District, gave the keynote address recognizing Cordell Hull Dam.
“And just as folks who gathered here at this spot did in 1973, we too will likely take a lot of pictures here today,” Rose said. “That’s important. We should remember events like this because they show our common bonds, our common history,” Rose said. “We’re all impacted by the Cordell Hull Lake in some way, as well as the lock and the dam.”
Rose said the region continues to benefit today from the hydropower, the recreation opportunities, and definitely the flood control that this project affords people in the region. He stressed that when it comes to critical infrastructure like this dam, there should be very little cause for politics or disagreements.
“Today, we’re all just Tennesseans, celebrating the achievements of the engineers and the contractors, and yes, even the public policy makers of the time, who made this project possible,” Rose said.
The Rivers and Harbors Act of 1946 and Flood Control Act of 1938 authorized the Carthage Dam Project, estimated at $41.8 million. On Aug. 28, 1958, Public Law 85-843 approved the renaming of the project from Carthage Dam to Cordell Hull Dam after one of America’s outstanding statesmen. Hull served in the Tennessee and U.S. House of Representatives (same district as Congressman Rose), and U.S. Senate. He served as Secretary of State under President Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933 to 1944 and negotiated the “Good Neighbor” policy toward Latin America. He is largely responsible for the creation of the United Nations. For his efforts towards promoting world peace and harmony, he received a Nobel Peace Prize in 1945.
Jackson County Mayor Randy Heady also spoke at the celebration and said he remembered living as a young boy on a 100-acre dairy farm in the late 1960s where he and his father and brother milked 50 Jersey cows twice a day.
“I can remember when we had to move. I didn’t understand it, but I was like, ‘Why do we have to move?’ I loved being on that farm,” Heady said. “But the Corps had bought our land. They were flooding the river and they took all that good crop land.”
Heady explained that for a long time the Cordell Hull Dam and losing all of the property wasn’t always a good sentiment in Jackson County, and people fought the project for years and said it wasn’t a good thing.
“But I’m going to say this, ‘Progress is never easy. It is always a challenge. And true leadership will even lead when it is hard times, when it’s hard to get it done.’,” Heady said. “Back then they (Corps of Engineers) fought a hard fight in getting that land, because those farmers did not want to give that land up.”
Looking back today, Heady said he thanks the people that had the foresight to do what was important for the local communities in the long run, which meant constructing Cordell Hull Dam to provide flood risk management, providing hydroelectricity, recreation, and tourism revenue.
Smith County in Tennessee is where Cordell Hull Dam is located. Mayor Jeff Mason said the dam has been more than a concrete and steel structure.
“It has been a lifeline for our communities,” Mason said. “It’s been a guardian against floods and a provider of energy and a hub of recreation and tourism.”
Mason’s connection to the dam is also a source of family pride, as his father Jackie Mason helped construct Cordell Hull Dam in the early 1970s.
“I can still see that yellow building suit and hard hat he wore while helping pour that concrete that is the Cordell Hull Dam,” Mason said. “I still get a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes when I come here, because this place reminds me of my daddy.”
President John F. Kennedy, 36th president of the United States, visited Nashville, Tennessee, May 18, 1963. At a Founder’s Day ceremony at Vanderbilt University, President Kennedy pressed a gold telegraph key that remotely exploded the first charge of dynamite at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District’s construction site of Cordell Hull Dam. Congressman Joe L. Evins and District Engineer Col. James B. Newman broke ground for Cordell Hull Lock July 6, 1964. Tennessee Gov. Winfield Dunn and Tricia Nixon Cox, daughter of President Richard M. Nixon, spoke at the dedication of the Cordell Hull Dam Oct. 13, 1973. The event also featured Country Music Sensation Dolly Parton, who performed “A Coat of Many Colors.” It is estimated about 2,000 people attended the dedication, according to an Associated Press report.
Terrell Stoves, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District’s Mid Cumberland Area manager, gave a little history lesson on how the Corps of Engineers evolved since the Revolutionary War to when the Corps constructed Cordell Hull Dam and supported environmental stewardship of the project and public lands.
He said recreation areas and campgrounds followed so the public could enjoy the lake. The dam’s purposes include hydropower production, navigation, flood risk management, recreation, water supply, water quality, and environmental stewardship, he added.
