Hurricane Falls
I'm told this is the deepest gorge east of the Mississippi. The gorge itself is only 2 miles in length with over 1000' cliffs. It looked impressive but in my opinion, was not up to Linville Gorge standards.
Above the gorge, a dam was built in 1913 by the Georgia Railway & Power Co to generate power for Atlanta's streetcars. Water is diverted by the dam into a 6666 foot long pipe, discharging below the dam. Regular dam releases are provided for scenic and recreational purposes.
The gorge sports a series of 6 waterfalls, dropping the Tallulah River 490 feet in one mile. The highest of these is Hurricane Falls at 90 feet. Nearing the end of the cascades is Bridal Veil Falls which is a long sliding rock.
A suspension bridge crosses the river between Hurricane and Oceana Falls.
The Tallulah Falls Railway was completed in 1882 and the area became a well visited resort. The village of Tallulah Falls had as many as 17 hotels. In 1883, a professional tightrope walker, Professor Bachman, crossed the gorge on a tightrope as a publicity stunt for one of the hotels. Again in 1970, another tightrope pro, Karl Wallenda, tightrope walked across the gorge. It took 18 minutes to cross. He stopped twice to do headstands. His balance pole weighed 36 pounds.
1 comment:
Hi there. Atlanta Georgia native here. We just visited Tallulah Gorge today and I would make one slight correction to your post:
The cliffs range from 200 to 350 feet in height, while the gorge is 1000 feet wide at some points.
Also, in addition to Bachman in 1883 and Wallenda in 1970, a J.A. St.John (a.k.a. Professor Leon) tight roped across the gorge in July of 1886.
Cheers!
P.S. I came across you post while searching for more info on Professor Bachman's stunt. Very little to be found, so thanks!
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