That's My World-Lake Moomaw, Virginia

Love the views at the Lake

Hooking the pontoon boat back up after a day on the lake

Marina Area at Lake Moomaw

Nestled in Virginia's scenic Allegheny Mountains, this area provides nearly year-round opportunities for boating, camping, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, hunting, mountain biking, picnicking, swimming, water sports, wildlife viewing and many other activities.

Lake Moomaw has been stocked with largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, brown trout, rainbow trout, lake run trout, brook trout, channel catfish, black crappie, yellow perch, chain pickerel, northern pike, gizzard shad, alewife, bluegill and various sunfish.

Gathright Dam and Lke Moomaw provide flood and water quality control along the Jackson and James Rivers in Western Virignia and are located on the Jackson River, 43 miles upstream from its confluence with the Cowpasture River, which, at that point forms the upper James River. The City of Covington is 19 miles downstream from the dam. From the dam, the lake extends 12 miles along the Jackson River. At its normal recreational level of 1,582 feet above sea level, the lake covers a surface area of 2,530 acres and has a shoreline of more than 43 miles.

Gathright Resevoir, as it was originally called, was authorized by Congress in the Flood Control Act of 1946. However, two years later in a similar piece of legislation, Congress stated that the project should be reviewed to determine the desirability of its construction. Lawmakers also questions whether some local funding should be sought based on benefits to be derived from water supply, pollution abatement and other conservation purposes.

In a review report to Congressional Public Works Committees, the Corps recommended that construction be undertaken without requiring local funding support. The project was put in abeyance in 1954, when it appeared that economic justification for Gathright was marginal. In 1957, it was officially "Deferred for Restudy."

The restudy, conducted in 1964, concluded that favorbale economic benefits would prevail by constructing Gathright Dam. Gathright was soon thereafter placed back on "Active" status, and initial construction was underway by 1967. A slowdown in Congressional funding minimized much of the construction work until 1970, when the project went into full gear. In 1978, following the death of Mr. Bejamin Moomaw, the man whose efforts brought the project into the Allegheny Highlands, Congress remanmed the area Gathright Dam, and Lake Moomaw. construction was comleted in 1981.

View Across the Road From My Friend's Acreage at Lake Moomaw-July 2008
A Cove at Lake Moomaw-July 2008
On the way to the main body of the lake, there are several little islands scattered about the lake and you can tie up your boat and have lunch on them or sun when the weather is right
Channel leading from boat dock to main body of the lake

July 2008

November 2008-Boat Dock
Water is let out from the lake area during the Fall and Winter to keep the river levels up downstream note difference between July photo immediately preceeding this one

(same vantage point)

November 2008-Boat Dock

The lake is 12 miles in length with a shoreline of 43.5 miles. The average depth is 80 feet and the depth at recreational pool intake tower is 150 feet. The surface area of the lake at normal water level is 2,530 acres. The spillway is 2,680 feet in length with a base width of 100 feet. It is an ugated spillway type.
July 2008 -Boat Dock

Dam and intake tower (located on left of photo)

The dam pictured above is 257 feet high, the length at top is 1,310 feet and the width at crest is 32 feet. The intake tower is multi-level and is 260 feet high. Above the dam at the entrance to the outlet tunnel is the 260-foot intake tower. Portals are arranged in the tower at nine levels in two wet wells. This allows the withdrawl of water from any level depending on the designed water temperature. Selective withdrawal of colder water from the lake, allows the Corps to maintain a prime trout habitat downstream from the dam. Hydraulically-operated sluice gates, eight feet wide and 17 1/2 feet high, used for flood control, are among the largest ever fabricated.

Through the south abutment of the dam there is a concrete-lined outlet tunnel, which is used for passing lake waters into a tilling or quieting basin before the water enters the Jackson River downstream.

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