 As Watauga Dam and South Holston Dam (further upstream) neared completion in the late 1940s, the Spurgeon Island site was the next logical step in development of the South Fork Holston.The project's primary purpose was to provide flood control in the region, especially for Kingsport (a few miles downstream), which had suffered major flood damage in 1901 and 1940.The dam would also add hydroelectricity to TVA's energy grid, which by 1950 had been maxed out by increasing demands from consumers and from Atomic Energy Commission facilities at Oak Ridge.