The Ocoee River, as we know it today, has been formed as it cut
a deep gorge through the hard granite folds of the Appalachians.
A mountain range believed to have been created 250 millions of
years ago. In the bed of the Ocoee River, the bands of folded
rock are clearly visible, when the water is turned off at the
dam. The layers of rock, similar to those on the walls of rock
lining many of the roads and highways in the Tennessee Valley
and Ohio River Valley, are visibly worn. Numerous potholes,
rounded and carved out bowls and tunnels down into the
metamorphic rock, created by gravel depositing in a depression
and then churning in a circle over time, have been carved out
over the millions of years the river has flowed down stream.
During these millions of years, geologic processes also formed
large veins of copper under this particular area of the
mountains. There were three main veins of copper present in this
corner of County, Tennessee. The original inhabitants, Cherokee
Indian farmers, produced limited a