The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-09-05
WILSON DAM WILL MAKE YEAR-ROUND
 SERVICE POSSIBLE
Utilization of Water Power to Convert Tennessee Valley Into a Great Manufac-
 turing Center
By ". F. MILLER

Tuscumbia, September 4-CSpeciaLJ-
 The mum of industry -s heard through out the length and breadth of the state of Alabama, particularly in the Muscle Shoals section. While it is now we'll on US way to become manufacturing cen ter, through government development ot water power. it has travelled the trail of progress since 1880, when, having shaken off the reconstruction delirium, destroyed the greenback fallacy and survived the panic of 1873, the entire state awoke to the fact that earnest efforts had to be made along every line of industry if Ala
 bama was to make good. This she has continued unremittingly for thirty-siX long years, and has won victory so
 stupendous as to command recognition from the world at large.
 The greatest development has been in
 the Muscle Shoals dstrict-that section of the state from Browns Island (sev
 enteen miles below Chattanooga to
 Florence, Sheffield and Tuscumbia Cl55
 miles from the mouth of the river),
 distance of thirty-six miles. It is sit
 uated approximately midway between Birmingham. It includes Elk River
 Shoals. Nance Reef, Big Muscle Shoals
 and Little Muscle Shoals.
 BARRIER IS REMOVED
 This section has constituted a com
 plete barrier to through navigation on
 the Tennessee river for an average pe-
 riod of more than six months in the
 year; it's record normally has been to
 prevent upstream navigation the entire year and downstream navigation the
 greater part of the year. The comple
 tiOD of the Wilson will for
 ever do away with the Muscle Shoals,
 making the Tennessee river navigable
 the year round. Utilization of this water
 power is to be the magic electrician,
 changing the valley into a manufactur-
 ing center greater than even the most
 optimistic ever predicted.
 Along the lines of the study of power
 as far as comparison in raw materials here in this section within a radius Of $50 miles and the like materials to be found in like radius around Niagara, it is found that the ratio is about as follows, according to a report issued by the department of agriculture at Wash ington
 Within $50 miles of Niagara: Lime stone, coal, coke sawduSt, salt, pyrlteS, iron, zinc, quartz.
 Within a radius of Muscle Shoals, the same radius, $50 miles: Limestone, coal, coke, sawdust salt, pyrites, iron, zinc, quartz, phosphate rock, beauxite, flour spar lead, copper manganese, cottoE' feldspar potash bearing slate.
 ZINC AND COPPER ABOUND To the northeast of Muscle Shoals 170 miles distant. lie Ducktown and Copper Hill, the greatest copper producing dis trict east of Arizona, excepting only the mining district of northern Michigan. Here is to be found sulphuric acid in
 abundance. made from the reclaimed fumes of the smelters The zinc deposits in Tennessee are but 215 miles away to the northeast, while the greatest zinc fields in America, if not in the world,
 are to be had 390 miles to the northwest in the zinc fields of Missouri, where an area of one hundred squarS miles pro- duce fifty per cent of the zinc yield in the United States Shelters in nearby states having water freight rates fur nish economical sources of supply of this important metal, the nearest being Mascot, Tenn, on the Tennessee river 225 miles from Muscle Shoals. And this is but few of the many advantages of this territory
 Among other materials in important industries which surround the section in great abundance, are cotton, clay, for re- factories. also for brick, tile, terra cotta. paving brick. kaolin for chinaware and paper making There is also a large supply of the necessary raw material for the manufacture of electrodes. In href. it is easily seen that the com , bination of such a variety of essential resources is not to be found within so limited an area anywhere else in the land and when this is considered that in the midst of this abundance and va riety is power ste-the great Wilson dam-second only to Niagara Falls-and in many respects even greater-then and only then can be comprehended the tre- ! mendous possibilities that await the com pletion of the full development of the Muscle Shoals section, making Florence, Sheffield and Tuscumbia metropolitan cities.