Watauga River
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| Watauga River | |
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| Origin | Watauga County, North Carolina |
| Mouth | South Fork Holston River near Kingsport, TN |
| Basin countries | USA |
| Length | 60 mi (97 km) |
The Watauga River, 60 mi (97 km) long, originates on the slopes of Grandfather Mountain in Watauga County, North Carolina, a mountainous area in western North Carolina and eventually flows across the Tennessee state line at Johnson County and later downstream flows into Carter County and then Washington County, Tennessee.
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[edit] General Direction
Crossing into Johnson County, Tennessee the Watauga River is impounded by the Tennessee Valley Authority Watauga Dam, creating the Watauga reservoir that is more popularly referred to as Watauga Lake. This impoundment of the Watauga River receives two important tributaries, the Elk River and Roan Creek, whose former valley of bottom land forms a very large embayment of Watauga Lake.
Watauga Lake is bridged by State Route 67 just as the watercourse enters Carter County, Tennessee. The Appalachian Trail crosses the Watauga River at Watauga Dam. The Watauga Dam product diverts much of the river flow here into a tunnel. The water flows out through turbines at the end of this tunnel, generating hydroelectric power for TVA customers.
Just below Watauga Dam on the Horseshoe section of the Watauga River is the TVA Wilbur Dam, an impoundment which forms a much smaller, but very deep reservoir known as Wilbur Lake that releases approximately 130 cubic feet per second of discharged water back into the Watauga River during the summer months.[1] The picturesque Bee Cliff Rapids on the Watauga River (referred to the "Anaconda Rapids" by some North Carolina rafting companies) are found downstream between Wilbur Dam and the Siam Bridge.USGS GNIS - Bee Cliff, Tennessee.
The Watauga River flows generally north and then west into Carter County where it forms the northern border of Elizabethton, Tennessee, where the Watauga then receives the flow of the Doe River. Much further downstream on the Watauga River at the boundary between Carter County and Washington County, Tennessee is the old TVA Watauga Steam Plant.
A considerable portion of the boundary line between Washington County and Sullivan County, Tennessee is formed by the Watauga River. The TVA Boone Dam reservoir is located below the slackwater confluence of both the downstream end of the Watauga River and the South Holston River.
[edit] History
The word "Watauga" comes from the Cherokee, who had several towns so named, including one at present-day Elizabethton, which itself became known as "Watauga Old Fields", which were first explored by Daniel Boone and James Robertson in 1759. A larger Cherokee town called Watauga was located on the Little Tennessee River near Franklin, North Carolina. The Cherokee word is more accurately written Watagi. Other common spellings include Watoda, Wattoogee, and Whatoga [Mooney, James. "Myths of the Cherokee". (1900, reprint Dover: New York, 1995)]. A North Carolina State University web page (The Watauga Medal) cites that the word "Watauga" is a Native-American word meaning "the land beyond",[2] however local reference to the name origin is attributed to the meaning "beautiful river" or "beautiful water".
The original settlers of Nashville, Tennessee set out from the Watauga River area (in present day Carter County, Tennessee), called the Watauga Country, during the American Revolution when they realized that the British Proclamation of 1763 forbidding settlement of its colonists west of the Blue Ridge Mountains was essentially now unenforceable.
Wibur Dam is the site of first hydroelectric dam constructed in Tennessee (beginning in 1909), going online with power production and distribution in 1912. It was constructed by the former Tennessee Electric Power Company, a privately-owned utility bought out by TVA in the late 1930s. Elizabethton, Tennessee acquired the moniker "City of Power" due to local access to hydro-generated electricity from Wilbur Dam.
[edit] Recreation
Whitewater rafting, kayaking, canoeing, fly fishing, and angling with fishing reels are all popular recreation activities pursued on the Watauga River. Rainbow trout, brown trout, and striped bass are all caught in the Watauga River. The Watauga River downstream of the TVA dams draws commercial rafting outfitters from both northeast Tennessee and western North Carolina during the summer months and commercial fishing guides throughout the year.
For whitewater rafting and kayaking on the Watauga River, the most popular Carter County "put-in" for whitewater rafting is found immediately downstream of the TVA Wilbur Dam and the most popular "take-out" is found approximately 2 to 2 1/2 hours downstream (depending upon the volume of the reservor release and other factors) at the Blackbottom riverside portion of the linear trail in Elizabethton. While floating downstream "straight shot" on the Watauga River, you can reference several local landmarks in order to estimate your length of time and distance on the river to Elizabethton:
- the Bee Cliff and the section of the Bee Cliff Rapids are found approximately 15 minutes downstream of the TVA Wilbur Dam;
- approximately thirty minutes to float downstream to the old steel bridge at the Siam community (a long stretch of near flat water follows);
- approximately sixty minutes (one hour) to float to the first concrete bridge at the Hunter community (beginning of brief swift and punchy rapids on right bank);
- approximately ninety minutes to float to the concrete U.S. Highway 19E bridge and Carter Mansion(coming on fast rapids onto steep left bank) at Elizabethton, and;
- approximately one hundred twenty minutes (two hours) to float to the Blackbottom "take-out" in Elizabethton.
