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96-705: Wilson Dam is a dam on the Tennessee River between Lauderdale and Colbert counties in Alabama . Completed in 1924 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers , it impounds Wilson Lake , and is one of nine Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) dams on the Tennessee River. It was declared a National Historic Landmark on November 13, 1966, for its role as the first dam to come under the TVA's administration. The dam

192-575: A Representative from New York City, Norris secured passage of the Norris–La Guardia Act . It prohibited the practice of employers' requiring prospective employees to commit to not joining a labor union as a condition of employment (the so-called yellow-dog contract ) and greatly limited the use of court injunctions against strikes. Norris opposed anti-lynching legislation, claiming it was unconstitutional and would lead to another civil war. He voted in 1935 along primarily with Democrats to adjourn

288-401: A balancing compression stress in the downstream face, providing additional economy. For this type of dam, it is essential to have an impervious foundation with high bearing strength. Permeable foundations have a greater likelihood of generating uplift pressures under the dam. Uplift pressures are hydrostatic pressures caused by the water pressure of the reservoir pushing up against the bottom of

384-533: A dam as "jurisdictional" or "non-jurisdictional" varies by location. In the United States, each state defines what constitutes a non-jurisdictional dam. In the state of Colorado a non-jurisdictional dam is defined as a dam creating a reservoir with a capacity of 100 acre-feet or less and a surface area of 20 acres or less and with a height measured as defined in Rules 4.2.5.1. and 4.2.19 of 10 feet or less. In contrast,

480-495: A dam that directed waterflow. It was finished in 251 BC. A large earthen dam, made by Sunshu Ao , the prime minister of Chu (state) , flooded a valley in modern-day northern Anhui Province that created an enormous irrigation reservoir (100 km (62 mi) in circumference), a reservoir that is still present today. Roman dam construction was characterized by "the Romans' ability to plan and organize engineering construction on

576-501: A day, and it also contained a school with capacity for 850 students, three barbershops, and a hospital. However the dam was not finished by the war's end in 1919 and did not contribute to its outcome. With peace, interest in the dam rapidly declined, and Congress was unwilling to front costs for more public works projects, yet wasting the millions of dollars in costs to that point was similarly anathema. The Secretary of War , John Weeks sought private sector investment in order to complete

672-604: A distant third). Norris opposed Roosevelt's Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937 to pack the Supreme Court, and railed against corrupt patronage. In late 1937, when Norris saw the famous photograph " Bloody Saturday " (showing a burned Chinese baby crying in a bombed-out train station after the Japanese invasion), he shifted his stance on isolationism and non-interventionism . Siding against Japanese violence in China and Korea, he called

768-485: A distinct vertical curvature to it as well lending it the vague appearance of a concave lens as viewed from downstream. The multiple-arch dam consists of a number of single-arch dams with concrete buttresses as the supporting abutments, as for example the Daniel-Johnson Dam , Québec, Canada. The multiple-arch dam does not require as many buttresses as the hollow gravity type but requires a good rock foundation because

864-471: A grand scale." Roman planners introduced the then-novel concept of large reservoir dams which could secure a permanent water supply for urban settlements over the dry season. Their pioneering use of water-proof hydraulic mortar and particularly Roman concrete allowed for much larger dam structures than previously built, such as the Lake Homs Dam , possibly the largest water barrier to that date, and

960-505: A minor tributary of the Nieuwe Maas . The central square of Amsterdam, covering the original site of the 800-year-old dam, still carries the name Dam Square . The Romans were the first to build arch dams , where the reaction forces from the abutment stabilizes the structure from the external hydrostatic pressure , but it was only in the 19th century that the engineering skills and construction materials available were capable of building

1056-526: A new planned city, were named after him. Norris was also the prime Senate supporter of the Rural Electrification Act , which brought electrical service to underserved and unserved rural areas across the United States. Given Norris's belief in "public power", no privately owned electric utilities have operated in Nebraska since the late 1940s. Norris believed in the wisdom of the common people and in

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1152-505: A notable increase in interest in SHPs. Couto and Olden (2018) conducted a global study and found 82,891 small hydropower plants (SHPs) operating or under construction. Technical definitions of SHPs, such as their maximum generation capacity, dam height, reservoir area, etc., vary by country. A dam is non-jurisdictional when its size (usually "small") excludes it from being subject to certain legal regulations. The technical criteria for categorising

