The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1923-10-24
BY ROBERT TALLEY

BY ROBERT TALLEY
EU7 AsHINGTON. Oct. 24.-Regard-
lWI less Of whether Henry Ford
IL gets Muscle Shoals or not, the
Government is going right ahead to
complete this greatest man-made
water power project in history.
Approximately $102 ,000, 000-nearly
81 for every man, woman and child in
the nation-has been spent there al
ready, and many more millions must
be spent before the job is done. When
finished, it will be capable of develop
ing about 100000 horsepower from
water alone. Until this day, however,
not one ounce of water-power has
been developed.
There are three things the Govern
ment can do with gigantic enter
prise:
1. Accept Henry Ford's offer.
2. Pursue Government operation.
8. Sell it or lease 1t to the Alabama
Power Company or a similar organi-
zation.
Started In 1918
Work on this vast power project
started originally In 1918 as a mere
aid to navigation on the Tennessee
River. is in progress there today
Forty-one hundred men, under the
direction of the Army's- chief Of en-
gineers. are continuing the work on
Wilson dam under the year-to-year
continuation appropriations doled out
by Congress.
This Wilson dam. now So per cent
completed, will be the largest in the
world. To visualize It, picture a wall
of masonry three-quarters of a mils
long and as high as a twelve-story
building.
1t will require 1890, 900 cubic yards
Of concrete. In comparison all other
construction work pales. The Assuan
dam in Egypt. now the largest in the
world, required but 1,17s.oo0 cubic
yards; the Roosevelt dam in Arizona,
only 344, 900 cubic yards
There are two other dams contem-
plated for Muscle Shoals but each of
these is smaller.
The Tennessee River begins near
Knoxville, Tenn. winds southwark
through the northern part of Alabama.
turns north again and empties into
the Ohio River at Paducah, Ky.
Fall of 1874 Feet
Amid the shoals that block nav1ga-
ton in North Alabama, nature has
offered marvellous opportunities for
waterpower development There, in
distance Of thirty-seven miles, is a
vertical fall of 1874 feet
The aid-to-navigation program bios
somed into a power project and when
the war came On and the crying need
for nitrate ccveloped, President VIII
son devel re Muscle Shoals into g.
great nitrate plant. Utilization of
water power was far too distant for
the short time available so two large
steam plants were hurriedly built.
One Of these began turning out nj
trates about the time the war ended;
the other did not progress quite so
rapidly.
For a year or more after the war,
all work on the great dam was stopped
and there was talk OF junking the
costly project. Within the last three
years. however. Congress has provided
dribbling year-to-year appropriations
for continuing the work.
Steam Plant Leased
Meanwhile, the 10000 horsepower
steam plant at Nitrate Plant Number
has been leased temporarily to the
Alabama Power Company. The rest
Of this big nitrate plant and all of
Nitrate Plant Number / stand idle.
Today, with the future of Muscle
Shoals still undecided, a vast water
power enterprise that threatens to
revolutionize industry and promises
to create a new Industrial empire in
the South is dragging its slow course
toward an uncertain future. The bus
Ting "city-that-might-be" Is a city Of
wartime houses, practically empty
and rotting In the rain.