Brocks Gap Dam

In 1921 a 213-foot (65 m) high rock-fill dam was proposed by the Corps of Engineers.^[1] The proposal was slightly revised during the 1940s and 1950s.

The dam as finally proposed in 1963 was to be of earthfill construction, 147 feet (45 m) high and 860 feet (260 m) long, impounding a reservoir of 187,200 acre-feet (0.2309 km³), with a surface area of 2,810 acres (1,140 ha). Most of the 5-mile (8.0 km) long reservoir was planned to be within the boundaries of George Washington National Forest, but not necessarily on Forest Service property. Construction was planned to start in 1969 and be complete by 1973, at a projected cost of $16,437,000. The reservoir was intended to provide water to the towns of Broadway and Timberville, to lower the temperature of the North Fork and to provide reserve water storage capacity for the Potomac River basin, as well as recreation. The reservoir was expected to inundate 17 commercial buildings, 68 farms, 47 houses, a school and two churches, primarily in the small community of Fulks Run.^[2][3]

The damsite is flanked by the sandstone abutments of Little North Mountain, which rises more than 1,000 feet (300 m) to the north and 900 feet (270 m) to the south. Normal flow would be regulated by an 800-foot (240 m) outlet tunnel in the north abutment, with an unregulated spillway at the south abutment for floods.^[3][4]

The dam proposal encountered intense local opposition from residents of the area to be flooded. As early as 1945 the project was condemned by Virginia Senator Harry F. Byrd, who objected to property condemnations and public expenditure.^[5] By the 1960s community groups had organized a campaign against the dam. Although the project was supported by the National Park Service, the plan was withdrawn in 1967, in favor of small dams on headwater streams, funded by the Soil Conservation Service.^[6][3]