1248-627: A profession based on a rigorously applied scientific theoretical framework. This new emphasis was centered around the engineering faculties of universities in France and in the United Kingdom. William John Macquorn Rankine at the University of Glasgow pioneered the theoretical understanding of dam structures in his 1857 paper On the Stability of Loose Earth . Rankine theory provided a good understanding of

1344-561: A settling pond, and a 1,000 m (3,300 ft) canal to a distribution tank. These works were not finished until 325 AD when the dam permitted the irrigation of 25,000 acres (100 km ). Eflatun Pınar is a Hittite dam and spring temple near Konya , Turkey. It is thought to date from the Hittite empire between the 15th and 13th centuries BC. The Kallanai is constructed of unhewn stone, over 300 m (980 ft) long, 4.5 m (15 ft) high and 20 m (66 ft) wide, across

1440-408: A whole dam itself, that dam also would be held in place by gravity, i.e., there is no tension in the upstream face of the dam holding the top of the dam down. The designer does this because it is usually more practical to make a dam of material essentially just piled up than to make the material stick together against vertical tension. The shape that prevents tension in the upstream face also eliminates

1536-472: Is 94 feet (29 m). It is the highest single lift lock east of the Rocky Mountains. An auxiliary lock has two 60 feet (18 m) wide by 300 feet (91 m) long chambers that operate in tandem. Over 3,700 vessels pass through Wilson Dam's locks each year. The net dependable capacity of Wilson Dam is 663 megawatts of electricity. The origins of the dam lie in the treacherous Muscle Shoals section of

1632-424: Is dependent on the strength of the side wall abutments, hence not only should the arch be well seated on the side walls but also the character of the rock should be carefully inspected. Two types of single-arch dams are in use, namely the constant-angle and the constant-radius dam. The constant-radius type employs the same face radius at all elevations of the dam, which means that as the channel grows narrower towards

1728-985: Is named George Norris Avenue. Norris's house in McCook is listed in the National Register of Historic Places , and is operated as a museum by the Nebraska State Historical Society. In February 1984, the west legislative chamber of the Nebraska State Capitol , home of the legislature since 1937, was named in Norris's honor. George W. Norris Middle School in Omaha, Nebraska; the George W. Norris K–12 school system near Firth, Nebraska ; and George W. Norris Elementary School in Millard Public Schools, memorialize

1824-468: Is named for Woodrow Wilson . Wilson Dam is located at river mile 259.4 of the Tennessee River, spanning the river in a roughly north–south orientation between Florence and Muscle Shoals in northern Alabama. The dam is 137 feet (42 m) high and 4,541 feet (1,384 m) long. The dam cost almost $ 47 million (equivalent to $ 663 million in 2023). The main lock at Wilson Dam is 110 feet (34 m) wide by 600 feet (180 m) long. The lock lift

1920-575: Is one of 29 conventional hydroelectric dams that provide flood control, navigation, electrical power, recreation, and water supply for the seven-state Tennessee Valley region and is the largest conventional facility in the TVA System. Over 3,600 vessels pass through the locks each year and the dam currently serves as the training facility for all of TVA's hydroelectric workers. Wilson Lake provides 166 miles (267 km) of shoreline and 15,500 acres (6,300 ha) of water surface for recreational activities, and

2016-597: Is one of eight senators profiled in John F. Kennedy 's Profiles in Courage , included for opposing Speaker Cannon's autocratic power in the House, for speaking out against arming U.S. merchant ships during the United States' neutral period in World War I, and for supporting the presidential campaign of Democrat Al Smith . The principal north–south street through downtown McCook, Nebraska ,

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2112-471: Is sloped the distribution is more complicated. The normal component of the weight of the arch ring may be taken by the arch action, while the normal hydrostatic pressure will be distributed as described above. For this type of dam, firm reliable supports at the abutments (either buttress or canyon side wall) are more important. The most desirable place for an arch dam is a narrow canyon with steep side walls composed of sound rock. The safety of an arch dam

2208-399: Is the more widely used of the two, though the hollow dam is frequently more economical to construct. Grand Coulee Dam is a solid gravity dam and Braddock Locks & Dam is a hollow gravity dam. A gravity dam can be combined with an arch dam into an arch-gravity dam for areas with massive amounts of water flow but less material available for a pure gravity dam. The inward compression of

2304-576: Is the thinnest arch dam in the world and one of the oldest arch dams in Asia. It was constructed some 700 years ago in Tabas county , South Khorasan Province , Iran . It stands 60 meters tall, and in crest is a one meter width. Some historians believe the dam was built by Shāh Abbās I, whereas others believe that he repaired it. In the Netherlands , a low-lying country, dams were often built to block rivers to regulate

