SUMMERSVILLE - Hundreds of people celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Summersville Dam's completion on Saturday by gathering on the shores of the 2,700-acre lake it created. They took in a water ski show, took part in a family-friendly mini-triathlon, watched a twilight boat parade and fireworks display and reconnected with former co-workers and neighbors who built the dam or lived in the communities it displaced.
The three-day celebration, which began Friday afternoon with a re-dedication ceremony for the dam and ends today with public tours of the dam at 1 and 3 p.m., is sponsored by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Summersville Visitor and Convention Bureau.
Allen Bailes, who grew up in Gilboa, Nicholas County, and now lives in Charleston, was among a number of former dam-builders drawn to a tent in the Battle Run Recreation Area where a video screen displayed footage of construction work on the dam in progress while scores of photos of earth-moving, drilling and blasting activities swayed in the breeze along the sides of the shelter.
"I was living in Gilboa and graduated from Summersville High School in 1960 and came straight to work here as a heavy equipment mechanic," Bailes said. "I worked the night shift, which started at 6 p.m. and ended at 4 a.m. or whenever the last piece of equipment I was working on was ready to go. I started out making $3.60 an hour, which was good money back then, especially if you were working 60 to 80 hours a week."
When Bailes began working at the dam, tunnels were being built to divert the waters of the Gauley River away from the construction site for the dam. "Next, the coffer dam to turn the water into the tunnels were built."
While the 390-foot-high, 2,280-foot-long dam, built from more than 12 million cubic yards of rock and dirt, is known as the second-largest rock fill dam in the eastern United States, "its core is filled with clay to seal it," Bailes said. Trucks rigged with pans big enough to haul 75 cubic yards of clay and powered by a V-16 engine in front and a V-8 engine in back were used to haul clay from pits near the townsite of Gad back to the dam.
"Those things were super loud," Bailes recalled. "You had to put your fingers in your ears when they went by."
Bailes stayed with the project until it was completed, and was among those in a crowd of nearly 15,000 who listened to President Lyndon B. Johnson deliver a speech dedicating the $48 million structure on Sept. 3, 1966.
Work at Summersville Dam set Bailes on a career path that involved construction work on the Belleville Lock and Dam on the Ohio River, the John Amos power plant in Putnam County and the New River Gorge Bridge. "I ran the downstream cableway that carried steel out to the bridge," he said. "This job at the dam got me started on what turned out to be a pretty good career. I enjoyed it."
Among others taking part in Saturday's golden anniversary celebration for the dam were Vince and Hilary Nicolau of Fayetteville, who, along with kids Ava, 13, Evan, 11, and Carson, 7, all completed Active Southern West Virginia's Family Triathlon on Saturday morning.
"It was well organized and a lot of fun," Hilary Nicolau said. "The mile-long paddle into the wind was probably the hardest part."
A total of 50 entrants took part the 50th anniversary triathlon, which included a 1.2-mile run, a 2-mile bike ride and a 1-mile loop around an island on Summersville Lake.
"We raised $1,500 to help establish kids' run clubs in Nicholas County," said Melanie Seiler of Active Southern West Virginia. "Run clubs help bring camaraderie back to communities after the flooding and running is a great stress-reliever."
It was reconnecting with a community that brought Bonnie King Orcutt of DeMossville, Kentucky, to Summersville Lake on Saturday. Orcutt lived in the tiny town of Gad from age 4 to 18. Gad and the nearby community of Sparks were both flooded when the waters of the Gauley River rose behind the dam upon its completion. The townsite of Gad now lies submerged a few hundred yards offshore from the Long Point Marina.
"I loved growing up in Gad," Orcutt said. "I loved the wide-open space and living on our 26-acre farm, which we did a lot of farming on. Mom used everything we grew. I was raised on potatoes and green beans, and Mom churned butter and made the best cottage cheese."
Gad had a general store and post office when Orcutt lived there. "We walked to Dotson Chapel Church and went to Belmont School, over near where the airport is. Since I've been here today, I've already run into people I went to school with. It's great to see people you haven't seen for so long."
Orcutt said her parents were unhappy with the reality of having to leave their farm to make way for the dam and lake, but recognized that its main role as a flood control project was important to those living in towns and cities downstream.
"And I think the lake is gorgeous," she said. "The Corps of Engineers did make something good out of it."
Reach Rick Steelhammer at rsteelhammer@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5169 or follow @rsteelhammer on Twitter.