Thread: Rickie & I went dam hunting today

I like history so I've been doing some reading. Construction was started on Lock E in January of 1918 and completed in the fall of 1922. Also in the fall of 1922 work was started on the dam portion and was completed in a few months. In 1933 congress approved the money to install wickets on several dams, E and F (Eddyville) included. With the wickets up the water level could be raised 3' (although it appears to me from the images they are 6-6 1/2' tall) they were primarily installed for flood control but also aided in navigation.

CSURP did all of the research and sent me a bunch of information on locks and dams on the Cumberland River. All I had to do was read and pick the info to post.

Thanks Chuck!

Scale models of the wickets.



Workers raising wickets, they were raised one at a time. A grappling hook would be thrown the water to catch the hook and then the wicket would be raised with a manual winch. I don't know what lock this is, it's constructed out of cut stone. E and F are concrete.



I'm going to guess the dark patches on top of the dam in these two images are where the wickets were attached.

Originally Posted by mrdux

Awesome images, Justin. Rickie stopped by and we talked about the trip.

I plan on showing these to my Dad. I remember well watching he and my uncle fishing at the dam at Eddyville as a kid, before the lake was raised. Just never heard about Dam E and it doesn't show up on my lake maps. I'll see if Dad remembers this dam prior to the lake flooding in 65. My Dad worked on dams all up and down the Cumberland and Ohio so he may recognize many of the features.

Thanks for sharing.

there's another dam at mile marker 88.it was built in 1913

Good find, Kosmo.

Lock D was not mentioned as being left intact on the website that I visited. http://www.americancanals.org/Data_S...nd%20River.pdf

I see that it is also shown on the Navionics Phone app.

Some good images here. Dams and Locks - Wiki of The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County