2400-526: The Electoral College . He failed on these issues in the 1920s. In that period, he blocked industrialist Henry Ford 's proposals to modernize the Tennessee Valley by building a private dam at Muscle Shoals , insisting it was a project the federal government should handle. Norris twice succeeded in getting Congress to pass legislation for a federal electric power system based at Muscle Shoals, but it

2496-634: The Fayum Depression to the Nile in Middle Egypt. Two dams called Ha-Uar running east–west were built to retain water during the annual flood and then release it to surrounding lands. The lake called Mer-wer or Lake Moeris covered 1,700 km (660 sq mi) and is known today as Birket Qarun. By the mid-late third millennium BC, an intricate water-management system in Dholavira in modern-day India

2592-596: The First World War . US Officials feared that the German Navy could disrupt the supply of nitrates , used in the manufacturing of explosives, which were primarily imported in the form of bat or bird guano from Chile . The National Defense Act of 1916 mandated the construction of two nitrate plants, powered by an adjacent hydroelectric plant in order to create a domestic supply of this vital resource. Federal Engineers decided on Muscle Shoals after determining that it had

2688-561: The Harbaqa Dam , both in Roman Syria . The highest Roman dam was the Subiaco Dam near Rome ; its record height of 50 m (160 ft) remained unsurpassed until its accidental destruction in 1305. Roman engineers made routine use of ancient standard designs like embankment dams and masonry gravity dams. Apart from that, they displayed a high degree of inventiveness, introducing most of

2784-826: The Irreconcilables , who opposed and defeated U.S. participation in the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations in 1919. After several terms, Norris's seniority gained him the chairmanship of the Agriculture and Forestry and the Judiciary committees. Norris was a leader of the Farm Bloc, advocated the rights of labor, sponsored the ("Lame Duck") Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution , and proposed to abolish

2880-710: The National Inventory of Dams (NID). George W. Norris Norris was a leader of progressive and liberal causes in Congress. He is best known for his sponsorship of the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1933 during the Great Depression . It became a major development agency in the Upper South that constructed dams for flood control and electricity generation for a wide rural area. In addition, Norris

2976-645: The University of Oxford published a study of the cost of large dams – based on the largest existing dataset – documenting significant cost overruns for a majority of dams and questioning whether benefits typically offset costs for such dams. Dams can be formed by human agency, natural causes, or even by the intervention of wildlife such as beavers . Man-made dams are typically classified according to their size (height), intended purpose or structure. Based on structure and material used, dams are classified as easily created without materials, arch-gravity dams , embankment dams or masonry dams , with several subtypes. In

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3072-559: The direct election of senators , ratified by the states in the Seventeenth Amendment. He also promoted the conversion of all state legislatures to the unicameral system . Only the Nebraska Legislature passed this change in 1934. All other states have retained a two-house system. Norris supported some of President Woodrow Wilson 's domestic programs but became a firm isolationist , fearing that bankers were manipulating

3168-501: The "sons of the wild jackass". Norris was a staunch "dry", battling against alcohol even when the crusade lost favor during the Great Depression . Prohibition was ended in 1933. He told voters prohibition means "this greatest evil of all mankind is driven from the homes of the American people," even if it means "we are giving up some of our personal rights and personal privileges." In 1932, along with Fiorello H. La Guardia (R-New York),

3264-558: The 15th and 13th centuries BC. The Kallanai Dam in South India, built in the 2nd century AD, is one of the oldest water regulating structures still in use. Roman engineers built dams with advanced techniques and materials, such as hydraulic mortar and Roman concrete, which allowed for larger structures. They introduced reservoir dams, arch-gravity dams, arch dams, buttress dams, and multiple arch buttress dams. In Iran, bridge dams were used for hydropower and water-raising mechanisms. During

3360-535: The British began construction in 1898. The project was designed by Sir William Willcocks and involved several eminent engineers of the time, including Sir Benjamin Baker and Sir John Aird , whose firm, John Aird & Co. , was the main contractor. Capital and financing were furnished by Ernest Cassel . When initially constructed between 1899 and 1902, nothing of its scale had ever before been attempted; on completion, it

3456-444: The British financially in the war. He told Congress the only people who would benefit from the war were "munition manufacturers, stockbrokers, and bond dealers", adding that "war brings no prosperity to the great mass of common and patriotic citizens.   ... War brings prosperity to the stock gambler on Wall Street – to those who are already in possession of more wealth than can be realized or enjoyed." Norris joined

