At the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina, Lake James is truly an engineering masterpiece. As the result of a monumental construction project (1905-1928), full-pond Lake James has a face area of 6,510 acres and a 154-mile shoreline that touches some of the most sought-after vacation Lake James real estate in the eastern United States.
Executed with unsurpassed boldness and daring, it was Southern Power Co. funded by James B. Duke and renamed Duke Power that created the magnificent Lake James (also known as “Bridgewater Station”) and Lake James real estate as we know it today. This popular Lake James real estate surrounds the headwater storage reservoir for the entire valley of the Catawba River.
Before the project began, several small farms and the community of Fonta Flora nestled in the river basin. The historical Lake James real estate—houses, barns, stores, and cemeteries—was among the relics of “civilization” that Duke paid owners two to three dollars per acre to be eventually flooded over by the project. Duke indeed acquired much more land than was needed for the lake itself. That Lake James real estate is what is being sold today for primarily vacation and retirement homes.
When large-scale development began, environmental and conservation groups rallied for watershed and shoreline protection. Soon after, both Burke and McDowell Counties quickly enacted shoreline protection rules in an effort to preserve the natural beauty of the lake that the public had been enjoying peacefully for many generations.
A large amount of controversy surrounds the circumstances and tactics used to obtain the impoundment lands. Historical news accounts tell of one woman who refused to leave her home and land until she was rescued when the flooding lake reached shoulder-level in her home. Other newspaper accounts are of a mysterious forest fire that swept through the McDowell side of the lake, forcing all residents who were refusing to sell off of their property to leave forever.
The driving force behind the project was the then-novel idea of hydroelectricity. Duke and his team wanted to manage the water in such a way as to turn the rivers all the way to the Atlantic Ocean into power-producing phenomena. They first set out to confine the waters of the Catawba River, Linville River and Paddy’s Creek by utilizing three dams and digging a canal joining the Catawba River arm and the Paddy’s Creek/Linville arm, essentially joining what would otherwise be two lakes. Underscoring the need to build reservoirs for extra rainfall during emergencies, the timely “big flood” in the spring of 1916 sent the Catawba River 15 feet higher, washing away “every bridge from the mountains to the sea.”
In 1916, construction work on the three dams and single powerhouse began during trying times. The United States was involved in World War I. A deadly epidemic swept the nation. Between the flu, war, and transient lifestyles, hard-working men were difficult to find and retain to accomplish the massive project. Unpaid prison labor was brought in from South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. The convicts were housed in separate camps and worked wearing ball and chains. Women were brought in to cook and clean but hygiene was still questionable. Workers were housed in rowdy camps in hastily built shanties and cottages.
Newspaper stories told of frequent fights and killings of inmates who tried to escape the work sites—their bodies furtively buried beneath the earthworks of the dams and forgotten. Remember that these were the days when men still rode on horseback, enforcing the law with the side arms they carried. After payday, it was common for the free workers to disappear, needing to be replaced. The work was indeed hard labor. Very few photographs of the building of the dams survive today.
Severe winters, torrential rains as well as dynamite problems added to the challenges. Pressing on through thick and thin, huge steam shovels excavated dirt that was hauled by “dinky” train engines from the canal to the dam sites. Trains chugged over unstable tracks laid specifically for the project. Many people lost their lives one way or another during the long and adventurous project.
Travailing in birth, the completed project serves as the forerunner of the electric age, revolutionizing both industry and family living in the entire Catawba River Basin. The “world’s most completely electrified” river now produces millions of kilowatt hours for the region.
In 2005, after torrential hurricane rains and record-breaking flooding threatened the integrity of the earthen dams, Duke Power announced plans to reinforce the original dams with earth fill, sand, and concrete to bring them up to current earthquake guidelines for hydroelectric dams across the nation. During the flooding, there was widespread public alarm that the dams at the lake would fail, sending a horrific wall of wild water rushing down the river basin faster than folks could be warned. Indeed, half of a small mountain just below the existing power house was washed completely away. Duke reacted to the experience with great haste—in case the area ever experienced another similar rainfall again.
Today, we enjoy the lake and share its bounty of wildlife and scenic vistas. Despite an “up and down” history, the “Lake Tahoe of the East” is now a beloved recreational sanctuary. There are few lakefront homes on the market currently to choose from but there are many, many beautiful restricted homesites to see. Harris Realty wants to be your guide around the lake. With more practical hands-on experience on and around the lake than any other brokerage we can help you find that perfect home...or the perfect place to build one!
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