scle Shoals 
 
 FnMir. 
 
 m' ./&'/i^ nation 
 
Library of 
 Hugh T. Lef/er 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 
 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hil 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/americasgibraltaOOengi 
 
'7i 
 
 GOVERNMENT ENGINEERS DRII.I.ING AT SITE OF DAM NUMBER TW f 
 
Library of f 
 
 Hugh T. LeflBt ^ 
 
 AmerlcdsClbraltGi' 
 
 fluscle Shoals 
 
 -A Brief- | 
 
 Tox the establishment o[our | 
 
 National Nitrate Plant at H 
 
 Muscle Shoals on the \ 
 Tennessee River 
 
 Pi'epai*ed by 
 
 Nashville Section 
 Engineering Assoc iat1on_9^'^/^<^ South 
 
 Published by 
 
 Muscle Shoals Association 
 
 Nashville, Tenn. 
 ]()16 
 
¥oL- 
 
 .TSW 
 
 S I X T ->• - F O U R T H C O N C: R E S S FIRST SESSION 
 
 Senate Document No. 442 
 
 Being an Extract from Section One Hundred Twenty-four of the 
 Measure entitled "A Bill to Increase the Efficiency of the 
 Military Establishment of the United States." (h. r. i2766.) 
 
 NITRATE SUPPLY. The President of the United States is hereby authorized and 
 empowered to make, or cause to be made, such investigation as in his judgment is necessary 
 to determine the best, cheapest, and most available means for the production of nitrates 
 and other products for munitions of war and useful in the manufacture of fertilizers and 
 other useful products by water power or any other power as in his judgment is the best 
 and cheapest to use; and is also hereby authorized and empowered to designate for the 
 exclusive use of the United States, if in his judgment such means is best and cheapest, 
 such site or sites, upon any navigable or non-navigable river or rivers or upon the public 
 lands, as in his opinion will be necessary for carrying out the purposes of this Act; and is 
 further authorized to construct, maintain, and operate, at or on any site or sites so desig- 
 nated, dams, locks, improvements to navigation, power houses, and other plants and equip- 
 ment or other means than water power as in his judgment is the best and cheapest, neces- 
 sary or convenient for the generation of electrical or other power and for the production of 
 nitrates or other products needed for munitions of war and useful in the manufacture of 
 fertilizers and other useful products. 
 
 The President is authorized to lease, purchase, or acquire, by condemnation, gift, grant, 
 or devise, such lands and rights of vsay as may be necessary for the construction and opera- 
 tion of such plants, and to take from any lands of the United States, or to purchase or ac- 
 quire by condemnation, materials, minerals, and processes, patented or otherwise, necessary 
 for the construction and operation of such plants and for the manufacture of such products. 
 
 The products of such plants shall be used by the President for military and naval pur- 
 poses to the extent that he may deem necessary, and any surplus which he shall determine 
 is not required shall be sold and disposed of by him under such regulations as he may pre- 
 scribe. 
 
 The President is hereby authorized and empowered to employ such officers, agents, or 
 agencies as may in his discretion be necessary to enable him to carry out the purposes herein 
 specified, and to authorize and require such officers, agents, or agencies to perform an\ and 
 all of the duties imposed upon hini b\- the pro\'isions hereof. 
 
 The sum of $20,000,000 is hereb\- appropriated, out of any moneys in the Treasury not 
 otherwise appropriated, available until expended, to enable the President of the United 
 States to carr\- out the purposes herein provided for. 
 
 The plant or plants provided for under this Act shall be constructed and operated solely 
 bv the Government and not in conjunction with any other industr\- or enterprise carried 
 on b> private capital 
 
Muscle Shoals 
 Association 
 
 Offi 
 
 icers 
 
 A. M. SHOOK. Chairman 
 Tracv Citv. Tenn. 
 
 E. B. STAHLMAN. 
 
 Vice-Chairman, Nashville, Tenn. 
 
 T, O. VINTON, 
 
 Vice-Chairman, Memphis. I enn. 
 
 WILL R. MANIER. 
 
 Secretary. Nashville. Tenn. 
 
 JOHN HOWE PEYTON. 
 
 ( hairman Engineering Committee. 
 Nashville. Tenn. 
 
 P. J. KREUSI. 
 
 Vice-Chairman. Chattanooga. Tenn. 
 
 EMMETT O'NEAL. 
 
 Vice-Chairman. Birmingham. Ala. 
 
 C. H. HUSTON. 
 
 Treasurer. Chattanooga. Tenn. 
 
 J. H. ALLISON. 
 
 Chairman Publicity Committee. 
 Nashville. Tenn. 
 
 NASHVILLE SECTION 
 
 ENGINEERING ASSOCIATION of 
 THE SOUTH 
 
 Committee on Data and Publication 
 
 John Howe Pf.yton. Chairman 
 
 HuNiKR McDonald. Vice-Chairman 
 
 W. 1 1. SCHUHKM.^N 
 
 H. S. Badger 
 C. H. Crawford 
 A. J. Dyer 
 
 Willis G. Waldo. Executive .Secretary 
 C. S. Brown 
 W. S. Winn 
 F. E. Freeland 
 Leland Hume 
 
%1 
 
 TE> 
 
 oroxv^or 
 
 d 
 
 OUR NATIONAL 
 REQUIREMENT 
 
 THE AMENDMENT providing for an adequate 
 means for the manufacture of nitric acid, which 
 was incorporated in the National Defense Bill 
 recently passed by Congress, is a feature of vital im- 
 portance, it makes possible an abundant supply of 
 nitric acid for our country's defense, and as nitric acid 
 is an indispensable ingredient in all explosives, the 
 provision is essential to any scheme for effective mil- 
 itary preparedness. 
 
 Highly significant, however, is the fact that this 
 amendment was provided, not by the Committee on 
 Military Affairs, but by the Committee on Agricul- 
 ture, for thus was emphasized a great need of our 
 country a need both military and economic in its 
 nature, for this preparedness for the possible emer- 
 gency of war is at the same time, a fundamental pro- 
 vision for the common welfare in time of peace. 
 
 Whether, then, we consider 
 our requirement in peace or in 
 war our country's nation-wide 
 deficiency can be expressed in a single word nitrogen 
 Public attention was officially drawn to this sub- 
 ject by Hon. Lindsley M. Garrison. Secretary of 
 War. when in his annual report for 1915 he referred 
 to the use of hydro-electric energy in the process of 
 obtaining nitrogen from the air as a matter of "prime 
 importance " in considering the means "to meet our 
 necessities in widely differing fields — our agricultural 
 and general industrial development, and our national 
 defense." Continuing, he said: 
 
 "Such a use requires large quantities of 
 cheap power, which can be found only in the use 
 of water power =^ * * Military effectiveness 
 requires ample quantities of the element (nitro- 
 gen), and the proper appreciation of national se- 
 curity behooves us to make provision for an ade- 
 quate supply in time of war. Our only present 
 source of supply is in the natural nitrate beds of 
 Chile, which m time of war might be shut off 
 from us. Obviously in the matter of munitions, 
 especially where the source is so limited and local- 
 ized, we should neglect no provision so easily 
 available as this to make the country self-sus- 
 taining. Plants producing nitrogen for industrial 
 purposes in time of peace would be a great nation- 
 al asset in view of their availability to supply 
 us with the necessary nitrogen in time of war." 
 
 THE PLAN ADOPTED 
 BY CONGRESS 
 
 Realizing the need for taking 
 immediate steps to overcome 
 so serious a national defici- 
 ency. Congress amended the military preparedness 
 bill so as to include an appropriation of $20,000,000 
 for the establishment of a nitrate plant, the two- 
 
 THE LOCATION OE 
 THE PLANT 
 
 fold purpose being to insure to the government a 
 safe and sufficient supply of nitrogen in the form 
 of nitric acid for the manufacture of explosives, 
 and to provide an abundance of cheap fertilizer. 
 of which nitrogen is the necessary base, in order 
 to increase and cheapen the food production of the 
 country. This plan of Congress is no experiment. 
 It has been tried by other nations with wonderful 
 results. It is no secret that the amazing effectiveness 
 of Germany in military and economic preparedness is 
 largely due to their utilization of atmospheric nitrogen. 
 The plan has met with opposition, but it will be 
 shown that this opposition is limited, self-interested 
 and ill-founded. The public welfare is paramount, 
 and cannot be disregarded at the behest of any pri- 
 vate interest. 
 
 The Government having de- 
 clared its purpose, the very 
 important question to be de- 
 cided by the President and his counsellors, is the lo- 
 cation of the nitrate plant. 
 
 We are confident that we can demonstrate that 
 the South offers an exceptionally suitable site on the 
 Tennessee River for the proposed plant; a site that 
 will afford ample water power, with all the necessary 
 associated and contributing natural resources and 
 industrial advantages to make it preeminently fitted 
 for the purposes contemplated by Congress. 
 
 In addition, the establishment of the nitrate 
 plant at Muscle Shoals will remove the last obstacle 
 to the unimpeded navigation of the Tennessee River 
 and will provide water transportation for a great 
 section of country, thus completing a necessary, but 
 long delayed, waterway improvement. 
 
 And so. to point out the far- 
 THE PURPOSE OE ,. ■ ,- , 
 
 THE ASSOCIATION '■^aching significance of one 
 
 small item in a voluminous 
 measure on Military Preparedness: To awaken our 
 farmers and their many friends to the pressing need of 
 leaving nothing undone that will rightly aid in estab- 
 lishing this great nitrate plant where it will have its 
 maximum economic usefulness: To draw from 
 reliable sources* the information that unfolds 
 our subject in its many phases, and points unerringly, 
 we believe, to one great power site as the place for the 
 working out of this vast undertaking: To lay these 
 facts clearly before our President and his chosen ad- 
 visors, and to distribute them for general information: 
 This is the purpose to which we dedicate these pages. 
 The Committee. 
 
 mdicating a publication listed oi, pp 
 tion on which the supporting data 
 <e. g. magaiine articles) the page nu 
 
SciGniit'ic^S^G)mmQrci^l 
 LndorsQmoni' 
 
 THE FOLLOWING ORGANIZATIONS OFFICIALLY ENDORSE MUSCLE SHOALS AS THE 
 LOGICAL SITE FOR THE GOVERNMENT NITRATE PLANT 
 
 GENERAL 
 
 Southern Commerciai. CoNiiHi 
 Leland Iliiine. Chainnnn. Cnrr 
 
 
 , Pahi 
 
 1 1 enry Har t ung. C it y 
 iiercial Club; A. S. Murphy, 
 
 ALAHAMA 
 
 Ai ABAMA. State ok^oIui Hurifoy, Secretaiy of 
 
 State. 
 Albany— Citv Council; 
 
 Clerk. 
 
 President, 
 
 Athens— City Council; Ernest Hine. Mayor. 
 
 Attall.\ — Chamber of Commerce; John P. Stew- 
 art. Chairman of Committee. 
 
 Blocton— City of Blocton; J. A. Wood. Mayor. 
 
 Brewton — City Council; D. B. Hayes, City Clerk. 
 
 Dothan — Rotar>' Club; R. W. Lindsey. Sei.reiarv. 
 
 Enslev— Ensley Club; J. J. Chisholm. Georij;e Mil- 
 ler and D. C. Aver>'t, Comrr' 
 
 Fort Payne — C hamber of Com 
 
 Secretary. 
 Jasper — C ham ber 
 
 munitions plant perhaps the most impor- 
 tant requirement aside from adequate 
 hydro-electric power and its comparative 
 safety from capture, is the variety and 
 abundance of the minerals that are indis- 
 pensable to warfare, within easy reach. 
 
 Muscle Shoals, with the Hi 
 coke for the making of cyanamide. with 
 the bountiful supply of iron ore in threat 
 variety and the coke for its manufacture 
 into pig iron, and with manganese, alumi- 
 num, zinc, copper and lead easily access- 
 ible, it appears that the advantages of 
 
 thee 
 
 be equalled 
 
 ntry. 
 
 Nashville, Tenn 
 
 Tce;C.A.\Volfes. 
 
 Ciias. R. Wiggins. Secrelar>' 
 Mobile — Chamber of Commerce; W. M. Clemens. Secretary. 
 Montgomery — Chamber of Commerce; Bruce Kennedy. Ccne 
 Selma — City Council; Louis Benisli, Mayor. 
 Sylacauga — City Council; T. P. Johnson, Mayor. 
 
 CALIFORNIA 
 Long Beach — Merchants' and Manufact 
 Secretary. 
 
 
 Club; T. j. I.I 
 
 RG — Commercial Club; T. C. Hannah. 
 League; A. J. Dorman. 
 League; W. B. Ellis. 
 Board of Trade and Cotton Exchange; 
 Club; C. E. Sisk. 
 
 President. 
 
 .\. H.Simpson. President. 
 
 E— Progressive Club; 
 i usiness League ; W. 
 
 Will K. Ward. 
 
 Los Gatos — Merchants" .\ssoci 
 L\MAR — Young Ml 
 
 ; E. E. 
 
 Place, President. 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 ness Association; G. L. Carrico. Secretarj". 
 Valley Credit Association; G. L. Carrico. Manager. 
 
 CONNECTICUT 
 less Men's Association; C. H. Starkweather. Secretar 
 
 Water \'.\llev — Water X'alley Boosters* Club; 
 
 Guy Xeson. Secretary', 
 West Point — .Merchants' Association; R. L. 
 
 Bettv. Secretar>'. 
 Wi(.<,iNs— Progressive Lcagiio; E. R. Bryan. 
 President. 
 
 MISSOURI 
 Lial Club; L. N. Shipley. Stvrelury. 
 
 Southport — Commercial Association; C. L. Stevens, Secretary. 
 Wilson — Chamber of Commerce; C E. Hope. Secretarj'. 
 
 OHIO 
 
 Galion — Chamber of Commerce; L. M. Vauglni. Secretary. 
 
 -Chamber of Commerce; C. H. Sexauer, Secretarj'. 
 OKLAHOMA 
 
 ■ Retail Merchants' 
 
 Arthur Ersland. 
 
 .\ — -Board of Tradt 
 . State < 
 
 ; L. P. 
 
 GEORGIA 
 
 -Phillip Cook, Secretary^ of State. 
 Americvs — Americus and Su ^ 
 
 Glover, President. 
 Griffin — Retail Merchants' 
 
 Niles. President. 
 
 County Chamber of Commerce; Carr 
 d Business Men's .Association; George 
 
 INDIANA 
 
 Harry Lathrop, Secreta 
 L. ^L Wallace, Preside.,. 
 
 Havi 
 
 Try Lathrop, Secretary 
 ol[s — Indiana Engineering Society; L. ^L Wallace, President 
 E— Rush County Chamber of Commerce; Hot 
 
 Bristol — Board of Trade; J. D, Faucette. President. 
 Chattanooga — Chattanooga Engineers' Club; O. B. Agner, Vice- 
 Clarksville — Chamber of Commerce; P. J. Atkinson, Secretary. 
 Columbia — Board of Trade; A. B. Sowell. Secretary-. 
 
 CKSON— Tenne.<-;.i- Rur.il I_.-lt.r ( .irn. 
 CKSON — Merchants' and Manufacturt 
 President. 
 
 KENTUCKY 
 
 Bardstown — Nelson County Business Men": 
 
 man. President. 
 Cadiz— Trigg County Devd.M,; ■ \ : ,: 
 
 .cob S. He> 
 , Secretary. 
 
 i Me 
 
 Me 
 
 -Ma 
 
 County Commerdal Club; J. W. Kevil, 
 County Industrial Club; C. J. Kellem. 
 Board of Trade and Retail Merchants' .Association; C. W. Cniic. 
 
 Secretary 
 . Turner" 
 
 J. C. McClary. 
 
 Paris — Commercial Club; O, T. Hin' 
 ScOTTSViLLE — Commercial Club; J 
 
 President. 
 St\ 
 
 resident. 
 
 LOUISIANA 
 Alexandrl\ — Chamber of Commerce 
 
 mark. President. 
 Jennings— Chamber of Commerce; i< 
 
 Vice- President - 
 Lake Charles and Calcasieu Paris 
 
 of Commerce; Herbert Bayliss, Genei 
 New Orleans — Louisiana Engineer 
 
 Samuel Young. President. 
 
 MISSISSIPPI 
 
 Brookhwen — Board of Trade; W. 
 Secretarj . 
 
 CoLL-MBi^ — Marion County Truck Growers' -As- 
 sociation. N. R. Burkett, President. 
 
 COLUMBLS — Chamber of Commerce; J. G. Weath- 
 erlj, Manager. 
 
 ,E— Tennessee Academy of Science; Samuel M. Bain, Preside; 
 — Commercial Club; J, A. Susong, President. 
 -Business Men's .Association; John T. Long, President. 
 -Middle Tennessee Farmers' Insl" 
 
 ler-:on. \'ice- President. 
 
 As I understand ii 
 be met in the select 
 
 safety from captun 
 proximity to all the 
 
 by the enemy 
 
 iterials used i 
 ufacture of the various product 
 gether with adequate hydro-electric p 
 "There is probably no place in the I 
 
 the required power. In 
 to the Shoals are the qu 
 to supply Ml 
 
 ntity 
 
 for 
 
 of 
 
 close proximity 
 arries and mines 
 
 ill demands for 
 
 lead. zin< 
 
 easy reach. The level plains coming ur 
 to the river bluffs about the M uscle Shoals 
 are most admirable locations for manu- 
 facturing plants of various kinds, and 
 of any desired magnitude. 
 
 EUGENE A. SMITH. 
 State Geologist of Alabama 
 
 Commercial Club; A. E. 
 Board of Trade; John W. Harton, 
 
 I 1.1. \H.)MA— Middle Tennessee Ed 
 IT Oawford, President. 
 ^'iM hf:ster — Chamber of Comn 
 .\le\ander. President. 
 
 TEXAS 
 lIstix — Chamber nf CnmnHTu-; 
 President. 
 
 H. H. 
 
 iCii 
 
 rial 
 
 K — -Chamber of Commerce 
 — Citizen"s Leagui 
 
 M. S. Jacobs, 
 .\dolpli Seide- 
 
 ann. Secretarv. 
 