3552-572: The Cold War, supplying a major portion of the phosphorus used in munitions by the United States Armed Forces. In 1959, a new lock was constructed for Wilson Dam, which was the largest single-chamber lock in the world at the time of construction. This lock remains today the largest single-chamber lock in the continental United States east of the Rockies. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy visited

3648-509: The Colorado River is a constant-angle arch dam. A similar type is the double-curvature or thin-shell dam. Wildhorse Dam near Mountain City, Nevada , in the United States is an example of the type. This method of construction minimizes the amount of concrete necessary for construction but transmits large loads to the foundation and abutments. The appearance is similar to a single-arch dam but with

3744-655: The Colorado River. By 1997, there were an estimated 800,000 dams worldwide, with some 40,000 of them over 15 meters high. Early dam building took place in Mesopotamia and the Middle East . Dams were used to control water levels, for Mesopotamia's weather affected the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The earliest known dam is the Jawa Dam in Jordan , 100 kilometres (62 mi) northeast of

3840-624: The Ford proposal in the Senate, and Ford ultimately withdrew his bid in 1924, citing the delays. Construction on the dam itself was finally finished in 1924, with the first electricity generating unit going into service in September 1925. The finished dam and locks finally allowed free navigation of the Muscle Shoals for steamboats and barges. Over the next few years only 40 percent of electric generating capacity

3936-446: The Japanese "disgraceful, ignoble, barbarous, and cruel, even beyond the power of language to describe". He served as vice-president of the League of Friends of Korea , which advocated for Korea's independence. Unable to secure Democratic support in the state in 1942 , Norris was defeated by Republican Kenneth S. Wherry . He departed from office saying, "I have done my best to repudiate wrong and evil in government affairs." Norris

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4032-684: The Middle Ages, dams were built in the Netherlands to regulate water levels and prevent sea intrusion. In the 19th century, large-scale arch dams were constructed around the British Empire, marking advances in dam engineering techniques. The era of large dams began with the construction of the Aswan Low Dam in Egypt in 1902. The Hoover Dam, a massive concrete arch-gravity dam, was built between 1931 and 1936 on

4128-596: The Middle East for water control. The earliest known dam is the Jawa Dam in Jordan , dating to 3,000 BC. Egyptians also built dams, such as Sadd-el-Kafara Dam for flood control. In modern-day India, Dholavira had an intricate water-management system with 16 reservoirs and dams. The Great Dam of Marib in Yemen, built between 1750 and 1700 BC, was an engineering wonder, and Eflatun Pinar, a Hittite dam and spring temple in Turkey, dates to

4224-634: The National Progressive Republican League and served as its vice president. He originally supported Robert M. La Follette, Sr. for the 1912 presidential nomination but then switched to Roosevelt. However, he refused to leave the Republican convention and join Roosevelt's Progressive Party . He instead ran for the Senate as a Republican. As a leading Progressive Republican, Norris supported

4320-473: The Tennessee River, an area of dangerous shallows and turbulent currents, impeding commerce and navigation. The expansion of steamboat travel and plantation agriculture along the Tennessee Valley inspired many largely unsuccessful efforts in the late 19th century to tame the shoals, including a canal around the area. This final effort to tame the Muscle Shoals was spurred on by the possibility of US entry into

4416-626: The Tennessee Valley Authority was created, with Wilson Dam as one of the cornerstones in the new agency's plans. TVA and Wilson Dam brought power to thousands in the Lauderdale and Colbert County areas as part of the TVA's overall plan of rural electrification and, in the words of one economist, gave residents "universally high standards of living, new jobs, leisure, freedom and an end to drudgery, congestion, noise, smoke and filth." Wilson Dam also served as TVA's first headquarters, until it

4512-673: The United States Senate as the chamber was deadlocked over the Costigan-Wagner Act ; the anti-lynching bill was ultimately defeated. In spite of his opposition towards anti-lynching bills, Norris led efforts to outlaw poll taxes . A staunch supporter of President Roosevelt's New Deal programs , Norris sponsored the Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933 . In appreciation, the Norris Dam and Norris, Tennessee ,

4608-437: The United States alone, there are approximately 2,000,000 or more "small" dams that are not included in the Army Corps of Engineers National Inventory of dams . Records of small dams are kept by state regulatory agencies and therefore information about small dams is dispersed and uneven in geographic coverage. Countries worldwide consider small hydropower plants (SHPs) important for their energy strategies, and there has been