The distance afloat from the put-in at Wilbur Dam to the Blackbottom take-out is approximately seven miles.
[edit] Influence of weather
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) regulates flow of the Watauga River by scheduling the release of deep, impounded reservoir waters from behind both the TVA Watauga Dam and the TVA Wilbur Dam. As a result, the summer temperature of the Watauga River is approximately 52-53 degrees Fahrenheit downstream of the TVA dams. The Watauga River is generally comfortable for kayaking, canoeing, and rafting during the summer months, but care must be taken to prevent hypothermia due to prolonged exposure to the cold river water.
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Annual |
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| Avg °F (°C) | 34.0°F (1.1°C) | 37.4°F (3.0°C) | 47.2°F (8.4°C) | 55.2°F (12.9°C) | 63.4°F (17.4°C) | 71.1°F (21.7°C) | 74.4°F (23.6°C) | 73.6°F (23.1°C) | 67.9°F (19.9°C) | 56.7°F (13.7°C) | 47.0°F (8.3°C) | 38.2°F (3.4°C) | 55.5°F (13.1°C) |
| Avg high °F (°C) | 43.7°F (6.5°C) | 48.0°F (8.9°C) | 58.9°F (14.9°C) | 67.4°F (19.7°C) | 75.2°F (24.0°C) | 82.2°F (27.9°C) | 84.6°F (29.2°C) | 84.1°F (28.9°C) | 79.1°F (26.2°C) | 69.1°F (20.6°C) | 58.2°F (14.6°C) | 48.1°F (8.9°C) | 66.6°F (19.2°C) |
| Avg low °F (°C) | 24.3°F (-4.3°C) |
26.8°F (-2.9°C) |
35.4°F (1.9°C) | 43.0°F (6.1°C) | 51.6°F (10.9°C) | 59.9°F (15.5°C) | 64.1°F (17.8°C) | 63.1°F (17.3°C) | 56.6°F (13.7°C) | 44.2°F (6.8°C) | 35.9°F (2.2°C) | 28.2°F (-2.1°C) | 44.4°F (6.9°C) |
| Rain (inches) | 3.2in. | 3.4in. | 3.7in. | 3.3in. | 3.8in. | 3.5in. | 4.3in. | 3.2in. | 3.3in. | 2.6in. | 2.9in. | 3.4in. | 40.7in. |
| Snow (inches) | 5.2in. | 4.2in. | 2.3in. | 0.4in. | <0.05in. | <0.05in. | 0.0in. | 0.0in. | <0.05in. | 0.0in. | 0.9in. | 2.6in. | 15.6in. |
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[edit] TVA Watauga Dam Tailwater Campground
The Tennessee Valley Authority maintains a self-service public campground below Watauga Dam. Amenities at the TVA Watauga Dam Tailwater Campground include 29 camp sites with electric hookups; rest rooms with heated showers and flush toilets; canoe access to the Wilbur Reservoir; and boat ramps.
[edit] Other Places Named Watauga
The small community of Watauga, Tennessee is found on the banks of the Watauga River downstream and northwest of Elizabethton in Carter County and immediately on the opposite side of the Watauga River from Johnson City, Tennessee.
There are several other geographic references to "Watauga" outside of the Northeast Tennessee-North Carolina area. In the Nashville, Tennessee area, even though it is approximately 250 miles (400 km) west of the Watauga River area, including an apartment building, a small lake in Centennial Park, and there was even a "secret" Watauga organization of businessmen in the 1960s and 1970s which essentially ran the city of Nashville.
The city of Watauga, Texas is found within the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas metro area, although the Texas residents pronounce the city name (WAH-too-guh) differently from the common Northeast Tennessee pronouncation (wah-TAH-guh).
[edit] References
- North Carolina State University - The Watauga Medal.
- Tennessee Valley Authority reservoir information.
[edit] See also
- Dragging Canoe
- Fort Watauga
- International Scale of River Difficulty
- Overmountain Men
- Rapid
- Riverboarding
- River surfing
- Sycamore Shoals
- Watauga, Tennessee
[edit] Other links
- KayakMind (Social networking site for paddlers)
