How safe are Middle Tennessee's dams? The Old Hickory quarry...

The trio of U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, state Rep. Bill Beck and Councilman Larry Hagar stands atop the concrete bulwark of Old Hickory Dam, roughly 11.5 miles northeast of downtown Nashville, on a clear October afternoon. They watch as water fills the lock chamber, lifting a boat some 60 feet from the river below the dam and delivering it to the lake on the other side.