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Show $100,000 each, and 30 barges for the Army Transporta- tion Corps, and 15 vessels for Russia, costing $800,000 each. The yard constructs six to seven towboats and 50 to 60 barges per year, with sales totaling between $5,000,- 000 and $6,000,000 annually. Wood River Oil & Refining Co. is the newest oil com- pany in the St. Louis area. Wood River, 111., is approxi- mately 10 miles above St. Louis, Mo. Movements of products via the inland waterways plays an important part. The company has steadily grown until today its capacity is 25,000 to 30,000 barrels of crude oil treated per day. Shell Oil Co.'s Wood River Refinery is the company's largest and most modern and covers an area of more than 2 square miles. It has about 3,500 employees and processes daily over 100,000 barrels of crude oil. Move- ment of products via the Mississippi River plays a large and important part. The Street Towing Co. moves 2,150,000 barrels of oil by river annually. Upper Mississippi River The Northern States Power Co. located plants adjacent to the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Red Wing, Minn., and La Crosse, Wis., prior to the in- ception of barge transportation. They now transport nearly a half million tons of coal annually by barge to their plants. The fuel is unloaded directly at the St. Paul, Red Wing, and La Crosse plants with resultant savings over the cost of transportation by rail. The company has a new plant under construction along the Minnesota River, tributary to the Mississippi River 9-foot project, in which one of the considerations is the potential ability of receiving barged coal for direct unloading at the plant. The provision of a 9-foot channel on the Minnesota River is under study by the Corps of Engineers. The Shell Oil Co. and Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. employ private river transportation facilities on the Mississippi River at St. Paul. Car gill, Inc., is one of the large grain corporations in the country. During World War II, because of the loca- tion of property adjacent to a waterway, the company erected a shipyard and constructed several naval tankers and river towboats. Acquisition of the property was initially made for the purpose of shipping grain from in- land points by water to ports in the lower Mississippi and Tennessee River Valleys. Since the war the company has been shipping grain from a terminal constructed near the shipyard. So apparent have been the advantages of shipping by water that the company has undertaken main- tenance of a tributary channel connecting their terminal with the established Mississippi River 9-foot canalization project. Now bulk grain is loaded directly into barges from cars and trucks arriving from inland points without incurring switching charges through the Twin Cities. The Minnesota Farm Bureau Service Co., having plants in St. Paul and Winona, Minn., has found it economical and feasible to transport phosphate rock by water from Tennessee Valley and lower Mississippi River ports to their terminals and plants along the river. Bettendorf, Iowa, Tank Farm (bulk oil and gas storage) represents a development which is entirely the result of the improvement of the upper Mississippi River for navi- gation. The firms represented in this improvement are the Socany Vacuum Oil Co., Inc., Shell Oil Co., Stand- ard Oil Co., Paraland Oil Co., the Texas Co., and the W. H. Barber Co. Construction of this tank farm which was begun in the late 1930's has steadily increased in capacity so that to date it can store more than 1,250,000 barrels of gas, fuel oil, and kerosene. It receives more than one-half million tons of these commodities by water each year. Dairyland Power Cooperative, La Crosse, Wis., has just completed the construction of a steam, coal-burning, electric-generating plant at Cassville, Wis., on the Mis- sissippi River. Its main reason for building at that site was because of the fact that all their coal can be shipped in by water. This plant will tie in with their Alma and Genoa, Wis., plants and serve portions of Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Tennessee River Pennsylvania Salt Co. and Pittsburgh Metallurgical Co. are examples of businesses recently located new plants on the Tennessee River and are using it. Sulfur, coke, and scrap metals currently are received by water at the two plants. Pittsburgh Metallurgical Co. has announced intention also to use water transportation for imported ores. Total announced investment in Tennessee River plants of the two firms is $3.6 million. Wolverine Tube Division of Calumet & Hecla Con- solidated Copper Co. located on the waterway, not with serious intentions of using it, but because of effect of such location upon rail rates. The firm located in Decatur, Ala; investment is estimated at about $10 million. Alabama Flour Mills was established primarily because of availability of the waterway. Parent organization in Nebraska Consolidated Mills Co. A grain elevator and flour mill (said to be the first mill in the State of Alabama) were established in Decatur, Ala. Original plan was to bring in grains from west of the Mississippi by barge at a saving of about $3.50 per ton. Although substantial quantities of yellow corn and wheat are being brought in by water, the firm has been able to buy much of its grain from north Alabama farmers. Local grain purchases totaled $1,444,000 in 1949 as contrasted with $20,000 in 1941. Current payroll is $490,000, and represents over five times as many employees as in 1942. Elevator capacity is now 800,000 bushels, or twice initial capacity. Milling capacity is 1,200 barrels per day, cornmeal pro- duction 600 barrels, and commercial feed capacity is 700 tons. Badgett Corp. will use the waterway to reach a new market for an existing resource. Badgett is about to build a $300,000 rail-to-barge coal terminal at Grand Rivers, Ky., just above Kentucky Dam? The terminal will handle coal from west Kentucky fields whose only previous route to market was by rail. (Illinois Central Railroad, inci- dentally, has assisted the enterprise by establishing a re- duced rate from the mines to the terminal.) Impetus for the undertaking was coal requirements of TVA's Johnson- ville steam power plant, 75 waterway miles from the terminal. Texas Co. and Gulf Refining Co. have reshaped their organizations so as to take advantage of water transpor- 429 |