HINTON W.Va. (Hinton News) – The Bluestone Dam was authorized by an act of Congress in 1935. Its construction was completed in 1948 but did not become operational until 1949. Yes, it controls flooding in the Hinton area but was primarily built to control flooding downriver in areas such as Point Pleasant and Charleston. Because the Kanawha Valley had such a large area of chemical plants along the river in such a small area.
The Dravo Corporation was awarded the contract to construct this massive 21-crest gate dam. It contains an incredible amount of concrete. According to Brayman Construction, it is currently 165 feet high and 2,048 feet long. It came in at a whopping $11,376,000 upon completion, which had to be postponed for three years in 1943 and resumed in 1946 due to World War II.
When first being constructed before the lake was filled with water behind the dam there had to be a much taller bridge constructed that would be higher than the height of the lake. During its construction in 1949, a section of this new Bluestone bridge collapsed while it was being built.
This was such an engineering disaster at the time that a story of the bridge collapsing made it on almost every front page across the nation. It happened on a Sunday evening and an estimated 20,000 people visited the site of what would become a “national” news story. My grandfather, Bernard Thompson, and his brother Leonard were two of these spectators, having driven from Talcott when word of what had happened started to spread.
Five workmen were killed and four others were injured when a 300-ton span of the bridge began to buckle and fold down into the Bluestone River. Within a week following this disaster workers started the daunting process of dismantling this twisted and mangled section of bridge using a never-before-used technique of burning the steel beams with chemicals.
Over the years I have seen countless commemorative pieces of the dam and the lake. I have seen everything from coins, flyers, photos, posters and others. Two of these pieces are these two plates (see photo), that I purchased from various yard sales around Summers County over the years.
The one done in gold was available to purchase when the dam was completed in 1948. It says, “The Great Bluestone Dam Hinton.” The other one is done in full color and depicts the dam from the lakeside and says, “Bluestone Lake Hinton, W.Va.” It was available for purchase at a gift shop that was at the dam during the 1950s Someone had written on the back of the plate when they bought it and it says “Mary H. Allen trip to dam 1956.”
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