This is the upper end of the Watauga River, the same one that goes by Elizabethton and Johnson City, except this is very near Shulls Mills, which is just up river from here. This dam is hard to see in the summer, but fall affords a much better view. It was here during the time that the Linville River Ry. ran, but I don't know when it was built. I also don't know if it was used for hydroelectric power or not, but the flat section on the right of the photo looks like where there could have been a small turbine and generator. If not for power, this could have been built just to tame the wild fluctuations of the river during the frequent rains in the area. It now has 2 large holes blasted in it to let the normal flow through. I'd like to see it when the river was really high, though.