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Show Chapter 1 The Tennessee River Basin1 The Valley and Its People The Tennessee River draws its waters from an area of 40,900 square miles in southeastern United States. More than half of this watershed is within the State of Tennessee, and it includes smaller parts of six other States, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Virginia. The sources of the Tennessee River are in the South Appalachian Highlands of Virginia and North Carolina, a region of heavy annual rainfall second only to the Pacific Northwest. At Knoxville, the Holston and the French Broad Rivers meet to form the main stem of the Tennessee, which in turn is the largest tributary of the Ohio. The basin includes a wide variety of climate, con- ditions, and ways of life. In its eastern uplands the river system drains "the Land of the Sky," a moun- tain country where many people still live in log cabins among eroding corn and tobacco patches on 1 The original draft of this study was prepared during 1950 by the Committee on River Program Analysis of the Commission. The following persons served on the committee, participated in the planning or review of the report, and contributed data to it: George Adkins, Federal Power Commission; James Bowman, Tennessee Valley Authority; Gordon Clapp, Tennessee Valley Authority; Raymond H. Davis, Soil Conservation Service, De- partment of Agriculture; Albert E. Dykes, Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army; H. Dean Fravel, Bureau of Public Roads, Department of Commerce; S. H. Gale, Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army; William E. Holy, Public Health Service; Maynard Hufschmidt, Department of the Interior; Leon Jourolmon, Jr., President's Water Resources Pol- icy Commission; the steep slopes. A thriving industrial community is to be found in the foothills and valleys from Bris- tol to Knoxville and Chattanooga. This is the region of the greatest concentration of population in the entire valley. Its cities are not large, but they are closely spaced, generally along the river. This was the earliest part of the valley settled by white man. The early settlements occurred during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when pioneers of English and Scotch ancestry came over the mountains from Virginia and North Carolina. The principal agricultural products of this part of the Tennessee Valley include burley tobacco, fruit, Irish potatoes, corn, hay, and livestock. It is estimated that more than 2 million tons of agricul- tural products are produced annually within 5 to 15 miles of the Tennessee River and its tributaries. The forest resources of the eastern half of the Edward N. Munns, Forest Service, Department of Agriculture; Kenneth W. Ross, Federal Power Commission; Victor Roterus, Department of Commerce; Frank L. Weaver, Federal Power Commission; G. O. Wessenauer, Tennessee Valley Authority; A. H. Wiebe, Tennessee Valley Authority; John W. Wiseman, Public Health Service; Edward A. Ackerman, President's Water Resources Policy Commission, committee chairman. The study is based on information available between May and October 1950, including special basin reports submitted to the Commission by interested Federal agen- cies. Following preparation of the original draft by the Committee on River Program Analysis the study was edited and revised by Edward A. Ackerman, John C. Beebe, John M. Carmody, Patricia Howse, Edward N. Munns, Evelyn S. Myers, and Jane G. Perry. Individual committee members or the agencies where they are em- ployed may or may not be in agreement with particular conclusions here presented. 705 |