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Show However, the operation of storage for reduction of stage at upriver points usually causes the reduction of 1 foot or more in the Cairo stage, as shown in the following summary: Date Natural river stage Actual river stage Reduction in flood heights Mar. 11, 1945....... Mar. 22, 1945....... Apr. 4, 1945........ Jan. 17, 1946........ Apr. 19-20, 1947 Feb. 24, 1948........ Apr. 3, 1948......... Apr. 23-25, 1948 Jan. 31, 1949........ Feb. 26, 1949........ Jan. 19, 195O........ Feb. 15, 195O........ Feet 55.6 54.6 54.6 53.5 48.0 48.7 53.4 49.0 51.2 50.4 57.2 57.1 Feet 53.92 53.9 53.7 52.13 47.12 46.7 51.6 47.9 50.5 49.2 55.3 55.9 Feet 1.7 .7 .9 1.4 .9 2.0 1.8 1.1 .7 1.2 1.9 1.2 Source: Tennessee Valley Authority. Procedures have been established between TVA and the Corps of Engineers as to exchange of flood reports and predictions, whenever the gage at Cairo exceeds 35 feet. The highest flood at Cairo since completion of Kentucky Dam occurred in 1950, reaching a crest of 55.3 feet in January and 55.9 in February. The reduction from the unregulated crests to the regulated crests as a result of the TVA reservoir system was respectively 1.9 and 1.2 feet, the net reduction being 1.3 feet, as shown in the tabulation above. Damages prevented were esti- mated to be 1.8 million dollars. Hydroelectric Power The first hydroelectric dam on the main stream of the Tennessee, authorized by Congress in 1904 and constructed by the Chattanooga & Tennessee River Electric Co., a private utility, was built at Hales Bar, 33 miles below Chattanooga and later acquired by the Tennessee Electric Power Co., another prrvate utility. In 1939 this plant at Hales Bar was purchased by TVA and integrated into the TVA power system. It now has a hydroelectric power installation of 51,100 kilowatts.16 A steam "Installation of 48,600 kilowatts additional hydro- electric capacity at Hales Bar was in progress in 1950. plant at the site has additional capacity of 40,000 kilowatts. The second major unit was Wilson Dam at Muscle Shoals, built by the Corps of Engineers. Work was begun during World War I and com- pleted in 1925." It was originally equipped with eight generating units having a capacity of 184,000 kilowatts, and provided for an ultimate installation of 436,000 kilowatts. However, no legislation pro- viding for the disposal of power at Wilson Dam was adopted until 1933. Federal Generating Facilities and Private Utilities From 1926 to 1933 large quantities of potential power at Wilson Dam, resulting from impoundment of the river, were unused. Power sold by the Corps of Engineers, then in charge of the power plant, was disposed of on a dump-power basis at 2 mills per kilowatt-hour, almost exclusively to the Ala- bama Power Co., which had installed its own trans- formers and distributing connections at the dam. Another reason advanced for the waste of poten- tial power and the low sales price per kilowatt-hour paid by the Alabama Power Co. was the require- ment by the Federal Government that the plant be held ready for an emergency. Although Wilson Dam was built with public funds, legislative restrictions prevented municipali- ties, even those only a few miles away, from build- ing transmission lines to the dam to purchase this low-cost energy. Various offers were made by industrial firms and utility companies to purchase the Muscle Shoals properties, but none of the offers was adequate. Numerous bills were introduced in Congress to effectuate such arrangements but none could com- mand a majority of both Houses. Three measures providing for the disposition of the power to be generated at Wilson Dam were approved by both the Senate and House of Repre- sentatives. Each of these was called a Norris bill and provided for Government operation of the dam. The first, passed in 1928, encountered a pocket veto;18 the second, passed in 1931, was also vetoed;19 the third, passed in 1933, was the Ten- nessee Valley Authority Act. 11 Corps of Engineers. u 69 Congressional Record 9842, 9957. "74 Congressional Record 5346, 5708, 5716; S. Doc. 321, 71st Cong., 3d sess. 724 |