4704-457: The World Commission on Dams also includes in the "large" category, dams which are between 5 and 15 m (16 and 49 ft) high with a reservoir capacity of more than 3 million cubic metres (2,400  acre⋅ft ). Hydropower dams can be classified as either "high-head" (greater than 30 m in height) or "low-head" (less than 30 m in height). As of 2021 , ICOLD's World Register of Dams contains 58,700 large dam records. The tallest dam in

4800-572: The adjoining reservation provides miles of hiking trails and campground. Dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation , human consumption , industrial use , aquaculture , and navigability . Hydropower is often used in conjunction with dams to generate electricity. A dam can also be used to collect or store water which can be evenly distributed between locations. Dams generally serve

4896-403: The arch dam, stability is obtained by a combination of arch and gravity action. If the upstream face is vertical the entire weight of the dam must be carried to the foundation by gravity, while the distribution of the normal hydrostatic pressure between vertical cantilever and arch action will depend upon the stiffness of the dam in a vertical and horizontal direction. When the upstream face

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4992-497: The back of the dam through a large pipe to drive a water wheel and watermill . In the 10th century, Al-Muqaddasi described several dams in Persia. He reported that one in Ahwaz was more than 910 m (3,000 ft) long, and that it had many water-wheels raising the water into aqueducts through which it flowed into reservoirs of the city. Another one, the Band-i-Amir Dam, provided irrigation for 300 villages. Shāh Abbās Arch (Persian: طاق شاه عباس), also known as Kurit Dam ,

5088-438: The bottom of the dam the central angle subtended by the face of the dam becomes smaller. Jones Falls Dam , in Canada, is a constant radius dam. In a constant-angle dam, also known as a variable radius dam, this subtended angle is kept constant and the variation in distance between the abutments at various levels is taken care of by varying the radii. Constant-radius dams are much less common than constant-angle dams. Parker Dam on

5184-402: The buttress loads are heavy. In a gravity dam, the force that holds the dam in place against the push from the water is Earth's gravity pulling down on the mass of the dam. The water presses laterally (downstream) on the dam, tending to overturn the dam by rotating about its toe (a point at the bottom downstream side of the dam). The dam's weight counteracts that force, tending to rotate the dam

5280-450: The capital Amman . This gravity dam featured an originally 9-metre-high (30 ft) and 1 m-wide (3.3 ft) stone wall, supported by a 50 m-wide (160 ft) earthen rampart. The structure is dated to 3000 BC. However, the oldest continuously operational dam is Lake Homs Dam , built in Syria between 1319-1304 BC. The Ancient Egyptian Sadd-el-Kafara Dam at Wadi Al-Garawi, about 25 km (16 mi) south of Cairo ,

5376-422: The city. The masonry arch dam wall was designed by Lieutenant Percy Simpson who was influenced by the advances in dam engineering techniques made by the Royal Engineers in India . The dam cost £17,000 and was completed in 1856 as the first engineered dam built in Australia, and the second arch dam in the world built to mathematical specifications. The first such dam was opened two years earlier in France . It

5472-433: The construction of the Rideau Canal in Canada near modern-day Ottawa and built a series of curved masonry dams as part of the waterway system. In particular, the Jones Falls Dam , built by John Redpath , was completed in 1832 as the largest dam in North America and an engineering marvel. In order to keep the water in control during construction, two sluices , artificial channels for conducting water, were kept open in

5568-402: The country into war. In the face of enormous pressure from the media and the administration, Norris was one of only six senators to vote against the declaration of war on Germany in 1917. Looking at the war in Europe, he said, "Many instances of cruelty and inhumanity can be found on both sides." Norris believed the government wanted to enter this war only because the wealthy had already aided

5664-427: The couple had three daughters (Gertrude, Hazel, and Marian) before her 1901 death. The widower Norris married Ellie Leonard in 1903; they had no children. In 1900 Norris relocated to the larger town of McCook , where he became active as a Republican in local politics. In 1902, running as a Republican , he was elected to the House of Representatives for Nebraska's 5th congressional district . In that election, he

5760-469: The dam by the water reduces the lateral (horizontal) force acting on the dam. Thus, the gravitational force required by the dam is lessened, i.e., the dam does not need to be so massive. This enables thinner dams and saves resources. A barrage dam is a special kind of dam that consists of a line of large gates that can be opened or closed to control the amount of water passing the dam. The gates are set between flanking piers which are responsible for supporting

