MUSCLE SHOALS

section of the Tennessee River, in Colbert and Lauderdale counties, northwestern Alabama, U.S.; it was formerly a navigation hazard but is now submerged by dams. Mussels were abundant in the area, and the name given to the shoals is probably a variation in the spelling of mussel. Flinty, jagged rocks occurred near the surface, and rapids resulted from the fact that the fall of the river was about 130 feet (40 m) in 37 miles (60 km). The worst of the shoals and other obstructions in the great bend of the river lay to the east of the cities of Sheffield and Florence. With the advent of steamboating in the early 1800s, the Tennessee River became a major channel of transportation extending from Knoxville, Tenn., to the Ohio River in Kentucky, which connects with the Mississippi River. For 100 years, however, the shoals defied repeated efforts to make them safe for navigation. Canals, completed in 1836 and in 1890, proved unsuccessful. Early 20th-century efforts by private companies to build dams, which could also be used for hydroelectric power, were thwarted (1903) by President Theodore Roosevelt, who believed in the need to preserve public control of the power resources of the river. Concerned with ensuring the supply of nitrates (which were used to make munitions) following the outbreak of World War I, the U.S. Congress authorized (1916) the construction of two nitrate-manufacturing plants and a dam for electric power as a national defense measure. President Woodrow Wilson chose Muscle Shoals as the site of the dam, which was later named for him. From 1921 to 1933 a national controversy over public versus private ownership of these facilities raged. The argument was finally resolved when the Muscle Shoals properties were turned over to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The later completion of Wheeler Dam, 16 miles (26 km) above Wilson, and Pickwick Landing Dam, 52 miles (84 km) below Wilson, completely eliminated the hazardous rapids. The city of Muscle Shoals developed from the TVA complex centred in the Wilson Dam area.