One of the notable and important purposes of Cordell Dam is generating hydroelectricity for communities in the region. Wesley Butler, Hydropower Plant superintendent, said even with a lot of original equipment that has exceeded life expectancy, the dam continues to generate power to this day, not only for the citizens of Carthage, but also for west Cookeville and all the way to Gallatin, Tennessee.
“It continues to provide that level of reliability because of the dedicated men and women who work hard each day to ensure the power is there when it is called upon,” Butler said.
Cordell Hull Dam is located on the Cumberland River at mile 313.5 and rises 87 feet above the streambed. The combination earth fill and concrete-gravity dam is 1,306-feet long with a hydroelectric plant that generates 350,000,000 kilowatts of hydroelectricity annually. The navigation lock is 84-feet wide and 400-feet long with a lift at normal pool of 59 feet. The lock holds 20 million gallons of water. The dam forms Cordell Hull Lake, which is 72-miles long with 381 miles of shoreline at summer pool. The lake has a total of 28,383 acres of land and water. Cordell Hull Lake features three recreation areas, two campgrounds, 22 boat ramps, two hiking trails, horseback riding trail, and mountain bike trail.
Kenny Claywell, Cordell Hull Lake Natural Resource manager, said Cordell Hull Lake lies in Smith, Jackson, Clay and Putnam Counties in Tennessee, and Monroe County in Kentucky. He said the first tract of land acquired for the project was COR-100, which consisted of 157.5 acres. The Corps of Engineers acquired it May 14, 1963, from I.G. and Lois Bennett. It was only four days prior to when President Kennedy detonated the first charge of dynamite from Vanderbilt University.
“We are currently standing on a portion of that tract of land today,” Claywell said. “An additional 1,233 tracts of land were acquired totaling 26,703 acres of fee property, and 441 acres of easement lands over the next eight years.”
Claywell noted the acquisition of property for the dam, mostly from farmers, was certainly contentious in the rural communities in the area.
“The acquisition of property meant taking away their best river bottom lands and their primary source of income,” he explained.
Two other notable tracts acquired in 1963 were COR-229 consisting of 112 acres and COR-231 consisting of 124 acres. These tracts, previously owned by Horace West and Garland Chambers, consisted of river bottoms, tobacco barns, springs for water, stock barns, and their homes. These properties are the present-day location of Defeated Creek Campground, which began operating May 18, 1974.
The Corps staff at Cordell Hull Lake operate Defeated Creek and Salt Lick Campgrounds with a combined 305 campsites, six recreation areas, 22 launching ramps, 72 picnic sites, seven group shelters, and six trails totaling 115 miles on the shoreline. Since the pandemic in 2020, visitation and revenue continue to rise. The lake exceeded $1 million in revenues this year for the first time in history, which goes directly into the U.S. Treasury for re-appropriation.
“Currently Defeated Creek Campground is ranked number one in the Nashville District and number five nationally among all Corps of Engineers campgrounds with a 76 percent occupancy rate,” Claywell said. “Defeated Creek had a gross user revenue of $733,000 in 2023.”
The first park ranger at Cordell Hull Lake also attended and spoke about his memories working at the project. R. Gerald Lee transferred from his position at J. Percy Priest Lake to Cordell Hull Lake in August 1971. He retired in 2004 with more than 37 years of federal service and continues to live in the area and enjoy what the lake has to offer, including its majestic views. He wore his original uniform to the anniversary festivities as he reminisced about the early days before and after the construction of the dam.
Before the impoundment of the lake 50 years ago, Lee said the first thing he did was stand up at the old overlook where a sign provided information about the dam construction project, and enjoyed the view when the Cumberland River still meandered through the bottom lands. He also shared memories of crossing the river on ferries at Granville and Fort Blunt, and spoke about seeing Tricia Nixon arrive when he worked traffic duty for the dedication.
“My main thing I was doing – I was kind of watching for Dolly,” Lee said, referring to Country Music Artist Dolly Parton, who sang at the dedication. “Dolly didn’t come in that way. I didn’t see her.”
At the conclusion of the anniversary event, officials actually played a video of Dolly Parton performing at the dedication in 1973, courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Park Ranger Lee did finally get to see her performance. Dolly also provided a video message in honor of the 50th Anniversary. The Corps of Engineers thanks Billy Woodard, who served as master of ceremony; Mia Miller, who sang the National Anthem; and The Friends of Cordell Hull Lake; for their support that made the event especially memorable and special for all in attendance.
