Lake Strom Thurmond
Encyclopedia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
as Clarks Hill Lake, is a reservoir
Reservoir
A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...
at the border between Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
and South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
in the Savannah River
Savannah River
The Savannah River is a major river in the southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of South Carolina and Georgia. Two tributaries of the Savannah, the Tugaloo River and the Chattooga River, form the northernmost part of the border...
Basin. It was created by the J. Strom Thurmond Dam
J. Strom Thurmond Dam
J. Strom Thurmond Dam, also known in Georgia as Clarks Hill Dam, is a concrete-gravity and embankment dam located north of Augusta, Georgia on the Savannah River at the border of South Carolina and Georgia, creating Lake Strom Thurmond. The dam was built by the U.S...
during 1951 and 1952 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...
near the confluence of the "Little River" and the Savannah River. At 71,000 acres (287 km²), it is the second-largest artificial lake east of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
, behind the Kentucky Lake
Kentucky Lake
Kentucky Lake is a major navigable reservoir along the Tennessee River in Kentucky and Tennessee. Created in 1944 by the Tennessee Valley Authority's impounding of the Tennessee River by Kentucky Dam, the lake is the largest artificial lake by surface area in the United States east of the...
on the Tennessee River
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...
. The J. Strom Thurmond Dam
J. Strom Thurmond Dam
J. Strom Thurmond Dam, also known in Georgia as Clarks Hill Dam, is a concrete-gravity and embankment dam located north of Augusta, Georgia on the Savannah River at the border of South Carolina and Georgia, creating Lake Strom Thurmond. The dam was built by the U.S...
is located upstream from Augusta, Georgia
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...
.
The Thurmond Lake and Dam is one of the southeast's largest and most popular public recreation lakes. The dam Built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1946 and 1954 but the lake was filled during 1951 and 1952 as part of a flood control, hydropower, and navigation project. Its legally authorized purposes now include recreation, water quality, water supply, and fish and wildlife management. Each year, millions of people utilize the many public parks, marinas, and campgrounds conveniently located around the lake to pursue a variety of outdoor recreational experiences -making Thurmond one of the 10 most visited Corps lakes in the nation.
Thurmond Lake is a man-made lake bordering Georgia and South Carolina on the Savannah, Broad, and Little Rivers. The lake is created by the J. Strom Thurmond Dam
J. Strom Thurmond Dam
J. Strom Thurmond Dam, also known in Georgia as Clarks Hill Dam, is a concrete-gravity and embankment dam located north of Augusta, Georgia on the Savannah River at the border of South Carolina and Georgia, creating Lake Strom Thurmond. The dam was built by the U.S...
located on the Savannah River twenty-two miles above Augusta Georgia and 239.5 miles (385.4 km) above the mouth of the Savannah River. The lake extends 39.4 miles (63.4 km) up the Savannah River, 29 miles (46.7 km) up the Little River in Georgia, and 6.5 miles (10.5 km) up the Broad River in Georgia, and 17 miles (27.4 km) up the Little River in South Carolina, at normal pool elevation of 330 mean sea level, Thurmond Lake comprises nearly 71,100 acres (287 km²) of water with a shoreline of 1200 miles (1,931.2 km). The entire Thurmond “Project” contains 151,000 acres (611 km²) of land and water.
J. Strom Thurmond Lake and Dam is the first Corps of Engineers project to be built in the Savannah River Basin. Hartwell Lake
Lake Hartwell
Lake Hartwell is a reservoir bordering Georgia and South Carolina on the Savannah, Tugaloo, and Seneca Rivers. The lake is created by Hartwell Dam located on the Savannah River seven miles below the point at which the Tugaloo and Seneca Rivers join to form the Savannah...
and Dam
Hartwell Dam
Hartwell Dam is concrete and embankment dam located on the Savannah River at the border of South Carolina and Georgia, creating Lake Hartwell. The dam was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1955 and 1962 for the purposes of flood control, hydropower and navigation. The concrete and...
the second project built in the basin was completed in 1963, and a third project, Richard B. Russell Lake
Richard B. Russell Lake
-Overview:Richard B. Russell Lake is a reservoir created by the construction of Richard B. Russell Dam on the Savannah River bordering Elbert County, Georgia and Abbeville and Anderson counties in South Carolina...
and Dam was completed in 1985. Together these three lakes form a chain of lakes that is 120 miles (193.1 km) long. Congress authorized Thurmond Lake in 1944 and construction began in 1946. The project was completed in 1954 at a cost of $79 million.