 T .Arthur — Board of Trade; W. H. Richard- 
 
 n, Secretarv. 
 
 KL-M— Commercial Club; J. M. Halle. Sere- 
 
 Barksdale. Preside] 
 
Tb^blQ of Cbnioni's 
 
 Part One: On This We Rest Our Case . . .11 
 
 What we seek to show. 
 
 Part Two: A Serious Situation and the Way Out . 13 
 
 The effect of a National Nitrate Plant on the high cost 
 of living -and what it will do for the farmer. 
 
 Part Three: Our Powerless Prowess . . . .18 
 
 The Military Situation and Uncle Sam's Nitrate Plant. 
 
 Part Four: New Light on an Old Subject . . .22 
 
 .Navigation on the Tennessee River and what the de- 
 velopment of Muscle Shoals will do for it. 
 
 Part Five: A Phantom Opponent .... 28 
 
 Turning the searchlight upon the possibilities of by- 
 product Coke Oven production. 
 
 Part Six: The Offering of the South .... 42 
 
 What Muscle Shoals supplies to meet the needs of the 
 Nitrate Plant in time of Peace. 
 
 Part Seven: Our National Treasure House . . .51 
 
 What Muscle Shoals and Adjacent Territory offer to 
 meet the needs of the Nitrate Plant in time of War. 
 
 Part Eight: And Finally- 59 
 
 References 61 
 
 Appendix Resource Map of the United .State.s 
 Inside Back Cover 
 
NORTH ABUTMENT DAM NUMBER THREE 
 
«,™vD.o.,t,nu^,,|:.„|"„.„io,j<^j- 1 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 What We Seek to Show 
 
 FIRST -That a primary purpose of the section of the law appropriating $20,000,000 for a 
 nitrate plant was to provide a full and dependable supply of cheap, high grade fertilizer 
 for increasing the crop production of the country, an increase that is sorely needed to 
 reduce the high and ever rising cost of living. (Part Two) 
 
 Second— That our nation, depending upon present resources, might he brought to serious 
 straits in the event of war for tack of nitric acid for the manufacture of explosives; and that 
 Congress realized the necessity of providing for a definite, controllable supply of at least 
 180,000 tons of this acid annually in case of war, in addition to that produced to meet the 
 normal and rapidly growing needs of the country. (Part Three) 
 
 Third Thai these two essential developments in the fields of agriculture and military pre- 
 paredness will carry with them another great public benefit, if the plants be worked out at Muscle 
 Shoals, namely, the opening of the Tennessee River to modern navigation- -a long-delayed but 
 inevitable improvement upon which there has already been expended millions of dollars, 
 and the completion of which has been contemplated by Federal and State Governments for 
 more than ninety years. (Part Four) 
 
 Fourth That a true policy of conservation demands that we shall utilize the power of our 
 running streams to extract the nitrogen that we need from the inexhaustible atmosphere; and 
 that by-product ammonia has no place in so comprehensive a program, for the reason that it is 
 far too limited in quantity and much too high in price to bring to the country the great 
 benefits in time of peace which were contemplated by Congress. And, moreover, it cannot 
 be depended upon for a safe and sufficient supply of nitric acid in time of war. (Part Five) 
 
 Fifth That Muscle Shoals on the Tennessee River offers the most suitable site for the plant 
 which is to afford a far-reaching benefit to the nation thru the production of a cheap effective 
 fertilizer in time of peace, and an equally surpassing location for the plant which, thru the 
 production of nitric acid for military- use. is to become a national bulwark in time of war. 
 (F^arts Six and Seven) 
 
 Sixth That in all our broad land there is no other locality save the Central South which 
 can offer to the nation's Chief Executive, who is to make the selection, the combination of the neces- 
 sary safe and central site, the abundance of power, the wealth of closely associated resources, 
 the proximity to commanding markets, the favorable climate, and the benefits to navigation which 
 characterize the proposed location at Muscle Shoals. (Part Eight) 
 
J^^Tf" 
 
Par I Two 
 
 Situation^^ 
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 A . 
 
 MNU-VL ^^tfiALt EXPORT PRICEi 1\ 
 
 THE 
 
 The Effect of a National Nitrate Plant on the High Cost of 
 Living, and What it Will Do for the Farmer 
 
 OUR WASTEFUL 
 FARMING 
 
 WORLD STARVATION 
 AND REMEDY 
 
 The past century has seen an 
 industrial development in the 
 United States that has no 
 parallel in all history. The once insignificant colony 
 struggling for existence amid unexplored forests has 
 become the richest of the nations. (Diag. 2. p. I I) 
 
 Our forefathers found themselves in a land where 
 the natural resources could scarcely be measured. 
 With courage and enterprise that won the admiration 
 of the world they applied themselves to the task of 
 utilizing the vast natural wealth, taking only the best 
 at hand, and wasting all else, for was there not 
 enough and to spare? So we find that only the 
 richest lands were cultivated, and as the soils lost 
 their fertility the farmers merely contented them- 
 selves with reduced returns, or moved to new' locations. 
 The consequences of this utter wastefulness have 
 become painfully evident. 
 
 As early as 1898 Sir William 
 Crookes, then President of 
 the British Association for the 
 Advancement of Science, pointed out to the Associ- 
 
 Have we, then, adopt- 
 ed an adequate artificial 
 means of restoring to 
 our soils this indispen- 
 sable element? Far from 
 It. Four-fifths of every 
 breath wc draw and a 
 large part of our daily 
 food IS nitrogen. Above 
 every seven acres is as 
 much of this element as 
 the world consumes in a 
 year in the form of salt- 
 peter, the principal com- 
 mercial form of nitrogen 
 I - .....1. Yd in all the 
 United Stales, with its 
 wealth of watcrpower and 
 host of electric furnaces 
 
 ation ("I that the world's food consumption was run- 
 ning beyond the capacity of the cultivated lands pro- 
 ducing It. He expressed the conviction that the only 
 way in which world starvation could be averted, 
 the sole sufficient means of increasing the yield of 
 the world's cultivated acres, would be found in the 
 universal use of a bountiful supply of fertilizer con- 
 taining that most valuable element, nitrogen. 
 
 Every progressive farmer knows that the fertility 
 of his soil depends upon the phosphoric acid and 
 potash, and in an overwhelming measure, upon the 
 nitrogen it contains. He knows that should the 
 supply of this nitrogen become too greatly reduced 
 the best of soils will not repay its cultivation, while 
 the utter lack of nitrogen would soon reduce to a 
 barren waste a soil which in other respects might be 
 most favored. 
 
 HereinAmericaafter years of careless agriculture on 
 fertile lands, with virgin fields to be had in abundance, 
 we find that we have robbed our soils of the nitrogen 
 that only countless centuries can restore by natural 
 processes. 
 
 SWEDEN 
 
 AUsrRlA-HUS'GAR^ 
 
 FRANCE 
 
 £.\CLAt<D 
 
 RUSSIA 
 
 SWniRLAI 
 
 BELGIUM 
 
 CANADA 
 
 NOKWA"! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 MANY 
 
 
 
 
 
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 M. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 1 1 1 
 
 
 
 
Ihere is nowhere a factory for taking from the atmos- 
 phere a single pound of this measureless supply and 
 malting possible its restoration to our hard-taxed soil. 
 (Diags. 5 and 6. p. 13) 
 
 Moreover, through modern achievement in the 
 cure and prevention of disease and our rapid progress 
 of knowledge in sanitation and domestic science we 
 have reached a point where but 65 years are required 
 to double our population (_"■/;). 
 
 With this rapid increase of our population, and 
 the consequent increasing demand for food produc- 
 tion, we are becoming more and more dependent upon 
 outside markets. (Diag. 3, p. 13) From 1900 to 
 1910 our imports of food and animals practically 
 doubled and our imports of manufactured foodstuffs 
 more than doubled. Our exports of wheat and flour 
 fell from 3 1 per cent of the total production to only 
 13 per cent, while our production of beef cattle has 
 decreased 32 per cent in 14 years ('" i). 
 
 A serious reckoning is fast ap- 
 proaching. In ten years. 1900 
 to 1910. our population in- 
 creased 21 per cent while our crops increased but 10 
 per cent ( '" ,). and the resulting high cost of living 
 is felt from coast to coast. (Diag. 4. p. 13) Food 
 which could be bought for 53 cents in 1896 increased 
 in cost to one dollar, or 80' , , in 1912 and living ex- 
 penses which at the beginning of this period could be 
 met by 63 cents, at its end required a full dollar, an 
 increase of 60' < ( '" ,|, (Diag. 8. p. 14) From 1896 
 to 1912 the average increase in the cost of living per 
 year was 5 per cent, but from 1912 to 1914 the average 
 annual inciease was 7'^ per cent I ,) 
 
 THE RECKONING 
 IN AMERICA 
 
 IM 
 
 )(| l»'i> |m)4 l*n, WV l'««J 1902 1904 1906 1906 1910 1' 
 
 
 $450 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 $400 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 J 
 
 
 $330 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 $300 
 $250 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 $700 
 
 <-% 
 
 A 
 
 \ 
 
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 ..n ihq; u'm i«.», !-.■)« looo i9o2 \w m. vm, nm r 
 
 
 It should be noted that in discussing the high cost 
 of living we do not consider the sharp advances in 
 prices which have occurred since the beginning of the 
 European war. since the condition created is far from 
 normal, but let us examine these advances for a 
 moment: 
 
 The following table, compiled by the U. S. Bureau 
 of Labor Statistics, shows the increase in prices of 
 the past few months in Washington. D. C: 
 
 Article 1890 
 
 Round Steak 126 
 
 Pork Chops .10 
 
 Ham 138 
 
 Lard : .103 
 
 Flour (1-8 bbl.) .951 
 Potatoes 271 
 
 Eggs 232 
 
 Butter .31 
 
 Sugar 06 
 
 I From th« Waihinalon Tin,,,. ^ 
 
 Apr. 
 
 Oct. 
 
 1915 
 
 1916 
 
 .11 
 
 .501 
 
 .11 
 
 .25 
 
 .19 
 
 .244 
 
 .13 
 
 .20 
 
 1.25 
 
 1.36 
 
 .35 
 
 .43 
 
 .40 
 
 .45 
 
 .38 
 
 .434 
 
 .065 
 
 .077 
 
 THE WAY OUT- 
 CHEAP FERTILIZER 
 
 As stated by Sir William 
 Crookes, the way out of the 
 difficulty lies in the increase in 
 crop yields per acre (Diag. 10. p. 15) cultivated 
 without additional labor ("i. One means alone 
 is known for accomplishing this -the use of suf- 
 ficient nitrogen, supplemented by the other prin- 
 cipal plant foods, phosphoric acid and potash, making 
 a complete fertilizer, in which the most expensive ( " i,) 
 7. OUR INCREASING CONSUMPTION OF CHILEAN NITRATE (73) and important element IS nitrogen. (Diag. 12, p. 1 7) 
 
 'j^y^^r ^ , tr^ 
 
FIXATION of AT MOS^ 
 PHERIC NITROGEN 
 
 1 
 
 chemical process which takes it from the air and 
 places it in lime, or other materials so that it can be 
 used. 
 
 Here is an mdustry built up by 
 fifteen years of scientific re- 
 search which offers to the farm- 
 er the cheap fertilizer which he so much needs 
 to increase food supply and reduce its high 
 cost. .'\nd we of the United States, chief among 
 nitrogen paupers, struggling with inadequate crop 
 yields and rising prices for food. are. save one. the 
 only great modern nation which has failed to seize this 
 beneficent offering of science and turn it to account 
 for the welfare of our people. (Diag. 6. p. 13) Ger- 
 many. Italy. England. France. Norway. Sweden, 
 Austria. Canada and Japan have established large fac- 
 tories for taking their nitrogen from the atmosphere 
 and have devoted a million continuous horsepower 
 solely to this one industry ("' ,). Germany alone, 
 since the beginning of the war. has developed an 
 air-nitrogen industry requiring 300.000 continuous 
 2 1 -hour horsepower at a cost of more than a hundred 
 million dollars. As a result of this notable en- 
 terprise she is independent today of all outside 
 sources of nitrogen and will apparently continue so 
 throughout all time i" ,'. 
 
 The plan of Congress is not 
 without opposition on the 
 part of certain politicians and 
 self-centered interests. They declare that it is 
 socialistic and that it brings the government into 
 commercial business in competition with private 
 concerns. 
 
 
 
 \ \ 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 \ % \ 
 
 ■'"OBACco2;a2Zll^:==H 
 
 \ 
 
 
 \ OTHER / 
 
 \^ 
 
 / 
 
 \ CEREALS / 
 
 
 \^ / 
 
 \ 17.2% / 
 
 OKN 
 
 / 
 
 vL 
 
 21.4 : 
 
 y 
 
 Crops of the U. S (<)0 75) 
 
 To accomplish the needed results, the fertilizer 
 must be cheap, so cheap that the farmer can use it 
 bountifully and with a profit of one hundred to two 
 hundred per cent on its cost, whether he be located in 
 the great wheat belt of the northwest, in the potato 
 country of Maine, or in the corn and cotton sections 
 of the central and southern states. 
 
 Our principal sources of nitro- 
 SOURCES OF NITRO- , ,- . , 
 
 GENOUS FERTILIZER S^"°"' fertilizer materials are 
 
 three in number: First, there 
 is cotton seed, which constitutes the source of one- 
 half of our supply of nitrogen for fertilizers ( "' ). The 
 utter wastefulness of using this valuable feedstuff as 
 a fertilizer is condemned in no uncertain terms by 
 Mr. Tate Butler, Editor of the Progrcssicc Farmer. 
 who says: 
 
 "As a general principle, it may be laid down 
 to be adhered to in most cases, that any pro- 
 duct which is not suitable food for men but 
 good feed for livestock should not be sold off 
 the farm. Nor should any product suitable 
 for feeding livestock be used as a fertilizer direct, 
 as a general farm practice" '' i. 
 
 Mr. Butler then shows conclusively that while 
 one ton of cotton-seed meal has a market value of 
 but $30.00 when sold as a fertilizer, it has a combined 
 feeding and fertilizer value of $62.50 per ton when 
 used as feed for cattle. 
 
 The second source of nitrogen supply, namely, 
 the ammonia secured as a so-called "by-product ' from 
 the manufacture of coke, is disqualified by its own 
 champions as an adequate source of cheap fertilizer 
 (Part 3). 
 
 The third source of nitrogen gives assurance of 
 meeting the demands of the situation in every par- 
 ticular. This source is the free nitrogen of the at- 
 mosphere, "fixed" or made available by an electro- 
 
 t/. 5. NOT IN FER- 
 TILIZER BUSINESS 
 
 OATS 
 
 LMII II kl\L 
 
 l« l\l 
 
 
 i.iini\M i 
 
 1 1 1 1 
 
 SI 1 1 I ) M \[l-.~ 
 
 POTATOES 
 
The charge is without foundation. The govern- 
 ment has no idea of entering into trade. It is simply 
 doing what the government alone can do — making 
 possible the production of fertilizer on a sufficient 
 scale and at a price low enough to enable the farmer 
 to make profitable the use of fertilizer, in which at 
 present, with certain crops, he finds little or no profit, 
 or even risks a loss by its use. 
 
 To extract great supplies of nitrogen from the at- 
 mosphere a large amount of very cheap power is 
 needed— so cheap that it must be had for less than 
 ten dollars per horsepower per year (" ,,) or from 
 one-third to one-fourth of what it costs a large steam 
 plant to produce it. If sufficient fertilizer is to be 
 supplied, so that the plant may become an effective 
 factor in the situation, then 200,000 horsepower must 
 be available for 90 
 per cent of the 
 time ('" 1,1. 
 
 To produce this 
 amount of electrical 
 energy at such a 
 low rate we must 
 rely upon water- 
 power, for it is a well 
 known fact that no 
 steam or gas plant, ^'io"Ai"A"i^^l- 
 however favorably "'^" '"' ""^' 
 located, could pro- 
 duce power at costs even ap- 
 proaching such a figure, and to 
 adopt such a measure would mean 
 a heavy and entirely unnecessary 
 draft upon our coal supplies. 
 
 The estab- "'°e*\*/o"^'^ 
 lishment of 
 such a hydro-electric plant 
 is properly to be undertaken by the Govern- 
 ment, not only because of the great national 
 need that it will supply, but also because of 
 the large investment necessary. While a 
 first-class steam-electric plant may be built in "•" '"'" 
 normal times in most locations for. say, $50 
 per horsepower, the waterpower plant, with its huge 
 dam and acres of overflowed lands, costs upward of $ 1 00 
 per horsepower ( " nl. The physical operation of a large 
 waterpower plant is not expensive (being only about 
 $2 per horsepower per year), but the interest and sink- 
 ing fund charge upon the investment is a large item, as 
 it represents about 80 per cent of the cost of hydro- 
 electric power when developed bv private interests. 
 (Diag. II. p. 17) 
 
 So. other things being equal, he who can borrow 
 money at the lowest rate can sell power the cheapest. 
 and the production of cheap hydro-electric power is 
 seen to be chiefly a problem in financing, rather than 
 one in engineering. 
 
 The party preeminent as a borrower at low rates 
 IS our Uncle Sam A private individual in building 
 
 WHYUS SHOULD 
 BUILD PLANT 
 
 up a new plant involving the risks attending a hydro- 
 electric installation must pay 10 per cent for in- 
 terest and sinking fund charges while our Government 
 need pay but 4 per cent for these items (" tL 
 
 In Canada, near Lake St. John, there are mag- 
 nificent power sites, and a million horsepower can be 
 developed there, the first three hundred thousand of 
 which, according to engineers' estimates, need not 
 cost over $40 per horsepower i *" it). 
 
 Suppose a private individual develops a Canadian 
 power site. His interest and sinking fund expense 
 per annual horsepower must be 10 per cent of $40 
 or $4, added to which will be $2 for operation, making 
 his total cost $6 for each horsepower per year. 
 
