Wilson Dam, Wilson Dam Road, Muscle Shoals-Florence, AL : 無料・フリー素材/写真
Wilson Dam, Wilson Dam Road, Muscle Shoals-Florence, AL / w_lemay
| ライセンス | クリエイティブ・コモンズ 表示-継承 2.1 |
|---|---|
| 説明 | Built in 1918-1924, this Classical Revival-style powerhouse and dam was constructed by the Army Corps o Engineers as the first government-funded impoundment on the Tennessee River. Standing 137 feet (42 meters) tall and 4,541 feet (1,384 meters) long, the Wilson Dam was the largest hydroelectric installation at the time of its construction, with a generating capacity of 663 megawatts, and features a navigation lock. The dam was built at the treacherous Muscle Shoals on the Tennessee River, which were an impediment to navigation, and was initially intended to power a nearby nitrate and munitions plant, an operation that was viewed as necessary due to World War I. After the war, interest in finishing the dam lost interest from the United States congress, who viewed public works projects like the dam as a folly, believing that the private market could better provide for demand than the government. The dam drew interest from Henry Ford, who promised to complete the project and create a major industrial center in Muscle Shoals, turning it into a “Detroit of the South,” as well as construct a second dam upstream. However, Senator George Norris of Nebraska believed that the dam would better serve the public good in government hands, and proposed a vision of similar public works projects to develop the Tennessee River Valley region from an agrarian economic backwater into a developed industrial powerhouse.Due to Norris’s opposition to Ford’s proposal, the dam remained under government ownership, and was finally completed in 1924, beginning operations in 1925. The dam only reached 40% of its electrical generating capacity by the end of the 1920s, due to the lack of demand and infrastructure in the surrounding region. Norris continued his support for further development of public works in the Tennessee Valley, which was opposed as “socialistic” by various presidents and other members of congress. Upon the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932, Norris’s proposal gained political backing, and in 1933, the Tennessee Valley Authority was created, taking over operations of Wilson Dam, and starting construction and acquisition of a series of dams in the Tennessee River Valley. The dam became the center of a rural electrification project in Northern Alabama, and served as the headquarters of the TVA until it moved to Knoxville in the late 20th Century.During the 1930s, the dam began to power nitrate plants, which manufactured fertilizer, and became vital to supporting multiple munitions factories in the surrounding region during World War II, as part of the war effort, which continued during the Cold War. The dam saw the addition of a new, larger lock in 1959, which remains the largest single-chamber lock in the Eastern United States. Wilson Dam was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966, owing to its significance in the development of the Tennessee River Valley and the TVA. Today, the dam’s legacy is both economic, with improvements in living standards, increased incomes, and industrialization of the surrounding region being directly tied to the dam’s completion, as well as a cultural legacy, as the mix of population immigrating from other parts of the south to Florence and Muscle Shoals during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s led to the development of the Muscle Shoals Sound, which inspired modern Country, R&B, and Rock and Roll music. The dam remains a significant feature of the Tennessee River and Northern Alabama today, and a century since its completion, is today one of many dams that provide a navigable channel and abundant hydroelectric power along the Tennessee River. |
| 撮影日 | 2023-07-24 20:43:30 |
| 撮影者 | w_lemay , Chicago, IL, United States |
| タグ | |
| 撮影地 | Lakeview, Alabama, United States 地図 |