New Britain herald., 1921-12-09
FABULOUS SUMS
 OFFERED BY FORD
Willing to Pay Fortune Tor
 Muscle Shoals Plants

Florence, Alaa Dec, 0.-Heury Ford's bid for Muscle Shoals, sub- mitted July &, 1921, the first bid for the properties, contained these princi- pie features:
 Outright purchase of nitrate plants Nos 1 and 2 for s5,000,000.
 Payment of approximately S1,GSn,- oo0 annual rental" as interest on cap ital invested for the watcrpowcr rights.
 Reimbursement of S40,o0o,0 ,0oo spent by the government on Wilson Dam
 Reimbursement Of $S,0o0,oO0 to he spent by the government in building and' equipping Dam No. 3.
 Outright expenditure Of $15,000, 900 by the government in erection of three locks in connection with these two dams,
 Muscle Shoals begin at Florence and extend eastward mp the Tennessee river thirty miles, having a fall in that dis tance of 13O feet Navigation around -he shoals has been provided by means of the Muscle Shoals Canal, waterway sixteen miles long and con taining eleven locks. This canal was begun about 1920 and by intermittent effort was partly completed in 1890 when it was opened for navigation. Both the state of Alabama and the Federal Government participated in this work.
 In 1910 government engineers re- Al 1,a not CT should be jointly developed at Muscle Shoals and in 1914 an appro- priation was made for diamond drill borings which proved the sufiicienCy of the foundation for proposed dams. A survey was made of lands that would be inundated and options were taken by citizens of Sheffield and Florence in the name of the govern ment.
 When the war began, the govern ment, seeking a site for great nitrate plant, turned to Muscle Shoals and the erection of nitrate plant No. was started January &, 1918. It began operation October 25 of the same year and before the armistice was signed several thousand tons of ammonium nitrate was turned out. Operations were suspended after the armistiCe, but work was begun on Wilson Dam and this work continued until May 1, 1921, when the appropriation was ex- hausted. The dam then was said to be about 50 per cent complete.
 Three great concrete mixing plants. one of them said to be the largest in the world, was constructed and oper- ated for the building of the Wilson Dam. Quarries were opened; resi- dences for employees were built, with office buildings, schools assembly halls and complete sewage, lnghting and water systems. A fleet of barges and dredges were provided to bring sand and gravel from the river channel be- low the dam. Wharf and unloading facilities were constructed with q line of railroad three miles long extending from the wharf to the dam site.
 All of this equipment was put in Standby condition May 1, 1921. On one siding 45 locomotives now stand covered in grease paint.
 Wilson dam, completed, would be the largest in volume of material used of any single constructed project in the United States, army engineers say. From river bed to top driveway over the dam, the height would be 133 feet The available powerhead of water inn pounded above the dam would be % feet The length of the dam would be 4,600 feet.
 The original plans for the work called for the installation of turbines and electric generators capable of pro- ducing 600,00O electrical horsepower, more than is now represented in the combined hydro electric developments in the states of Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and