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What is going on at Mansfield dam?


TexasEd

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When I was a kid in Nashville, a trio of redneck stoners were foiled in attempting one of the most brazenly stupid, if extremely ambitious, criminal schemes in American history. They were planning to blow up Percy Priest dam east of Nashville with a few dozen sticks of dynamite and then somehow ride the ensuing Stones River floodwaters into the swollen Cumberland, and then navigate that deluge on into downtown Nashville, where, in the confusion, they would then loot the shit out of err-thang in sight.

They actually detonated the dynamite in a tunnel in the dam, but it only blew out some doors and damaged some pumps, totaling about $10,000 in 1979 money.

After their arrest an Army engineer called their plan "quite ridiculous" and said that even if they had a bomb powerful enough to bring the whole dam down, it would have barely caused a minor flood in the Cumberland. (The Stones is not one of America's mightier rivers. All three forks of it run through about two counties.)

The US attorney who prosecuted them called their scheme "insane" and said that not even a truckload of dynamite would have made a dent in the dam.

1024px-USACE_J_Percy_Priest_Dam.jpg

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2 minutes ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

When I was a kid in Nashville, a trio of redneck stoners were foiled in attempting one of the most brazenly stupid, if extremely ambitious, criminal schemes in American history. They were planning to blow up Percy Priest dam east of Nashville with a few dozen sticks of dynamite and then somehow ride the ensuing Stones River floodwaters into the swollen Cumberland, and then navigate that deluge on into downtown Nashville, where, in the confusion, they would then loot the shit out of err-thang in sight.

They actually detonated the dynamite in a tunnel in the dam, but it only blew out some doors and damaged some pumps, totaling about $10,000 in 1979 money.

After their arrest an Army engineer called their plan "quite ridiculous" and said that even if they had a bomb powerful enough to bring the whole dam down, it would have barely caused a minor flood in the Cumberland. (The Stones is not one of America's mightier rivers. All three forks of it run through about two counties.)

The US attorney who prosecuted them called their scheme "insane" and said that not even a truckload of dynamite would have made a dent in the dam.

1024px-USACE_J_Percy_Priest_Dam.jpg

CSB, amirite?

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7 hours ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

When I was a kid in Nashville, a trio of redneck stoners were foiled in attempting one of the most brazenly stupid, if extremely ambitious, criminal schemes in American history. They were planning to blow up Percy Priest dam east of Nashville with a few dozen sticks of dynamite and then somehow ride the ensuing Stones River floodwaters into the swollen Cumberland, and then navigate that deluge on into downtown Nashville, where, in the confusion, they would then loot the shit out of err-thang in sight.

They actually detonated the dynamite in a tunnel in the dam, but it only blew out some doors and damaged some pumps, totaling about $10,000 in 1979 money.

After their arrest an Army engineer called their plan "quite ridiculous" and said that even if they had a bomb powerful enough to bring the whole dam down, it would have barely caused a minor flood in the Cumberland. (The Stones is not one of America's mightier rivers. All three forks of it run through about two counties.)

The US attorney who prosecuted them called their scheme "insane" and said that not even a truckload of dynamite would have made a dent in the dam.

1024px-USACE_J_Percy_Priest_Dam.jpg

So two questions: (1) what prompted you to think that was a good idea, and (2) when did you get out of federal prison?

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On 1/15/2020 at 11:50 AM, Bobby_Batronic said:

Does the size of the base of the damn matter if the amount of water it’s holding back is proportionally larger? I dunno. But it would seem that you’d only need to start the failure to let the water behind do the rest. 

 

The depth of the water and the length of the dam determines the necessary thickness of the base, not the volume or "amount' of water its holding back.

 

 

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