 Now suppose that Uncle Sam undertakes to se- 
 cure power at a site in the United States which costs, 
 say, $100 per horsepower for its development. His 
 interest and sinking fund expense will be but 4 per 
 cent of $100 or $4 per annual horsepower, and his 
 operating expense $2 making his total cost $6 for 
 each horsepower per year. That is to say that al- 
 though his investment is much greater, 
 his cost per annual horsepower will be 
 no greater than that of the Canadian 
 plant. 
 
 In other words, our Government 
 through its power to borrow money at low 
 rates can. in effect, bring into the United 
 Stales the splendid Canadian power sites 
 with their superior possibilities for pro- 
 ducing electrical energy at low cost. 
 
 And this is just 
 what is needed by 
 the farmer. For 
 the law provides 
 that the President 
 may sell the sur- 
 plus products of the 
 nitrate plant, chief 
 among which would 
 -Courto„Ho.pe. 6 Broj.A V be electric power; 
 
 ESTINC EXPERIMENT IN THE FE BTl LIZ ^TION ap(J prlvatC Capital 
 
 under Government 
 supervision can take this cheap power in time of 
 peace and convert it into a cheap effective fertilizer 
 by combining fixed nitrogen and phosphate rock, pro- 
 ducing a material that is 60 per cent plant food 
 ("- ,„i. 
 
 And finally, an important advantage in this plan 
 is seen in the fact that by securing our fertilizer and 
 our nitric acid in this manner, we have added this 
 much to the resources of our country and have not 
 simply diverted a material already in use for other 
 purposes, to the detriment of other interests, in order 
 that these great ends may be served. 
 
 What then, are the demands 
 QU.ALlFIC.-ITIONSOh j i .i . 
 
 MOST SUIT.4BLE SITE "'^'^'^ "^^ 'he economic situ- 
 
 ation upon the site which 
 shall claim to be the proper location for such a 
 
5.>=!-i>-i^- 'f V 
 
 $2,700,000 
 
 Steam-Electric Plant 
 
 Coal IS Inst to the countn.' as soon as the 
 power is utilizerl 
 
 Hydro-Electric Plant 
 
 W'aterpower is lost to tlie country so lo 
 as the waters are not utilized 
 
 fertilizer plant? As a foremost requisite, it must 
 afford ultimately not less than 200,000 horsepower 
 available 90 per cent of the time ( ' ,,. and costing not 
 more than $5 to $10 per horsepower per year ( " ,,). 
 The necessary raw materials, such as limestone, 
 coke and phosphate rock ( "' „ ,1 in quantities prac- 
 tically without limit, must be available within easy 
 reach, and the site should be centrally located with 
 respect to the great fertilizer consuming sections of the 
 country, the greater part of which are devoted to cotton 
 and corn. (Diag. 9. p. I 5) so that the average transpor- 
 
 vdro-Electric Power Plant ok Same Capacity (74 585. 590) 
 
 tation charges on the product would be a minimum. 
 
 It should have the advantage of a mild climate 
 with its freedom from ice and there should also be no 
 lack of that cheap contented labor to be found where 
 living is cheaper than in the more rigorous latitudes. 
 
 At first view it might seem wholly impossible to 
 find a great power site capable of meeting such an 
 array of requirements. But our country is truly for- 
 tunate in possessing such a site, favored above all 
 others in the requisites for such an undertaking. 
 
 But that, as Kipling has said, is another story. 
 
 THt PRLStNT i-IU-i FERTILIZER BY I .AR THE THE 6-10- i FEKTIEIZER RHOXIMENDLD B^) I HI 
 
 MOST COMMONER- USED IN GEORGIA AND GEORGIA DEPT OF AGRICULTURE AS THE 
 
 AL.AB.AM.A FOR THE COTTON CROP IDEAL MIXTURE FOR THE COTTON CROP 
 
 Rl.i OMMLNDED PLR( FN FACES OF INi RFASE 
 
 A\l\Il)\l \ 
 82';o Nitrogen 
 
 POTASH 
 
 PHU.^PH* )Kli A( ID 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 NONE 
 

 r 
 
 
 
 \US1BIA-HUW 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 .lATED POPULATION OF WORLD'S PRINCI- 
 
 Pa r|' Three 
 
 ~~6uv 
 
 Povdeiiess 
 1 Provoss 
 
 The Military Situation and Uncle Sam's Nitrate Plant 
 
 AMERICAS SERIOUS 
 PLIGHT 
 
 The largest publisher in the 
 world is the Congress of the 
 United States I'M. In ad- 
 dition to publishing thousands of books, reports and 
 pamphlets, the proceedings in the various sessions of 
 the Senate or House, and in the many hearings before 
 the committees of Congress, are printed, word for 
 word. 
 
 But there was one publication, an account of a 
 hearing before the Committee on Military Affairs of 
 the Sixty-third Congress. Second Session, for which 
 an interested public waited in vain — it was never 
 printed I " , ,1- 
 
 Reasons enough, there were, for suppressing its 
 publication, for on that day. before the Investigating 
 Committee, no less an authority than Brig. -Gen. Wil- 
 liam Crozier. Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance. U. S. 
 Army, presented testimony both startling and 
 alarming. 
 
 What he said was given in confidence, but today 
 it is a well known fact that at the time of that hearing 
 there was in all America sufficient powder for but 
 two and one-half hours' fighting as it is done today 
 (•■•■■'.,,). 
 
 The most serious phase of the situation lay in the 
 fact that we have no adequate source of raw material 
 for making our own explosives, but are obliged to 
 import the principal fundamental requirement 
 nitrate of soda, the source of the necessary nitrogen - 
 from Chile (^' ,, ). (Diag. 7. p. 14) When we observe 
 the astonishing changes that a few months' time has 
 
 wrought in the worlds most civilized countries, it is 
 not surprising that grave apprehension was aroused 
 concerning our powder situation. 
 
 Preparations to increase our imports of nitrate 
 were quickly undertaken. Appropriations were made 
 for the erection of storehouses and for the accumu- 
 lation of a reserve supply of 32.500 tons of the indis- 
 pensable nitrate, and in July. 1914. we were said to 
 have some 20.000 to 25.000 tons on hand, altho it 
 was stated that five years' time would be required to 
 complete our supply I " u i '• 
 
 And such a pitiable supply it is! Germany at the 
 beginning of the war had. not twice this amount, but 
 twenty limes as much, and exhausted it completely 
 within a few months '" , >■ So grave is the situa- 
 tion that a prominent member of the Naval Con- 
 sulting Board is credited with the statement that — 
 
 "The lack of nitric acid, the indispensable 
 chemical in the manufacture of smokeless pow- 
 der and high explosives, would cause the United 
 States to be defeated in less than a year after 
 war started with a first-class power, unless our 
 navy was more powerful than that of the enemy' 
 
 DEMANDS OF MOD- Modern warfare calls for 
 ERN li'ARFARE FOR powder and explosives on a 
 EXPLOSIVES scale without a parallel. Be- 
 
 fore an infantry attack the ground must be pre- 
 pared" not merely by shelling the enemy's position 
 with single shots, or at best, salvos of carefully timed 
 shells from a small battery as in the War of 1861-65. 
 but by a torrent of steel that must sweep the field as 
 
 ^.^.Wftj,, 
 
 
,^!S&ii^^-- 
 
 Mia& 
 
 1sS?»»' 
 
 a solid sheet, plowing the enemy's trenches to the 
 underlying rock and wrecking safety pits thirty feet 
 below the ground. For. on most excellent authority 
 {'-"' i,,] we know that the 40-centimeter (16-inch) 
 shells in use today penetrate the ground and explode 
 with such terrific force that a crater thirty feet deep 
 and fifty feet in diameter is often formed, while men 
 arc buried alive by the score beneath the avalanche 
 of falling earth. 
 
 It IS needless to remark that the consumption of 
 high explosives in this orgy of death and destruction 
 IS stupendous — no less than a hundred times as 
 great as in any previous conflict m history. 
 
 As to their comparative values Brig. -Gen. Crozier, 
 Chief of Ordnance. U. S. Army, testified before a 
 committee of Congress i -'" , ,i as follows; 
 
 "There arc two ways of getting nitric acid inde- 
 pendently of an outside source of supply. One is by 
 the use of ammonia, which is one of the by-prod- 
 ucts of coke making, gotten from coke ovens. That, 
 I think. Would give a limited source of supply. 
 1 am not able to say the extent to which we could 
 rely on that. It has never been relied on at all in 
 this country. It is chemically possible to pro- 
 duce it in this way, and there is a good deal of the 
 coke-makjng industry in this country. 
 
 "The best reliance which I think could be had 
 
 3 111 1 i 'I'- I R I 
 
 H II % Hli I I ^ IS 
 
 Based upon estimates of our War Department. 
 Germany's bill for powder alone soon after the out- 
 break of the war amounted to $1,000,000 per day 
 ("', 1, j and when we remember that all Germany 
 could be readily placed within our single state of 
 Texas, the possible requirements for the defense of 
 our 1 I .000 miles of coast line and border fronts 
 are not reassuring, to say nothmg of our remote 
 lock-canal and oversea possessions. (Diag. 14. p. 18) 
 There are but two recognized 
 sources of nitrogen for powder 
 manufacture that are known 
 to be commercially available within our boun- 
 daries the by-product ammonia resulting from the 
 manufacture of coke from coal, and the free nitrogen 
 of the atmosphere. 
 
 THE T[\0 SOURCES 
 OH NITROGEN 
 
 would he upon the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen 
 which is now being done in several countries abroad 
 and which requires a very considerable amount of 
 cheap electric power, so cheap in order to compete 
 With the imported nitrate, that it can only be had now 
 by the use of abundant water power." ^ 
 
 To depend upon the by-product of any single 
 industry to meet the country's powder require- 
 ments in time of war would be the utmost folly, 
 and in a later discussion we will attempt to point out 
 the dangerous fallacy of placing reliance in by-product 
 coke ovens for this enormous suppK' of nitrogen for ex- 
 plosives. The wording of the National Defense .Act 
 itself would indicate that Congress realizes to the 
 fullest extent that the one great adequate source 
 of nitrogen is the atmosphere which surrounds us. 
 
Bv making use of the 
 ECONOMY OF THE " . i 
 
 PLAN OF CONGRESS atmosphere under 
 
 the plan now before 
 the President a large and important advant- 
 age IS to be gamed. The country can secure 
 the facilities of a $42,000,000 nitric acid 
 plant at a cost of but $20,000,000 since the 
 $22,000,000 plant to be built for the manu- 
 facture of fertilizer can be converted into a 
 plant for the manufacture of ammonia gas 
 for use in making nitric acid by the simple 
 turning of a valve i" ,!. The Government, 
 therefore, will need only the necessary plant 
 to complete the final step of the process, 
 namely, the oxidizing of the ammonia gas 
 mto nitric acid. Under this arrangement 
 the Government's investment would be — 
 
 Dam, locks and power house $12,000,000 
 
 Nitric acid plant 8.000.000 
 
 Total $20,000,000 
 
 In this way the Government can meet its needs. 
 owning and operating its own plant and having no 
 relations with outside parties other than the common 
 one of buyer and seller. 
 
 FIXING LOCATION of ^"'^ ""'^"^ f^°"'^ ""! .'°""= 
 NITRIC ACID PLANT ^'"^ S""^"" P'^"'- r^quirmg as 
 it does 120.000 continuous 
 horsepower i"»',.i in time of war for the production 
 from the atmosphere of this 180.000 tons of nitric 
 acid — two-thirds of the consumption of Germany at 
 the beginning of the war —estimated as the amount 
 needed by our army and navy? i '■ ■.' 
 
 *The italics arc ours 
 
 The first consideration is the clear pronouncement 
 of the War College ('""/,,,. ste. s,' : 
 
 "As a general military principle no supply 
 depot, arsenal nor manufacturing plant of any 
 considerable size supported by War Department 
 appropriations for military purposes, should be 
 established or maintained east of the Appalachian 
 Mountains, west of the Cascade or Sierra iWccada 
 Mountains nor within 200 miles of our Canadian 
 or Mexican borders and steps should be taken gradu- 
 ally to cause to he moved depots and manufacturing 
 plants already established in ciolat'on of this 
 military principle." (See Appendix Map at 
 back of booklet.) 
 
 Here then is the chief of our fundamental require- 
 ments dictated by the law of self-protection, often 
 worded "Safety First." We believe that no power 
 
smssii:r'>}meim'^'i¥ i* 
 
 site, however attractive in other ways, located outside 
 the limits of the safety zone thus clearly established, 
 would command the President's serious consideration: 
 for not only must our plant lie far beyond the range 
 of the guns of a possible enemy, but it should be lo- 
 cated m a region naturally protected from mvasion 
 and distantly removed from possible enemy aero- 
 stations. 
 
 The map at back of booklet shows the safety 
 line of the War College with reference to the 
 location of the country's principal streams, its natural 
 resources, and its Government arsenals and munition 
 plants. Notice how few of the large power streams 
 lie within the safety zone. (See also Map 3 1 . pp. 39, 40) 
 
 A second demand made by the requirements of the 
 military situation is that the location shall be reason- 
 ably central. The tremendous difficulties attending 
 the protection of thousands of miles of transportation 
 lines needed to haul the Government's nitric acid, and 
 the unreasonable cost of bringing all of this dangerous 
 acid from a remote corner of the country make figures 
 unnecessary in support of the contention that, other 
 
 ^ .^^ l\l >^M 
 
 'f:. 
 
 
 things being equal, that site is the most suitable which 
 IS in closest touch with the Government's centers of 
 distribution of war munitions, and which possesses 
 the lowest transportation rates. 
 
 A third essential is found in the fact that this plant 
 will require approximately 120.000 horsepower (" „) 
 which may be required continuously day and night 
 at any time, and for an indefinite period, to produce 
 annually at least 180.000 tons of nitric acid. 
 
 A fourth requirement calls for a plentiful supply 
 of necessary raw materials within easy reach. Just 
 what these essentials would be would depend, of 
 
 course, upon the process used. It is likely that a 
 bountiful supply of pure, high-grade limestone and a 
 good grade of coking coal, together with an abundance 
 of pure water would be primary requisites. 
 
 As a fifth condition, since the making of muni- 
 tions is a companion industry to the nitrate plant, 
 it is desirable that sufficient power and the necessary 
 raw materials for the manufacture of munitions of war 
 shall be readily available. 
 
 And finally, for the making of nitric acid for 
 explosives no less than for the manufacture of fertil- 
 izer there would be required those favorable conditions 
 
 
 
 s l<)0<) (37 430) 
 
 respecting labor and climate, to which reference has 
 already been made in a former chapter, with the added 
 desirable condition that the local population shall be 
 native American, as free from an>' foreign element as 
 possible. 
 
 As was seen in the case of the situation for the 
 fertilizer plant, it would seem difficult if not impos- 
 sible to find a location not barred by these formidable 
 requirements, in this land of unfavorable power 
 sites. 
 
 But we are doubly fortunate, for centering about 
 the site that is the ideal location for the production of 
 cheap fertilizer, we find every raw material necessary 
 for the making of nitric acid in time of war — and not 
 materials for the acid alone but for the whole gamut 
 of military requirements from the steel for great siege 
 guns down to the aluminum for the soldiers' drinking 
 cups. 
 
 In chapters that follow (Parts 6 and 7) we briefly 
 describe some of the principal resources of that great 
 valley of natural riches christened affectionately by 
 its people "The Dimple of the Universe. " 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 ■ 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 AI 
 
 ± 
 
 Wf 
 
 '^ 
 
 R 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 U 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 J^ 
 
 r RATES ON WHEAT FROM ( 
 
 Pai-j Four 
 
 f^nTQv Light 
 
 on an 
 
 Old Subject 
 
 Navigation on the Tennessee River and What the Development 
 of Muscle Shoals Will Do For It 
 
 EFFORTS OF THE 
 PAST 
 
 If a county should build a 
 stretch of level highway of 
 the best material, expending 
 a large sum in its construction, and fail to improve a 
 few steep hills over which onK' the lightest loads 
 could be drawn, such procedure would closely resemble 
 that of the State and National Governments in their 
 efforts to improve the Tennessee River for navigation 
 by the canalization at Muscle Shoals. 
 
 As a chain is no stronger than its weakest link, 
 so a river is no more navigable than its shallowest 
 stretch. It was in strange disregard of this simple 
 fact that the State of Alabama in 1831 1836, assisted 
 by the United States Government, built the first 
 Muscle Shoals Canal. Congress granted 400.000 
 acres of public lands to the State of Alabama, the 
 
 proceeds from the sale of which were to be applied 
 principally to the improvement of Muscle Shoals and 
 of Colbert Shoals. 
 
 Although canals around Elk River Shoals. Little 
 Muscle Shoals. Nance's Reef and Muscle Shoals proper 
 were needed, only the latter waterway was constructed. 
 It contained 17 locks each 120 ft. long by 32 ft. wide 
 and each having a "lift of almost 5 ft. 
 
 But as the canal could be reached only by craft 
 which could pass the shoals above it. which were still 
 unimproved, it was but little used and was abandoned 
 in 1837. 
 
 No appropriation having been made for its main- 
 tenance it fell into ruin. The wooden gates with 
 which the locks were equipped soon decayed, rains 
 and floods played havoc with the embankments, and 
 
 Canal and River at Mus, 
 
 Railroad Used in Maintenance Wo 
 
the channel filled with mud, supporting a flourishing 
 growth of willows and cottonwoods. 
 
 Such was its condition in 1871 when, recognizing 
 the importance of opening the Tennessee River to 
 navigation, the Federal Government caused surveys 
 to be made for its reconstruction, providing a canal 
 14' J miles long with 9 locks, having a combined 
 "lift" of 85 ft. At the same time a canal I '2 miles 
 
 separate lockages, and ordinarily, would not be able 
 to cover the 24-mile stretch at Muscle Shoals in less 
 than 28 days. 18 hours, provided the water remained 
 at a stage sufficiently high to permit navigation at 
 all I'M. It is needless to add that the canal was not 
 designed to accommodate this class of navigation. 
 
