Lewis - Smith Lake & Dam - Jasper, AL - emergency power and an economical boost

North Alabama has a reservoir known as the Lewis Smith Lake on the Black Warrior River's Sipsey Fork. The lake takes up over twenty-one thousand acres in the counties of Cullman, Walker and Winston Alabama. There are over five hundred miles of shoreline covered by the three fingered lake with a level of five hundred and ten feet when it is full.

Alabama Power created the lake with the Smith-Lake Dam which is the eastern United States largest earthen dam. The dam is twenty-two hundred feet long and up to three hundred feet high at the highest point. November 25, 1957 the construction on the dam started and it went into service on September 5, 1961. The area which is ideal for fishing is easy to find by taking Interstate 65. It is just an hour to the south of Huntsville or to the north of Birmingham.

The Lewis Smith Lake & Dam was created for the production of hydroelectric power and the improvement of the traffic conditions on the river in addition to giving more opportunities for recreation. The area had suffered difficulties for a long time due to lack of water and the application was filed by Alabama Power on July 27, 1954 with the Federal Power Commission for hydroelectric projects on the Warrior River. The application included a powerhouse and dam at the Sipsey Fork tributary which is approximately fifteen miles away from Jasper.

The project required not only buying out the residents of the flood area but relocating seventy-eight graves in four cemeteries that were in the flood zone for the dam. The project cost $29 million dollars and the Lewis Smith Lake & Dam were dedicated May 23, 1961. Lewis M. Smith the president of the Alabama Power Company is whom the lake and dam are named for.

The powerhouse for Smith Dam has two electric generators that are each rated at nearly 79,000 kilowatts. The powerhouse is to the north of the dam and two tunnels carry water to it. The tunnels are almost two thousand feet long and twenty-six feet in diameter. There is an average of 233,000 megawatt hours put out by the generators annually which varies depending on the water available. The dam is only put into use to produce electricity when the demand requires it or the prices are favorable for its use.

The limited supply of water necessary to create hydropower means that it cannot be used at all times although it is Alabama Power's most economical way to produce power. During times of drought producing hydroelectric power is reduced. The depth of the lake at its deepest point is two hundred and sixty-four feet. The land around Lewis-Smith Lake & Dam was mostly undeveloped until the 1980's when the recreational attractions and beauty of the area where enhanced with commercial and residential developments.

The construction of the Lewis Smith Lake & Dam in Jasper, Alabama although it required the relocation of families actually benefited them by boosting the local economy. Anyone interested in hydroelectric power should make it a point to see how this dam has benefited the surrounding area.