The hydroelectric dam at Tallulah Falls might never have been built were it not for the Atlanta streetcar system. If that had been the case, Rabun County would lack the distinction as the site of Georgia’s first environmental battle. But the dam was constructed, becoming the third largest hydroelectric plant in the nation that forever tamed and silenced the Niagara of the South.
Advancing technology is the starting point for the story about the Tallulah Falls dam. By the late 1800s, a new type of water turbine had been developed to improve the operation of grist mills. Experiments were conducted to combine the improved water turbines with electric generators. This combination, together with the newly developed ability to transmit electricity to distant cities, proved successful at the Niagara Falls hydroelectric plant that began transmitting power 20 miles to Buffalo in 1896.
37,300 Kilowatts Per Day
Atlanta’s demand for electric power steadily was growing with the expansion of the streetcar system operated by Georgia Railway and Electric Company. The May 28, 1901, issue of the Atlanta Daily News estimated that the city’s requirement for electricity totaled 37,300 kilowatts each day, an amount that was straining the capacity of the utility company’s steam generating facilities.
The initial solution to this problem was hydroelectric generation on the nearby Chattahoochee River. A 48-foot-high dam was constructed, and seven, 1,500-kilowatt water-powered generators entered service in early 1905. However, the Chattahoochee facility experienced periods of power interruption due to low water levels in the dam’s reservoir and equipment failures. When this occurred, Atlanta’s streetcars came to a screeching halt along with all other electric light and power service. It took hours before Georgia Railway and Electric’s steam generating units could fully restore service.
These issues notwithstanding, the success of the hydroelectric plant on the Chattahoochee River spurred interest in harnessing the power of other rivers, especially those in the north Georgia mountains. The North Georgia Electric Company built a log dam on the Chattahoochee near Gainesville and brought its hydroelectric plant online in 1908. The company planned to build a second facility on another prime site but went bankrupt before construction began.
Tallulah Gorge and the Niagara of the South
North Georgia Electric’s intended site was Tallulah Gorge in southern Rabun County. After dropping into the 1000-foot-deep gorge, the Tallulah River roared over six waterfalls. This spectacle transformed the village of Tallulah Falls into one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Southeast during the 1880s. An 1898 edition of Electrical Engineer described the Tallulah River cascading through the gorge as the “Niagara of the South” and predicted “this unused and unusually large and well-situated water power will soon be harnessed” (for hydroelectric power).
Between 1908 and 1910, the assets of the defunct North Georgia Electric Company were purchased by Georgia Power Company (not the same firm as today’s Georgia Power). Included in these assets was land along the Tallulah River on the edge of the gorge. This transaction did not go unnoticed, and a movement was begun to protect the gorge by making it into a state park. A committee of the Georgia legislature estimated the project would require one million dollars, but given the high cost, nothing was done. Not so for Georgia Power. Construction of a dam on the Tallulah River commenced in 1910, but unfortunately for the company, the widow of a Confederate general entered the scene.
Crusading Environmentalist
Helen Dortch Longstreet of Gainesville waged a crusade to halt the destruction of what she called “the most wonderful natural asset of the Western Hemisphere.” Fearful that the dam would reduce the flow of the river through the gorge to a mere trickle, she intoned, “The Judas Iscariots are not all underground. Some of the men who would betray their lord for a handful of silver are doing business in Georgia today.” (Longstreet apparently had no problem with hyperbolic proclamations.) She took Georgia Power to court in Rabun County where the jury decided in favor of the company. On appeal, the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s ruling. The fight to save Tallulah Gorge was over, which greenlighted completion of the dam and its powerhouse. However, Georgia Power realized it needed additional capital for its mammoth undertaking and, through a series of transactions, a new, well-capitalized company was formed, Georgia Railway and Power Company, the predecessor of today’s Georgia Power.
Complex Construction Logistics
The logistics for developing the Tallulah Falls site were complex. There was no adequate road connecting Rabun County to Atlanta. By truck, the trip took 12 grueling hours over a winding dirt road that became a muddy quagmire in wet weather. Consequently, all required construction materials and equipment had to be shipped on Southern Railways from Atlanta via the connection with the Tallulah Falls Railroad at Cornelia. A spur line was built from the railroad’s depot in Tallulah Falls to the construction site.
