Evening star., 1938-09-18

been in preparation Tor this unborn in
dustrial empire. Without going farther
than Is miles from the banks of the main
stream or its tributaries, United States
Army engineers found:
Coal 1886, 900 900 tons of it.
Iron-l69 ,047 900 tons.
Bauxite (aluminum)-70O,00 900 tons.
Copper-8000 900 tons
Asphalt rock-l7 900 900 tons.
zinc-45, 900 900 tons.
Phosphate rock-92, 400, 900 tons.
Unknown but large" amounts of clay
and marble and "inexhaustib:e" supplies
of sand, gravel and limestone
All these are easily available with exist
ing methods of exploitation. When proper
methods are developed use can be made of
even greater reserves including 2,768,072,-
900 tons of iron and 16320, 900 900 tons
of coal
The T. v. A. says it has no plans for
mining or processing these materials on
a commercial scale itself. 1t is, however,
conducting research to open the widest
possible market for Others
Market for Phosphate.
Phosphate is one example of this At
Muscle Shoals. Ala. T. v. A. chemists
have taken an electric furnace method
of producing "superphosphate," which had
heretofore been used only in limited way
in laboratories and developed it for large
scale production. Hundreds of thousands
of tons of the stuff already have been
produced for use as fertilizer on Tennessee
Valley farms. The fertilizer has been so
successful in increasing the yield Of crops
that a steadily increasing demand is an
ticipated. That will mean big business
for some one.
Ceramics is another example. In lab
oratory here at Norris Dam, T. v. A. re-
searchers have developed another electric
furnace method. this one to turn clay into
fine china. The wares that are being
produced do not compete with any cur
rently American-made china or porcelain.
They appear to equal the translucent quail
tiles of fine English dinner plate and
japanese porcelains the two of which now
hold about so per cent Of the American
chinaware business. If experiments now
under way succeed, mass production will be
possible for certain types of hgh-grade
dinnerware for the first time in history.
That will mean more big business for
some one.
In line with its power production pro-
gram and its declaration of intention to
raise living standards Of the region, the
T. V. A. has encouraged the people of the
valley to buy electrically powered ma
chinery and other devices: Pumps, mixers,
separators, refrigerators, stoves, irons, ra-
dios, etc. New production will be required
to feed this expanding market. And men
will be needed to service the machines.
That will mean still more business for
some one.
But the T. v. AS planning in the field
OF electrical development goes beyond that,
into the creation of new machinery, such
as the recently perfected device for quick
freezing of fruits and vegetables
Fruit Freezing Device.
This machine, developed to the point
where 1t is small enough to he portable
and cheap enough to be used on an indi-
vidual farm, takes fresh fruits and vege-
tables, automatically slices them, dips them
into a syrup whose temperature ranges
from zero to S degrees Fahrenheit, and
boxes them for market in to IL minutes.
T. v. A. engineers say the advantage of
this method Is that only thin film of
sirup protects each slice of the frozen food
and there is no waste in the package.
The farmer can control the time his out
put goes to market and, therefore, has
greater control over the price
In addition to developing this machine,
the T. v. A. research has brought forth
new type of refrigerated truck to haul the
frozen food and what is reputed to be the
first refrigerated barge in the world
The region is covered with forest land,
much Of it pine, which in recent years
has been hailed as the next source of paper
pulp for the newspaper industry and the
millions of dollars of investment it rep
resents
All these are industries of the future.
Their development will take years. Busi-
ness may consider T. " AS hand in them,
as it has considered T. v. A. power, as
Government interference" with private en-
terprise, or it may view the T. v. A. activity
AS it views research now in universities-
as a boon to industrial initiative.
There is one Tennessee Valley industry,
however, which already is partly grown:
the business Of helping people to have fun.
The big lake formed by erection of Norris
Dam is rapidly becoming q playground.
More than a million persons from all parts
OF the world visited it during the year which
ended with June, 1898. Ten boat docks
have been built along its shore.
On wooded hills beside the lake two
recreation parks have been established, the
first State parks in Tennessee. Located
in them are 80 tourists cabins which rent
at SIS to $40 week.
The T. v. A. people who manage the
model town of Norris and the properties
around 1t say the lake is already rival to
the Great Smoky Mountains - recreation
resort.