Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1924-05-22

vegetable refuse, and the heterogeneous
by-products Of coke and gas manufac 4
ture, are not sufficient to fill the de-
mands of our farmers and we must
make up the deficit by importations
| from Chile. Hence, ever since the war
there has been a nationwide demand
to devote the Muscle Shoals nitrate
plants. which are capable of produc-
ing over 100000 tons of commercial
fertilizer annually, to this purpose,
and, it is the intention of Congress that
this shall be done.
In the opinion of the nitrate experts
of the War Department, it is probably
not possible to produce fertilizer at a
comparatively low cost with the exist
| ing equipment at Muscle Shoals which
was Installed to meet a national emer
gency without regard to expense. It is
the policy Of Congress, therefore, that
every bid for the Muscle Shoals nitrate
plants shall contain guarantees that
research work shall be conducted to-,
| develop cheaper processes for making
| fertilizer Congress also insists that
the selling and distributing OF the
fertilizers made at Muscle Shoals shall
be supervised by an unbiased board
Of experts in order to permit famers to
obtain it at the lowest possible price.
Power-When Wilson Dam is COM
pleted in 1926 there will be installed
in it 10000 horsepower of hydro
| electric generating apparatus, with
provision for ultimate expansion to
600, 900 horsepower.
Owing TO the extreme variability OF
the river, however, it will not be pos
sible to generate this amount of power
at all times, for at low water the to-
al energy available in he river may
| fall below 10000 horsepower. However
with the existing supplementary steam
generating apparatus to be used when
the river is low 100000 horsepower
can be obtained continuously.
Navigation-The Tennessee River is
| 652 miles long from Knoxville, Ten
nessee, to its mouth near Cairo on the
| Ohio River We're it navigable through
out its entire length, it would give. tn
benefits of water transportation to a
| wide area, but numerous shoals pre-
sent an effective barrier to traffic.
| mn. y ,xvo,c+ ~ +ba ch0o1c oopctit,,tn tho
Muscle Shoals section. Attempts have
been made in the past to build canals
around these shoals, but the task prov
ed too great for the resources avail
| able
Under present plans, however, the
| obstacles to navigation from Florence,
| Alabama, to a point 83 miles up the
river will be cleared away, and it
will then become fairly simple and
inexpensive matter to open up the re-
mainder.
is to be consigned to peace-time uses,
) it still remains essential to our pro-
gram of national defense. We must
1
have nitrates for explosives in time
/ Of war, and under present conditions,
we have insufficient national supplies
/ to take care of our needs. Hence, the
War apartment has throughout all
negotiations for Muscle Shoals insist
1 ed that Nitrate plant No. shall be
always in readiness for munitions
manufacture and shall be instantly
available to the Government in time
of need.
Nitrate Plant No. 2 is capable of
turning out enough nitrates to supply
/ ammunition for any army of 1,250,O0O
men. Even this production is by no
i means enough to take lare of our full
demands; but inasmuch as reserves OF
nitrates are always on hand, it is es-
4 timated that Nitrate Plant No. will
be able tide us ever until additional
plants are built and put into operation
In the meantime, the War Depart
ment is endeavoring to develop the
i nitrogen industry throughout the
country, with the expectation that in
the near future enough commercial
plants will be in operation so that we
will be entirely free from dependence
on Chile Until this time comes, Nj
trate Plant No. 2 is to be zealously
preserved in it's present condition.
A Great Enuineerinq Achievement
There are longer dams than Will