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Show Kingsport Press, Holliston Mills, and Mead Corp. paper mills. Interconnected Eastern Waterway System and Relations to Other Forms of Transportation In the long-range development of an inland waterway system from the Great Lakes to the Gulf, the Tennessee River is one link. The authorized improvement of the Tombigbee and its canalization would provide a 9-foot waterway from the Gulf into the Pickwick pool of the Tennessee River. Construction of a dam and reseirvoir on the Cumberland near Kentucky Dam would also create the possibility of a feasible navigation canal connecting the two reservoirs. This project is under study and has been recommended to the President. These projects are considered by some not to make the best use of eastern waterway possibilities. A physical possibility which deserves further study lies in the provision of a 24-foot waterway from the Gulf to the Great Lakes by way of the Mobile, Tom- bigbee, Tennessee, and Ohio Rivers. While be- yond the range of present plans, a thorough review of the relation of future construction to such a navigational possibility should be undertaken. Development of full economic use of the existing inland waterway system and of possible extensions depends to a large extent on more effective co- ordination of land and water transportation through improved regulation. The Tennessee River system does not differ in this regard from others which form parts of the interconnected system. Regulatory controls, particularly those dealing with competitive rates charged by rail carriers, must be so applied as to recognize fully and preserve the inherent ad- vantages, especially the advantage of low transpor- tation costs by water and other forms of transporta- tion. This stated objective of the national trans- portation policy has not yet been achieved. Plans for Future Flood Protection In the control of floods on the Tennessee River system by reservoirs it would be financially prohibi- tive to build structures which would give full pro- tection against the largest conceivable flood, as is usually the case on a great river system. The people of Chattanooga, however, have no guarantee that some combination of meteorological circum- stances may not concentrate far more water in that urban area than did the maximum known flood in 1867. Anticipating the possibility of a flood 60 percent greater than that of 1867, the TVA has recom- mended levees for the protection of Chattanooga to supplement reservoir storage. Congress has au- thorized construction of such a system by the Corps of Engineers, but the city has not yet met the re- quirements for local participation in the project. Another area of potential flood damage is in the French Broad Valley where the July 1916 floods caused widespread property damage as did the 1928, 1940, and 1949 floods. The two in 1940 caused damage of 1.8 million dollars and the three in 1949, 1.35 million dollars, most of it due to crop damage. A plan prepared by TVA would afford a sub- stantial amount of protection to industrial Asheville and the agricultural lands above the city. The plan proposed includes seven flood detention basins, and levees at Asheville and along the river in the agricultural region upstream from Asheville. The seven dams are to be in the upper reaches of the French Broad River and in the Little River, Clear Creek, Cane Creek, Swannanoa, Davidson, and Mills River Basins. Estimated capital cost of this project on the basis of 1948 price levels is 21.5 million dollars. The ratio of benefits to costs was estimated as 1.3 to 1. The proposed detention basins are for flood con- trol only. This type of reservoir was recommended because operation of gate-controlled outlets would increase operating costs substantially. Federal law requires that localities provide the necessary lands, rights-of-way, and easements for construction of the levees and channel improvements without cost to the Federal Government. Flood problems exist at many other cities and towns in the Tennessee Basin. A recent survey revealed that there were 34 such problem areas, in- cluding, besides Chattanooga and Asheville, Day- ton, Kingsport, Elizabethton, Bristol, and Harri- man. Soil Conservation and Fertilizer Programs Even though there has been notable progress since 1933 toward stabilizing valley farms, adequate land treatment programs have not been applied as extensively as is desirable. Their further extension presents a challenge for the future. 791 |
