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Show Niagara of the South in News ' Since F. D. R. Muscle Shoals Visit Muscle Shoals and Ha Wilson dam. ta which President-elect Roosevelt recently re-cently made sa Inspection trip and la tha further development of which be announced en Interest, to the "Niagara "Ni-agara of the south" m ao far as po-leatlal po-leatlal water power to concerned, according ac-cording la a bulletia from the Washington, Wash-ington, D. C, headquarters of the National Na-tional Geographic society. Muscle Shoals is off Iha main high-war high-war and railroads, and eonaiderably south of the center ef population, snd to therefore not sa well known ta traveling Americans as some leas Important power alias, says the bulletin. bul-letin. The Tennessee river, en which these rapid ere tltueted, to the mam tributary of the Ohio river end carries car-ries a Isrge volume of water, eapeciej-ly eapeciej-ly nt the prmg month. The river, flowing far to the south and then tar ta the north, makaa a vast bend, greater thaa that la any ether of the ana tor at ream of the United State except the Snake river and the Rio Grande. Some of the headwaters of the Ten-nsaiee Ten-nsaiee rise In Virgin is snd ths streem then ana as two complete erossin of tha stole of Tenneaaee, looping between be-tween times Into northern Alabama It to the portion of the river that Ilea In Alabama that contain Muscle Shoals, a section of rapids 17 milaa long. In this short distance the river drops eboul ISO feet, nearly a third ef the en Ure tall between Chettonoo-ga Chettonoo-ga and the Ohio river. Plan to Improve the Tenneaaee at Muscle Shoals have been in existence exist-ence for more then a hundred yeara The work was f irat recommended by the secretary of wsr In 1(24. This improvement was wholly for the purpose pur-pose of bettering navigation. Work was actually started in lul and a canal with several locks was constructed, con-structed, but was of small value. Further Fur-ther improvement to help navigation were made up until the World war. whan It waa decided la bsrneas the river by a power dam and to utilise Its electric energy lot the production of nitrates ta be used in the manufacture manu-facture of smmunilion The Wilson dam wss begun In 1111 snd was aot completed until It 2a. a. oasspowtB Thia dam to one of the largest la the United Slates. The river rssds out to a great breadth so I tha dam lacks anly about TOO feet af being mile long. It to approximately ap-proximately 12) feet high la the roadway road-way on top, and contained at the Ume of Ita completion a greater volume vol-ume of concrete thaa aay other dam In the world. Because ef the greet width of the river at the damslte. eonstxuetion waa very costly. Dam and power houae have cost ta date MT.OOO.OOd. The power house to si tasted ta-sted st the south end ef the asm snd has foundations which provide for the IfwtallaUoB of 1) giant turbines tur-bines thst will produce a maximum of eSO.000 boraepower. Of these, eight beve been Installed and are capable ef producing e maximum of 160.000 boraepower. The maximum at low water will be about 100,000 horsepower. horse-power. Since the completion of the Wilson dsm and power houae nt 1S2S. ths plsnt has been put la very little use. Some electric energy has been sold to existing power companies, but at no Ume he the power bouse been called en lor Its maximum production. produc-tion. In connection with the building ef the Wilson dam, the federal government govern-ment con true led two huge factor laa for the manufacture of nitrates from tha nitrogen af the air. The various building of ene. situated at the lawn of Sheffield, a few milaa downu-eam from the southern end of the dam. are scattered over snore than 100 acre of land. II has never been m use. The eecond, four miles upstream from Sheffield snd does to the end of the dsm. occupies tract of approximately approximate-ly U00 acres. It has been operated only on tost basis. The government also constructed a large atesmpowei pleat of eO.000 horsepower with which to operate the second aitrste plsnt pending the completion of toe dam. NIAB cmr OP FLOBINCB The north end of the Wilson dam to In the suburbs of Florence. Ala., a thriving little city of 11.000 Inhabit ant Florence I a typical Inland southern town of shaded atreeta. man; of tham lined with fine old mansions Like other commouniues near Muscli Shoals, Florence fslt the herUc war time prosperity thst poured liberal wages Into the hsnds of M.OOO work era on the dsm snd nitrate plants. Bui the town had grown up long before snd today it shows na scars from lh boom period. When ths Wilson dsnvwss built prl msrily for power production, the pee ibililtes of Improving the nsvigs lion ef the Tenneaaee river by thi structure were not overlooked. A the norm end of the dam to canal with It flight of locks through which! river boat are lifted Into the Wilson lake. Backwater from the dam makes ths river navigable for 14 miles upstream, up-stream, but at thia point a shallow stretch occurs. There ea auxiliary dam la being built which will make tha river navigable to Chattanooga. A email dam, elao, haa been built several sev-eral milaa down stream from Wilson dsm to make possible the passsge af river traffic over the lower end of Muer to Shoals. I Whan tha upstream dam Is completed complet-ed It will be possible for Tenneaaee river traffic to operate from Chattanooga Chatta-nooga to the mouth of the river and on down through the Ohio and Mississippi Missis-sippi to the gulf, carrying ita burdens of cost stone, phosphate rock, coke, Iron, lumber, furniture and farm and food product. j |