In addition to machinery and hundreds of workers, oxen, mules and horses, which required a team of blacksmiths, also played a role in the facility’s construction. Temporary buildings were constructed atop the gorge, including a sawmill, machine shops, storerooms, living quarters and a dining room.
Gravity-Type Dam
Construction of the gravity-type dam across the Tallulah River was the easiest aspect of the overall project. Engineers considered the foundation site on the edge of the gorge to be excellent. A footing was laid 20 feet below the construction site, and the dam was built into the solid rock walls of the gorge. In addition to the use of concrete, rock for the dam was quarried within 300 yards of the site. When completed, the dam, which rose 129 feet high and was 426 feet across the river, backed up a 63-acre reservoir named Tallulah Lake that is about one mile above the site of the powerhouse on the bottom of the gorge. The distance from the reservoir to the powerhouse was the greatest of any hydroelectric plant east of the Rocky Mountains, including the facility at Niagara Falls
Then came the more difficult part of the project. To transport workers, materials and equipment to the bottom of the gorge, a 1,200-foot incline railway was built. With a grade of 98 percent, it was the steepest incline railway in the country. Powered at various times by steam, compressed air or electricity, this railway transported 30,000 tons of material and 400,000 passengers to the bottom of the gorge without an accident.
6,666-Foot Diversion Tunnel
Water to spin the turbines in the powerhouse was to be carried from the reservoir by a 6,666-foot-long diversion tunnel that had to be blasted through solid rock. To build the tunnel, drills powered by compressed air bored holes into the gorge’s rock face for blasting powder. The 14-foot high by 12-foot-wide, horseshoe-shaped tunnel took 15 months to complete. The tunnel directed water from Tallulah Lake into five enormous penstocks or five-foot-diameter pipes that carried water an additional 608 feet to each of the five turbines in the generating plant. Most of the penstocks were laid during the summer of 1912 when the temperature inside the pipes reached daytime highs up to 170 degrees. For this reason, joint riveting on the pipes had to be done at night after the penstocks had cooled.
Nation’s Third Largest Hydro Facility
The first unit of the Tallulah Falls power plant began sending electricity to Atlanta in 1913; four additional units were brought online in 1914. The five units generated 60,000 kilowatts a day, making the Tallulah Falls plant the third largest hydroelectric plant in the nation. Since the output of the facility exceeded Atlanta’s daily power needs, Georgia Railway and Power began seeking new customers outside Atlanta for the surplus power. Towns in Rabun County and other parts of northeast Georgia were not considered for this marketing effort. However, America’s entry into World War I in 1917 created a surge in demand for electricity for armament factories in Atlanta that eliminated the need for new customers.
As Helen Dortch Longstreet feared, Tallulah Falls dam dramatically reduced the flow of water through the gorge. The taming and silencing of Niagara of the South caused tourism to dwindle, and the town of Tallulah Falls went into a steady decline. The Atlanta Constitution shrugged, “To be sure, the majestic gorge of the Tallulah Falls is not possessed of that glory of old days before modern progress…but it (the dam) is a wonderful and impressive sight.”
Five Additional Hydro Dams
While the Tallulah Falls plant was still under construction, a larger vision of Georgia Railway and Power had taken shape. The 1,200-foot drop in elevation along a 26-mile stretch of the Tallulah and Tugalo rivers in Rabun, Habersham and Stephens counties was ideal for additional hydroelectric plants. Five more dams and power plants were built between 1915 and 1927, sending 166,420 kilowatts of power to Atlanta. The Tallulah and Tugalo rivers became the most completely developed stretch of waterway in the country for hydroelectric power.
Since none of the electricity generated by these facilities was used in northeast Georgia, the region had to wait decades before electric lights, toasters and refrigerators became facts of daily life. Instead, the immediate but unintended benefit of the hydroelectric dams were the reservoirs that soon became recreational lakes. This chain of lakes on the Tallulah and Tugalo rivers attracted growing numbers of tourists, who pumped badly needed cash into local economies. In addition, the summer homes built on their shores fattened the property tax rolls of Rabun and other counties. It would not be until 1972 when Tate City in neighboring Towns County became the last town in northeast Georgia to be electrified.
(Information in the book Energizing Georgia, The History of Georgia Power 1883-2004) was used in this article).
This article by Society member Richard Cinquina was originally published in the Laurel of Northeast Georgia in October 2024.