 Small wonder, then, is it that the traffic through 
 the canal averages only I 1 .800 tons per year, while 
 hundreds of thousands of tons move on the river 
 above and below it! (Diag. 20, p. 21) 
 
 Penetrating as it does into the 
 very heart of the richest un- 
 developed region in America, 
 the Tennessee River forms the natural outlet for 
 heavy freight in great variety. In this region we 
 find, in the words of the late Senator Morgan: 
 
 " * * * vast areas of the most productive 
 soils, yielding enormous crops of food, cereals and 
 textiles, fruits and grapes; and forests that are 
 almost primeval and include all the varieties of 
 trees that grow in the Temperate Zones: vast 
 beds of coal and of iron. zinc, lead and copper ores, 
 and rich veins of gold: great quarries of marble 
 that excel those of Italy in texture and in the 
 
 OPENING AN IN 
 LAND EMPIRE 
 
 THE SMALL RIVER 
 
 STEAMER FOR WHICH 
 
 THE PRESENT MUSCI I 
 
 SHOALS CANAL LS 
 
 ADAPTED 
 
 * "iHRU CANAL ,K \l< ■ 
 
 long with two locks 
 was planned for Elk 
 River Shoals. 8 miles 
 upstream, but 
 
 Nances Reef and Lit- '"'s t^p" °f ^"^'^ ""i" 
 
 tie Muscle Shoals were not provided for at all. The 
 building of the two waterways, known as the 
 Muscle Shoals Canal, was begun in I 873 and only par- 
 tially completed in 1890 ('■,,,. I but the full work as 
 planned has never been carried out. 
 
 The Muscle Shoals Canal (Photos, pp. 22. 24. 2? 
 and 50) was planned before the days of powerful tug 
 boats and their huge consorts of barges. It is adapted 
 to the typical river steamer of light draft. (Photo, 
 p. 23) which can make the eleven lockages and pass 
 the canal in about II ' ;■ h 
 water I'M. 
 
 THE TUG AND RAFT OF BARGES IN USE ON THE OHIO RIVER FOR WHICH THE PRESENT 
 MUSCLE SHOALS CANAL SHOULD BE ADAPTED 
 
 THIS TYPE OF CHAFF »OULD REQUIRE 28 DAYS, 1 8 HOUR.S FOR P Y5S1 Nl, THRUCA~M (71) 
 
 varieties of beautiful coloring, and all of the 
 slates and rocks that are useful and beautiful in 
 architecture, while the hills are crowned with 
 the plumes of stately pine forests that never 
 fade nor fall" ''•■ ,'. 
 
 More than 13.000 miles of navigable streams 
 spread as a network over the great central valleys of 
 the United States and form the most extensive and 
 important body of navigable waters in the world 
 (■■ ,,'. iMap22.p 26i On their banks are thriving 
 s during periods of high cities and towns numbered by the thousands, but these 
 markets, so cheaply reached from Ohio River points. 
 
 A fleet of 60 coal barges and tug such as is in daily 
 use on the Ohio. (Photo, p. 2i) would require 671 
 
 are effectively shut off from the upper Tennessee and 
 Its rich territory by the rapids at Muscle Shoals. 
 
The necessity for adequate navigation structures 
 at these shoals is not to be measured by the two 
 milhon tons of freight valued at fifty million dollars, 
 which move on the Tennessee River annually. Far 
 less is it to be measured by the 12,000 tons which 
 annually make their way through the inadequate 
 
 Were our suburban electric lines, carrymg their 
 millions of passengers daily, constructed because 
 millions of persons living in outlying districts de- 
 manded that these lines be built? 
 
 Does a modern railway system extend its line into 
 a vast wilderness because of the large volume of freight 
 coming out of that wilderness by wagon? 
 
 Of course not. Public carriers develop their traffic 
 after their lines have been constructed into territories 
 where possibilities of traffic exist. Business is found 
 where the best service at least cost is offered. To this 
 well-known economic principle our 
 river transportation offers no excep- 
 tion. Would our Government develop 
 a great commerce on the Tennessee 
 River where the possibilities are so 
 great? Then proper facilities must be 
 provided. We can no more expect to 
 develop commerce and call into useful 
 service the dormant wealth of the up- 
 per Tennessee Valley while using the 
 present forty-live-year-old canal facil- 
 ities at Muscle Shoals, than can a 
 modern railroad system expect to grow 
 and thrive while continuing to operate 
 with 50-lb. rails and the diminutive 
 cars and wood-burning locomotives of 
 1870. 
 
 And commerce will not come to 
 the river, and attempt to make use of 
 
 PANORAMA OF TENNESSEE RIVER 
 
 navigation facilities 
 
 that do not exist, any more than people will flock to the 
 suburbs and build homes before a means of suitable 
 transportation is provided. We must make com- 
 merce practicable along modern lines before we can 
 expect to have it. 
 
 Recognizing these well-known 
 PRIVATE IMPROrE- f^^^^ ^^e people have met the 
 MENTS 
 
 Government far more than 
 
 half-way. Where in America has private enterprise 
 expended more for navigation improvements than has 
 been appropriated by the Government? Yet such is 
 the case on the Tennessee River. Second only to 
 Muscle Shoals, the rapids at Hales Bar had long been 
 an impassable obstacle to navigation. Citizens of 
 Chattanooga improved Hales Bar for power and nav- 
 igation at a cost of over $1 1 .000.000. practically with- 
 out expense to the Government. (Photo, p. 33) 
 
AT SITE OF DAM NUMBER TWO 
 
 This important benefit 
 to navigation leaves only Muscle Shoals to be elimi- 
 nated to make the Tennessee navigable to its mouth: 
 and the great dam at Hales Bar. deprived of its real 
 value to navigation so long as Muscle Shoals remains 
 unimproved, stands as a challenge to our Government 
 to meet its citizens half-way and provide the facilities 
 which will enable Hales Bar Dam to render in full 
 measure the service for which it was built. 
 
 The Ohio and Tennessee are 
 twin streams in many ways. 
 They rise close together in the 
 same range of mountains and their upper tributaries 
 flow thru the same coal and iron fields, and thru 
 the same vast forests. The streams are similar in 
 that they are of equal volume at Paducah. Ky.. 
 where they unite, while the volume of the flow in 
 the Tennessee River at Knoxville is twice as great 
 as that of the Ohio at Pittsburgh, it is therefore 
 evident, that, from an engineering standpoint, the 9 
 ft. channel provided for the Ohio River is practicable 
 for Tennessee River also !'■ i.-.n. ■..■)■ (Diag. 21 , p. 25) 
 The distance from these important mines, forests 
 
 THE SHORTER 
 WATER ROUTE 
 
 DRAIN.AGE ARE.A OF THE CHIC 
 
 RI\'ER 
 
 
 
 l)l< \I:|al.I-, .f\l<L\ i.)| IH . ll.N^ 
 
 .K.VSKI Kl\ 
 soonii hooon 
 
 /O.OOO 
 
 HI WIO '10,000 
 
 lo lioooo I'ooijo Hicno In > 
 
 APPROPRIAllONS FOR THE OHIO RIVER 
 
 Airixoi'Ki \ii(:\.-5 loK iiiF ii-t\\fx-.e: ri\ li 
 
 flOlOOOOOO S2oJoOO.OOO ^)o)oOO,000 ?40JOOOOOO 5S0 000000 $60,1000,000 S70juOO 
 
 AI^PROPRI.xriONS PER SQU,\RE MIFF, OHIO RIVER 
 
 FWi 
 
 . (89.A 5; 67, 15. 42) 
 
 and agricultural districts to any of the thousands of 
 river points west of Paducah. is shorter by way of the 
 Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers than via the Ohio 
 River by several hundred miles (• ''Appendix E). 
 
 But these facts have long been known, and we men- 
 tion them here simply to point out the significance 
 from a standpoint of navigation interests, that at- 
 taches to the improvement of Muscle Shoals. 
 
 The Board of Engineer officers directed "to 
 consider and report on combined improvement of the 
 Tennessee River at Muscle Shoals for navigation and 
 water power development" reported that the cost of 
 the improvement at Muscle Shoals properly charge- 
 able to navigation had been estimated at $8,575,000, 
 and stated that — 
 
 OFFICIAL IVEIF OF "The existing commerce of 
 SITUATION the section as well as the in- 
 
 crease which might reasonably be expected apart 
 from what may be created as a result of the power 
 development, is insufficient to justify so great an 
 expenditure for improvements for navigation alone. 
 But. in determining the worthiness of the project, 
 there are other criteria that should be considered. 
 It is known that the section of the United States 
 lying within a moderate distance 
 of the Muscle Shoals reach of the 
 Tennessee, is in a state of retard- 
 ed development. It is endowed 
 with mineral, forest and agricul- 
 tural resources which, when fully 
 exploited, will add greatly to the 
 general prosperity. It is the be- 
 lief and expectation of those inter- 
 ested in this project that the de- 
 velopment and utilization of the 
 power now wasting in the Ten- 
 nessee River will cause the estab- 
 lishment of manufacturing indus- 
 tries which will utilize the raw 
 materials found in the immediate 
 vicinity. 
 
 .1 l<\\ I 
 
"For example, with electric power provided 
 at low cost, metallurgical processes can be employed 
 in the reduction of ore deposits of the region other- 
 wise unavailable for use. Further, that the fertil- 
 izers needed for the profitable production of cotton 
 and now brought from great distances, can be made 
 at low cost in the close neighborhood of the fields in 
 which it is to be used.'f * * * * 
 
 "The board therefore reports that in its opin- 
 ion it is advisable for the United States to adopt 
 the project." etc.. ( " .,;,.). 
 
 Here then is the official view of the situation; Mus- 
 cle Shoals presents an obstacle which can be adequately 
 overcome only at an expense greater than present and 
 anticipated navigation will justify — but when coupled 
 with an industrial development that means cheaper 
 fertilizer and reduced expenses to the American people, 
 the improvement becomes worth while, and the cause 
 of navigation on the Tennessee is given a tremendous 
 
 tThe .tal.cs are ours 
 
 impetus by its inseparable association with the great 
 source of cheap waterpower that public safety and 
 national economy demand should be developed at 
 Muscle Shoals. 
 
 Were there no navigation interests to be served, 
 and no rich empire, half the size of England, to be 
 brought into greatly increased productivity . still Muscle 
 Shoals would offer a site incomparable for the working 
 out of this great defensive and economic undertaking. 
 
 But when to this sound provision for national se- 
 curity and powerful contribution to general pros- 
 perity we add the opening to modern navigation of 
 this great river, the placing in unrestricted commission 
 of the magnificent improvements at Hales Bar and 
 the development of a richly endowed but industrially 
 retarded section, then we are able to realize in a meas- 
 ure what nation-wide benefits will follow the estab- 
 lishment of this great nitrate plant at Muscle Shoals. 
 
/ ^^''' \ 
 
 
 
 
 
 REFRIGEBATI 
 
 N / --..._.____^ / 
 
 \ 19^ 
 
 / CHLMKl'XL ^~/ 
 
 
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 / ^^''"' / 
 
 Pa 1*1 FWo 
 
 Phantom 
 Opponent 
 
 ' " '■" VNIMC^V'"'"' '""■"■' ' 1 
 
 
 
 
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 ^4 GROmVI OK AMMONIA CONSUMPTION IN THE 1 
 1 ^MURIrWRrinitERATlONINRLSTRViloll | 
 
 Turning the Searchlight Upon the Possibilities of By-Product 
 Coke Oven Production 
 
 THE PURPOSES OF 
 CONGRESS 
 
 SHALL WE as a nation place our reliance 
 in by-product coke ovens for our coun- 
 try s supply of nitrogen in peace and in 
 war? 
 
 Congress declares NO! And there are few who 
 have studied this subject which so vitally concerns the 
 American people who will not agree with this deci- 
 sion. 
 
 When that body voted twenty 
 million dollars to establish a 
 nitrate plant and placed the 
 selection of a site in the hands of the President, the 
 principal purposes which they desired to accomplish 
 might be stated as follows: 
 
 First. — To cheapen our food supply by in- 
 creasing its production through the agency of a 
 low-priced, effective nitrogenous fertilizer. 
 
 Second. -To provide an adequate, controll- 
 able and economical, in short a suitable source of 
 nitric acid for military use without closing our 
 chemical plants, indispensable in war as well as 
 in peace. 
 
 Third.- -To make certain that this source of 
 nitrogen supply will be properly located with es- 
 pecial reference to economical production and 
 distribution in times of peace and to adequate pro- 
 tection in time of war. 
 
 Why. then, can we not depend 
 for our supply of nitrogen upon 
 the ammonia produced as a so- 
 d "by-product" in the coking of coal? 
 
 WHY BY-PRODUCT 
 AMMONIA FAILS 
 
 First — Because it cannot cheapen our food supply. 
 For. to reduce the cost of foodstuffs we must have 
 much larger crops with the same labor, a requirement 
 which demands large amounts of fertilizer. If we 
 are to use materially larger amounts of fertilizer then 
 we must encourage its extended application by mak- 
 ing it much cheaper to the farmer. 
 
 No argument is needed to support the statement 
 that the cheaper the fertilizer, the greater the profits 
 in Its use. and therefore the greater will be the con- 
 sumption. A glance at Map 39 (page 43) shows that 
 in the far greater portion of our country no fertilizers 
 
are being used at all. From every quarter comes 
 the demand for a reduction in the cost of living, 
 which means more crops on the same land, or in 
 other vi'ords. cheaper fertilizer. 
 
 And what is the reply of the coke oven adherents 
 to the demand for cheaper fertilizer? In the words 
 of one widely experienced, who has contracted for 
 and installed the largest and most important by- 
 product operations in the United States, including 
 those for the United States Steel Corporation: 
 
 "The by-product coke oven, in order to he 
 worth while, must operate 365 days in the year and 
 sell all of its by-products at a round market price."* 
 
 This point of view presents the coke oven industry 
 in a new light for it is thus made evident that this 
 "by-product" ammonia is not a by-product at all. 
 but is one of the several principal products which 
 
 the operators of the misnamed "by-product oven" 
 must produce and sell at a "round market price" 
 to make their enterprise profitable. (Diag. 29, p. 3 1 ) 
 As will appear, this is especially true with respect to 
 that product in which we are interested — ammonia, 
 which is approximately 82 per cent nitrogen. 
 
 BY-PRODUCT .AMMO. '" further support of the asser- 
 Nl,4 .4 COSTLY tion that the so-called by-pro- 
 
 PRODUCT duct ammonia is not a low- 
 
 priced product we have the statement of a well-known 
 authority on by-product coke ovens who says I > .1 : 
 
 "The cost of coking by the recovery method 
 is greater than by the old method and the plant 
 cost is a large item, so that it is essential to the 
 continued progress of this business that the prices 
 received for by-products be maintained at approxi- 
 mately their present level." Even with products at 
 
/"x 
 
 /\ 
 
 $2.11111 
 
 
 $2.'3(KI 
 
 
 ,$7(10 
 
 $'l(lll 
 
 
 
 
 
 t >.,n.,n,irl 
 
 
 L ; 
 
 V } 
 
 
 Arc 
 
 
 
 
 iv Bi 
 
 -Pbodl 
 
 f-T 
 
 Ammon 
 
 A IS Not » 
 
 NFr 
 
 
 
 
 :e One Ton 
 
 D Fe 
 
 » Year 
 
 B 
 
 r Sever 
 
 AL Process 
 
 normal prices the large amount of capital m- 
 volved has prevented the rapid growth of the 
 industry. " 
 
 It is therefore evident that the business of pro- 
 ducing by-product ammonia cannot prosper unless 
 the present prohibitive prices of ammonia fertilizer 
 be maintained. 
 
 Then too, the by-product coke oven mdustry 
 has appeared in Washington with the declaration 
 that: 
 
 "Of the by-products recovered, the ammonia 
 is the one yielding the bulk of the return, ll is 
 therefore of paramount importance to the continued 
 growth of this industry that the selling price of this 
 product be maintained somewhere near its normal 
 ten-year average price"* {=**; s). 
 
 What chance is there for the farmer to secure a 
 lower-priced, effective fertilizer from such a source? 
 
 These candid statements are further confirmed by 
 certain studies made for the installation of by-product 
 ovens in Alabama. The advantage to be had from 
 
 the saving of by-products as compared with their loss 
 in the old-style bee-hive ovens was represented in this 
 case by an estimated income of Myi cents from the 
 by-products from each net ton of coal. Of this 
 sum of 84^2 cents, 35 cents was to be secured from 
 ammonia alone, which was to be sold as sulphate of 
 ammonia at $35.00 per ton at the plant. The average 
 selling price of sulphate of ammonia throughout the 
 country in 1914 was $54,00 per ton ( ' ,i. 
 
 The use of a by-product oven costing $1,100 to 
 $1,200 per ton of coke made daily (Photo, p. 28) to 
 replace the bee-hive oven costing correspondingly 
 $180 (Photo, p. 29). can be justified only when a large 
 return is to be had from the resulting by-products. 
 Certainly it is therefore hopeless to expect a sub- 
 stantial reduction in price on that part of the by- 
 product which furnishes two-thirds of the total return, 
 unless the by-product oven industry is forced to meet 
 the competition of atmospheric nitrogen. 
 
 As a source of both ammonia and nitric acid the 
 coke oven process results in a high-priced product. 
 One explanation of this is found in the amount of in- 
 vestment required in connection with the by-product 
 oven as a source of nitric acid. Figure 26, page 30 
 shows at a glance the comparison between the several 
 processes as regards the investment per annual ton of 
 concentrated nitric acid produced. 
 
 It should be noticed that of the four processes for 
 which data are given, three, the Cyanamid, Haber and 
 Arc. are methods employed for the fixation of atmos- 
 pheric nitrogen. These processes have had their 
 greatest development in Germany. Norway and Italy, 
 the only industry of this character on our side of the 
 
THE IMPORTANCE 
 OF A LOW PRICE 
 
 Atlantic being a Cyanamid plant located on the Cana- 
 dian side of Niagara Falls. 
 
