The wildest stretch of the Coosa River began about 14 miles north of Wetumpka and ended at the bridge that linked the two sides of town. So great were the falls and standing waves that you could hear the water roar a mile from the stream. “Devil’s Staircase,” as it was known, is where Jordan Dam would be completed in 1928.

Forty years later, a second dam was constructed on Jordan Lake, Walter Bouldin Dam. Bouldin Dam has the largest generating capacity of Alabama Power’s hydro facilities and is unusual in design because it was built on a canal.