History

The Burton Hydroelectric Plant is located on the Tallulah River and is the uppermost of the plants in Georgia Power's North Georgia Hydro Group. The gravity concrete dam, which stands 128 feet high and spans 1,100 feet across the Tallulah River, was finished on December 22, 1919, and the reservoir was completely filled by August 18, 1920. With a water surface of 2,775 acres and a shoreline of 62 miles, this reservoir, Lake Burton, is by far the largest in the North Georgia Hydro Group.

Plans for the development were begun in 1917, shortly following the country's entry into World War I and in response to increased demand for electricity that had caused. The project, however, was not originally intended to be, nor built as, a full-fledged generating plant, but as a storage and flow-regulating facility for the Tallulah Falls Plant downstream. At the time, Tallulah Falls was the only completed and operational plant on this water system. By constructing Burton Dam, a reservoir capable of holding 5 billion cubic feet of water - the equivalent of 55 million kilowatt-hours at Tallulah Falls - would be created, thus helping the latter to achieve its full water-power potential.

In acquiring the land for the proposed reservoir area, Georgia Power had to purchase the town of Burton (from which the plant derives its name) and surrounding land, including the homesteads of 65 families.

The plant's powerhouse, considered of secondary importance to Burton's original purpose as a water-storage facility, was built several years after the dam. Located on the river's west bank, it was completed and placed in operation in 1927. It contains two 3,060-kilowatt generating units which give the Burton Plant a total generating capacity of 6,120 kilowatts.