Jordan Dam - Wetumpka, AL - Water Dams on Waymarking.com

The area on the Coosa River where Jordan Dam was built was called the Devil's Staircase due to the rapids. The dam was the fourth dam built by the Alabama Power Company. The following passage about the naming of the dam comes from "Putting "Loafing Streams" To Work: The Building of Lay, Mitchell, Martin, and Jordan Dams, 1910-1929" by Harvey H. Jackson III (Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 1997), p. 158.

"The new dam was to be longer than Martin and not quite as high. A run-of-the-river facility like those upstream, it was to be generating some 144,000 horsepower by the first of 1929, which would make it the largest facility of its kind in the South. The company's board of directors wanted to name the dam and lake after Alabama natives Reuben A. Mitchell, an officer in the firm, and his brother Sidney Z. Mitchell, an electrical industry pioneer who had helped Alabama Power in its early years. But there was already a Mitchell Lake and Dam, so the brothers suggested that it be named in honor of their mother, the former Elmira Sophia Jordan. When the directors agreed, it became Jordan Dam and Lake Jordan."

According to the book's appendix (page 202), the powerhouse has 4 Francis hydraulic turbines made by S.M. Smith, and 4 alternating current generators made by Westinghouse, with a rating of 25,000 kilowatts each.

Water sports and fishing are allowed on Lake Jordan, but there are warning signs about being careful around the dam. The coordinates were taken on the east side of the dam, but the photos show both sides.

Waterway where the dam is located: Coosa River Main use of the Water Dam: Hydroelectric Power Production Material used in the structure: Concrete Height of Dam: 125 feet Date built: 12/31/1928 Fishing Allowed: yes Motor Sports Allowed: yes

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Photo of the Dam and a description of your visit.

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