 Price is the crucial point of the 
 whole matter. The testimony 
 of the by-product ovens' own 
 champions shows conclusively that they must keep up 
 their prices. Their active opposition to the develop- 
 ment of Muscle Shoals seems to confirm it. We want 
 this great national blessing of multiplied crop yields 
 and national protection through the use of cheap 
 nitrogen. We want nitrogen at such a price that we 
 can profitably double its application on present fertil- 
 ized lands, and profitably introduce its universal use 
 on the unfertilized cereal crops which constitute 60 
 per cent of the country's cultivated acreage (",,). 
 thereby regaining our position as the world's granary 
 and effecting a reduction in the high cost of living to 
 be felt by the very least among our people. The by- 
 product oven offers no means of securing such a 
 price and therefore cannot meet the requirements of 
 the situation. 
 
 Second.— In time of war wc cannot depend upon 
 the hy-product coke oven for our military supply of 
 nitrogen, for, even if we tak,e the expansive promises of 
 the by-product oven people at their full face value. 
 {Diag. 28. p. 31) involving the assumption that the in- 
 crease in capacity of American by-product cok.e ovens 
 within the next two years Will equal their growth in out- 
 put during the past twelve years, even then this source 
 of supply would prove to be utterly inadequate to meet 
 the war-time needs of America's private chemical indus- 
 tries alone, to say nothing of the Government demand. 
 In support of this statement 
 we have undertaken to make 
 a careful analysis (Table 11, p. 
 41) of our country's future need of nitrogen and its 
 probable production. The facts employed are those 
 published by the most reliable authorities on the 
 subject. (Ref's. page 63) We assume that future re- 
 quirements will amount only to our present con- 
 sumption plus the normal annual growth prior to the 
 war. This leads us to estimate America s nitrogen 
 needs at too small rather than too large a figure 
 since the rate of increase grows \\'ith every passing 
 vear. 
 
 OUR COUNTRY'S 
 NEED FOR NITROGEN 
 
 ,._J 1 i 1 1 i i 1 f 1 i i 1 1 1 1 i - 5 j- ; 5 :s 1 5 1 
 
 .-,; 
 
 ''" *■■■- 
 
 '"■ -,■: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 50 ll*¥) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 
 ?«,m £i =r 
 
 
 KKXi ST~!7 
 
 Zo^ 
 
 ^ y#" 
 
 ^'^s^J 
 
 ^'' .s-t 
 
 
 •-(Hll.l ^ 
 
 vvV-; — 'i4_ 
 
 
 
 
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 THE ENORMOUS 
 SHORTAGE 
 
 The results of this analysis 
 have been tabulated (p. 41) 
 and show that should our im- 
 ports and exports he cut off by the enemy there would 
 be an annual shortage of 241 .520 tons of nitrogen even 
 after there had been used the promised 77,200 tons 
 from the by-product ovens and after all other avail- 
 able sources of nitrogen had been exhausted. (Diag. 
 25. p. 29) 
 
 The analysis shows further that simply the require- 
 ments of the refrigeration and chemical industries in- 
 cluding the manufacture of explosives by Government 
 and private plants would amount to 25 I .220 tons of ni- 
 trogen. The chemical industry can use nitrogen only in 
 the inorganic forms such as nitrate of soda, by-product 
 oven ammonia and calcium cyanamid. (Table I , p 32) 
 It is important to notice that the great production of 
 cottonseed meal, blood, tankage, etc.. being inorganic 
 
 PITCH 
 
 50.000 Lbs. 
 
 CREOSOTE OIL 
 50.000 Lbs. 
 
 BENZOL 
 
 2( ),()()() 
 
 Lbs. 
 
 . I HUM Bi-PnouuLi 
 
 l.40UToN^o,--roAi. (58 2) 
 
Table I. Consumption of Inorganic Nitrogen in U. S. 
 for year ending June 30, 1916. ('") 
 Chemical Industries — 
 
 Nitrate of Soda 1 56,000 tons 
 
 Coke oven Ammonia 21,500 tons 
 
 177,500 tons 
 
 Refrigeration Industry 
 Coke oven Ammonia 
 
 12,360 tons 
 Total Inorganic Nitrogen used 189,860 tons 
 
 ammoniates, are of no use in the chemical in- 
 dustries, and hence could not be diverted from use as 
 fertilizer to furnish nitrogen for 
 explosives in time of war. 
 
 The experience through 
 which Germany is passing is 
 pertinent to this discussion. 
 Ninety-five per cent of all coke 
 made in Germany is produced 
 with the recovery of the by- 
 products. Diagram 32 (p. 41) 
 shows that Germany's produc- 
 
 sults of the desperate efforts of the most efficient 
 nation in the world. 
 
 Our present supplies of nitrate of soda and cyana- 
 mid are wholly and entirely imported, and might be 
 shut off completely m time of war. Therefore we 
 face the significant fact that under war-time condi- 
 tions were we deprived of our imports and exports 
 we could secure nitrogen for explosives and other 
 chemical uses from but the one source — namely, the 
 by-product oven, unless the air nitrogen industry had 
 been previously established in the United States. 
 
 Note the present rapid increase in the use of by- 
 
 tion of coke has fallen off 18 per cent since the be- 
 ginning of the war. In the most perilous period of 
 her national existence, seeking a supply of nitrogen 
 to meet a demand hitherto unheard of in the world's 
 history. Germany has turned not to the coke ovens, 
 but away from them and has staked her all upon 
 the atmosphere fixation processes in which she has 
 invested more than one hundred million dollars in 
 the past two years. 
 
 These are the facts which should count with us 
 no theory here — no assumption — but the actual re- 
 
 product ammonia in such 
 vitally important indus- 
 tries as refrigeration and 
 chemical plants (Diags. 
 23 and 24, p. 28). Could 
 we permit our food sup- 
 plies to perish for lack of 
 ammonia for ice-making? 
 Could we permit our 
 chemical industries to be- 
 come paralyzed at a time 
 when we need them the 
 most? 
 
 What sort of patriotism 
 is it that would commit our 
 country to the suicidal policy of relying upon a single 
 source of nitrogen so grossly inadequate as the by- 
 product coke oven? 
 
 Third. — In placing the choice of a site in the hands 
 of the President. Congress intended to make sure that 
 our source of military nitrate supply would he located 
 where it would be safe in time of war. 
 
 The war college defined the 
 safety area of the United 
 States when they established 
 the line shown in red on the map onpage 30. Thearea m 
 
 SAFETY ZONE OF 
 THE WAR COLLEGE 
 
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 i 
 
 NOTE: Since the above reproduction of the drawings (shown in H. R. Doc. 20, 63rd Cong., 2nd Sess.) was made, a new set of drawings has been pubHshed after further investigation by U. S. Government 
 Engineers at a cost of $150,000. (H. R. Doc. 1262, 64th Cong., 1st Sess.). In these drawmgs the normal elevation of the upper pool formed by Dam No. I is fixed at 410.5. The normal level of 
 the pool above Dams Nos. 2 and 3 remains unchanged. Locks and other structures have been designed with a view to providing for 6-foot navigation and a possible subsequent increase m 
 project depth to 9 feet. (51 ,' Plates 33. 35, 46: 5 1 ,21) ; 
 
 30. GENERAL PLAN AND PROFILE OF MUSCLE SHOALS IMPROVEMENTS. (51/Piates G-2, G-3, G-4) 
 
31. POTENTIAL WATER POWER MAP OF THE UNITED STATES (64/Map-, 49/164-170; 5l/PI«tt III 
 
^ITED STATES (64/Map; 49/164-170; 51/Plate lllj 
 
"ZZm^'^^^ii 
 
 FRODUICTION 
 
 IN TIMF. OF PKlACF 
 
 FIRST YEAR OF \XAR 
 
 SECOND ^•E.4R OF wAr 
 
 white is that zone within which all plants for military 
 purposes supported by public funds must hereafter be 
 built. The black discs show that fully 85 per cent of 
 the by-product coke oven plants of this country are to 
 he found within the danger area. 
 
 We have seen that our present available nat- 
 ural resources are located outside of this area to a very 
 large extent. (Appendix Map) We have observed 
 with concern that our munitions plants. our steel mills, 
 our blast furnaces and many of our most important 
 deposits of raw materials are in the danger zone, 
 and to a large extent these vital industries not only 
 are located in exposed territory, but are so con- 
 centrated within It as to make the isolation of a part 
 of our Atlantic States a matter of most serious con- 
 cern to the country. Shall we further increase the 
 national danger by producing the first requisite of war. 
 nitric acid, within an area subject to enemy attack? 
 
 When we consider safety of construction, the 
 photograph of a typical by-product oven plant (p. 28) 
 shows how vulnerable to attack is the group of brick 
 and sheet iron structures which constitute a by-prod- 
 uct oven. How small a bomb could utterly demolish 
 such structures! 
 
 Andrew Carnegie says. "Put all your eggs into one 
 basket and watch that basket. One large air-nitro- 
 gen plant built of mass've reinforced concrete in a 
 protected district is certainly more easily defended 
 than a number of small plants of light construction 
 scattered over the country in exposed locations from 
 Chicago to Birmingham. 
 
 Calcium cyanamid can be economically shipped long 
 distances, so that if this process were adopted and the 
 final oxydizing step omitted at the central plant, this 
 operation could be performed in as many small ox\'diz- 
 ing plants as considered expedient for military needs, so 
 that the advantages of local production of nitric acid are 
 readily obtainable under the atmospheric fixation plan. 
 
 The by-product coke ovens have their place in 
 any scheme of preparedness, and mark an important 
 improvement over the old bee-hive oven, but they 
 do not constitute that big. adequate source of supply 
 which should be at the ready command of Uncle 
 Sam's defensive forces. 
 
 Table II. Requirements and Supply of Nitrogen in 
 the United States in 1914 and Estimate of Same 
 in Event of War Early in 1918. (See special list, 
 page 63. for references.) 
 
 Nitrogen Requirements of United States 
 
 — Net Tons Nitrogen — 
 1914 1918 (est.) 
 
 Feed— Cottonseed Meal 63.500 (10) 67.000 (//) 
 
 Other Organic Ammonia 8,000 (/.') 14.000 (/3) 
 
 Fertilizers - 
 
 Cottonseed Meal 54,400 (/O) 56,500 (//) 
 
 Other Organic Ammonia 61,350 (/•/) 75,750 (/•#) 
 
 Inorganic- 37.750 (/6) 
 
 Nitrate of Soda 40.600 (/5) 
 
 Sulphate o( Ammonia 30.900 (/5) 
 
 Cyanam.d Ammonia 4.500 ( 3 ) 
 
 Refrigeration — 
 
 Ammonia 10,450 (/7) 14.820 (/8) 
 
 Chemical Industries — 
 
 As Ammonia 14,700 (/9) 25.400(20) 
 
 As Nitric Acid . 60,600(2/) 156.000(22) 
 
 Govt. Military Explosives 55.000 (23) 
 
 Domestic Consumption 349.000 502,220 
 
 Exports. Cottonseed Meal 45,600 {24) 
 
 Total Requirements 394,600 502,220 
 
 Nitrogen Supply of United States 
 
 — Net Tons Nitrogen — 
 Domestu Production : 1914 1918 {est.) 
 
 Cottonseed Meal 163.500 (/) 123.500(2) 
 
 Other Organic Ammoniates 53.700 (3) 60.000 (-#) 
 
 Sulphate of Ammonia 37,700 (5) 77,200 (6) 
 
 Total Domestic Production .. .254.900 260.700 
 
 Nitrate of Soda 101.200 (7) 
 
 Sulphate of Ammonia 18,350 (S) 
 
 Organic Ammoniates 1 5,650 (9) 
 
 Cyanamid 4,500 (3) 
 
 Shortage 241.520 
 
 Total Supply 394.600 502.220 
 
 U. S. (I-A 411-414. 57) 
 
PaH' Six 
 
 TheOffei-ir^ 
 -^outh 
 
 What Muscle Shoals Supplies to Meet the Needs of the 
 Nitrate Plant m Time of Peace 
 
 A NEGLECTED 
 SECTION 
 
 "Go West, young man, " said 
 Horace Greely — and the young 
 man went. Not singly nor by 
 the hundreds did he go, but by the tens of thousands. 
 Occasionally those who took the long westward journey 
 were brilliantly successful, far oftener they were bit- 
 terly disappointed, but there in the West they were, 
 and there they generally remained, and thus that 
 section of the country developed. 
 
 Stricken by war and poverty, the South had few 
 champions to present its claims in competition with 
 the tempting offers of the golden West, and so the 
 
 the great natural wealth of this section neglected and 
 almost unknown. 
 
 Thus it happens that the richest undeveloped 
 region in Uncle Sam's domain is located, not in the 
 far West, nor in uttermost Alaska, but within that 
 great populous section which stretches from the Ohio 
 and Mississippi Rivers on the north and west to 
 the coasts of the Atlantic and Gulf. 
 
 Herein, as we shall see, is a greater variety of 
 Nature's treasures than is to be found anywhere else 
 in our land. Here the electro-chemical industries can 
 find, in close association, an abundant supply of water 
 
 broad wave of development that swept westward power together with all of those contributing factors 
 during the closing decades of the last century left which make for industrial success and supremacy. 
 
 Foremost among the water- 
 powers of this great territory, 
 surrounded by the potential 
 wealth of mine, field and forest is 
 the Niagara of the South Muscle 
 Shoals. Simply to state the con- 
 ditions and to review the facts is 
 to demonstrate that here is the 
 one site for the Government ni- 
 trate plant, capable of meeting the 
 requirements in every particular. 
 WHATTHE Summing up 
 SITE SHOULD ^^'^ requirements 
 SUPPLY of the site that is 
 
 to produce huge 
 supplies of cheap and high grade 
 fertilizer in times of peace, we 
 have: 
 
 1. Power: 200,000 horse- 
 power which must be avail- 
 able for **0 per cent of the 
 time throughout each 
 
 36. Some Products of the South (60 48. ^0) 
 
:z;-f^is^> :s;^::<:^ ^s;s^?^?-liSEg5g^g---^^'^^^ ^i ^^ ^ms^^-m- 
 
 year, to cost not more than S5 to SIO per horse- 
 power year, if we are to produce at home in 
 successful competition witli Norway, where 
 water power is avaihible at Si to S5 per horse- 
 power year. 
 
 2. Raw Materials : Practically unlimited 
 supplies of the following necessary materials 
 
 close at hand, viz.: ill Pure limestone; i2i 
 Coking coal; i3i Phosphate rock. 
 
 i. Central Location: A site that is central 
 with respect to the great fertilizer consuming 
 districts of the country which are its natural 
 markets, and favorably situated with respect 
 to transportation. 
 
 IIO'l (17 1'>R) 
 
4. Contented Labor: An abundance of low- 
 priced, suitable, contented labor. 
 
 5. Mild Climate: A climate that will tend 
 to make the cost of living low, and that will 
 prevent delays and damage due to anchor ice in 
 the penstocks of the power plant. 
 
 To what extent, then, is the site at Muscle Shoals 
 able to meet the above requirements, located as it is 
 m the very heart of that rich, undeveloped region — 
 the South? 
 
 viiater which occasionally occur, for in the case of 
 greatly increased demand beyond all expectations, 
 nearby streams, or the upper tributaries of the Ten- 
 nessee River could furnish reservoirs from which 
 could be drawn ample power to tide over the driest 
 periods which have occurred in the forty-four years 
 during which the records have been kept. Diagram 31 
 (p. 53) shows the relation between these reinforce- 
 ments and the main run-of-river power at the Shoals. 
 Notice that the diagram shows 24-hour power only. 
 If commercial power be considered then 680.000 
 horsepower can be developed i- '. an 
 amount greater by 105.000 horse power 
 than that of the combined developments 
 on the Canadian and American sides at 
 Niagara Falls i " i,,,). 
 
 The engineers of the War Department 
 have reported that to produce the energy 
 which is now running to waste over 
 Muscle Shoals would require over a 
 
 THE POWER SITE ■ , 
 PRE-EMINENT "°" ^^ ^ 
 
 greatelec- 
 
 tro-chemical plant manufac- 
 turing fertilizer the site at Mus- 
 cle Shoals presents notable 
 qualifications and advantages. 
 
 In the vast territory east 
 of the Mississippi, wherein is 
 consumed practically all of 
 the commercial fertilizer used 
 in the United States. (Map 39, 
 p 43) the greatest potential 
 waterpower center, barring 
 only Niagara Falls, is Muscle 
 Shoals on the Tennessee River. (Diag. 34. p. 42) 
 
 Engineering estimates based on extensive surveys 
 and an exhaustive analysis by United States Gov- 
 ernment engineers of the power demand of the 
 region, give over 600,000 horsepower as the prac- 
 ticable capacity of the generating plant that may be 
 
 million tons of coal converted into steam or gas 
 power annually, and if the enormous reservoir sites 
 on the Tallapoosa and Little Rivers, or on the upper 
 waters of the Tennessee, be used to reinforce the 
 run-of-river power at the Shoals during the occasional 
 brief periods of low water, which occur during the 
 placed at Muscle Shoals, of which 280,000 horsepower summer months, then no less than 1 ,663,000 tons of 
 would be capable of continuous operation every day coal per year would be needed to produce the 
 
 of the year, (Diag. 31, p. 55) amount of 
 
 At Muscle Shoals the consumers of electric power him who 
 need never be limited by the short periods of low 34 p 59) 
 
 ergy which these running waters offer to 
 ill make use of them ( ' .„). (Diagram 
 
jms^^m;^m^m.^ms^^i^?'nm^'smmL 
 
 R.W' M.-ITERIALS 
 FOR FERTILIZER 
 
 Reference to Map 40 (p. 43) 
 shows clearly that the neces- 
 sary combination of adequate 
 waterpower and raw materials for fertilizer manufac- 
 ture, exists in but one location -Muscle Shoals. 
 Only injthis section of the country can be found a 
 commercial production of the three necessary ma- 
 terials- limestone, coking coal and phosphate rock — 
 all withm a radius of one hundred miles. 
 
 I. Limestone; The bluffs along the river 
 ([-"hotos. pp. 47-48) are composed of a limestone 
 remarkable for its purity. Samples taken from a 
 nearby quarry showed the following analysis: 
 
 Carbonate of lime 
 Carbonate of magnesia 
 Oxide of iron and alumina 
 
 Silica 
 
 Moisture, etc 
 
 98.17', 
 0.97'; 
 0.30'; 
 0.49ff 
 0.07^c 
 
 j \/ -- 
 
 ^ 
 
 7^^^-. rS^ 
 
 ■-.f " V ," ". '"'>.« 
 
 o.r:c^; 
 
 
 \ ^ \ 
 
 
 ^_V^^- '■'' 
 
 
 
 
 
 *) !>~^\ 
 
 IV E S. 
 