5856-406: The dam in 1963 with Alabama Governor George C. Wallace to make remarks on TVA and Wilson Dam's role in the agency's success and the role of the Federal Government in the Valley's history. In 1966, the Department of the Interior designated Wilson Dam a National Historic Landmark and added it to the National Register of Historic Places for its role as the first dam under TVA supervision. Wilson Dam

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5952-533: The dam was submitted by a consortium called Six Companies, Inc. Such a large concrete structure had never been built before, and some of the techniques were unproven. The torrid summer weather and the lack of facilities near the site also presented difficulties. Nevertheless, Six Companies turned over the dam to the federal government on 1 March 1936, more than two years ahead of schedule. By 1997, there were an estimated 800,000 dams worldwide, some 40,000 of them over 15 m (49 ft) high. In 2014, scholars from

6048-605: The dam. If large enough uplift pressures are generated there is a risk of destabilizing the concrete gravity dam. On a suitable site, a gravity dam can prove to be a better alternative to other types of dams. When built on a solid foundation, the gravity dam probably represents the best-developed example of dam building. Since the fear of flood is a strong motivator in many regions, gravity dams are built in some instances where an arch dam would have been more economical. Gravity dams are classified as "solid" or "hollow" and are generally made of either concrete or masonry. The solid form

6144-407: The dam. The first was near the base of the dam on its east side. A second sluice was put in on the west side of the dam, about 20 ft (6.1 m) above the base. To make the switch from the lower to upper sluice, the outlet of Sand Lake was blocked off. Hunts Creek near the city of Parramatta , Australia , was dammed in the 1850s, to cater to the demand for water from the growing population of

6240-450: The dams' potential range and magnitude of environmental disturbances. The International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) defines a "large dam" as "A dam with a height of 15 m (49 ft) or greater from lowest foundation to crest or a dam between 5 m (16 ft) metres and 15 metres impounding more than 3 million cubic metres (2,400  acre⋅ft )". "Major dams" are over 150 m (490 ft) in height. The Report of

6336-443: The first large-scale arch dams. Three pioneering arch dams were built around the British Empire in the early 19th century. Henry Russel of the Royal Engineers oversaw the construction of the Mir Alam dam in 1804 to supply water to the city of Hyderabad (it is still in use today). It had a height of 12 m (39 ft) and consisted of 21 arches of variable span. In the 1820s and 30s, Lieutenant-Colonel John By supervised

6432-402: The first was the Roman-built dam bridge in Dezful , which could raise water 50 cubits (c. 23 m) to supply the town. Also diversion dams were known. Milling dams were introduced which the Muslim engineers called the Pul-i-Bulaiti . The first was built at Shustar on the River Karun , Iran, and many of these were later built in other parts of the Islamic world . Water was conducted from

6528-534: The force of water. A fixed-crest dam is a concrete barrier across a river. Fixed-crest dams are designed to maintain depth in the channel for navigation. They pose risks to boaters who may travel over them, as they are hard to spot from the water and create induced currents that are difficult to escape. There is variability, both worldwide and within individual countries, such as in the United States, in how dams of different sizes are categorized. Dam size influences construction, repair, and removal costs and affects

6624-484: The greatest cure for evils which may exist in government". In 1936 Norris left the Republican Party, as the Democratic majority had reduced his seniority power. The Democrats offered him chairmanships. That year he was re-elected to the Senate as an Independent with some Democratic Party support. Norris won with 43.8% of the vote against Republican former congressman Robert G. Simmons (who came in second) and Democratic former congressman Terry Carpenter (who came in

6720-592: The greatest hydroelectric potential east of the Rocky Mountains . Construction of Wilson Dam by the Army Corps of Engineers began in 1918 under the supervision of Hugh L. Cooper and was the largest hydroelectric installation in the world at the time of construction. During construction, the site briefly became a city in its own right, employing over 18,000 workers and consisting of over 1,700 temporary buildings, 236 permanent buildings, 185 residential units, 165 miles of sewage pipeline, and 685 miles of electrical cabling. The settlement's mess halls served over 20,000 meals

6816-399: The late Senator. When several public power districts in southeastern Nebraska merged into one in 1941, the new utility was named the Norris Public Power District in Senator Norris's honor. On 11 July 1961, a four-cent stamp was issued in his honor. It depicts, in shades of green, a TVA dam in the upper left, with his portrait in later life, to the right. "Gentle knight of progressive ideals"

6912-577: The main stream of the Kaveri River in Tamil Nadu , South India . The basic structure dates to the 2nd century AD and is considered one of the oldest water diversion or water regulating structures still in use. The purpose of the dam was to divert the waters of the Kaveri across the fertile delta region for irrigation via canals. Du Jiang Yan is the oldest surviving irrigation system in China that included

