Jerry Summers
Every once in a while an individual has to stop and appreciate what a valuable asset Hamilton County/Chattanooga has in being on the once uncontrolled wild Tennessee River.
A recent donation of a 1932 book by a local Chattanoogan, TJ Campbell, “The Upper Tennessee” details in 144 pages the development on said River and tributary (Clinch Holston, Watauga, French Broad) that eventually flow to Chattanooga and became part of a water network that would eventually reach to the Mississippi River as part of Tennessee River water highway.
From the use of two person canoes made from solid tree trunks in colonial days in the 1780s there has been a continuous use of the mighty river for the transportation of goods and people.
Small scows or skiffs, yawls, ferry boats, keels and flat boats were predecessors of the river boats that traveled up and down the wild river prior to creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority dam system that would eventually result in a nine foot channel throughout the length of the river through Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky.
Senator W E. Brock (Democrat from Lookout Mountain) secured an amendment in 1932 incorporating the above depths of the river system by the Tennessee River Authority (TVA).
The erection of several dams, with an estimated cost of $75 million would eventually rise above $2 billion because of cost overruns, but the control of the river development of hydro electric power with the many collateral benefits has produced many historical arguments for and against the multi year project and growth of the public authority.
Cheaper electric rates, flood control, recreational use, transportation, etc. are just a few positive aspects of the TVA system.
Naysayers point out that the continuing cost overruns, water pollution, and environmental problems continue today as more and more river use is present since the 1930s.
The Campbell book points out the importance of the waterways to the communities with particular emphasis on the Knoxville/Chattanooga connection up to 1932. Unfortunately, a recent development in 2020 to 2024 of an investigation by the Environmental Group, Sierra Club, of water samples from the Upper East Tennessee areas on the Holston River near Kingsport and Johnson City at the head waters that connect to the Tennessee River points out the ever needed vigilance for careful and continuous monitoring of the quality of the water supply of the Tennessee River.
With hundreds of million dollars of consent decrees and settlements imposed on the taxpayers because of mistakes in the manufacturing history of communities involving the Tennessee River certain safety precautions are necessary for water quality analysis as independent groups like the Sierra Club must be acknowledged.
In January 2024 for the results of a report that established the existence of “forever chemicals” in the drinking water of Kingsport and Johnson City and Upper East Tennessee was released with the highest level of the concentration being from the Holston Army Ammunition Depot.
This report follows a 2022 EPA report identifying unsafe water conditions PFAS (short for a long scientific definition) that include “thousands of manmade chemicals that don't break down” as the lowest levels of the chemical working support were within Environmental Protection Agency EPA legal limits but “higher than the agency's non binding Health Advisory.”
(Does this mean Chattanooga has a similar problem with PFAS? Of course not. But it does require permanent monitoring of the water, air and soil of the projected developments in our community.)
PS: The TJ Campbell book is also a significant story involving the involvement of early local citizens in the Trail of Tears in 1838, the Civil War, Chattanooga-Knoxville as river towns, etc and other interesting subjects that prior historians may have covered prior to the establishment of TVA.
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You can reach Jerry Summers at jsummers@summersfirm.com