Student Issue, 1980—Protest of TVA’s Tellico Dam Project

Students joined with environmentalists and other community members in 1980 to protest TVA’s completion of the Tellico Dam project, designed to transform the Little River Valley into a large reservoir, extending 33 miles upstream to the foot of the Chilhowee, providing a 1,000-foot canal through which the waters of the “Little T” would be diverted into the Fort Loudon Reservoir for hydroelectric power production. At issue was whether the 29-year-old project’s benefits counterbalanced the removal of 275 families and the destruction of 183 farms or the inundation of Cherokee village sites. The most popular slogan carried on placards was “Dam the TVA and save the ‘Little T.’”