DYK29 - Ghost Reservoirs

The Disappearance of the Rapids at Savage?

What if the scenic rapids on the Savage Trail disappeared, and Murray Hill Road was under 60 feet of water?

Imagine Hammond High School sitting on a peninsula and Simpsonville completely underwater. In the worst-case scenario, the river at Savage Mill would have been reduced to a trickle, silencing the historic mill forever.

This isn't science fiction. It almost happened.

Like the failed Marriott theme park along Vollmerhausen Road or the abandoned plans for a county landfill at Guilford Park High, our area has an "alternate reality" that we narrowly escaped.

The Plan: In the 1920s and 30s, the US Army Corps of Engineers planned to turn Howard County into a massive reservoir system to feed the growing DC suburbs. They didn't just want water; they wanted power.

The "Ghost Dams" of I-95: The plans called for two massive concrete walls right near the current I-95 crossings: Middle Patuxent Dam: A 116-foot tall monster (almost as tall as the Rocky Gorge dam!) spanning 1,060 feet across the valley, Little Patuxent Dam: A 68-foot tall dam near Guilford, flooding the valley for 5.5 miles upstream.

The "Ghost Canal" at Hammond High: Here is the wildest part: The plans called for a man-made channel to connect the two reservoirs. Engineers planned to cut a canal through the ridge behind Hammond High School—right where the BGE transmission lines run today.

If built, the Little Patuxent would have had no outlet. Its water would have been diverted sideways into the Middle Patuxent, leaving the riverbed downstream (along the Savage Trail) dry.

Why didn't it happen? Economics saved the river. The system would have generated about 7.5 million kWh of electricity—too small to be profitable compared to cheap coal. The plan was scrapped, the dams were never poured, and the river was left wild.

So next time you hike the Savage Mill trail or drive under the power lines on Guilford and Murray Hill Roads, look up. You’re walking through the ghost of a reservoir that almost drowned our history.