Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1920-01-08
MUSCLE SHOALS
NATIONS BULWAM
Big 100000 900 Nitrate Plant
a Defense for Future !
-ss-.-v~ Generations.
ENSURES NATIONAL DEFENSE
Assurance of abundant hmer'-
can Explosives a Reason
Why Germany Quit.

e. 10y AN = ts~o1AtFs 1srsr&~
2 opesof the chief fortrssses Of Amer
ica's new military defense system
which developed ont of the World
War IL the tAnnoBiuIn Nitrate Plant
at Muscle Shoals. Alabsna, on. the
Tennessee River over three hundred
miles from the seaeeast 4capsbss Of
turning out 800 tons efshish explosives
q day.@ II assures to the Unttsds States
for ALI time an .abandancs Of ammsai-
ton without which. m army h .. hsie
tisss encumbrancs and VI hiss nals
this unlimited ssppay Of explosives
aayailabis without resort - raw uA-
tsrisi Prom outside of the esuRtry.
sThe essential Ingredient Of ait4nod-
isrn nssiitAty explosives In 'sitrlcs acid.
BsfSrs ethe World twis. Amsfics ewas
entirely dependent upsn GAfls for tAs
supply Of nitraxs Of Fso<a, thss. Sniy.
ichemIcsI from wAieA nitvss iacsd can
be5mads. uiln lcase this couAtry became
involved anaxar with any snatios. that
Gcould lcoatrsiN the sen our fosa .uouad
shavssnssataher saerdy, for she .eouad
cnt on eur essensiaI means of striking
hack. egsSse aR ,t.fssea .s.rf sna,
sss Othersss natisns,s hoveyev. ,lwere
equally sdepen0ent npSn ethe ChiseaA
.nitratei supply GerrnanyAawss pur-
chasing one-third of it She had eK-
9peafed to hold the sea With her sub
marines but failed. But . process
for extracting nitrogen, from the air
bad been obtained by, Germany some
years before from Italian chemists.
This process had been successful h
producing high grade heterogeneous
fertilizer from which in turn could
be extracted ammonium nitrate. Ger
many, therefore, fell to manufacturing
ammonium nitrate from the air on o
large scale.
Americans Buy German Secret.
In 1907 an American company. head
ed by Frank S. "Washburn, had secured
the American rights to this process
from Germany and had gone into man.
ufacturing the fertilizer on the Cana
dian side of the Niagara Falls. When
America found herself In the World
War the Ordnance Department turned
to Mr. Washburn's company for help.
The Air Nitrates Corporation was
formed, with Mr.. Washburn at it's
head, to build the Muscle Shoals plant.
1t was assisted by several other welR
known corporations, such as the West
inghouse Church Kerr Company, which
put up the plant buildings, the perma-
pent city and utilities the j. G. White
Corporation, which designed and con-
structed the power plant; the Chem
icaI Construction Company, which de-
signed and built the nitric acid plant,
and the II. W. Kellogg Company, which
furnished the piping and built the
chimneys. "9a
Beginning work In November, 1917.
the big pisnt and new city at Muscle
Shoals was completed within one
years time. Had, the expected spring
drive of 1919 materialized, this ono
plant alone would have been able to
supply Ii per cent. Of all the high
explosives used by all the Allied AZ
niles on MI fronts During that drive,
and the United States was secure for
all time to come against an ammuni-
ton shortage. a
When the arrangement was finally
made for building the. Bis air nitrate
plant WORK. was begun on / power
dam ct fhe same point. This work Is
being conducted directly by the Unit
ed States Engineering Corps. 1t VITA
not beacomPleted, however. for two or
/ three more years. il was necessary.
therefore, in order to insure imme-
date, operation when the nitrate plant
was completed to construct q $4,000
| 600 steam power plant one of the larg-
est steam plants for the production Of
continuous electric power in the would.
1t is pointed out that even had the
water-power plant been completed dur
ing the war it would have been neces-
sary also to have constructed a steam
plant to insure the nitrate plant work
ing at full capacity at all times dur
ing the year.
Plant Worth All It Cost.
Now, this entire job cost the Govern
4
ment $60,000,000 1t was put through
at time when the prices of materials
and labor were at their summit. II,
was built at record speed, and speed
costs money. The question naturally
| arises, then, as to whether Uncle Sam
| got his moneys worth.
Tests made after the plant was in
! operation showed that ammonium nj
| trate of standard specifications could
! be produced at THIS plant at a cost Of
| less than one-half the standard fixed
! price paid by the Government for am
monium nitrate produced by the older
methods. This cost is only about one
fourth to one-ffth TIE cost of other
high explosives of equal strength.
| Compared with the older process for
| making ammonium nitrate, the saw
| ;rne, ,,1oda htr tbfc ,,Iart ,vo,.I1 boua