Kyanite Mine Waste Dam #2, Virginia

Kyanite Mine Waste Dam #2 on Whispering Creek in Virginia.

37.4973, -79.4614 · Bedford County · NID VA019152. Tap the map to open this water in the live app.

What the runs do here

Whispering Creek carries no anadromous run on our corridor map, so this page makes no claim about salmon or steelhead at this dam. What it sits on is coldwater — resident trout water — and the section below says which classification says so.

The structure

Owner: Kyanite Mining Corporation Private
Purpose: Other
Type: Earth
Height: 55 ft
Storage: 1,880 acre-ft
Drainage: 0 sq mi
Condition: Not Rated · Undetermined hazard potential
Status: Not Applicable

From the National Inventory of Dams (USACE). Hazard potential is a downstream-consequence classification, not a statement about the structure's condition.

The water above and below

Reed Creek 0.31 mi from the dam · Class II · wild (VDWR)
Gunstock Creek 1.35 mi from the dam · Class II · wild (VDWR)

Coldwater designation is the state's own classification. A dam sits on one river and this list is every designated reach within a mile and a half of it, so a tributary mouth shows up here too.

Water right now

Gauge	Distance	Temp	Flow
Big Otter River near Bedford, VA	9.5 mi	—	—
James River at Holcomb Rock, VA	10.9 mi	—	551 cfs
James River at Buchanan, VA	12.1 mi	—	466 cfs

Live from USGS. A gauge miles away is a gauge miles away — the distance column is there so you can discount it. A hydro dam's releases move the flow below it on a schedule the gauge sees and this page does not. 3 of the gauges above are not sending water temperature at all — a stopped gauge still answers with the last value it ever sent and nothing to say so, so those rows carry a modelled figure where one can be fitted, marked as modelled, and a dash where it cannot.

Getting to it

Snowden 7.9 mi · James River

Public access sites near the dam, straight-line distance. A dam itself is private property unless its owner says otherwise; these are the places the state lists as open.

Fly shops nearby

Angler's Lane 13.0 mi · Forest
Otterback Outfitters 18.5 mi · Lynchburg · +1 434 944 5375
Walkabout Outfitters 19.9 mi
Bob's Up The Creek Outfitters 23.5 mi
Pop's Live Bait and Tackle 28.1 mi · Altavista · +1-434-941-1318

The river this is on

Reed Creek Live temperature, regulations, hatches and access on the whole river →

Open this water on the map →Every reach around it coloured by today's water temperature, with the access points along it.