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General Information

Completion: 1910
Status: in use

Project Type

Structure: Gravity dam
Function / usage: Hydroelectric dam / plant
Material: Masonry dam

Awards and Distinctions

Location

Location: , , ,
, ,
Impounds:
  • Potomac River
Coordinates: 39° 29' 38.85" N    77° 49' 36.83" W
Show coordinates on a map

Technical Information

Dimensions

height 6.7 m
length 218.075 m

Materials

dam structure stone

Chronology

1906 — 1909

Hydroelectric plant is built next to the dam.

Excerpt from Wikipedia

Power Plant and Dam No. 4 is a historic hydroelectric power generation station on the Potomac River, located near Shepherdstown on the county line between Berkeley and Jefferson County, West Virginia. The power plant is a tall one-story, limestone building on a high stone foundation. It is five bays long and has a gable roof. Dam 4 uses horizontal shaft turbines connected by rope drives to horizontal shaft generators. This plant is probably the last commercially operated rope-driven hydroelectric plant in the United States. The building is built into a hillside, so the main floor is the top floor. The power plant was originally built by the Martinsburg Electric Company.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

In 2013, the power plant was sold by FirstEnergy to Harbor Hydro Holdings LLC. The power plant has a rated capacity of 1.9 megawatts.

Building the Dam

A view of Big Slackwater, made by Dam No. 4. Towpath of the C & O Canal continues on the right

The dam was originally built for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. On June 7, 1832, the contract was awarded to Joseph Hollman, and the work was completed in June 1835, at a cost of $50.803.15 To avoid construction costs, the canal entered the slackwater above the dam, and continued in the slackwater for about 3 miles. This area was dubbed "Big Slackwater" by the canallers.

Text imported from Wikipedia article "Power Plant and Dam No. 4" and modified on 24 November 2021 according to the CC-BY-SA 3.0 license.

Participants

Currently there is no information available about persons or companies having participated in this project.

Relevant Web Sites

Relevant Publications

  • About this
    data sheet
  • Structure-ID
    20003551
  • Published on:
    10/06/2002
  • Last updated on:
    24/12/2021
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