calsfoundation@cals.org
October 7, 2009
Congress authorized the construction of a dam on the White River to control flooding and provide electricity in 1941, but World War II delayed construction. Work on the 2,256-foot-long Bull Shoals Dam finally began in 1947 and was completed in 1951 at a cost of $100 million. In July 1952, President Harry S. Truman formally dedicated the facility. The name “Bull Shoals” is derived from the early French, who described the area of several springs as the “boills,” pronounced by the English as “bulls.”