Wheeler Lake HistoryWheeler Lake History Information

1961 - June 2

Wheeler Dam Lock Collapses Killing 2 People
a new lock was going up on the Tennessee River. Work was under way on a second lock at Wheeler Dam, located between Florence and Decatur, Ala (RM 275). Dynamite blasts were set off daily at the new lock, spewing rocks throughout the site and shaking the ground. The new lock was being built near the north bank adjacent to the old wall. Crews of about 40 men were working through the night on that evening of June 2 to get the job done. Unbeknown to the workers and engineers, Wheeler lock had a fatal flaw. And the flaw that had gone undetected for four decades was about to bring the house down. A one-sixteenth-inch to three-eighths-inch band of clay lay beneath both the old lock and the new construction site. It was the same color as the shale layers above and below it – lying beneath the massive walls like a time bomb.
The blasting for the new lock started the clock ticking.

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