7008-668: The other basic dam designs which had been unknown until then. These include arch-gravity dams , arch dams , buttress dams and multiple arch buttress dams , all of which were known and employed by the 2nd century AD (see List of Roman dams ). Roman workforces also were the first to build dam bridges, such as the Bridge of Valerian in Iran. In Iran , bridge dams such as the Band-e Kaisar were used to provide hydropower through water wheels , which often powered water-raising mechanisms. One of

7104-429: The other way about its toe. The designer ensures that the dam is heavy enough that the dam's weight wins that contest. In engineering terms, that is true whenever the resultant of the forces of gravity acting on the dam and water pressure on the dam acts in a line that passes upstream of the toe of the dam. The designer tries to shape the dam so if one were to consider the part of the dam above any particular height to be

7200-496: The populace and in the House of Representatives . However, Senator George Norris believed that the dam would do more good in public hands than under Ford's ownership, and should be used as part of a large scale public works program and development scheme across the Tennessee Valley. Norris' plan would address three major concerns affecting the Tennessee Valley , persistent flooding, soil erosion, and lack of electrical power. Norris blocked

7296-463: The primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees (also known as dikes ) are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. The word dam can be traced back to Middle English , and before that, from Middle Dutch , as seen in the names of many old cities, such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam . Ancient dams were built in Mesopotamia and

7392-589: The principles behind dam design. In France, J. Augustin Tortene de Sazilly explained the mechanics of vertically faced masonry gravity dams, and Zola's dam was the first to be built on the basis of these principles. The era of large dams was initiated with the construction of the Aswan Low Dam in Egypt in 1902, a gravity masonry buttress dam on the Nile River . Following their 1882 invasion and occupation of Egypt ,

7488-482: The progress of civilization. "To get good government and to retain it, it is necessary that a liberty-loving, educated, intelligent people should be ever watchful, to carefully guard and protect their rights and liberties," Norris said in a 1934 speech, "The Model Legislature". The people were capable of being the government, he said, affirming his populist/progressive credentials. To alert the people, he called for transparency in government. "Publicity," he proclaimed, "is

7584-516: The project in the post-war political climate. In 1921, Henry Ford offered to take on a 99-year lease on the dam for 5 million dollars, in which he promised to finish the dam and construct a new one upstream. Ford promised to use the dam and create a planned city in the yet-nonexistent Muscle Shoals which he would make the "Detroit of the South." The dam would be used to fuel industrial development in his new planned city, and gathered widespread support among

7680-487: The state of New Mexico defines a jurisdictional dam as 25 feet or greater in height and storing more than 15 acre-feet or a dam that stores 50 acre-feet or greater and is six feet or more in height (section 72-5-32 NMSA), suggesting that dams that do not meet these requirements are non-jurisdictional. Most US dams, 2.41 million of a total of 2.5 million dams, are not under the jurisdiction of any public agency (i.e., they are non-jurisdictional), nor are they listed on

7776-406: The water level and to prevent the sea from entering the marshlands. Such dams often marked the beginning of a town or city because it was easy to cross the river at such a place, and often influenced Dutch place names. The present Dutch capital, Amsterdam (old name Amstelredam ), started with a dam on the river Amstel in the late 12th century, and Rotterdam began with a dam on the river Rotte ,

7872-634: The water load, and are often used to control and stabilize water flow for irrigation systems. An example of this type of dam is the now-decommissioned Red Bluff Diversion Dam on the Sacramento River near Red Bluff, California . Barrages that are built at the mouths of rivers or lagoons to prevent tidal incursions or use the tidal flow for tidal power are known as tidal barrages . Embankment dams are made of compacted earth, and are of two main types: rock-fill and earth-fill. Like concrete gravity dams, embankment dams rely on their weight to hold back

7968-508: The wishes of the leadership. This had the practical effect for several decades of benefiting Southern Democratic congressmen, who became powerful in both the House and the Senate. Because Southern states had effectively disenfranchised most blacks by new constitutions and discriminatory practices at the turn of the century, it was a one-party region, known as the Solid South , representing only white voters. In January 1911, Norris helped create

8064-577: The world is the 305 m-high (1,001 ft) Jinping-I Dam in China . As with large dams, small dams have multiple uses, such as, but not limited to, hydropower production, flood protection, and water storage. Small dams can be particularly useful on farms to capture runoff for later use, for example, during the dry season. Small scale dams have the potential to generate benefits without displacing people as well, and small, decentralised hydroelectric dams can aid rural development in developing countries. In

