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ONE THE COMING OF CONCRETE The discovery of how to manufacture construction adhesives was a great step in our advancing technology. Probably, observant pottery workers in ancient times came up with plaster and cement to hold tile, brick, and stone walls and floors in place. After that came concrete, the ideal material for big dam builders. The Dam-Building Brotherhood Dam-building technology and engineering know-how peaked in the years following the Second World War. However, significant strides had been made before that. Easily approved federal deficit spending for almost any new project had placed federal agencies in the forefront, although private enterprise had funded some of the first projects. The Bureau of Reclamation in the west, the Tennessee Valley Authority in the east, and the Corps of Army Engineers across the board were the federal agencies involved. They were favored arms of government because any congressman astute enough to obtain a big construction project for his district would be practically assured of reelection. Local promoters clamored for these developments, sensing the financial gain to be made during construction and in real-estate speculation thereafter. With the discovery of electromagnetic force and how to generate and transmit it in the late nineteenth century, a new dimension was added to comfortable living. Falling water tumbling down from the mountains of Norway was used to drive turbines leading to the electrification of that country. Americans were envious of that luxury enjoyed by a small nation, but we had few suitable natural waterfalls beyond Niagara. The eastern half ofthe nation was, however, laced with many rivers with a fair gradient flowing out of the Appalachian highlands. Dams containing penstocks to deliver water to dynamos could be built on those 3 ONE THE COMING OF CONCRETE The discovery of how to manufacture construction adhesives was a great step in our advancing technology. Probably, observant pottery workers in ancient times came up with plaster and cement to hold tile, brick, and stone walls and floors in place. After that came concrete, the ideal material for big dam builders. The Dam-Building Brotherhood Dam-building technology and engineering know-how peaked in the years following the Second World War. However, significant strides had been made before that. Easily approved federal deficit spending for almost any new project had placed federal agencies in the forefront, although private enterprise had funded some of the first projects. The Bureau of Reclamation in the west, the Tennessee Valley Authority in the east, and the Corps of Army Engineers across the board were the federal agencies involved. They were favored arms of government because any congressman astute enough to obtain a big construction project for his district would be practically assured of reelection. Local promoters clamored for these developments, sensing the financial gain to be made during construction and in real-estate speculation thereafter. With the discovery of electromagnetic force and how to generate and transmit it in the late nineteenth century, a new dimension was added to comfortable living. Falling water tumbling down from the mountains of Norway was used to drive turbines leading to the electrification of that country. Americans were envious of that luxury enjoyed by a small nation, but we had few suitable natural waterfalls beyond Niagara. The eastern half ofthe nation was, however, laced with many rivers with a fair gradient flowing out of the Appalachian highlands. Dams containing penstocks to deliver water to dynamos could be built on those 3 rivers. In the years immediately after the First World War an initial step was taken. Wilson Dam was built on the Tennessee River at Mussel Shoals after some congressional squabbling. It was a special project, with no further developments being undertaken until after the Great Depression. Then, with an administration and Congress in office sworn to set things aright, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was born. Backward Appalachia would be rejuvenated. All of her rivers would be dammed, and a utopian society would emerge, its economy based upon this new technology. The TVA proceeded apace. The dams were built on every visibly flowing waterway, except, curiously enough, the Buffalo in middle Tennessee. In the years that followed, hydropower proved to be not nearly enough, its potential limited by the inventory of river systems that could be dammed. The TVA is now a federal power cartel, deriving its electricity mainly from coal and oil generating plants. Private power companies were not nonexistent during these times. But they did operate under the constraint ofhaving to make...

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