CRBI is searching for a part-time, Happy Meandering Monday! The Coosa Valley, rich in aquatic biodiversity and natural beauty, is the one of the most developed rivers in Alabama – The River State. On November 12, 1953, Alabama Power filed an application with the Federal Power Commission for a preliminary permit for a multi-dam project on the Coosa. Now the most intact Mississippian culture site in the Southeast, the village contains 6 earthen mounds that acted as political, religious, and living centers. In 1864, according to Harvey Jackson’s Rivers of History, Lay escaped from a Union-besieged Rome with two steamboats, the Alpharetta and the Laura Moore. The Creeks would peacefully trade with the French and English for the next four decades. Dr. Jackson has written an interesting, readable history of the Alabama and Coosa Rivers. Later, competing trade by the English and French led to the division of the Creek people into Upper and Lower Creeks. The Upper Coosa River is the historic home to 100 different fish species, including 12 endemic species. During this era navigation along the Coosa was still extremely difficult. Join us for, Happy Meandering Monday! 29 A number of significant cities lie on the banks of the Tallapoosa River. William Patrick Lay was producing hydroelectric power at a plant on Big Wills Creek, a Coosa tributary, and selling it in the Attalla vicinity. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Alabama Power Company) The French established Fort Toulouse high atop the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa. The Coosahad been built at Cincinnati, had been steamed down Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans, through inland passages of the Gulf of Mexico to Mobile, and up the Mobile, Alabama and Coosa rivers to Wetumpka. of. Map of the Coosa River from Lock No. The Coosa River runs through the southwestern corner of the county, and its tributaries, Little River and Terrapin Creek, intersect the area. The Battle of Maliba, (although it’s argued over, it’s thought to be north of present day Selma, AL) was narrowly won by the Spainiards and is still known to be one of the bloodiest battles in  North American history. THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ALABAMA. Northwest Georgia Historical & Genealogical Society. Events that occurred between these three groups were partly responsible for the settlement in … Weiss Dam on the Coosa River was built by Alabama Power Company in the late 1950s and early 1960s, creating Weiss Lake, which covers more than 30,000 square miles. The Coosa River begins at the confluence of the Oostanaula and Etowah rivers in Rome, Georgia, and ends just northeast of the Alabama state capital, Montgomery, where it joins the Tallapoosa River to form the Alabama River just south of Wetumpka. As other means of transportation became more readily available, fewer and fewer people cared about opening the Coosa to navigation. 1886: Water crested twelve feet above flood stage levels in downtown Rome, GA. As other means of transportation became more readily available, fewer and fewer people cared about opening the Coosa to navigation. Weiss Dam was brought on the grid in 1961, Logan Martin in 1964 and Neely Henry in 1966. Even Popeye the Sailorman called the Coosa home. 1888: The Robert Redden foot bridge in downtown Rome, GA was completed to carry locomotives of the Chattanooga, Rome, & Columbus Railroad. Competition from the railroads locked steamboats into the same hopeless cycle, and by the late 1930’s only a few steamers were left on our river. The path crossed the Chattahoochee River and followed the Alabama below the forks of the Coosa and the Tallapoosa. American frontiersmen and Native Americans fought what is known as the Creek War, part of a larger conflict – the War of 1812. 1813 – 1814: American frontiersmen and Native Americans fought what is known as the Creek War, part of a larger conflict – the War of 1812. This includes six … Together they flow for more than 900 miles, through some of the most historic regions of the state. The necessity for a lock and dam at this locality has been recog-nized for many years, but no steps toward actual construction have ever been taken. A 67-mile local historic trail through the Coosa River Valley commemorates the actions of "Citizen-Soldier" John Wisdom. During this era, river towns along the Coosa watershed were born. In 1923, construction of Mitchell Dam was completed. The first settlers in the Coosa River Valley were the Creek Indians whose later encounters with the Spanish and French had a significant influence on the history of Sylacauga. 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