Restricted Areas at Dams

[BigPoppy]

I have lived in Barren county for most of my life, and there have always been the ristricted area by the dam. When I guest hosted Beaver Creek Camp Ground a few years back I was talking to the head ranger about the restricted area. He said there was a real chance that if the gates were opened wide enough as in a flood stage that a small boat could be caught in the eddy created by the drain, since 9 out of 10 of us probably would not know wether to s--- or go blind the wrong move could cause a boat to swamp and put boaters in the water and if you were caught against a screen you would not get loose untill some one could throw the right switch. the temptatation is strong though those hybrid like the current and the bait fish it brings with them.

[condusivecranker]

Speaking of all of this, I've always wondered what is exactly in that large tower against the dam. I imagine its some sort of control room, but I've always wondered if its like most dams where you can walk down to the interior of the gates, etc. I've seen a few corps guys walk into it before.
Just my curiosity. And I've actually been down in the tailwater before at high flow and seen hybrids/shad coming through the dam, so I know that area around the dam has to be teeming with fish!

[BigPoppy]

I have only been to the door level because of the Corp rules, but the drive gears for the gates below the water line are housed and operated there is also many monitors set up in the tower that monitor the water quality, temperature, O2 levels and thermal clim(spelling?)and there is more than one gate there is the By Pass and there is the Main gate. There is also swinging tiller that swings the current from side to side when the main gate is open, this makes the errosion even on the spillway below. There are also barrier post in the spill way it's self to disrupt the flow also and as a by product creates ambush points for for those state record Hybrids.