The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-05-17
SUPER POWER ZONE. .OF SOUTH OUTLINED. BY CAPT. W. p. LAY.
Advocates Correlation of All ] Of South's Water and
 Steam Electric Power ! Energies
By RICHARD P. JOHNSTON

Tn a handsomely illustrated book let under the title of "The Southern Super Power system," Capt. w. P. Lay for forty years Alabama's con tinuous and untiring devotee of wa ter way development both for nay igation and power purposes. pointA out the salient advantages of corre- lation of hydro electric and steam power plants of the south.
 He Is author of the original "Coosa River Memorial of 1S9s," the Great Coosa-Alabama River and Valley of 1911" and the "River Problems of Ala bama of 1915.' He is regarded as the forefather of hydroelectric de- velopment in Alabama, giving many years to that project before it was established.
 After presenting the report of United States army engineers on the super power project outlined after more than years study and fully reviewing their findings, Mr. Lay closes with the Washington Posts commentary on the phenomenon of last fall when Alabama was supply ing power to Carolina cotton mills four and five hundred miles distant and keeping them going when other wise, on account of low water in AHost sldtNSb tAAO itililS WOQiu udNb been idle.
 Super Power Zone
 The Washington Post, under date of October 31. 1921, observed What is described as the first super pow CT zone was put into actual opera ton this week, according to the an- nouncement of the Southern Power company here Charlotte, N. C). through the utilization of surplus hydro electric power In Alabama. Half a dozen textile mills in Central North Carolina which have been idle for weeks because of lack of cleo tric power resulting from drouth. were enabled to resume operations.
 The feat marks an epoch in elec- tric power development and brings into realization what has been a dream of engineers. industrial lead CTS and statesmen for ages" Capt. Lay quotes lberally from the report of the U. S army engi- neers on the proposed super power system and from Col Hugh L. Coop CT. who designed the Muscle Shoals : dam. He gives this extract from remarks made by Col. Cooper: : -I doubt exceedingly the wisdom. : from the standpoint of the public interest of the south, of taking out : of the water power reserves of the : south so great an amount as 517.- 2 00e horse power. The south needs cheap reliable energy to be distrib- uted all over the country for the as- 2 sistance of large territory. !. Cooper's Conclusion
 s'The quickest way to get super
 aver zone in the south is to have
 assistance that can only come si.. these two powers at Muscle S If you put these two pow CTS Muscle Shoals away into 5 cher ". it will be the same thing as. ta the vertebra out of a man: ~there nothing to fasten the ribs ~to.'
 Capt Lay concludes, after going engineers In detail. that ''by inter- ~connection alone of the major power systems now in operation in the three states above mentioned, name -ly, Alabama. Georgia and Tennessee. : there would be a saving of 5000 tons of coal per annum and at the same time an increase of the output of these systems of 10000 kilowatt hours in generating capacity"
 Reaches of the system F The booklet has a two-page map showing the connections of the pow CT systems of Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and the Carolinas now in operation and the extensions capable of being made by them into southern territory not now supplied with wa 2 ter power current. According to this map 2 fully developed and cor related southern power system, op- erating through connection and ex- pansion of existing systems, would carry water power to Memphis, : Nashville, Bowling Green and John son City on the north, to Memphis, Greenville, Miss, vicksburg and New Orleans on the west and southwest. to Mobile. Valdosta, Fernandina and Jacksonville on the south and to Brunswick. Savannah. Charleston and Wilmington on the east. The four systems are already united through transmission lines and can , exchange power from one end to the 4other. Capt. Lays contention, in -line with the view of Col. Cooper and in consonance with the findings of u. S. army engineers, is that the power of Muscle Shoals Is the great reserve that should be allowed to percolate through these existing shines and their extension so that the entire south would benefit from the com bination of all its water pow -ers.
 = Steam Auxiliaries
 Capt. Lay lays stress on the aux Hilary steam power plants that are already located in the coal fields and the additional power that could be = = - - - = n