Two key dates in the history of Deep Creek Lake are Nov. 1, 1923, and May 26, 1925.
Groundbreaking for the dam that created Deep Creek Lake happened Nov. 1, 1923. While that was the date officials turned a little bit of earth to mark a beginning, work didn’t actually begin until a month later.
At its peak, the Youghiogheny Hydroelectric Co. employed 1,000 workers to clear trees from the area that would be underwater when the lake was filled, move 50 buildings out of that area and construct the dam that would impound the water flowing in Deep Creek.
“In some cases, whole farms were purchased when only a part of them was to be flooded, and in a few instances it was found necessary to purchase farms, which were not even reached by the inundating water because access to them was cut off by the abandonment of roads or parts of roads,” according to The Glades Star.
The dam, which was key to the project, was 86 feet tall and spanned 1,340 feet across the water to run two 12,000-horsepower generators.
The hydroelectric plant, which was the reason the lake was needed, went operational at 4 p.m. May 26, 1925, and Deep Creek Lake became a power source for thousands of people who were customers in Pennsylvania.
There is a key date between those two missing: Jan. 16, 1925.
That is the date that the gates on the dam were closed so that the lake could start filling, and roads, farms and building foundations slowly disappeared underwater.
“It will be several weeks, however, under normal conditions and with a normal flow of water through the Deep Creek Valley before the reservoir is completely filled and the thousands of acres of land purchased by the Eastern Land Company are inundated,” The (Oakland) Republican reported Jan. 22.
In preparation for the creation of the new lake, a new bridge was built across a narrow gully that was filling with water.
“At the new State road bridge spanning Deep Creek, which was opened Saturday afternoon at three o’clock, at which time the old one-way bridge was abandoned and later torn out, the water yesterday afternoon was five feet deep in the channel,” The (Oakland) Republican reported.
“When the level is reached by the water it will be more than fifty feet deep.”
The original estimate had been that it would take six months for the lake to fill, but heavy rains and snows accelerated the schedule, and the powerhouse went active May 26. The final cost of the project was more than $9 million (about $171 million in today’s dollars).
Today, the lake covers 3,900 acres with 65 miles of shoreline. It averages 26 feet in depth, with some areas being 75-feet deep.
Besides creating tourism jobs in the area, the lake generates the bulk of the county’s real estate tax income.
This is because the lake made property near it more valuable, particularly home lots along the shoreline.
A century after the powerhouse went active, Deep Creek Lake remains an essential part of Garrett County’s economy, and a beautiful vacation spot for thousands of people in the region year after year.
They come to fish, boat and waterski on the lake.
In the winter, if the lake freezes over, die-hard fishermen are ice-fishing on the lake.
The state of Maryland purchased the land beneath the lake in 2000 from the Pennsylvania Electric Co., and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources manages it. The dam is now used to control water flows to maintain the river temperature and dissolved oxygen levels to help downstream fisheries increase the number of trout. The dam control releases also benefit whitewater activities on the Upper Youghiogheny River.
Contact Jim Rada at jimrada@yahoo.com or 410-698-3571.