 --[^^J^' 
 
 H, 
 
 V 
 
 "-^■^ \\ 
 
 1909 (-H 81. 37 2) 
 
 100.00'; 
 
 Three other samples from different locations 
 showed an analysis of carbonate of lime differing from 
 that given above by I to 2 per cent, or less. 
 
 The facility with which this rock may be quarried 
 and conveyed in barges to the fertilizer plant is shown 
 by the photographs on pages 44 and 48. 
 
 Dr. E. A. Smith. State Geologist of .'\labama. 
 describing the limestones of his State i ,1 says: 
 
 "In the northern part of the state this rock 
 is 350 to 1.300 feet in thickness and covers a 
 great area. * * * * f yj^^ purer portions 
 of this limestone carry from 95 to 99 per cent 
 carbonate of lime, but with the better quality of 
 the rock, shales are often interstratified. ^ * * * 
 
IW) (J7 156) 
 
 In our consideration of limestones as raw material 
 for the manufacture of fertilizer we must take notice 
 of an important division between them. The two 
 classes are shown in Map 40. (p. 43) The areas 
 shown in black dots are underlain by dolomite, which, 
 while of great value as a flux for the blast furnace, 
 and for other purposes, is not an economical material 
 
 to use in the manufacture of electro-chemical fertil- 
 izer. The areas shown in red dots, on the other 
 hand, are underlain mainly by high-calcium limestone, 
 containing little or no magnesia. This is the kind 
 which is suitable for use in the electro-chemical manu- 
 facture of fertilizer ('" ,„;), and it is this kind, of great 
 purity, which is to be had in unlimited quantity and 
 
 ZSHWIS i '" ^?": '' "' '"': '^::'Mi& S KLt:^S: 
 
;^nr^^«- 
 
 - Coal. Iron »nd R R Co . En5I 
 
 favorably disposed for economic quarrying, at Muscle 
 Shoals. 
 
 2. Coke: Referring again to Map 40 (p. 43). we 
 notice that only small portions of the coal areas of 
 the country are indicated (by the small red C's) as 
 containing suitable material for cokmg. The trans- 
 portation of coke or coking coal from the limited 
 areas in which they originate to distant places of use. 
 adds materially to the cost of using coke. For ex- 
 ample, in the State of Illinois the average value of 
 the 61,618.744 tons of coal produced in 1914 was 
 $1.14 per ton I'* ,.,,) but the coke ovens of the 
 State were obliged to use coal brought from Penn- 
 sylvania and West Virginia, four parts of which 
 were mixed with one part of Illinois coal to secure a 
 material for satisfactory coking, and the 1,932,132 
 short tons of coal used in this way were valued at 
 $2.82 per ton {'"• ,■..). an increase of 147 per cent 
 over the value of the local coals. 
 
 But the maker of coke in the Tennessee Valley 
 needs no imported coal. Ninety miles from the site 
 at Muscle Shoals lies the great coke producing dis- 
 trict of Birmingham. Ala., second only to the Con- 
 nellsville district of Pennsylvania, (see .Appendix 
 Map) 
 
 In the Biimingham district, although the de- 
 velopment of the coal resources has hardly begun. 
 
 sufficient facilities for coke making (some of which 
 are shown in the photographs on pages 28 and 29) 
 are at hand for producing coke in large volume, this 
 district having produced, in round numbers, 3,084,000 
 tons of coke in 1914 ( '" „ ) so that the location of 
 Muscle Shoals with respect to coke supply is all that 
 could be desired, 
 
 3. Phosphate Rock: The third fundamental re- 
 quirement in the manufacture of cheap high-grade 
 fertilizer by modern electro-chemical means is a 
 liberal supply of phosphate rock so located as to 
 permit of economical mining and requiring a mini- 
 mum outlay for transportation. 
 
 Here, again, the location at Muscle Shoals proves 
 Itself to be the site par-excellence. 
 
 Phosphate rock is produced (m commercially im- 
 portant quantities) in but five districts of the United 
 States, (Appendix Map) Of these, one is in the far 
 west in the heart of the rugged districts of the Rocky 
 Mountains in Wyoming, far removed from centers of 
 fertilizer consumption (District No. 3); a second lies 
 on the Atlantic Coast in South Carolina (District 
 No. 4). but the heavy overburden which must be re- 
 moved in that district before the rock can be mined 
 increases the cost to such a point that in general it 
 does not pay to ship this phosphate (" ,.,). 
 
 yr'/r vrr^y^/l'^'^'r^ 
 
There remain, then, in all the United States only 
 the pebble and hard rock deposits of Florida and the 
 deposits of Tennessee, which in large part are of the 
 highest grade. 
 
 The Tennessee deposits have their greatest de- 
 velopment within 60 miles from Muscle Shoals, at 
 Mt. Pleasant. Tenn.. the second largest producing 
 district in the United States (Photos, pp. 44 and 58). 
 Here is to be found a reserve of phosphate rock con- 
 taining normally 70 to 72 per cent and as high as 80 
 per cent pure tricalcium phosphate (Ca iPOl ) in 
 quantity variously estimated from 88 million I ,1 
 to 160 million ( .1 long tons, which is economically 
 mined and washed. 
 
 The value to Muscle Shoals of these enormous de- 
 posits of phosphate rock right at hand needs only to 
 be pointed out to be fully appreciated, a fact also true 
 of the great supply of timber for construction and other 
 purposes, which is readily available (Map 43. p. 46). 
 
 In considering so bulky a 
 ECONOMY OF j- r ■■■ , 
 
 CENTRAL LOCATION commodity as fertilizer that 
 site is best adapted for its 
 manufacture, which offers a source of supply nearest 
 to the centers of fertilizer consumption. 
 
 The South is. above all things, an agricultural dis- 
 trict. With an area of about one-third that of conti- 
 nental United States (exclusive of Alaska) the South 
 
 produces 62 per cent of all farm crops of the United 
 States, exclusive of livestock, and 100 per cent of all 
 our cotton. (Diag. 36. p. 42) In this warm, moist 
 climate the vegetation grows luxuriantly and con- 
 stant cropping soon exhausts the soil. The greatest 
 fertilizer consuming district in America therefore, is an 
 area in the South Atlantic States where it has become 
 necessary to use fertilizer in order to produce a paying 
 cotton crop. Map 39 (p. 43) reveals the significant 
 fact that fully 50 per cent of America's fertilizers are 
 consumed within 500 miles of Muscle Shoals, and a 
 radius of 800 miles includes fully 80 per cent of our 
 country s fertilizer consumption. The transportation 
 facilities by rail are indicated, in part, by the network 
 of principal railroads shown in black on the Appendix 
 Map. while the system of some 13.000 miles of nav- 
 igable waterways connecting with this site are shown 
 in blue. (See also Map 22. p. 26.) 
 
 It might be urged that Muscle Shoals lies too far 
 to the southeast to be called a truly central location, 
 but if we consult the Government's Statistical Atlas 
 for 1914 we find (Map 38. p. 43) that Muscle Shoals 
 lies within a circle of 300 miles radius which can truly be 
 said to represent the heart of rural America. Inspection 
 of the map shows that within this circle lie the centers 
 of eight of those vital factors of national life by which, 
 rather than by geography, our national center is fixed. 
 
'^3^rr:rrr'3^r:r- 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF 
 SUITABLE LABOR 
 
 Abundant cheap and rea- 
 sonably dependable labor is an 
 important consideration in 
 sucb specialized work as the electro-chemical manu- 
 facture of fertilizer in which the various operations 
 must be carried on continuously, day and night. 
 
 sistent with fair living wages, for, as we have seen, if 
 more general and profitable use is to be made of fer- 
 tilizer. It must be produced much more cheaply than 
 is possible at present. Moreover, as the plant is to 
 provide for the needs of our army and navy in all 
 emergencies, the labor should be of a lojal and de- 
 
 The labor cost should be as 1 
 
 possible, con- pendable character. 
 
 : MiuaiMftt T 
 
 Makes. Cheaper LiviNci a.-^d LoutK-pRutL. Labor Po^.^ 
 
In both of these respects the South has a pecuUar 
 advantage. In this section where the cHmate is 
 mild (Map 45. p. 49) and living is cheaper than in the 
 more rigorous latitudes, the workingman, white or 
 colored, can live contentedly on less than in other sec- 
 tions of the country. (Map 44. p. 49 and Map 42. p. 46) 
 
 Freedom from the foreign element in all classes of 
 population, in the central South (Map 52, p. 56) 
 brings to our industries a welcome freedom from a 
 certain undesirable class of foreign workmen, who, 
 having no true conception of the spirit of our demo- 
 cratic institutions, and lacking the inspiration of 
 American patriotism, are a constant source of unrest 
 and discontent. 
 
 Map 45 (p. 49) shows the average January tem- 
 peratures taken at 8 A. M. in various parts of the 
 country. A moment's examination shows that to 
 find a more genial climate we must go to one of three 
 localities: The Pacific Coast, where the haul required 
 is prohibitive; Southwest or Southeast Texas, where 
 there is neither adequate power, phosphate rock, nor 
 coke: or the coasts of the Atlantic and Gulf, where 
 two or more of the necessary raw materials would 
 have to be shipped. 
 
 Here is abundance of power 
 QUALIFICATIONS OF ui £ J 1 » ^u 
 
 THE PREMIER SITE "P^'^'^ °^ development withm 
 the necessary limit of cost : and 
 the necessary raw materials, placed as by a Providen. 
 tial hand to meet the great 
 and growing needs of a 
 great nation; here is the 
 central location in the midst 
 of the largest fertilizer con- 
 suming district of .America 
 and enjoying awater freight 
 rate to the great distribu- 
 ting points of the interior 
 from St. Paul to New Or- 
 leans and from Pittsburgh 
 
 ADVANTAGES OF 
 MILD CLIMATE 
 
 The difference between mild 
 and severe winters can be 
 directly translated in terms 
 of dollars and cents. To the 
 laborer it means less ex- 
 pense for fuel, and fewer re- 
 quirements for himself and 
 family in clothing. He can 
 live in a house which costs 
 
 less money and rents for less, and where the changes of 
 temperature are not so severe there is frequently 
 less need for the services of the doctor. 
 
 To the hydro-electric operator a mild climate where 
 the streams never freeze means freedom from condi- 
 tions shown in the photograph of the Keokuk Dam 
 on page 20. No ice jams block the penstocks or 
 runways to the turbines with consequent delay and 
 damage. Transmission lines are seldom severely 
 taxed by heavy coats of sleet and transportation lines 
 are never blocked by snowstorms. 
 
 far up the Missouri, while a combination of river and , 
 ocean steamers furnishes an all-water route to every 
 seaport on the .Atlantic and an adequate system of 
 rail lines brings this site into ready touch with north, 
 east, south and west. Here is satisfactory labor in 
 abundance, and a mild climate. Can another site 
 throughout the length and breadth of the land comply 
 so fully with every requirement? We think not. 
 and we base our championship of Muscle Shoals 
 on its exclusive merits, far-reaching and unques- 
 tionable. 
 
Pa 1*1' Seven 
 
 "~Oiir~ 
 Tiationaf 
 fesurohousel 
 
 What Muscle Shoals and Adjacent Territory Offer to Meet the 
 Needs of the Nitrate Plant m Time of War 
 
 VARIED RESOURCES The Tennessee River is in 
 OF THE TENNESSEE some respects a most unusual 
 I' ALLEY stream. It flows both south 
 
 and north, and it completely divides the State of that 
 name into three distinct parts. It has its source in 
 the majestic Alleghenies. while its lower reaches 
 traverse the level alluvial valley of the Miss- 
 issippi. 
 
 It IS but natural that we should find a variety of 
 nature's resources amid the widely varying conditions 
 to be found in the valley of such a stream, yet the 
 statement will be surprising to many that the Tennes- 
 
 see Valley produces substantially every commercially 
 important mineral to be found in America, while every 
 crop mentioned in the census is to be found somewhere 
 in the State of Tennessee. Of noteworthy importance 
 is the fact that these raw resources of mine, field and 
 forest are prepared for use in local industrial plants, 
 and their products are available within a short dis- 
 tance of Muscle Shoals. 
 
 How then may a great power site in the heart of 
 the Tennessee Valley meet the needs of our Govern- 
 ment in time of war? 
 
 Those plants which produce the defensive 
 
 Co», Fields and Iron Ore Deposits in U S (9 Plate h II l»2) 
 
To Lat^esl Iron Production in U. S. 
 
 Largest Pjrite Prod, in U. S.'Va. Disl. 
 
 565 Mi. / ^^ 
 
 LarsZ^1anE«n<» Productionin U. S.^^l 
 
 Lynchburg. Va. Dist. 485 Mi.^^^^ 
 
 Coke Disl.ol-Tei 
 
 Zinc Dist.ofTenn. 215 Mi. 
 
 ''0--^i~^$\"''''K t^) O""^ r"Z ) BatytAoUt. of Tenn. l90Mi. 
 
 Tann7T'ho,phite>0Mi'\V//iS>tVV^-7/, A D' ■ „f T.„„ 1 70 Ml 
 
 — ^<f^\ 1.^/ Xv^o^' I "1 1 \Ducktown Cbpper U;3t. ol 1 enn. l/uivli. 
 
 ZZJ C.rtcrsvillc Barytc DiiL 155 Mi. 
 
 ^ >^ ' S. C. Manganese DUt. 290 M 
 
 - :< Bir^inghamTAia. D:s.^.,90,Mi.V74^^^3XV V^'' 
 
 ..Ov^t 100 Miles to Safely x( 3 j^"^/^^^ 135 Mi. / 
 
 Line.-' / V_y ,VL/ / 
 
 A;^ Gulf of 
 
 / ^A Bauxite Dist. of 
 [^ J Central Georgia U 
 
 315 M,. 
 Florida Hard Rock Phosphate Dis 
 490 Mi. 
 
 QUALIFICATIONS RE- 
 QUIRED OF SITE 
 
 equipment of a nation are to a country what its 
 powder magazine is to a great battleship — 
 its vital part. Without them, the nation lies a 
 helpless prey to the modern invader and the 
 heroism of a million men becomes of no avail 
 against the enemy. 
 
 We have seen that the 
 essentials of a suitable 
 site for a great nitrate 
 plant to answer the defensive demands of the 
 country may be summed up as follows: 
 First. — A safe and central location. 
 Second. — .\ large supply of continuous 
 cheap, hydro-electric power sufficient for 
 an initial demand of roundly 120,000 horse- 
 power. 
 
 Third. .\ plentiful supply of raw ma- 
 terials close at hand for the manufacture 
 of nitric acid. 
 
^'■S?-?Ti2"1 
 
 A Feetilized Cotton Crop in Mrssissippi. 1914 
 
 Hales Bab Im 
 
1 o ,-4C-"l^ 
 
 
 
I I I I I I I 1 1 I 
 
 CJ Primary Power Ava.labl,. 
 \%, 4^ UD Sc-condary Power Available 
 ^'?. CD Primary Power Req'd by U 
 Govlh.rN.trir AcidMtg, 
 
 Fourth. Sufficient power and raw materials 
 readily available for the manufacture of war 
 munitions. 
 
 Fifth. Favorable conditions with respect to 
 labor and climate, and a local population of 
 purely native Americans. 
 
 In considerinsr the first re- 
 ■i SAFE AND 
 CENTRAL LOCATION qu'^ement. a safe and central 
 
 location, a brief reference to 
 the .Appendix Map shows that Muscle Shoals lies 
 well within the safety area fixed by the War College. 
 On an air line it is 370 miles (or farther than from 
 Berlin to Pans) from the nearest foreign territory 
 (Ontario) in which a possible enemy atro-station might 
 be established. 430 miles from the nearest point on 
 the Atlantic coast, and 313 miles from the nearest point 
 (upper Mobile Bay) on the Gulf Coast. 
 
 To capture Muscle Shoals from the north the 
 nemy must conquer Ohio. Indiana and Tennes- 
 I see: from the east he must cross the Appalachian 
 Mountains and the states of Georgia and Ala- 
 bama, and from the south he must pass the 
 morasses of the Gulf Coast and cross the state of 
 Alabama along its longest dimension. 
 
 As to central location, it has been shown (p. 48) 
 that Muscle Shoals lies within that circle of 300 
 miles radius which, from an agricultural standpoint, 
 constitutes the very heart of the nation. (Diag. 38, 
 p. 43) 
 
 But from the military as well as from the agri- 
 cultural viewpoint, the location of this site is strik- 
 ingly favorable for economic distribution of nitric 
 acid or other war material. In support of this 
 statement we have prepared a location map of con- 
 tinental United States, showing the government 
 distributing points for war supplies for both army 
 and navy, omitting all camps and headquarters of 
 a probable temporary nature, and including certain 
 forts and army posts not occupied at present, but 
 available in case of war. 
 
 Inspection of this map (page 34) shows that by 
 far the greater number are located east of the Missis- 
 sippi River, so that some 43 per cent of these army 
 posts, arsenals and naval stations lie within a radius 
 of 750 miles from Muscle Shoals. 
 
 The second requirement calls 
 for a supply of continuous 
 power, to be available day and 
 night, at all times of the year, to the extent of at 
 least 120.000 horsepower. 
 
 Diagram 31, page 33, shows the estimate of the 
 Government engineers, prepared after an investiga- 
 tion covering two years and costing $1 50.000. This 
 examination was made by Asst. Eng. W. S. Winn, under 
 direction of Maj, H. Burgess, and the report of the 
 investigation was published in December, 1916. 
 
 Reference to the diagram shows that the con- 
 tinuous power which may be concentrated at Muscle 
 Shoals IS not a bare 120,000 horsepower, the min- 
 imum, but a generous 230.000 horsepower and the 
 
 AN ABUNDANCE 
 OF POWER 
 
A HEALTH OF NATL 
 RAL RESOURCES 
 
 ultimate commercial 24-hour power which may be 
 installed there approximates half a million horse- 
 power. 
 
