A half century ago, Northwest Arkansas saw the realization of a long-sought, hard-fought goal with the creation of Beaver Lake.
Talk of a dam had begun decades earlier, even before a 1927 flood devastated Arkansas. But that flood changed political priorities and triggered new laws and eventually funding to start the project.
What’s in a name?
Did you know Beaver Lake wasn’t named for the flat-tailed rodent known for gnawing through trees and building dams? Rather, the reservoir is named after the Carroll County community of Beaver, which took its name from settler Wilson Ashbury Beaver, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. The White River community was originally considered as a site for the dam that forms Beaver Lake. The name stayed with the project even after a different site was selected.
The flood of 1927, as described by the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture, was "the most destructive and costly flood in Arkansas history and one of the worst in the history of the nation."
Imagine the Mississippi River flooded so badly that in some places the river was 60 miles wide.
Warm weather and early snowmelts in Canada started the swell in the river that year. Rains in the upper Midwest made it worse. Then came more rain, including record rainfall in Arkansas onto saturated ground.
"Lakes, rivers and streambeds were full. The swollen Mississippi River backed up into the Arkansas, White and St. Francis rivers. The White River even ran backward at one point as torrents rushed into it from the Mississippi," reports the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
Read the full report at www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net to understand just how devastating the flood was to all of Arkansas and much of the South -- and why flood control became the issue of the day.
The experience proved to be the impetus for feasibility studies in 1929 and 1930 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for constructing a dam on the upper White River.
Congress didn't authorize the dam's construction until 1954 and first provided construction funds in 1959.
Yes, getting a study and getting a project are far different things, as U.S. Rep. Steve Womack explained last week.
He was among the speakers as the Corps of Engineers celebrated the 50th anniversary of Beaver Lake and the dam that created the critical reservoir for Northwest Arkansas.
Womack cited the work of his predecessors in the Congress, noting that Northwest Arkansas' representatives "fought for it in the '40s, secured it in the '50s, constructed it in the '60s ..."
The lake was certainly a long time coming but, with it, came flood control, hydropower generation and, of course, a reliable water supply for a still-growing region.
And that doesn't even take into account the recreational benefits -- boating, fishing, skiing and other water sports -- of the reservoir that filled a valley 50 years ago.
The people who had lived and worked in that valley sacrificed as water covered homes and land; but the lake essentially stabilized the long-term economy of the region, positively impacting the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
With the lake's creation came increased tourism-related businesses and steady expansion of water-dependent industry, including poultry processing. More jobs and other development came, too, as the region offered greater benefits to its residents -- including the assurance that they'd have a managed water supply.
Gene Bland of the Carroll Boone Water District may have best defined the lake last week.
"It's the most important asset in Northwest Arkansas," he said.
It's hard to argue the point. Much of what has followed in Northwest Arkansas might never have happened without Beaver Lake.
What comes next will also depend on this precious resource.
As Alan Fortenberry of the Beaver Water District put it, the lake also gives the region's businesses and industry "something to entice talent with, its scenic beauty."
"It's a beautiful reservoir," he said. "We've got to protect what was given to us."
That point, too, is inarguable.
Commentary on 10/10/2016