In Spring 2009, BG and I set about visiting all of the locks and dams of Alabama’s Black Warrior and Tombigbee Rivers and the Alabama portions of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. That Dam Project is my effort to chronicle our visits and share what I’ve learned along the way.
You may also be interested in my Delicious bookmarks tagged dam_project.
December on the Black Warrior (source: Diamondduste's Flickr photostream)
BG and I began our journey with a May 2009 visit to Holt Lock and Dam, one of several locks and dams on Alabama’s Black Warrior River. From Black Warrior Riverkeeper’s River Facts:
The Black Warrior River watershed is 6,276 square miles, contained entirely within Alabama. Beginning in North central Alabama as three tributaries – the Sipsey Fork, Mulberry Fork, & Locust Fork – the river then flows southwest for roughly 300 miles past Birmingham and Tuscaloosa to its confluence with the Tombigbee River at Demopolis. The Black Warrior River watershed contains 16,145.98 miles of mapped water.
The Black Warrior River and its tributaries are a major source of drinking water for many cities including Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Cullman, Oneonta, and Jasper.
The Black Warrior has a rich history, from the prehistoric to the modern. The river was named for Native American Chief Tascaluça (from “tasska” and “luska”, meaning “black warrior”). Both coal and cotton have traveled the river, and river commerce prompted the creation of its locks and dams. From the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Black Warrior and Tombigbee Lakes Project History Page:
Between 1895 and 1915, a system of 17 locks and dams was constructed between Mobile and Birmingham. In those days, waterway construction was a slow and laborious task. Dams were built by hand of stone and mortar. Locks were walled with stone-filled timber cribs, and hauling was done by mule-power.
The original locks and dams were built to provide a six-foot-deep channel, adequate for the steam-powered tow boats and packets of the era. The Corps undertook a program to modernize the system in 1937. The 17 low-lift locks were replaced by six high-lift locks, capable of expediting present-day towboats and barges. The locks vary in maximum lift from 22 to 69 feet. The nine-foot navigation channel is maintained to a width of 200 feet. Tows of up to eight standard barges can be accommodated at all locks.
The waterway is now approximately 457 miles long. All of the original locks and dams have been replaced except for John Hollis Bankhead Dam on the Black Warrior near Birmingham. The structures at Bankhead were the last of the original locks and dams built on the system. Bankhead dam has been modernized and a new lock has been constructed to make it comparable in efficiency to the other locks and dams in the system.
In addition to transportation and hydroelectric power, the Black Warrior River offers opportunities for recreation. Black Warrior Riverkeeper’s Recreation page lists offers links of interest to the thousands who “fish, flyfish, swim, boat, kayak, canoe, waterski, wakeboard and take advantage of many other recreational opportunities along the Black Warrior and its tributaries.”
The Bankhead, Holt, and Oliver, and Warrior dams impound the Black Warrior River; Smith Dam impounds the River’s Sipsey Fork.
LINKS IN THIS POST
- Black Warrior Riverkeeper
- Black Warrior Riverkeeper: Recreation
- Black Warrior Riverkeeper: River Facts
- Discovering Alabama: Black Warrior River Teacher’s Guide
- meLISsa BLOG category: That Dam Project
- mbfortson’s dam_project bookmarks
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Black Warrior and Tombigbee Lakes Project
- USACE Black Warrior and Tombigbee Lakes Project: History
- Wikipedia: Black Warrior River
- Wikipedia: Holt Lock and Dam