Lake Allatoona

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Lake Allatoona, as seen from Red Top Mountain State Park
Lake Allatoona, as seen from Red Top Mountain State Park

Lake Allatoona (rarely called Allatoona Lake, its government name) is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lake in Georgia, located in northwestern metro Atlanta. The lake is mostly in southwestern Cherokee County, but a significant part is in southeastern Bartow County, and a small part in Cobb County near Acworth. Red Top Mountain State Park is located on its shores, and Cartersville is the nearest large town.

The lake was authorized by the Flood Control Acts of 1941 and 1946. The riverside town of Allatoona was destroyed by the creation of the lake.

The lake is popular for summer recreation, including boating served by several private marinas and public boat ramps. Acworth Beach is an area where the red clay soil has been covered with white beach sand, and roped off with floats for safety from boaters.

Allatoona also supplies much of the drinking water for the three counties it is in. The lake is supplied by the Etowah River, and its major tributary the Little River, as well as smaller streams like Allatoona Creek and Noonday Creek. The Allatoona Dam holding back the lake was built on the Etowah, which in turn merges into the Coosa River downstream (northwest) at Rome. The watershed upstream (mostly northeast) of Allatoona covers about 1100 square miles or 2850 square kilometers.

The lake's full summer pool is 840 feet or 256 meters above mean sea level, though during major droughts it has dropped as much as 13 feet or 4 meters below this, exposing dangerous obstacles such as old tree stumps and former hills which are normally submerged at a safe depth. Its maximum capacity or flood stage is +23 feet or +7 meters (863 feet or 263 meters AMSL), though it has never been known to reach this level, and flooding of boat ramps and other lakeside facilities begins to occur well below it.

In the late 1980s, prolonged drought exposed vast portions of the lake bed revealing tree stumps, roads, foundations of houses (Wilson's farm) and stayed that way for two years. Grass grew in some places and children were seen to mow the grass and play baseball on the newfound vacant lots.

The general contractor for construction of Allatoona Dam was National Constructor Inc. The total cost of the Allatoona project for construction, land, clearing, and relocation was $31,500,000 in 1950. Allatoona serves seven authorized purposes:

1. Flood Control 2. Hydropower generation 3. Water supply 4. Recreation 5. Fish and wildlife management 6. Water quality 7. Navigation

The power plant began operation January 31, 1950. Since 1957 the summer pool elevation has been 840. Since 1957 the winter draw down has been 823. Two municipalities that withdraw water from the lake. The City of Cartersville uses 12 million gallons per day. Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority uses 43 million gallons per day.

In 1998 Allatoona clocked 86,813,126 hours, which were more visitor hours than any of the other 450 Corps of Engineer projects in the United States and exceeded that in 2006 with more than 92 million visitor hours.

Hydroelectric power generation at Allatoona returns more than $3.5 million to the Federal Treasury annually.

The Corps collected more than $1 million in Camping and Day Use fees in 2006.

Visitors to Allatoona spent more than $12 million for consumable goods in 1999.

The presence of Allatoona Dam has prevented nearly $80 million in flood damages since 1950.

The record high water on Allatoona of 861.19 occurred on April 9, 1964.

From 1950 through 2006, 281 drownings have occurred in Allatoona.

Allatoona Pass was the site of an intensive 8-hour battle during the Civil War in 1864. More than 1500 Union and Confederate soldiers were killed, wounded or missing.

The Corps of Engineers has 662 campsites on Allatoona.

On March 25th, 2007, Marietta teenager, Dorian Royster, was drowned in Lake Allatoona at the young age of 16. Though no one else was out in the water with him, some claim that this incident was foul play. His mother said that he could "swim like a shark".


Contents

[edit] Facilities

[edit] Marinas

The Little River Marina is located well upstream on the Little River arm of the lake, which is part of the major Etowah River arm. Access to this privately run marina is directly on Bells Ferry Road on the north shore of what was the original Bell's Ferry going across the river. Etowah Yacht Club and Allatoona Yacht Club are marinas located in the southwest portion of the lake. Galts Ferry Marina is near Snake Island.

[edit] Boat ramps

Boat ramps are available in Cherokee County at Galts Ferry, Kellogg Creek, Little River, and Victoria. The Galts Ferry ramp is in a cottage area dead-end road and fills up very quickly on weekends. Parking outside of the Army Corps property is strictly forbidden.

[edit] Recreation

Acworth Beach is a recreation area located near Acworth. Annually the beach hosts a lake-front 4th of July fireworks event.

[edit] Fishing

Lake Allatoona is the most visited lake in Georgia, according to Georgia Outdoor News (www.gon.com) on the Lake Allatoona Fishing Reports page.

Fishing: The lake is becoming an excellent crappie (speckled perch) fishery, with numbers and size coming up every year, since the lake got a bad reputation for fishing in the 1980's, earning the moniker "The Dead Sea" among GA anglers. Perhaps this reputation is what allowed these fish to come back in population. The most common and successful daytime method for catching them is live minnows or small jigs fished around downed trees, brush, and bridges in 15 feet of water or less. At night, a simple lantern or dock light will attract smaller minnows which crappie feed on, and they'll school together under the light just out of site. Use live minnows right under the light for steady action all night.

[edit] External links


U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lakes
Mobile: Okatibbee
ACF: Andrews • George • Lanier • West Point • Seminole
ACT: Claiborne • Allatoona • Carters • Millers Ferry • Savannah: Hartwell • Thurmond • Russell
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