The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-12-02
4,OOO MEN WORk
 IN MUSCLE SHOALS
Greatest Hyroelectric Install Iation Attempted By Man
 Proceeds In Valley
MUSCLE SHOALS BUREAU l
 THE AGE-uEkALD
 Florence. Ala. Dcy. l.

M
 THE AGE-HEkALD
 Florence. Ala, Dcv. i J.
 The most significant effort in con, struction undertaken by the govern- ment since building the Panams canal is the monlithic fashioning of Wilson dam across the TennesseeS river at the foot of Muscle Shoals ins northwest Alabama, Under direc- ton of the war department engineers more than 4,000 men are pushing the work forward day and night on this, the largest concrete form in the world. Wilson dam will not only be the most massive structure of its kind, but 1t will without 8 doubt be the greatest hydroelectric installa- tion yet achieved.
 Wilson dam Is being built not to last 10 years, or 50 years, but for ever. This requires the rock founda- ton for the dam proper to be very carefully tested. Holes are drilled at designated intervals and air pres sure is applied. Very rapid dropping of the air pressure is proof that the hole has passed through a seam in the rock, in which case the test hole is filled with liquid cement under pressure thus filling up the hole. IT the air pressure does not drop very rapidly the hole Is filled with cement, but not under pressure. The impor- tance of this work Is obvious If the holes were not filled the thousands of tons of concrete would not be able to resist permanently the force of the water flowing through the seams beneath the foupaation of the dam when completed, and would even tually cause thre fall Tests being completed and forms being in place, the first course of concrete is placed. During the week ending October Is about 5000 cubic yards or 5000 tons of concrete were placed in coffer dam No. alone.
 Every effort within human possi- bility is being taken that there may be no weak places in the huge dam when it is completed. The engineers who have charge of this work are accomplishing much and the work IS being pushed forward as rapidly as is consistent with care and efficient labor.
 Five Thousand Feet Long.
 When completed Wilson dam will be 5000 feet long, 101 fet wide at the foundation and will lift it's super structure nearly 125 feet above the river bed. To bring into existence such a massive dam in a river where the flow sometimes reaches 00,000 cubic feet a second, ali phases of work must be synchronized, drilling, blast ing and eXcavating; bringing in ma terials for making concrete, building flawless forms, transporting con- crete to these forms, and the final pouring. To keep all these activities going night and day requires 27 miles of railroad, 24 boats and barges, a number of electrical cranes. scores of rock drills, three huge crushing and mixing plants, 30 loco- motives and more than 200 cars and gondolas.
 The effect is remarkable and in some phases quite spectacular both as to the engineering and construc- ton. This may be impressed on the minds of the reader who Is not fla miliar with the work when it is said that the great Wilson dam contains almost three times as much masonry as the Roosevelt dam in Arizona and that it will be when completed 8l,ooo' cubic yards longer than the Assauan dam in Egypt.at present the giant among the worlds barriers.
 Before the great Wilson dam Is finished almost 1,000,0o0 yards of earth and stone will have been ex- cavated from the river bed and banks and 1,260,000 yards of concrete Will have been poured. There will be no let-up in the work until the enure propect has been fully completed st a cost of approximately $50,ooo,ooo. Bridge To Span Dam.
 A bascule bridge. spanning the locks at the north end, will join concrete arch bridge over the main structure by the power house on the south side. These bridges will have a boulevard surface and will carry double tracts for electric cars that will ply between the cities that will spring up almost overnight in this section. 'S The boulevard will be link in three highways. the Jackson highway, from Chicago to New Or leans: the Lee highway, from the easter seaboard to the Pacific coast, and the Scenic highway, from Jacksonville, Fla, to Seattle. Wash.
 Here and there the removal of the wood forms indicate the striking beauty of the work and the striking uniformity of the construction. When completed Wilson dam will be one of the most beautiful structures in. America.
 Wilson dam is not power and navigation unit apart by itself. It Is only the most important factor. in the first comprehensive of river in- provements undertaken on the North American continent. The system in- cludes plans for building power and navigation dams for nearly 500 miles up the Tennessee river, throughout the entire distance between Muscle Shoals and Knoxville, Tenn. 1a In the manufacturing field Wilson dam is highly significant because N is located in the midst of one Of tho richest mineral regions in the world. Fifty miles directly north of the dam are the second largest phosphate | rock deposits in America. Within | Hess than 100 miles are the Warrior coal fields They are the most ex- | tensive and productive fields in the entire south. .f.
 
 The next Congress. which meets | early in December, will make final ldisposition of the Muscle Shoals properties and perhaps quickly. Many ideas have been suggested and ad- vanced but the only definite plan. now before Congress is that of MT. Ford. It includes returning to the government. with all interest, all the cost of Wilson dam and the second great power dam, 15 miles east, total ing s25OO0,000. paying the govern- ment $5,0O0,000 cash in addition and taking over the plants and proper-i ties, and agreeing to manufacture fertilizers and sell them to the far. mers at not more than per cent above the cost of manufacture. . To utilize to advantage the great amount of power from Wilson dam will necessitate great chain of fac |