The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-27


 for Lock and Dam r, providing for the
 annulment of existing contracts or for
 their modification so as to cover the
 work required for the construction of the
 higher lock and dam as he may deem
 most advantageous for the interests of the United States.
 Sec. 3. Should the construction of the higher dam at site 17 be found advisable
 the appropriations and authorizations heretofore made for the cost of locks and dams on the Black Warrior, War rior and Tombigbee rivers. Alabama, shall be available for the construction of Dam 1T and sueh locks may be neces- sary to overcome the lift between the pools created by Dams 16 and 17. Approved August P, 1911 Extent of Pool
 The building of a dam of this height means a development of probably 15,ooo horse power available, and during cer- tain seasons, nearly double this amount. By adding flashboards, 1t is possible 10 create a height of 66 feet without adding materially to the expense. It IS under stood that the Birmingham Water, Light and Power company will develop this
 power under such regulations as the gov ernment engineers may prescribe very
 few people, without an explanation, can appreciate what this simple little act
 
 means.
 It gives us lake anywhere from 1000 to 30Oo feet wide extending from lock Y
 which is 271s miles aboce Tuscaloosa, to point five or six miles above Cordova on the Mulberry Fork, and to point not Tar
 below the mouth of Village creek on the Locust fork We will have here 8 lake
 with two arms to the same, over 56 miles long up the Mulberry and over 48 miles long up the Locust fork with minimum
 depth of at least six feet of water the year round The citizens of Birming-
 ham will have a great big lake for pleas ure boats, motor boats, most magnificent sites for summer homes, and one of the finest resorts imaginable, for all time. It is like bringing one of the great lakes down to Alabama. It changes the whole face of the western part Of the state; it brings navigable water Wltnin five miles of the big dam now being constructed by the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad company on Village Creek. by extending the Birmingham Southern railroad five miles, the Tennessee. com pany can load their coal their pig iron and their steel rails into barges. and carry them direct to the sea. If Birning- ham should want navigable water, all 1t has to do is to improve Valley riVer up to Bessemer and Birmingham. This big dam brings the water within Il miles or Bessemer. A short piece of railroad will land our products at navigable water, ana whatever may be said of water transpor- tation, to the business man it means low freight rates by the railroads, as they must compete with the water routes. Tho route that can make the lowest rate gov erns all of them. As our state fills up and as our population and business m crease the time will come when railroads cannot carry all the business. The cx- s., hat h tc for both and that certain kinds of freight seek the water route without any derri- ment to the railroads. The amount of this traffic abroad is simply enormous and the older civilizations nave found It absolutely necessary to go back to the streams for the heavier classes of com modities.
 What Project Means Here is a great undertaking, almost within our grasp. Here is beautiful 'ake
 created for our amusement and recrea-
 ton. To the business man a means of
 !esscning the cost of our manufactured
 products to market and lessening the
 rates on all products. Here is great pow
 CT created in the interest of Brming-
 ham.
 In addition to all this, this one dam
 eliminates five locks out of Valley river
 and extends navigation Il miles nearer
 
 navigable river; it reaches the largest
 coal mines in the state; it gives over %
 coal mines chance to get water nnvisa-
 ton. ~
 According to the government report .t furnishes navigation to nearly two and a half billion tons of coal, which if we value at 10 cents a ton, amounts 10 nearly $250, ,0O0, GOO. The government saves the cost of keeping up four locks in- stead of one, and the water power de yeloped will furnish power to operate the locks themselves, in addition to locks al- ready built. Of course the water power company will have to pay for part of the dam and for all improvements nec- essary to their own use and furnish power without cost to the government The contract is practically let, as 1t will simply require some alterations to be ef- lsfective. Leaving out the question of DOW CT entirely, however, the creation of this great lake and the lessening of the time when this new trade route is completed. means that we will be ready to furnish cheap coal and cheap manufactured ar
 ticles to the, eastern world contemporaries