History
Originally the project was to be called “Clarks Hill Dam”. The “s” at the end of “Clarks” was omitted due to a clerical error in the original Congressional Authorization, and the project became “Clark Hill Dam”. The authorization document outlined the plan of development for the basin with authorized purposes of power production, incidental flood control, and navigation. Later, recreation, water quality, water supply, and fish & wildlife management were added as authorized purposes. After that the dam was renamed “Clarks Hill Dam”.The 1966 Flood Control Act authorized the building of Trotters Shoals Lake and Dam on the Savannah River between Clarks Hill Lake and Hartwell Lake
Lake Hartwell
Lake Hartwell is a reservoir bordering Georgia and South Carolina on the Savannah, Tugaloo, and Seneca Rivers. The lake is created by Hartwell Dam located on the Savannah River seven miles below the point at which the Tugaloo and Seneca Rivers join to form the Savannah...
. This lake was later renamed to commemorate a late senator from Georgia, Richard B. Russell who was very important in supporting the building of dams on the river. This created a movement to rename Clarks Hill Lake after J. Strom Thurmond, the longest serving senator in US history who was from Edgefield on the South Carolina side of the lake. This movement gained support due to the senator's great popularity in the area, and in 1988 the project was congressionally renamed “J. Strom Thurmond Dam and Lake at Clarks Hill”
South Carolina renaming of lake
Until 1988, the lake was called Clarks Hill Lake, after the nearby South Carolina town of Clarks HillClarks Hill, South Carolina
Clarks Hill is a census-designated place in McCormick County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 376 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Clarks Hill is located at ....
, and the Revolutionary War
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
hero Elijah Clarke
Elijah Clarke
Elijah Clarke , born in Anson County, North Carolina, was a soldier and officer with the Continentals and considered a hero of the American Revolutionary War. Afterward he was elected to the Georgia legislature. In 1794 he organized the Trans-Oconee Republic, several settlements in counties of...
, whose burial place, on the grounds of Georgia's Elijah Clark State Park
Elijah Clark State Park
Elijah Clark State Park is a 447 acre Georgia state park located in Lincolnton, on the western shore of Lake Strom Thurmond. The park is named for Elijah Clarke, a frontiersman and Revolutionary War hero who led a force of pioneers in Georgia during the American Revolution. A newly renovated log...
, is on the western shore of the lake. In 1987, however, Representative Butler Derrick
Butler Derrick
Butler Carson Derrick, Jr. was a U.S. Representative from South Carolina.Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, he attended the public schools in Mayesville and Florence, South Carolina. He graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1958 and earned an LL.B. from the University of Georgia Law...
of South Carolina introduced a bill before Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
to rename the lake after Strom Thurmond
Strom Thurmond
James Strom Thurmond was an American politician who served as a United States Senator. He also ran for the Presidency of the United States in 1948 as the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party candidate, receiving 2.4% of the popular vote and 39 electoral votes...
, the long-time Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from South Carolina.
The bill passed through Congress and local Georgia residents were quite angry the next year when they discovered that the lake had been renamed after a politician from another state. In response, a group of Georgia legislators, led by Representative Doug Barnard, Jr.
Doug Barnard, Jr.
Druie Douglas Barnard, Jr. is a former United States congressman from Georgia.Barnard attended the Richmond County public schools and graduated from the Academy of Richmond County in 1939. He attended Augusta College from 1939 to 1940, then graduated in 1943 with an A.B. from Mercer University in...
(who was, ironically, the only Georgia co-sponsor of the original 1987 bill) introduced a bill to rename the lake as "Clarks Hill" once again. That bill, however, was unsuccessful, and the name remained unchanged. Following the name change by the Federal government, on April 4, 1989 the State of Georgia legislature passed House Resolution No. 115 making "Clarks Hill" the official state name for both the dam and associated reservoir. Accordingly, Georgia's map
Map
A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes....
still refers to the lake as Clarks Hill.
To this day, many residents of Georgia (as well as South Carolina), including most of those who live nearby, refer to the lake by its original name. Another noteworthy point is that man-made Lake Russell, the lake north of Clarke Hill along the Savannah River, was named after Richard B. Russell, Jr., Georgia's noted U.S. Senator and former governor, in the same 1987 bill.