Red River Gorge: sandstone arches and the dam fight

More than 100 natural sandstone arches stand in the gorge, the highest concentration of arches anywhere east of the Mississippi, and its rock shelters hold evidence of people from the Paleoindian period on, including early plant domestication.

In 1962 the “Great Flood of Clay City,” the worst in 102 years, led officials and local communities to press the state and the Kennedy administration for a flood-control dam, and the Army Corps of Engineers began planning one. Many people feared the reservoir would destroy the gorge’s unusual ecosystem, and the Sierra Club led the opposition. The struggle lasted decades and involved two proposed dam sites.

The gorge became a National Natural Landmark and National Archaeological District in 1976, and the fight ended on December 3, 1993, when President Bill Clinton signed the Red River Designation Act, adding the river to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers system and barring any dam. Today the roughly 29,000-acre Red River Gorge Geological Area lies within the Daniel Boone National Forest, beside Natural Bridge State Park.

The map pin is Wikipedia’s point for the gorge, in Menifee County; the geological area also reaches into Powell and Wolfe counties.