East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1922-01-27
AND GIGANTIC POSSIBILITIES
OF MUSCLE SHOALS IS SEEN IN SURVEY


FLORENCE. Ala. Jan. 27.-Q. y
S.)-The manifold possibilities of the
Muscle Shoals power and nitrate pro-
, ject have fired the imaginations OF
farmers. business men and industrial
engineers from all parts of the cOun-
try.
Water. water power and nitrogen
these are the natural elements whose
harnessing at this point is expected to
reyolutionize the agricultural. indus
trial and commercial activity OF a
large part of the United States.
When the harnessing of Muscle
Shoals is completed it will have
fourfold effect In the first place. it
will open up navigation on the Ten
nesse River and will link up the en-
tire territory as far as Chattanooga
with the Mississippi Valley and New
Orleans.
Second, IL means the creation Of
cheap electric current and the estab-
lishment of a manufacturing and in
dustrial area which may equal any in
the United States.
Third, it means the operation of a
fertilizer plant which would revdu-
tionize farming in the South and East |
and even all over the United States.
Fourth comes the question of ma
uonal security, as it will be enhanced |
by a supply of artificial nitrates, MAX
Ing the United States Independent of |
importations from Chile.
What il known as Muscle Shoals is
an extended hard rock formation
which has blocked the natural deepen
ing of the Tennessee River in the
vicinity of Florence and Sheffield, sit
uated respectively on the north and
south sides of the river in the north
west corner of Alabama In their
ceaseless flow rivers attack the soft
rock in their beds more easily than
the harder crust, and owing to the pc
culiar formation of the river bed of
the Tennessee it this point the water
has eaten away the earth underneath
In such a manner as to create a fall of
nearly $50 feet.
This fall Is made by bed of solid /;
rock, which will probably continue to +
the effect of erosion for an
other geologic epoch. In the mean
time it constitutes both an impediment
TO free navigation on the Tennessee
and potential source of vast {
amount of wafer power energy.
Measurements taken by government [
engineers show that 100000 horse {
power is created at Muscle Shoals, and I
hat at a certain period of the year {
The figure rise as high as 1000, 900 c
horsepower. {
The early colonial settlers saw in a
Muscle Shoals only an aspect of GRIM
'emorseless nature opposing itself to {
he progress of man. Indeed, the pres {
snce of Muscle Shoals proved an abb I
'olute bar to the spread of the French |
'olonists who sought to push east I
rom the Mississippi Valley. 1t has {
'equired the enormous mechanical ad- &
'ances of the nineteenth century be- I
ore man was finally able to appre- $
'iate the potential riches offered by Q
his despised gift of nature. {
During the war the Federal Govern !
nent set to work feverishly to har- Q
Tess part of the energy at Muscle
Shoals and manufacture nitrates. Nj Il
rates, curiously enough. form the =
most essential ingredient Of both ex- {
,losive materials and agricultural fer &
ilizer. The government wanted nj
rates for war purposes only, and 9
when the war was over it closed UP I
is nitrate plant and waited to turn it | |
)ver to a private COMPANY as n con- LIS