pip. K' 2^5Y' JOHN H. KERR RESERVOIR BASIN — ^MILLER 3 



during the initial survey and from actual excavations, and those ex- 

 amined in private collections. The conclusions presented are not to be 

 taken as conclusive for the general southern province of Virginia but 

 for only the areas under examination. Since some of the data were 

 derived from surface indications, these do not, in any fashion, pretend 

 to give the factual picture of occupancy that would be revealed by 

 excavation of the site or sites in question, and hence can only be as- 

 sessed accordingly. Surface indications are not sufficiently sensitive to 

 be all inclusive, since they represent only that portion of a site whicli 

 had been stirred up by late occupations or long periods of intensive 

 cultivation ; therefore the conclusions cannot be compared w4th those 

 found by actual excavations. 



RESERVOIR LOCATION AND CHARACTER 



The Buggs Island (John H. Kerr) Dam was authorized by the 

 Flood Control Act approved December 22, 1944 (Public Law 534, 78th 

 Congress, 2d Session) , to be located in the Roanoke River Basin in the 

 southern part of Virginia and the northern part of North Carolina. 



The damsite is located about 178.7 river miles above the mouth of 

 the Roanoke River, about 20.3 river miles downstream from Clarks- 

 ville, Va., and 18 river miles upstream from the Virginia-North 

 Carolina boundary line. 



The dam now occupies a narrow portion of the Roanoke River 

 Valley where a closure between abutments was made by constructing 

 a dam approximately 2,800 feet long. At this point the river flows in 

 its channel over bedrock at an elevation of 198 feet above mean sea 

 level and is flanked by narrow flood plains, the elevations of which 

 are approximately 210 feet. The flood plains are composed of alluvial 

 sand and silt and have a moderate growth of mixed hardwood trees. 



The dam, a concrete structure 2,785 feet long with earthen saddle 

 dikes increasing the total to 19,572 feet, has a maximum height of 144 

 feet and impounds a pool with a maximum depth of about 120 feet at 

 the damsite and a maximum width of 2.3 miles. The maximum water 

 level at the 320-foot contour forms a lake with a shore line of 850 miles. 

 It extends upstream along the Roanoke a distance of 56 miles to 

 Randolph, Va., and up the Dan River a distance of 34 miles to South 

 Boston, Va., with arms extending from 7 to 20 miles up the valleys 

 of the minor tributaries and storing 2,921,000 acre- feet of water. The 

 reservoir inundates land in Mecklenburg, Halifax, and Charlotte 

 Counties in Virginia, and in Granville, Vance, and Warren Counties 

 in North Carolina. It is a multipurpose dam, serving as flood control, 

 for manufacture of hydroelectric power, for low water regulation, for 

 navigation, and for pollution abatement. Incidental benefits are recre- 

 ational, and fish and wildlife preservation. 



