Last updated: April 18, 2026
- Location: Tennessee River, Marion County, TN
- Type: Historic rapids, largely submerged after 1913
- Related names: The Boiling Pot, The Skillet, The Frying Pan
“The Suck” is the historical name for a stretch of rapids on the Tennessee River in Marion County, where the river narrows through the Tennessee River Gorge and the current accelerates. For more than a century, it was one of the best-known navigational hazards on the river.
Pre-TVA river
Before river modification, Marion County's stretch of the Tennessee River contained rapids that 19th-century boatmen gave names such as The Suck, The Boiling Pot, The Skillet, and The Frying Pan. These rapids wrecked flatboats and steamboats routinely and made the gorge one of the most challenging passages on the inland river system.
Hales Bar Dam (1913)
Much of the original rapids section was submerged after the completion of Hales Bar Dam in 1913, an early private attempt by the Tennessee Electric Power Company to tame the gorge.
Nickajack Dam (1967) and the lake
Hales Bar Dam was replaced by TVA's Nickajack Dam in 1967, and the old Hales Bar reservoir was superseded by Nickajack Lake. The Suck is today entirely below the surface of the lake, though the name persists in local usage and among paddlers.
Related
About the Tennessee River Gorge →
About Haletown & Guild →