 The third requirement calls for 
 a plentiful supply of raw 
 materials close at hand, for 
 the manufacture of nitric acid. 
 
 In the electro-chemical method of taking nitrogen 
 from the air. the making of nitric acid is but one step 
 added to the manufacture of fertilizer. This step 
 requires no other raw materials than steam and at- 
 
 mospheric oxygen ("" ,.,), so we see that 
 the site which so abundantly meets the 
 needs of the fertilizer plant is capable of 
 meeting every requirement in raw ma- 
 terials, of the nitric acid plant as well. 
 
 When we consider the fourth require- 
 ment, namely, the necessary power and 
 raw materials in usable form, for the 
 manufacture of munitions of war. it has 
 already been shown that Muscle Shoals 
 has a tremendous reserve of power avail- 
 able in this location, with possibilities of 
 power development equal to the present 
 development at Niagara Falls. 
 
 Volumes might be written about the 
 materials available, but space permits us 
 only a brief mention of those requisites 
 that are close at hand to Muscle Shoals. 
 
 Cotton, the world s chief basis for the manufac- 
 ture of modern explosives, is to be had in greatest 
 abundance (see Diag. 46. p. 5 1 ; Map 53. p. 57. and 
 Photo, p. 53). for. as we have seen. Muscle Shoals lies 
 but I 75 miles from the center of the greatest cotton 
 producing region in the world. 
 
 Of the metals for war material there is an abun- 
 dant and varied supply. Diagram 49. page 52. taken 
 from the Appendix Map shows that the third greatest 
 producing district in America in iron ores is but 90 
 
 Foreign Whjtes. and Native Whites of Foreign or Mixed PARENTA..t ,^ Tot,l Popve«tion (17 
 
 .^:£:Mia£riJ 
 
 :;^^!»!!a;:iia»sg^wfiai^L 
 
914 (48 3511 Sk. 
 
 miles away at Birmingham. Here are blast furnaces, 
 smelters and rolling mills (Photos, pp. 47 and 62). but 
 more significant are the tremendous possibilities for 
 iron and steel making which would be opened up by 
 the large-scale production of cheap power at Muscle 
 Shoals (Diag. 47. and Map 48. p. 51). 
 
 Chief among the improvements in modern steel 
 making stands that industrial giant, the electric fur- 
 nace. High phosphorous or high sulphur content in 
 iron ores are no obstacles to successful steel making 
 where this powerful servant of civilization is em- 
 ployed. I ) so that the Muscle Shoals 
 
 country with its wealth of iron ore and its 
 great supply of cheap electric power may be 
 made to become the greatest center of iron 
 and steel production in all America. 
 
 But iron and steel, important as they 
 are. supply but one spoke in the great wheel 
 of production that has its hub at Muscle 
 Shoals. (Diag. 49, p. 52) 
 
 To the northeast. 170 miles distant, lie 
 Ducktown and Copper Hill, the greatest 
 copper producing district east of Arizona, 
 excepting only the exposed mining district 
 of northern Michigan. (Appendix Map) 
 (Photos, pp. 18 and 60) Here is to be had 
 sulphuric acid in abundance, made from the 
 reclaimed fumes of the smelters. The 
 zinc deposits of Tennessee are but 21 5 miles 
 from the site to the northeastward, while 
 the greatest zinc fields in .America, if not in 
 
 the world, are to be found in the zinc district of 
 southwestern Missouri. 390 miles to the northwest. 
 Here an area of about 100 sq. miles produces 50 per 
 cent of the zinc yield of the entire United States. 
 Smelters in nearby states, at sites having water freight 
 rates, furnish economical sources of supply of this 
 important metal, the nearest being at Mascot. Tenn.. 
 on the Tennessee River. 225 miles from Muscle 
 Shoals. (Photos, pp. 61 and 62) 
 
 Closely associated with zinc large amounts of lead 
 are within easy reach. The production of this metal 
 
in the central and southeastern Missouri district. 320 
 miles to the northwest, (ranking second in lead pro- 
 duction) was over 168.000 tons in 1914 r ,,). 
 
 Aluminum ore. known as bauxite, claims an im- 
 portant place in the making of modern munitions. 
 The largest source of this ore in America is the famous 
 .'\rkansas district. 270 miles westward from Muscle 
 Shoals. This material now goes, in large part, to the 
 great aluminum plant at Niagara Falls. The second 
 largest producing district, 260 miles to the southeast, 
 in Georgia, furnishes abundant supplies of ore to the 
 important aluminum plant at Maryville, Tenn. 
 (Photo, p. 58) but 220 miles from the Shoals. 
 
 Important in the manufacture of those grades of 
 steel used extensively for munitions, is manganese. 
 The largest producing district of the metal is the 
 Lynchburg district of Virginia, 483 miles from Muscle 
 Shoals, where the ore runs as high as 33 per cent pure 
 manganese. Deposits which rank low in present pro- 
 duction and hence are not shown on the Appendix 
 Map. are those 
 of Cartersville. 
 Georgia, 150 
 miles away, and 
 Independence 
 City, Arkansas, 
 300 miles dis- 
 tant. The lat- 
 ter is said by 
 Dr. A. H. Pur- 
 due. State Geol- 
 ogist of Ten- 
 nessee, to be 
 
 the most im- ''',,',', 'i'' '^ 
 portant reserve 
 
 of manganese within convenient 
 reach of Muscle Shoals ('■' ,i. 
 
 For working steels a good flux 
 is a prime necessity. Muscle 
 Shoals is surrounded by limestone 
 (shown in black lines and dots. 
 App. Map) while the largest production of fluorspar 
 in America is to be had in the Kentucky district 180 
 miles to the northward. (Diag. 49. p. 52) 
 
 Another important element in the making of ex- 
 plosives is caustic soda, the basis of which is common 
 salt. This material is found in beds nearly two thous- 
 and feet in thickness. 400 miles to the south in Louisi- 
 ana, while at a distance of 390 miles is the salt pro- 
 duction of Michigan, the largest in the United States. 
 Sulphuric acid, an important factor in the mak- 
 ing of explosives, is available in large quantities 
 at Ducktown. 1 70 miles away, while sulphur and 
 pyrite. the raw materials for making sulphuric acid, are 
 available in great quantity. The largest deposit of 
 sulphur in America, if not in the world, is found in 
 Louisiana at a distance of 450 miles from Muscle 
 Shoals. The shipments from this great deposit have 
 
 reached 1.000 tons per day l'^*', ,i, and it is this de- 
 posit which enables the South to dominate the world's 
 sulphur market ('"/,, I. 
 
 Pyrite is obtainable in great quantity in Virginia 
 deposits of first rank, 365 miles from Muscle Shoals, 
 while smaller supplies are available in Cherokee and 
 Carroll Counties. Georgia, at a distance of 163 miles. 
 
 Barytei for the manufacture of fertilizers, of 
 paints, rubber, paper, and cloth i '* ,. I is also avail- 
 able in large amounts in the Washington County 
 district of Missouri at a distance of 280 miles from 
 Muscle Shoals, this district producing about 63 per 
 cent of our domestic output. (Diag. 49. p. 52) 
 
 In the construction of a plant of such magnitude 
 as that required by the government Portland cement is 
 an important consideration. Dr. Purdue points out 
 that the nearest Portland cement plant is at Richard 
 City, on the Tennessee River, about 1 50 miles from the 
 Shoals; other plants are found at Kingsport. Tenn.. 
 and in Alabama and Georgia. Should a nearer local 
 lant appear desirable, there is an 
 abundance of limestone and shale 
 nearby to supply the material ("',). 
 An important 
 
 IT.ARY HICmV.AYS ' ' ^ "> '" 'his 
 
 development 
 
 is the supply of road material. Dr. 
 
 Purdue states: 
 
 •To the lay- 
 
 man tt is a nat- 
 
 ural supposition 
 
 that first-class 
 
 military high- 
 
 ways would be 
 
 constructed cen- 
 
 tering at a mu- 
 
 nitions plant of 
 
 the United 
 
 States wherever 
 
 It should be lo- 
 
 Muscle Shoals 
 southward 
 through Alaba- 
 ma well toward 
 the Gulf and 
 ard and 
 eastward 
 ough Tennessee and Kentucky there is road material 
 [sisting of limestone, chert or gravel on almost every 
 e of the distance From the Ohio River northward 
 ds could easily be constructed by the use of limestone 
 .t is accessible in many places, and the glacial gravels 
 widely distributed over the northern states. West- 
 rd across portions of western Tennessee and eastern 
 
 i the 
 central Arka 
 abundance- 
 
 of fir; 
 
 the gn 
 
 pla 
 
 aterial. 
 
 In brief, it may be seen that the combination of 
 such a variety of essential resources is not to be found 
 within so limited an area anywhere else in the land, and 
 when it is considered that in the midst of this abun- 
 dance and variety is a power site second only to Niag- 
 ara Falls among the eastern waterpowers. then, and 
 only then, can be comprehended the tremendous possi- 
 bilities that await the command of our President at 
 Muscle Shoals. 
 
" I 
 
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 iS PRICE5\A\1LD IN OPTIONS T^KLSC 
 LANDS IN L\LDERDALE COUNTS Dl, 
 
 
 If the Nitrate Plant be not Placed at Muscle Shoals, 
 Then Where Shall It Go? 
 
 THE PRESSING NEED 
 FOR Nl TRA TE PLANT 
 
 IT surely must go to some locality, for to fail to 
 build this national bulwark, provided by Con- 
 gress for the protection and welfare of the nation, 
 would be indefensible. 
 
 We have endeavored to make 
 plain our country s critical 
 need, both economic and mili- 
 tary, for a nitrogen plant. 
 
 In so doing we have presented information and 
 argument with which the President and Congress 
 are familiar, but which are not generally known or 
 sufficiently understood by the people whose interests 
 are so deeply concerned. One particular phase of 
 the situation, we believe, is worthy of emphasis. 
 
 To many Americans who feel 
 that, somehow, the United 
 States of America is a land 
 absolutely invincible; who have concluded that, 
 since America has never seen a Jena nor a Sedan, 
 she never will see one; to those who feel that be- 
 cause we have won the few wars in which we have 
 been engaged, we are a nation of great national de- 
 fensive strength and are amply supplied with means 
 for meeting the enemy: in short, to all who feel that 
 
 AMERICA 
 
 4 TEMPTING PRIZE 
 
 the need for a great nitrate plant has been exagger- 
 ated, we commend a few moments' examination of 
 our country's serious predicament revealed by the 
 map at the back of this booklet. 
 
 The heavy line is that to which reference has fre- 
 quently been made the "safety line " fixed by the 
 War College, limiting the area within which all 
 Government military plants must hereafter be lo- 
 cated. 
 
 But where are these arsenals and munitions plants 
 today? .^s shown on the map. every Government 
 munitions plant worthy of the name is to be found 
 within that area along the Atlantic Coast. 225 miles 
 long and less than 100 miles wide, reaching from the 
 Potomac River to Boston Bay. 
 
 And where are our chief supplies of the all-im- 
 portant iron with which we must wage our warfare? 
 The only iron producing center of any importance 
 in .'Xmerica which is not on the frontier is that at Bir- 
 mingham, close to Muscle Shoals. 
 
 Note that the great iron and steel industry cen- 
 tering around Pittsburgh, depends for its raw material 
 upon ores which are carried along our frontier line 
 for nearlv a thousand miles through the Great Lakes. 
 
 ■ ,«,^iii^^5£; 
 
 The Shoms at Lock Number Ni~e 
 
from Duluth and Marquette to Cleveland, Erie and Buffalo 
 on their way to the Pittsburgh and Ohio districts. 
 
 What is the situation respecting 
 copper — another essential material 
 in munitions manufacture? The 
 map shows that it is all to be found 
 within exposed territory, excepting 
 the far western deposits of Nevada 
 and Utah — and the Southern source 
 of supply in eastern Tennessee. 
 
 It is also a significant fact that 
 the largest producing district in the 
 United States in lead. salt. coke, 
 pyrite. manganese, phosphate rock Copper SMKixh 
 
 and sulphur are in the danger zone, 
 and that, within this area, which would be first to be 
 attacked by a possible foreign enemy, are to be found 
 our principal potential water powers, as well as the 
 majority of our present hydro-electric developments. 
 
 With our wealth mounting high into the billions 
 as other nations are plunged into staggering debt, our 
 land offers a tempting prize with its vital military 
 industries concentrated in exposed positions, and with 
 its raw materials within easy grasp of the invader. 
 Who shall say how soon we may have to defend our 
 land from attack? 
 
 Without further argument we 
 ask again — where shall this 
 great defensive plant be built 
 if not at Muscle Shoals ? 
 
 The map shows that the great majority of our 
 power streams possessing the largest possibilities 
 are located outside of the safety zone fixed by the 
 War College. (See also Map 31 . pp. 39-40) 
 
 This disqualifies practically every power site on the 
 Atlantic Seaboard, the Gulf Coast, the Great Lakes, 
 
 WHERE SHALL THE 
 PL.4NT BE BUILT;- 
 
 and the many power 
 streams of the Pacific 
 Slope. 
 «T DiK KrnMN V.JI, t UPPER Hill. Tenn, The Streams tra- 
 
 versing our great cen- 
 tral valleys offer but limited waterpower. Keokuk, 
 with its limited supply of water and the prospective 
 high price which power developed there is to com- 
 mand, is not a competitor, and nowhere else except 
 on the Tennessee River is there a site of the requisite 
 magnitude available in the Mississippi Valley. 
 
 Nor can we go to the far west with such an en- 
 terprise. By nature our most vulnerable coast is the 
 .Atlantic and it is here that our vital industries are 
 located. Whether for peace or war, we would defeat 
 our purpose beyond all question by locating our plant 
 in the eastern slope of the Rockies. 
 
 The more we study the situation, the more in- 
 evitable becomes the conclusion that 250.000 continuous 
 horsepower — or half that much — coupled with the neces- 
 sary limestone, coke, phosphate rock, cotton and the ex- 
 tended list of metals, crude chemicals and fluxes so essen- 
 tial in the makjng of war munitions, arc obtainable in 
 faoorable combination in but one location in all America 
 —at Muscle Shoals on the Tennessee River. 
 
 With all of these 
 advantages our 
 story is but half 
 told. For to thus apply nature's forces 
 at Muscle Shoals not only will make living 
 cheaper and provide a secure and depend- 
 able source of nitric acid; not only 
 will fully open an inland empire to the 
 needs of the country thru the development 
 of adequate na\'tgation on the Tennessee 
 River: but will establish at Muscle Shoals 
 a center of electro-chemical industry 
 rivaling Niagara Falls in the magnitude 
 and usefulness of its accomplishments. 
 
 And so we see this great power site, 
 not merely as a location for the plant that 
 shall produce some necessary acid for use 
 in war. but we see it as the source of an 
 economic inHuence that shall be felt from 
 coast to coast, lightening in a measure the 
 burdens of the people, bringing the greatest 
 good to the greatest number, and mak- 
 ing this enterprise a living monument 
 to that broad principle of democracy. 
 
 THE MUSCLE SH0.4LS 
 OF THE FUTURE 
 
 m mM:mTj:i-myF^-v^"~^^^^^^x"^^sm^m^m 
 

 
 ,.„.l. L,MF..T„K 
 
 Pl*mt 
 
 . Amf.hic 
 
 ,s Zinc Co . Mascot, Tr-.v. 
 
 
 
 LIST OF REFERENCES 
 
 I_ 
 
 U. S. G. S. Mineral Resources— 1914. Vol 1 
 
 
 
 IS 
 
 U S Dept of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin 1 1 5 
 
 2 
 
 A 
 
 U S. G. S. Mineral Resources— 1914. Vol. 1 
 Sen Doc. 190. 62nd Cong.. 2nd Sess. 
 
 
 
 16 
 37 
 
 12th Census. Vol. II (Pop ). Part II. Section XIX. 
 Statistical Atlas of U S. Census Dept,. 1914, 
 
 2 
 
 A 
 
 U. S. G, S. Mineral Re5ources--1914. Vol. I 
 
 . 
 
 
 38. 
 
 13th Census. Vol. V. 
 
 3 
 
 
 Proceedings of Conference ot National Const 
 
 rvation Congress 
 
 Part 
 
 39, 
 
 U, S. Dept. of Labor. Bureau of Statistics. Bulletin 1 1 3. 
 
 
 
 2. May. 1916. 
 
 
 
 40. 
 
 Virginia Geol, Survey. Bulletin l-A. 
 
 U. S. Dept. Agriculture. Weather Bureau Publication 583 
 
 4 
 
 
 U. S. Dept of Agriculture. Bulletin 312. 
 
 
 
 41. 
 
 5 
 
 
 U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Bureau of Soils, 
 
 Bulletin 81 
 
 
 
 Maxim. Defenseless America 
 
 6 
 7 
 
 
 U. S. Dept. o( Agriculture. Bulletin 18. 
 U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Bulletin 69. 
 
 
 
 43! 
 
 Worlds Almanac. 1916 
 13th Census. Vol. X 
 
 8 
 
 
 Report of Cli.ef Mine Inspector. Mm. Res 
 
 of Tenn.. 1914 
 
 
 45^ 
 
 War Dept, Annual Reports. 1915. Vol. 1 
 
 9 
 
 
 U. S. G. S. Bulletin 394 
 
 
 
 46 
 
 Hearing before Comm, on Agri. and For . U. S. Senate. 64th Conj 
 
 10 
 
 12 
 13 
 
 
 Ries. Economic Geology. 4tli Ed.. 1916. 
 Eckel. Iron Ores. 1st Ed.. 1914. 
 U S- C- S Bulletin 225 
 U, S. G. S. Bulletin 255 
 
 
 
 47. 
 48 
 49 
 
 1st Sess.. on Senate Bill 4971. 
 Yearbook U, S. Dept Agriculture. 1914. 
 Yearbook U. S. Dept Agriculture. 1915. 
 Rept. of Nat. Cons. Com.. 1908-9. Vol. 1 1 . 6nih Cong . 2nd Sess .Vol . 
 
