Arizona republican., 1921-12-26
FORD RE-SURVEYS MUSCLE SHOALS PLANT ID CLARITY
 DIFFERENCE IN ESTIMATE
rRepubIican A. P. Leased Wlrel

FLORENCE, Ala, Dec. 25-Henry Ford's bid for Muscle Shoals, sub mitted July 8, 1921. the first bid for the properties, contained these prin- ciple features: Outright purchase of nitrate plants Nos. 1 and for s5,00o,o00.
 Payment of approximately s1,eS0.oOo annual rental as interest on capi- tai invested for waterpower rights
 Reimbursement of s40,000.0o0 spent by the government on Wilson dam.
 Reimbursement of Ss,000,00 to be spent by the government in building and equipping Dam No. 3.
 Outright expenditure of SIS, 100000 by the government in erection of three locks in connection with these two dams.
 Muscle Shoals begins at Florence and extends eastward up the Tenn essoe river 30 miles, having a fall in that distance of 150 feet. Naviga- tion around the shoals has been pro- vided by means of the Muscle Shoals canal, waterway Is miles long and containing Il locks. This canal was begun about 1920 and by intermit- tent effort was partly completed in l 1890 when it was opened for naviga- ! ton. Both the state of Alabama and the federal government participated | in this work
 In 1910 government engineers rec commended that navigation and power should be jointly developed at Muscle | Shoals and in 1914 an appropriation was made for diamond drill borings which proved the sufficiency of the | foundation for proposed dams. A sur | vey was made of lands that would be 1 inundated and options were taken by citizens of Sheffield and Florence in the name of the government.
 When the war began, the govern ment, seeking a site for great. ni- trate plant, turned to Muscle Shoals and the erection of nitrate plant No was started January 8, 1921. It be- [ gan operation October 25 of the same year and before the armistice was signed several thousand tons of am- ! monium nitrate was turned out. Op- erations were suspended after the armistice. but work was begun on Wilson dam and this work continued until May 1. 1921, when the approp- riation was exhausted. The dam then was said to be about 30 per cent com lpIete.
 i Three great concrete mixing plants one of them said to be the largest ir
 the world, was constructed and oper- ated for the building of the Wilson
 dam. Quarries were opened; resi-
 dences for employees were built, witt
 office buildings. schools, assembly
 halls and complete sewage. lighting
 and water systems. A fleet of barge.
 and dredges were provided to brinl sand and gravel from the river chan nel below the dam. Wharf and un. loading facilities were constructed
 with line of railroad three mile
 long extending from the wharf to tn
 dam site.
 All of this equipment was put il
 Stand by condition May l, 1921
 On one siding 45 locomotives nov
 stand covered in grease paint.
 Wilson dam, completed. would b |, the largest in volume of material use,
 of any single construction project fl tthe United States. army engineer F say. From river bed to top drivewa, 9 over the dam, the height would be 13 | feet. The available powerhead O
 water impOunded above the dan } would be 95 feet. The length of th' [ dam would be 4.600 feet.
 The original plans for the wo1l 5 called for the installation of turbine- and electric general tors capable O . producing 600,000 electrical horse (COUtfuued on page q