8160-532: Was 102 m (335 ft) long at its base and 87 m (285 ft) wide. The structure was built around 2800 or 2600 BC as a diversion dam for flood control, but was destroyed by heavy rain during construction or shortly afterwards. During the Twelfth Dynasty in the 19th century BC, the Pharaohs Senosert III, Amenemhat III , and Amenemhat IV dug a canal 16 km (9.9 mi) long linking

8256-551: Was built. The system included 16 reservoirs, dams and various channels for collecting water and storing it. One of the engineering wonders of the ancient world was the Great Dam of Marib in Yemen . Initiated sometime between 1750 and 1700 BC, it was made of packed earth – triangular in cross-section, 580 m (1,900 ft) in length and originally 4 m (13 ft) high – running between two groups of rocks on either side, to which it

8352-503: Was gradually moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, where it is still based. The nitrate plants that Wilson Dam was initially constructed to power were used for the production of fertilizer throughout the 1930s, and by the Second World War Wilson Dam Was finally used for its initial purpose, as the nitrate and phosphorus plants in the area were used to produce munitions for the war effort. These plants continued to serve throughout

8448-560: Was installed. The debate over what the dam should be used for raged throughout the 1920s, with Norris' Muscle Shoals Bill being vetoed by President Herbert Hoover in 1931 as "socialistic." This all changed with the advent of the Great Depression and the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932. After his election, President-elect Roosevelt inspected the dam and threw his support behind Norris' public works plan, and in 1933,

8544-444: Was known for his intense crusades against what he characterized as "wrong and evil", his liberalism , his insurgency against party leaders, his non-interventionist foreign policy, and his support for labor unions. President Franklin D. Roosevelt called him "the very perfect, gentle knight of American progressive ideals", and this has been the theme of all his biographers. A 1957 advisory panel of 160 scholars recommended that Norris

8640-483: Was linked by substantial stonework. Repairs were carried out during various periods, most importantly around 750 BC, and 250 years later the dam height was increased to 7 m (23 ft). After the end of the Kingdom of Saba , the dam fell under the control of the Ḥimyarites (c. 115 BC) who undertook further improvements, creating a structure 14 m (46 ft) high, with five spillways, two masonry-reinforced sluices,

8736-404: Was possibly the world's first concrete arch dam. Designed by Henry Charles Stanley in 1880 with an overflow spillway and a special water outlet, it was eventually heightened to 10 m (33 ft). In the latter half of the nineteenth century, significant advances in the scientific theory of masonry dam design were made. This transformed dam design from an art based on empirical methodology to

8832-450: Was supported by the railroads; however, in 1906 he broke with them, supporting Theodore Roosevelt 's plans to regulate rates for the benefit of shippers, such as the merchants who lived in his district. A prominent insurgent after 1908, Norris led the revolt in 1910 against House Speaker Joseph G. Cannon . By a vote of 191 to 156, the House legislators created a new system in which seniority would automatically move members ahead, even against

8928-461: Was the first French arch dam of the industrial era , and it was built by François Zola in the municipality of Aix-en-Provence to improve the supply of water after the 1832 cholera outbreak devastated the area. After royal approval was granted in 1844, the dam was constructed over the following decade. Its construction was carried out on the basis of the mathematical results of scientific stress analysis. The 75-miles dam near Warwick , Australia,

9024-600: Was the largest masonry dam in the world. The Hoover Dam is a massive concrete arch-gravity dam , constructed in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River , on the border between the US states of Arizona and Nevada between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression . In 1928, Congress authorized the project to build a dam that would control floods, provide irrigation water and produce hydroelectric power . The winning bid to build

9120-625: Was the top choice for the five best Senators in U.S. history. Norris was born in 1861 in York Township , Sandusky County , Ohio . He was the eleventh child of poor, uneducated farmers of Scots-Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch descent. He graduated from Baldwin University and earned his LL.B. degree in 1883 at the law school of Valparaiso University . He moved west to practice law, settling in Beaver City, Nebraska . In 1889 he married Pluma Lashley;

9216-727: Was vetoed by presidents Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover . Norris said of Hoover: In 1933 the project for the Muscle Shoals Bill became part of the New Deal 's Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Although a nominal Republican (which was essential to his seniority), Norris routinely attacked and voted against the Republican administrations of Warren G. Harding , Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover. Norris supported Democrats Al Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt for president in 1928 and 1932, respectively. Republican regulars called him one of

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