The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-04-27
THREE DAMS ARE PROVIDED UNDER
 ULTIMATE PLANS
Dam No. 2 Will Have Cost About $5O,OOO, 900 On
 Completion

extraordinary demand for electric power caused serious and broad study of this power proposal to be made in 1907. Since then various plans for private or government development of the po- tential electric power at Muscle Shpals have been made.
 In the federal plan. for the develop ment of. navigation and power from the Tennesse river there are required three dams and locks, officially designated as Dams Nos. 1, and 3.
 Dam No. 1, including lock, is To- cated about three miles below Dam No. 2 and is purely a navigation devel- Opment.
 Dam No. 2, known as the Wilson dam, is now under construction. This installation. when finished, will cost about .$50, GOO, 900, excluding interest during construction. This power plant with the Tennessee river unregulated will supply approximately 00,00O,00O kilowatt hours of primary power per annum and 1 ,490 900, 900 kilowatt hours of secondary power per annum. Navi- gation locks are included in this devei- opment.
 Dam No. 8 is q proposed water power and navigation development To- cated about 20 miles upstream from
  to cost about $25, ,000, ,000, including the locks, and using the unregulated flow of the Tennessee river is estimated to supply 2S5y600OO0 kilowatt hours of primary power per annum and eos, S,O00,- 900 kilowatt hours of secondary power per annum. :,
 To Make Nitrate
 Early in 1918 the development of Dam No. 2 was undertaken by the United States government as an aid in the manufacture of nitrate to be used in munitions during war periods and in fertilizer in peace times. The construction activities have been con- tlnuous and on broad scale except for two periods of suspension, the first be- ing for the last half of 1918 and the other from April, 1921, till July, 1922.
 The construction work was started by Hugh l.. Cooper, at that time a colonel of engineers, United States army, who was ordered home from France for this purpose. Sixty days later, having made general plans for the project and started the work, he was ordered back to France.
 This installation, known. as Dam No. z, and officially called the Wilson dam, IS being built under the direction of He engineers, United States army, with Brig. Gen. Harry Taylor, assistant chief of engineers, United States army, in- mediately in charge.
 .On May 21, 1920, the chief of engi- neers made a contract in which Hugh L. Cooper & Co.,, consulting engineers, were employed as the designing and supervising engineers for the entire project.
 This work has at all times been car ried on by day labor, and all of the construction forces since May, 1923, have been directed by Lieut.. Col. George R. Spalding, United States army. The responsibility for the cost of the works and time of completion rests with the war department of the United States. Barring unexpected difficulties in the future, the works should be ready for the commercial operation of eight units, q total of 100000 horsepower of ca pacity, by October 1, 1925.
 The total length of the proposed 'struc- lures across the Tennessee river, at Muscle Shoals, will be about 4,5OO feet. The power house, abutting the south shore, and forming part of the dam, is A,250 feet long. Tie dam and spill way section extends from the north end of the power house to the lock. and is S,O50 feet long. The upstream end of the lock extends from the north end of the dam to the north shore. a distance of 200 feet.
 Power House
 The power house structure is 1,25O feet long and 160 feet wide. Its total height is 134 feet. The substructure is monolithic concrete, while the super- structure is reinforced concrete, with a steel trusseI roof. Eighteen power units will be installed ultimately. There will be four 30,000 horsepower units and fourteen S5,000 horsepower units-a total of about 60OOO0 horsepower. Four complete units of 30,OOO horse power each are now being installed and bids are soon to be requested for four additional units of 35,O0O horsepower each.
 Dam
 The length of the dam proper is 3,O5O feet. It is 90 feet high from the river bed to the crest, and 140 feet high from foundation to the level of the operat- ing bridge, and is 1O5 feet thick at the base. The top of the dam is a flood gate operating bridge which may be used for highway purposes.
 Locks
 4WO JOCKS, one lmmedlately above the other. each having lift Ol 46 feet and inches at mean stage, and each 60 feet by 800 feet, inside dimensions. havl ing miter sill clearance of seven feet and six inches, are being built at the north end of the dam, and abutting the north shore.
 General Statements
 This entire project calls for 1 1,35O, 900 cubic yards of masonry. This is the greatest quantity of masonry required by any hydraulic development hitherto built, not excluding the famous dam on the Nile at Assouan, Egypt.
 This water power, when the total 0Uu,OOO horsepower of machinery has been installed and is utilizing the nat ural unregulated flow of the Tennessee river, will produce on the average 7O0'OOO,OOO kilowatt hours of primary power per annum and 1,49O,OOO, GOO kllowatt hours of secondary power per annum: Primary power is power which IS available every hour of every year. Secondary power is power that is avail aDle a traction Of the year only. This traction at the Wilson dam will vary from minimum of 90 days to a maxi mum of nearly 365 days. A kilowatt is l 13 horsepower. "
 This total amount of power will ef feet, if used for ordinary commercial purposes, a saving of about $500. GOO tons of coal per annum.
 When the flow of the Tennessee river is equalized by the construction of com n1ercially feasible water powers and storages in the head waters of the river. the average annual electric power from this project should be increased about 30 per cent. ,.Ss
 rrt The pol creatOed by this dam will be about IS miles long and have an aver age width of about three-quarters of mile.