Lake Harding, also known as Bartletts Ferry Lake, is a 5,850-acre reservoir on the Chattahoochee River formed by Bartletts Ferry Dam and the border between Georgia and Alabama traverses the main channel along the western side of the lake.

Bartletts Ferry Dam opened in the mid-1920s as a major hydroelectric project on the Chattahoochee River developed by the Columbus Electric and Power Company to meet rapidly growing regional demand for electricity. Construction began in 1924, following the success of the nearby Goat Rock facility, with engineering and design provided by Stone and Webster. Building the concrete gravity dam required extensive site preparation and cofferdam construction, and its completion impounded the river to create Lake Harding, forming a large reservoir upstream of the dam. The project was designed for four generating units, and the facility officially entered operation when the first unit went online on January 25, 1926, followed by a second unit on February 26, 1926. Incorporating standardized early twentieth-century hydroelectric technology—such as vertical single-runner turbines, steel penstocks, and gantry cranes for gate operation—the opening of Bartletts Ferry Dam and the creation of Lake Harding marked an important step in the expansion and modernization of electric power generation in west-central Georgia. 

Georgia Power Historical Document about the
Bartletts Ferry Hydroelectric Project

Can Bartlett’s Ferry Dam cut Georgia’s reliance on coal?