 14 
 
 
 Mich Geol «t Biol. Sur . Pub 16. Geol. Ser 
 
 es li- 
 
 
 50 
 
 H. R. Doc, 20. 63rd Cong,. 2nd Session. 
 
 15 
 
 
 Micli. Geol. e. Biol. Sur . Pub 15. Geol. Ser 
 
 es 12. 
 
 
 51 
 
 H, R. Doc 1262. 64th Cong.. 1st Session, 
 
 16 
 17 
 
 
 Micfi. Geol. 6. Biol. Sur.. Pub 19. Qeol. Ser 
 Ohio Geol- Survey. Bulletin 8. 
 
 e« 16. 
 
 
 52 
 53. 
 
 Scaled from Rand McNallv & Co.'s Standard Atlas of the World. 
 Statistical Abstract of the U, S. Dept, of Commerce & Labor. |91 
 
 18 
 
 
 U. S. C S. Mineral Resources. 1912. Vol. 1. 
 
 
 
 54 
 
 U. S. G. S, Bulletin 604. 
 
 18 
 
 A 
 
 U. S, C. S, Mineral Resources. 1912. Vol. II 
 
 
 
 55 
 
 U. S. G. S, Bulletin 470 
 
 19 
 
 
 U. S. C. S. Mineral Resources. 1911. Vol. I. 
 
 
 
 56. 
 
 Public Works of the Navv. Dept ol Yards and Docks, 1916. 
 
 19 
 20 
 
 22 
 23 
 24 
 25 
 26 
 
 A 
 
 U S, G. S Mineral Resources. 191 1. Vol. II 
 
 Virginia Geol, Survey. Bulletin 8 
 
 Phillips. Iron Making in Ala,. 3d Ed . 1912, 
 
 U, S, C, S, Bulletin 260. 
 
 Stevens. Copper Handbook. Vol. X, 
 
 Geol. Sur. of N. C. Bulletin 1 
 
 U S. G. S. Bulletin 213. 
 
 U. S. G. S Mineral Resources. 1913. Vol I 
 
 
 
 57. 
 58 
 59 
 
 61 
 
 Moody's Corporation Manual, 1913. 
 
 Letter from H C Porter of the H Kopper Co . to U. S. Govt. 
 
 Paper entitled -BvProducts Insure Preparedness.' by H. C. Port 
 presented at recent New York meeting of the American Chemic 
 Society; published in Iron Trade Review. Oct. 12, 1916. 
 
 Manufacturers Record, Special Edition, Sept. 14, 1916, 
 
 Paper entitled -Mineral Resources Contiguous to Muscle Shoals 
 by Dr. A. H- Purdue, State Geologist of Tennessee. 
 
 27 
 
 
 Tenn. Geol. Survey. Mineral Resources. Vol 
 
 Ill and IV. 
 
 
 
 Smith and McCally. Index to the Mineral Resources of Ala.. 1904. 
 
 28 
 
 
 Data from the Tennessee State Mine Inspec 
 
 tors OlSce. 
 
 
 by 
 
 Article entitled "Losses of Combined Nitrogen." by John D. Pe 
 
 29 
 
 
 Geol. Sur. of Ga . Bulletin 23. 
 
 
 
 
 nock in Journal of Ind. and Eng. Chemistry. March. 1912. 
 
 30 
 31 
 32 
 33 
 
 
 Resources of Tennessee. Vol. IV. Number 2 
 
 U. S, G, S. Bulletin 427. 
 
 Tenn. Geol. Survey. Bulletin 2-A. 
 
 Pierce. Looking Squarely at the Waterpowe 
 
 Problem. 
 
 
 65, 
 
 Supplement to Commerce Report No. 6.A. June 30. 1916. issued 
 
 Dept, of Commerce. Wash . D. C. 
 Article entitled "ByProducts from Coke Manufactures." by Wt 
 H Childs. Pres, Barrett Co . N Y . in Metallurgical and Chera 
 
 34 
 
 
 U. S. Dept, of Agriculture. Bureau ot Soils. 
 
 Bulletin 58. 
 
 
 
 cal Engineering. July 1. 1916, 
 
 
 '1 *£P«^?f?SBBSS5^^ 
 
 1 .- !-- Jl!,i , 
 
 ■ ^■■■iSIBfll^BHLJEHH 
 
 Oxidizing Room 
 .Plant Iimmophos Co Ntw"loB>.C]i 
 
 '■z'is&rr 
 
 """^ — iSf'-'C*: 
 

 cnlilled "The Gas 
 Commerce, rele.se 
 Doc. 83. 59th Co 
 see River." 
 of the Coramissic 
 
 Lockages at V 
 
 Total 
 ug and 60 bar. 
 
 1 of the Census: Dept 
 
 I 14. 1912. 
 
 ■d Yearbook. 
 
 , 22 locka. 
 
 1 30 n 
 
 I 18 hr. 
 
 affic) 
 
 10 round trips at 23 hrs-28 i. 
 
 ■ canal, of course, was not designed for this t 
 
 i'a't?'f'urnish'ed''bv''Dept of Commerce. Wash.. D. C. 
 entitled "Waterpower Development." by Gano Dunn. Tran^ 
 m Inst. E, E,. May. 1916 
 I Appendix Mai 
 
 Statistical Absl 
 Proceedings of Bri 
 
 t of U, S . 
 
 , for Advan 
 
 of Co. 
 
 t of Sci 
 
 and Labo 
 
 1914. 
 
 . Chemistry of Commerce 
 c 257. 63rd Cong . 2nd Sess- 
 
 s before Committee on Agriculture. H, R. 64th Congress. 
 Session, on Agriculture Appropriation Bill. Wednesday. 
 
 
 Feb. 9. 1916. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Elec 
 
 . Steel Indust 
 7. 1915 
 
 rys P 
 
 ese 
 
 ™t St 
 
 tus. an 
 
 11 S 
 
 Dept of Con 
 
 
 Hi 
 
 
 of the C 
 
 Pro, 
 
 csive Farme 
 
 issue 
 
 of 
 
 uly 4th. 1914 
 
 
 ng before Cor 
 
 
 
 
 ary AHa 
 
 
 1st Session, on 
 
 Bill t 
 
 n In 
 
 
 Efficien 
 
 
 ment of U. S. 
 
 Feb. 
 
 9 
 
 Id 1 
 
 . 1916, 
 
 Hear 
 
 ng before Cor 
 
 nmitte 
 
 c on 
 
 Mill 
 
 .ry Atfa 
 
 ullel 
 
 131. 
 
 . H. R. 64th Congress 
 of Military Establish 
 
 . H. R. 64th Congress 
 St Session, on Bill to Increase Efficiency of Military Establish 
 nent of U. S.. Feb. I I and 28. 1916, 
 ng before Committee on Military Affairs. H. R. 64th C 
 
 of Mil 
 
 ■ Esta 
 
 Se 
 
 . the Ja 
 
 n an 
 
 HVer 
 
 1916 
 
 he 
 
 arings 
 
 befor 
 
 e Cor 
 
 nmittee 
 
 an Milita 
 
 
 Altai 
 Jan.. 
 
 s: a 
 1916 
 
 so Co 
 
 
 
 1 Rec 
 
 ord fc 
 
 r hv 
 
 
 beginn 
 
 1 e 
 
 tter fro 
 
 m Se 
 
 cy, ol 
 
 Agric 
 
 lit 
 
 re. tr 
 
 ansmi 
 
 
 Report 
 
 
 
 
 Situ 
 
 
 n the 
 
 II 
 
 S to 
 
 Pre, 
 
 ol S 
 
 
 
 
 with 
 
 
 
 olution 
 
 rl. 
 
 ted |> 
 
 n. 26 
 
 1916 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 R Do 
 
 Z81 
 
 60th Cong- 
 
 Is 
 
 
 on; 
 
 •Exa 
 
 •nination 
 
 
 tional Defense." a speech by Hoi 
 in U. S. Senate. March 30. 1916. 
 led by Te 
 
 .od ol Ala 
 Govt. 
 
 Records and published in Souvenir Handbook. May. 1915. 
 Production et Consoromation des Engrais Chimiques dans ' " ' 
 
 Published by International Institute ol Agriculture. R( 
 Based on article in Literary Digest. June 5. 1916. p. 1326. 
 From map published in Literary Digest. May 13. 1916. 
 Paper entitled "Niagara Falls Power and American Indus 
 
 I, R. Edmands at the 29th General Meeting of the American 
 ,-. Wash-. D. C April 27-29. 1916, <Ad- 
 
 :opy.) 
 
 of the U. S,: 
 
 titled. 
 
 "The Na 
 
 gable 
 
 
 De 
 
 pths of the Rivers 
 
 of the U 
 
 S.". a 
 
 nd "United St 
 
 
 
 Navigable Strean 
 
 s and C 
 
 inals.' 
 
 both accomp. 
 
 
 Do 
 
 c, 325. 60th Cong. 
 
 IstSessi 
 
 
 
 1 IS 
 
 of Publicat 
 
 ons. Govt 
 
 Printing 
 
 Office 
 
 Wash.. D. C. 
 
 .Spe 
 
 ech ol Hon 
 
 Oscar Unc 
 
 erwood ir 
 
 House of Represents 
 
 
 18 
 
 1914. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mm 
 
 n 1 
 
 eol Su 
 
 ,. Bulletin 
 
 S- 
 
 
 
 Sta 
 
 'Pre 
 
 nt of D 
 ss. Dec 
 
 r, L, H, Ba 
 23. 1915, 
 
 ekeland. 
 
 of Yon 
 
 kers. N. Y.. in 
 
 Hea 
 
 
 before 
 
 the Comn 
 
 ittee on 
 
 Militn 
 
 ry Affairs. U. 
 
 
 64 1 
 
 1 Cong 
 
 . 1st Sess, 
 
 1916. on 
 
 Bills 
 
 or the Reorga 
 
 
 the 
 
 
 nd for the 
 
 
 ol a f. 
 
 
 U. S, W 
 
 „r Dep 
 
 .. War Cc 
 
 liege Di 
 
 vision 
 
 
 
 An 
 
 au.l R< 
 
 port of th 
 
 e Secv of Wa 
 
 to the Presic 
 
 
 Un 
 
 ted Sta 
 
 
 
 
 
 covering Anhydrous Ammonia production in U. 
 1899. 1904. i909 Irom Census 1910. Manufac- 
 iral Chemical Industry, page 546. table 44: 1906 
 Resources of U, S. 1910. Vol, 1 1 : 1910. 1911 from 
 tion for 1911. Vol. II: 1912. I 91 3 Irom same pub- 
 
 , 408, 
 
 the Chattanooga Tir 
 
 U. S. G S. Bulletin 530. 
 U. S. G, S. Bulletin 285. 
 
 Statistical Abstract ol U. S.. Bureau of Con 
 Hearings before Committee on Military Altai 
 . on Agriculture Appi 
 
 itied "Steel Making 
 
 irce and Labor. 1901 
 H. R . 64th Congress 
 Bill. 1917, 
 the Electric Furnace." by Jas. H 
 ing ol the International Engineer 
 Sept. 20-25. 1915, (AdvanceCopy 
 
 [ Co 
 
 . 1915. 
 
 als Office. Issued Jan, 51. 1916. 
 
 Vol, II. p. 408. to which has been added average annual inert 
 prior to 1914. to bring U. S, G S, figure to June 30. 1916. 
 Cote Otrn Ammonia Jo, Fer(,/,«r- From Bulletin Bureau of Comme 
 
 Census of Mfgrs, Fertiliier Industry, released July 6. 1916. 
 TotoMmmonio— From Metall, and Chem, Eng.. July 1. 1916. p. 39. 
 Coitc Omn Ammonia lor Chemical lndu,l ~ ■ ■ 
 
 of first thr. 
 
 , fron 
 
MS.^& 
 
 fSSt^mfrff/m 3 
 
 Special References Regarding Nitrogen Situation in the United States, Supporting 
 Table II, Page 4 1 , and Diagram 25, Page 29 
 
 (1) Federal Trade Commission — Report on Fer- 
 
 tilizer Industry. 1916. p. 58. 
 
 (2) Assumed same as war year 1915. based on rela- 
 
 tive tons seed crushed 1914 and 1915. .\mer. 
 Fertilizer Handbook. 1916. p. H-6. 
 
 (3) Bureau of Commerce. Census of Mfgrs.. Fertilize) 
 
 Industry, released July 6th. 1916. based on 
 assumed value of $2.90 per unit of ammonia. 
 Allow 300.000 tons high-grade organic am- 
 moniate imported, see Ref. 9 Allow 40c per 
 unit P.Oi and an average of 5' , P O; in total 
 tonnage. 
 
 (4) Based on increase of 90.000 tons organic am- 
 
 moniates per annum, 1909 to 1914. Ref. 3. 
 
 (5) Amer. Fertilizer Handbook, p. 42. 
 
 (6) Metallurgical and Chemical Engineering. July 
 
 1st. 1916. 
 
 (7) Amer. Fertilizer Handbook. 1916. p. 31 -Imports 
 
 for calendar year. 
 
 (8) Ref. 7. p. 43. 
 
 (9) Ref. 7. p. 25. 32 and Ref. 3 deducting domestic 
 
 production from consumption (includes cyan- 
 amid). 
 
 (10) Ref. 1, p. 58. 
 
 (11) Consumption equal production. Ref. 2. Di- 
 
 vided between feed and fertilizers m same 
 ratio as in 1914 Ref. I. p. 58. 
 
 (12) Ref. I. p. 73. 
 
 (1 3) Basis increased demands last 3 years as indicated 
 by numerous statements in fertilizer trade 
 journals, and in broker's trade letters. 
 
 (14) Consumption, given in Ref. 3. allowing 40c per 
 unit for P Oi and our average of 5' j . assum- 
 ing ammonia worth $2.90 per unit. 
 
 (15) 
 (16) 
 
 (17) 
 (18) 
 (19) 
 
 (20) 
 
 (21) 
 (22) 
 
 Ref. 3 and Ref. I , p. 29. sulphate of ammonia 
 and nitrate of soda only. 
 
 Balance to make total fertilizer consumption 
 equal 88.6' , of 1914 consumption on basis of 
 North continuing 1909 1915 rate of increase, 
 and South consuming same quantity as in 191 5. 
 
 U. S. Geol. Survey Manufacture of Coke. 1914. 
 p. 408. 
 
 Based on annual increase since 1909 -Ref. 17. 
 and U. S. Census. 1910. 
 
 Difference between production and consump- 
 tion for fertilizers and refrigeration. Refs. 5. 
 3 and 17. 
 
 Based on consumption of 21.500 tons. 1915 (see 
 Refs. 5. 3 and 17 and Dept. of Commerce. 
 Census of Gas Industry released June 12. 
 1916). plus annual increase of 1.300 tons per 
 annum (the average rate 1909-1914). 
 
 Ref. 7. p. 31. Imports less consumption in agri- 
 culture Ref. I, p. 29. 
 
 Fiscal years ending June 30th (Oil. Paint and 
 Drug Reporter. Aug. 26th. 1916, p. 85). 
 
 Imports Nitrate of Soda 
 
 S/liirJ Tons Sl,a,l T„n, .V.V.ot.vi 
 
 
 [■in 
 1915 
 1916 
 
 
 631,735 
 
 646,377 
 
 1.2(10,335 
 
 
 98.500 
 100.300 
 187.200 
 
 Deduci 
 J.valent 
 
 tfrom the 1916.: 
 to 77' , ot Ihe ag 
 
 "cu;;:, 
 
 of nitrate ol 
 ral consumpi 
 
 soda. 
 ;ion of 
 
 187.200 tons, 
 n, irate ot so 
 
 .n 1914 See American Ferlll.zer Handbook, 1916, 11. 41.) 
 
 (23) Estimate of U. S. War Department of the rate 
 
 of Germany s requirements per annum during 
 the first nine months of the war. viz.. 250.- 
 000 tons concentrated nitric acid. 
 
 (24) Ref. 1. p. 58. 
 
 Site OF Dam Numblr Ont (Fob Naih.^mon Onlx ) Fkom Fi oK^.^,. r B 
 
1 
 
 THE LIBRARY OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 AT 
 
 CHAPEL HILL 
 
 From the Library of 
 Hugh Talmage Lefler 
 
 A gift of his sons 
 
 Hugh Talmage Lefler, Jr. 
 
 and 
 
 Charles Deems Lefler 
 
;. the l9MpT«igcU(,nof the- 
 
 SALT 
 
 o 
 
 NOTES ON THE MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 IRON PHOSPHATE ROCK COPPER BAUXITE PYRITE 
 
 
 ^^^ 4,500,000 Annual OKjS^ 4,200,000 Annual pv^s^ 1,100,000 Ar 
 
 P oducbon S^^V Shott Tons P odu tion IH^Hf Short TonsO e Production \SHiiiMV ''°"g ^°"^ Production ' 
 
 • 115,000 Annual ( A 100,000 Annual ( \ 
 
 Short Tons Production V / Short Tons Production V / 
 
 LEAD 
 
 100,000 Annual 
 
 Short Tons Production f 
 
 100,000 Annual 
 
 Short Tons Producrioi 
 
 100,000 
 Short Toi 
 
 
 
 tffiiHrSs,'""'"'^' 
 
 
 Art trary arc es 
 Aiovf oomparalivt ^^ 
 
 pioducdon. but ^^ ^B for individual 
 
 
 ^^^ ^T-f 
 
 FLUORSPAR 
 
 uai r\ 
 
 luction I J 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^igEiliii ll^SS^iii S^lSSiS™ -^-"^™"-""" P^duction^^ ShorfTons 
 
 leX't^vVb^' - '''''''"'"'''T'^'''^^'Vi\TjT^'d^.l°^^^^^^ TTiuSJi^MiuTinWhi^PiM ,y i, th. E,.n R.I.I.. In 1914, ih. Jdi "U" iT'i^tSnMlff/W^^ LYNCHBURG OISff'CTOFTlRCIMA J^ Lo1jO<!n ANo'FllEJiCH BRO^ Dl^RICTCOF^ltNfj^E.