Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1923-09-20
Henry Evans Writes An Interesting
Letter About Muscle Shoals

Florence, Ala, Sept IL, 1872,
Mr.. ]. Gelders, Editor,
Dear Sir:
VIII write you few lines in re
CARDS TO the Muscle Shoals project
| thought you and the many friends ii
Ben Hill would be pleased to reaC
OF the largest undertaking of its kline
Ill the world The Nelson Dam acros.
the Tennessee River. The dam is one
and one eighths miles long and is tc
be l20 feet high IN the highest place
when completed. The width is abou
so feet The foundation is OF soIc
rock from one side to the other Ir
low water the rock shows up out ot
the water and is impossible to run
boats over the shoals. They is an IS
land about IN dway of the river which
comes IN handy for the construction
Of the dam. They built what the cali
Golfer dams around and then pump
the water out of this dam and drill
and blast with dynamite until they get
down below all mud seams. Then they
come with the foundation After this
is raised above highwater marks they
tear away the Golfer dam and put in
another lower down, and so on.
We are working in the fifth and
last coiter dam now. | suppose it takes
in about eight or nine acres which is
on this same sold rock | understand
they will have to go about 18 feet
deep in this rock which is already the
bottom of the river to get below the
mud seams. This is not official; be-
cause one has a hard time learning
anything from II or Is hundred men
that don't know any more than he
does himself. | suppose there are be-
tween $500 and 1000 men employed
(Don't know how many ladies' They
have men here with most every pro-
fession there is. They have their own
machine shops, blacksmiths, carpen-
ters, boilermakcrs and everything YOU
could imagine i'll connection with the
dam and every dam thing all put to-
gether represents every labor organ
ization known. They work three EIGHT
hour shifts out of every "a except on
Sundays. They have 81 switch engines
and no crews. ! am one of the switch
men. Our duty is to keep the steam
shovels and cranes busy by spotting
empty cars and unloading the full ones,
stood in the hole Saturday and count
cd SIX steam shovels and seven cranes
all in motion al one time Some busy
place. There were six switch engines
in the hole at that time You can't
hear yourself think when everything
is running Those rock drills make an
awful lot of noise But when they give
the blast signal You bet | can hear
that, they usually blast on the change
nf Oh pt,t 4
you know that rock hasn't any ewes
You wouldn't think did either TO see
me getting out of the way. They have
los miles of track including all side
track and three of the largest concrete
mixers in the world They get all of
their sand and gravel from the bot
tom of the river with dredge boats,
and keep it stored ahead at these mix
crs
Where we are working now is the
foundation of the power plant The
bank on the south side of the river
where the dam Joins is about 100 feet
above the water and Is feet of it is
perpendicular and solid rock. This is
the side the oower plant is on.
don't know just how many turbines
there are to be but anyway about %
per cent of the water will be used for
power and the other goes thru the
lock pit After this is completed. large
boats can run from Chattanooga thru
to he Mississippi. There will be
ock on the north side OF the river for
the boats to go thru. | understand
there is to be a trolley track, rail
road and highway on top of this
dam. The average casualty list is
about 81 out of every "a hours minor
INJURIES. They have first aid stations
and doctors handy and plenty of po-
lice and guards. They sure look out
for their men, On the reservation they
have II bunk houses and mess halls.
In each bunk house there are 10
hunks, and "a tables in eac mess hall
men eat at each table
They their own cold storage, ice
plant, recreation hall for Sunday
school, 7 or bath houses, with hot
and cold water day and night and
charge 75c per day for board. This
is for the employees that get subsist-
ence or gets in camp Then they have
about rs or so, room houses with
lights, water and bath for the fore
men and about 80 or 40 of the swell
est bungalows for the colonies, majors
and captains and with electric lights
all around, makes it some little city
itself. It is very hilly here but the
government has all the hills sowed
with burmuda grass and the streets are
all paved They take pride in keeping
it clean and sanitary 1t is sure pref
tv place. They hate large garage
and some of the largest trucks | ever
saw, They have moving picture show
two soda fountains, post office, barber
shop and newsstand besides a com
missary as large as the Empire store
There is no need of fellow wanting
for anything. They are very strict ir
their camps. 1t is for men only.
Florence is about three miles dowr
the river from Muscle Shoals and q
more up 10 date city you have never
seen, of about 100000 About mile
this side of the city is a little place
called East Florence of about 200(
people. They have there cotton mil
and pig iron furnace. gas plant and
several little industries | can not men
ton. A bus runs every 30 minutes from
Muscle Shoals to Florence thru East
Florence. Transportation is real handy
| will send you some pictures oil
teh dam and ask that you put them in
= the window of your office so my
friends may have the privilege of see
ing them. will send the pictures under
separate cover and will tell you more
when / learn some more. With best
wishes to you and all my friends,
Yours truly,
w. HENRY EVANS.