Tenn-Tom's Trials

In 1760 a French explorer, the Marquis de Montcalm, advised King Louis XV that a waterway linking the Tennessee and Tombigbee rivers should be built to promote trade. Phooey said Louie. But the idea remained alive, and in 1870 a U.S. Government study was completed by an esteemed engineer who concluded that the project was technically feasible but asked, "From whence cometh the commerce" to justify it? More studies were done--in 1880, 1890, 1910, 1920, 1930 and 1938--but always the answer was the same: "Whence cometh . . . ?"

It was not until 1946 that Congress authorized financing for a 232-mile waterway, which by the time work was scheduled to begin in 1971 was budgeted at $323 million. As plans stand, Tenn-Tom, now priced at $1.6 billion, will require the construction of six dams and eleven locks, digging a 27-mile channel through the foothills of the Tennessee ridge and moving more earth than did the construction of the Panama Canal.

To what end? Proponents of the project tout it as the salvation of what is now one of the nation's poorest regions. Mississippi Senator John Stennis calls Tenn-Tom "the greatest economic milestone since the Louisiana Purchase." Says Alabama Governor George Wallace, who detonated the first blast of dynamite inaugurating Tenn-Tom: "I'll do everything in my power to see that this worthwhile project is carried through to the finish." Already $189 million in federal funds has been spent.

The project's detractors are many. The Army Corps of Engineers now estimates Tenn-Tom will return only 87-c- for every dollar spent. The chief cargo on the inland waterway would be coal carried by barges. According to one official of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, which is suing to stop construction, "the money this is costing would let us haul all the coal of western Kentucky for 500 years for free." Argues another observer: "If nature gave this country the Mississippi River, there is no reason the Corps of Engineers can't do the same thing and call it Tenn-Tom."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.