May 1, 2011

Shortly after World War I, Arkansas Power and Light Company founder Harvey Couch traveled to Washington DC in an attempt to secure a license to construct a dam on the Ouachita River. The trip seemed doomed when he learned that Secretary of War John Weeks, who was in charge of the commission that issued such licenses, was about to leave on an extended trip. A chance hotel lobby meeting with friend Harmon Remmel, shown here, who was also a friend of Weeks, led to a successful licensing interview. Couch named the dam, the first major one on the Ouachita, in Remmel’s honor.