High Rock Lake

High Rock Lake is a reservoir located on the Yadkin River in central North Carolina in the counties of Davidson and Rowan. Built in 1926-27 by the Tallassee Power Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa), the lake is the northernmost of a series of four hydroelectric projects designed at the time to support the company’s Badin Works, a large aluminum smelting operation located 16 miles (26 km) downstream in the community of Badin. After the permanent closing of the Badin Works in 2007, Alcoa continued to operate its Yadkin hydroelectric facilities until selling them to Cube Hydro Carolinas in 2016. At the time of construction, High Rock was the largest reservoir in North Carolina and one of the largest in the United States. When full, its surface covers 15,180 acres (61 km2) with 360 miles (579 km) of shoreline and is 59 feet (18 m) deep at the dam. Normal pool elevation is 624 feet (190 m) above sea level (655’ 1926 Alcoa datum). Upstream, the Yadkin River drains 4,341 square miles (10, 290 km2) of the land area of North Carolina’s northwest piedmont. The dam was built in a small gorge formed where the river cuts through a major ridge of the Uwharrie Mountains. High Rock Mountain, the highest point in the Uwharries, towers over the adjoining dam site creating one of the most extensive views found in the North Carolina piedmont. Both the m

Reservoir data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).