Just Call Me Lake Gfaula
By Doug Purcell
Executive Director, Historic Chattahoochee Commission
Interestingly southeast Alabama and southwest Georgia share a water resource known, over time, by at least three names—Walter F. George Lake, Lake Eufaula
and Lake Chattahoochee. This U. S. Army Corps of Engineers impoundment was formed following the construction of the Walter F. George Lock and Dam at Fort Gaines, Georgia in 1963. Today the lake covers 45,192 acres, is 85 miles long and has a 640 mile shoreline. In 2007 almost 3.8 million visitors took advantage of this asset for fishing, boating, sailing, skiing and a variety of other uses.
To further complicate the situation, the sprawling impoundment has obscured the western Georgia boundary where the Chattahoochee River intersects with a portion of Alabama’s eastern boundary. That boundary was established by the U.S. Supreme Court in a decision rendered on May 1, 1860 and is defined as the “mean high water mark”, as it existed in 1798, on the west bank of the Chattahoochee River. That was clear enough until the impoundment was created a little more than a hundred years later. As a result of this project, thousands of acres of land in Georgia and Alabama were inundated by the waters which overflowed the banks of the Chattahoochee River. 23,387 of these acres (52%) are in Georgia and 21,805 acres (48%) in Alabama. The U. S. Supreme Court decision made it clear that the Chattahoochee River belonged entirely to the State of Georgia but the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers project “muddied” the waters making the location of this boundary difficult to determine. However, it is important to realize that the lake is an almost equally shared resource between Alabama and Georgia since it covers flooded land in both states.
It’s Lake Eufaula
On June 25, 1963, both Houses of the Alabama Legislature signed off on Act No. 60 (sponsored by Senator Jimmy Clark of Eufaula) which endorsed the name, Lake Eufaula, in honor of the Creek Indians who once lived throughout the Chattahoochee Valley of Alabama and Georgia. Some opponents of this name said that the lake could never be referred to as “Lake Eufaula” because there was another lake by that name in Oklahoma. However, the name of that lake is “Eufaula Lake” which is located at Eufaula, Oklahoma. The lake and city were named for the Eufaula tribe of the Creek Indians who were moved from the area around Eufaula, Alabama to Oklahoma during the infamous Trail of Tears in the mid 1830’s.
It’s Lake Chattahoochee
Not to be outdone, House Resolution 268 was adopted by the Georgia House of Representatives on March 12, 1965 to designate the reservoir as “Lake Chattahoochee”. The synopsis of the resolution reads that “…the State Highway Department of Georgia is hereby requested to place signs in sufficient number along the highway adjacent to this reservoir to properly and adequately designate the reservoir as “Lake Chattahoochee”. It was introduced by Representative McKemie of Clay County. In the early to late 1970’s only one of these “Lake Chattahoochee” signs was in evidence in downtown Fort Gaines.
It’s Lake Winston Churchill
Sometime after Winston Churchill’s death on January 24, 1965, Congressman Maston O’Neal of Bainbridge, Georgia proposed calling the reservoir “Lake Winston Churchill” in honor of this distinguished British Prime Minister. This proposal was strongly opposed by Alabama lawmakers and it failed to generate the necessary support needed for the name change. Other suggested names have included Lake Alaga (combining an abbreviation for Alabama and Georgia), Lake Screamer (after the Screamer community on the lake in north Henry County, Alabama) and Lake Roanoke (after the Stewart County, Georgia community burned by a contingent of Creek Indians on May 15, 1836).
Finally, It’s Walter F. George Lake
On March 28, 1958, Public Law 85-368 was approved by the U.S. Congress which officially named the Fort Gaines Lock and Dam on the Chattahoochee River as Walter F. George Lock and Dam in honor of Senator Walter F. George of Georgia. Thus, the project name for the reservoir became the Walter F. George Lake. Because the States of Alabama and Georgia could never get together on a name for the reservoir, the name used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is Walter F. George Lake—sometimes referred to as Lake Walter F. George, Lake George or the Walter F. George Reservoir.
Or Is It?
The Historic Chattahoochee Commission, a state agency of both Georgia and Alabama, refers to the reservoir as Lake Eufaula/George in all of its publications in an effort to avoid controversy. Today, on the Alabama side of the reservoir near Eufaula are signs directing visitors to Lake Eufaula while on the Georgia side signs point water enthusiasts to the Walter F. Georgia Reservoir. However recent Alabama and Georgia highway maps depict the lake as the Walter F. George Reservoir. In the past Alabama highway maps would carry the “Lake Eufaula” designation while Georgia highway maps were consistent in the use of the “Walter F. George Reservoir” name.
What’s in a Name?
So, what’s in a name? Community pride and economic development opportunities come to mind in this case. And the use of two names for the reservoir is confusing to sportsmen who are not familiar with the area. Will a compromise ever be reached on a name for the impoundment? That is not likely because the “Lake Eufaula” name has been promoted by the local media and Eufaula-Barbour County Chamber of Commerce for the last 45 years. One Eufaula company, Techsonic Industries, refers to its city location as “Lake Eufaula, Alabama” on its packaging for fish finders and other equipment that it sells. Still the lake, by whatever name you call it, is a wonderful resource to be enjoyed by the citizens of both states as well as visitors from other parts of the country.
Douglas C. Purcell
Executive Director
Historic Chattahoochee Commission
P. O. Box 33
Eufaula, AL 36072-0033
334-687-9755
334-687-6631 FAX
P. O. Box 942
LaGrange, GA 30241-0017
706-845-8440
706-884-1840 FAX