TENNESSEE WATERSHED

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 236, 6 May 1933, Page 7

TENNESSEE WATERSHED

Big Development Scheme I ■• ; Press Association. —Copyright. j Washington, May 3. The United States Senate on Wcdncs- ' tiv.y passed the Muscle Shoals and Tcn--1 ntssee Valley Development Bill, which I now goes to a conference with the House j of Representatives. The Bill is a proposal to develop the entire Tennessee River watershed on a gigantic scale to link water power, flood | control, reforestation, agriculture and in- | dustry in one vast experiment. The j scheme, President Roosevelt said in a rc- ' cent statement, would relieve unemploy- | meat and restore the balance between j urban and rural populations, and he I characterised it as "probably the widest ' experiment ever conducted by a Government.*' He declared that if the plan I should be successful it would be selfsustaining; he estimated that its adoption 'would put 200.000 men to work in the I Tennessee River watershed alone. He i indicated that: he' hoped to extend the I plan to other sections of the United j States and re-establish American life on I a basis that would end unemployment i and decentralise industry. As outlined by Mr. Roosevelt, the Ten- \ nessee River project, involving half a ! dozen States, will include reforestation I of the hillsides of the watershed, which alone would employ 50,000 to 73,000 men; creation of flood control basins in the j upper valleys of the Tennessee River watershed, of which the most important would be that at Cove Creek, not far j from Knoxville; water power developj rient, beginning with full utilisation of I trie piant already built at Muscle Shoals, ! to provide cheaper power for residents j of cities, States and farms; reclamation j >a- form us» of the fertile bottom lands j of the river, in which farming is now « prevented by frequent Hoods; eliminaj lion of the unprofitable agricultural lands by reforestation; improvement of navigation; and stimulation of decentralised industry in the region by the supply of cneap power.