Claytor Lake

Claytor Lake in Pulaski County, Virginia, is an approx. 4,500 acre (18 km²), 21 mile (34 km) long reservoir on the New River created for a hydroelectric project of Appalachian Power Company. It is named for W. Graham Claytor, Sr. (1886–1971) of Roanoke, Virginia, a vice president of Appalachian Power who had supervised construction of the Claytor Dam which created the lake.Three miles of Claytor Lake's shoreline is bordered by Claytor Lake State Park, operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia.HistoryIn 1910, the New River Power Company began acquiring land on the New River, south of Radford, Virginia, for the impoundment for several hydroelectric dam projects. By 1925, these projects had been combined, and control of the project passed to Appalachian Power Company. The construction of Development No. 6, later called the Claytor Dam, began in 1937 and was completed in 1939. By the Spring of 1940, the New River was fully impounded, and Claytor Lake was formed.Claytor Dam is a gravity concrete dam, impounding an estimated storage capacity of 225,000 acre-feet. The plant is the largest of the power company's 12 hydroelectric plants, with a total generating capacity of 75 megawatts.