James Kolenich, age 13, of Youngstown, Ohio, for his question:
What is the purpose of the TVA.?
The TVA is a story of how the U.S. Government took over something stupendous and made it super stupendous. Before it began, a great wild river wandered through scenic hills and valleys, sinking and rising to flood its surroundings with the changing seasons. When the job was done, the wild river was tamed by the world's greatest series of dams and lakes. There was power, plenty of electric power for new mines and factories, countless new farms and homes. And best of all, the wild old waterway was more beauteous than ever.
Some people assume that floods are inevitable, that we must stand by and let swollen spring rivers submerge our homes and wash our precious topsoil out to sea. The Tennessee Valley Authority has a very different story to tell us. Way back in the 1920s, certain starry eyed dreamers suggested that a wild river can be tamed and also that its surging streams have a lot of mighty energy that can be put to work.
They had in mind the Tennessee River, a lovely but sloppy old waterway wandering from the eastern slopes to the Mississippi Valley, where it empties into.the great Ohio River. Settlers had tried to farm and forest the vast scenic region, but this only made conditions worse along the wild waterway. A few successful dams were built. They helped to control the seasonal floods and they generated some electricity. These small projects~also promised that much more could and should be done to bring the entire wild waterway under control. And this was the original purpose of the TVA.
From Virginia and the Carolinas, numerous streams flow westward to give birth to the Tennessee River. The growing river is joined by tributaries from Alabama and Georgia to the South and from Kentucky to the north. Hence, the sprawling waterway involves many states. Previously its farming, mining and other projects were handled by different government departments.
In 1933, Congress put the whole thing together with plans to handle all the problems of the people and their region under the single manage¬ment of the TVA. More than 40 dams were built at strategic points to control the wild river. Its flood waters were stored in a chain of reservoirs and used to irrigate in dry seasons.
At the dams, humming generators produced electricity to mine the regional deposits of coal and copper, marble and magnesium, iron and zinc, gravel and limestone. There was plenty of clean cheap power to run farms and factories and thousands of new homes. The region thrived.
Actually, TVA was America's first mayor conservation project. The denuded forests were replanted with thousands of young trees. The reservoirs, stocked with fish, became wondrous recreational areas for the new folk who found work at the new farms, mines and factories.
The whole thing was possible because a sound government plan undertook to solve all the related regional problems under one management program. The wild old river got a gorgeous face lift and lots of new friends went to work and prospered.