Hiwassee Dam in Owl Creek, North Carolina

Built between 1936 and 1940, the Hiwassee Dam was originally built to harness the Hiwassee River and provide power for the Tennessee River Valley. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the TVA Act in 1933 and one of its purposes was for national defense. The Hiwassee Dam was chosen as a site for torpedo testing because of its remote mountainous location and because at places it reached 250 feet deep. In 1956 a reverse-drive generator turbine, the first of its kind in the nation, was so importan