Editing Elizabethton, Tennessee (section)

==== Watauga River ====
[[File:WataugaTheBigHole.jpg|thumb|left|[[Raft guide]] plunging whitewater rafters downstream through "The Big Hole" in the [[Bee Cliff Rapids]]]]

Two [[Tennessee Valley Authority]] (TVA) reservoirs in Carter County—impounded behind the [[Watauga Dam]] (forming [[Watauga Lake]])<ref name="tva.gov2"/> and the immediately downstream [[Wilbur Dam]]<ref name="tva.gov">[http://www.tva.gov/sites/wilbur.htm Tennessee Valley Authority – Wilbur Reservoir.]</ref>—are located southeast and upstream of Elizabethton on the [[Watauga River]]. The [[Appalachian Trail]] crosses the Watauga River and the TVA reservation in Carter County to the southeast of Elizabethton.<ref name="tva.gov2">{{cite web|url=http://www.tva.gov/sites/watauga.htm|title=TVA – Watauga|publisher=Tennessee Valley Authority|access-date=December 19, 2016}}</ref><ref name="tva.gov"/>

The Watauga River flows westward past Elizabethton, which lies on the south bank of the Watauga and along either side of its principal tributary, the Doe River. The downtown business district is located approximately one-quarter mile upstream of the [[confluence]] of the Doe River and the Watauga River. The Doe River flows underneath the historic [[covered bridge|wooden covered bridge]] that is located within the Elizabethton downtown business district.

The city of Elizabethton was at one time promoted as "The City of Power", as the town is located just southeast of the Wilbur Dam hydrogeneration site spanning the Watauga River. Construction of Wilbur Dam first began during 1909, and two hydroelectric generating units were online with power production at Wilbur Dam when it was completed in 1912.<ref name="tva.gov" /> A third generating unit was added to Wilbur Dam in 1926, and a fourth hydrogeneration unit was added to Wilbur Dam after the Tennessee Valley Authority acquired the power production facility in 1945.<ref name="tva.gov" />

The [[Bee Cliff (Tennessee)|Bee Cliff Rapids]]—a popular summer destination on the Watauga River for [[rafting|whitewater rafters]] during the summer months—are located southeast of Elizabethton and downstream of the TVA Wilbur Dam.

The Watauga River downstream of the western side of Elizabethton has one of the only two sections of trophy trout streams in Tennessee.{{citation needed|date=July 2012}}