The nearby iron, coal and phosphate fields are among the richest in the world, and the supply of lime- and sandstone for manufacturing and building purposes is inexhaustible. Forests of timber of both hard and soft woods of every description are near at hand, and bordering the river banks from Chattanooga to Johnsonville are the most productive cotton fields of the South. Labor is skilled and plentiful. It has been impossible to develop this great power heretofore, as the government has refused to allow the construction of dams across the river, but by the recent Act of Congress such permission has been granted. With the immense supply of raw material of every kind in this section, sufficient manufacturing industries may be added here to consume the power generated from these shoals, making us the most important manufacturers of wood, iron, cotton, etc., in the United States. Estimated minimum net horsepower of Tennessee river in Alabama on turbines realizing eighty per cent. of the theoretical power: ---------------------+------+-------------+------------- LOCALITY |Fall |Minimum |Minimum | |net power in |net power in | |driest years |average years ---------------------+------+-------------+------------- |Ft. | | Elk River Shoals | 26 | 15,600 | 30,550 Mussel Shoals | 85 | 51,000 | 99,875 Little Mussel Shoals | 23 | 13,800 | 27,025 Colbert Shoals | 21 | 12,600 | 24,675 +------+-------------+------------- Total |155 | 93,000 |182,125 ---------------------+------+-------------+------------- * * * * * When the present general manager of the Tennessee Valley Fertilizer Company started in business some seven years ago, his stock in trade consisted of plenty of pluck and a hoe. With the assistance of one man, he mixed his fertilizer with a hoe, and the first day’s output was eleven bags of fertilizer. The first week showed up a total of 55 bags. Without telling of the seven years of hard and persistent work, will say that any of the eight mills in this plant to-day can mix as much fertilizer in twenty minutes as they did the first week. There is probably no brand of fertilizer sold to-day in any market that gives more satisfaction than their famous “Tiger” brand, for in this formula is represented the very best work of the general manager, who has given practically every hour of his time to the upbuilding of the business, and his motto is: “The Very Best That Can be Produced.”