STATEMENT Of Warrior-TOMBIGBEE DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION, BY JACK WARNER, PRESIDENT

I am Jack W. Warner of Tuscaloosa, president of the Warrior-Tombigbee Development Association, a privately financed, nonpartisan, nonprofit membership organization representing hundreds of individuals in all walks of life and numerous business and industrial concerns. The association's sole purpose is to promote the orderly, comprehensive modernization of the Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway in Alabama for navigation, flood control, pollution abatement, water supply, hydroelectric power generation, recreation, and allied purposes.

The waterway-known legally as the Black Warrior, Warrior, and Tombigbee River is the longest improved inland barge channel in Alabama and is one of the country's oldest Federal navigation projects. It extends for approximately 465 miles from its mouth in Mobile Bay to the uplands of north-central Alabama near Birmingham. (See attached map.)

Sixteen counties in the western portion of Alabama are directly influenced by the Warrior-Tombigbee and the plan for its improvement. Covering a total of 15,200 square miles, these counties comprise less than 30 percent of Alabama's land area but have more than 40 percent of its population.

Industrial activity along the waterway, once concentrated in the Birmingham district, has in recent years spread throughout the tributary area, and today includes major operations by the steel, metal fabricating, paper, chemical, mining, petroleum, timber, aluminum, cement, and shipbuilding industries. Located in the 16-county basin are 40 percent of Alabama's manufacturing estab lishments, nearly 44 percent of its industrial workers, and more than half its industrial payrolls.

Since 1955, according to figures of the Planning and Industrial Development Board of the State of Alabama, approximately $330 million has been invested by industry for new and enlarged plant facilities along the Warrior-Tombigbee, and this does not include substantial outlays for improvements to public utilities and transportation systems. These investments have affected every county in the valley and virtually every community.

The more noteworthy developments during the last several years have been highlighted by the construction of multimillion-dollar paper producing plants on waterside sites at Demopolis and Naheola; the expansion of papermills in Mobile; the investment of more than $150 million by chemical companies which located near a salt dome in Washington County; the opening of new coal mines in the upper valley, and the construction of a major new steam-electric generating plant on the waterway immediately above Mobile.

As indicated by its attraction for industry, the Warrior-Tombigbee Valley is richly endowed with natural resources. One of the Nation's most extensive and valuable deposits of coal lies athwart the upper waterway in Walker, Fayette, Tuscaloosa, Jefferson, Winston, and Cullman Counties. With reserves estimated at more than 50 billion tons, it is the country's only major coalfield on a canalized river less than 400 miles from a tidewater port. Other basic materials found in quantity in the valley are salt, iron ore, dolomite, limestone, sand and gravel, crude petroleum, and timber.

Of the resources abounding in west Alabama, however, none is more vital or offers greater potential than the Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway itself. If the economy of this area is to more completely develop and contribute a fuller share to the wealth of Alabama and the Nation, it is essential that the WarriorTombigbee River system be modernized to meet the mounting need for waterborne transportation.

The waterway has been used commercially for more than a hundred years, and today is one of the busiest water arteries in the southeast. In 1958, last year for which official figures are available, it carried a record high of 5,666,203 tons of commerce-a gain of 792,212 tons or about 16 percent over 1957, and an increase of 3,607,699 tons or 175 percent over 1948.

For the most part, the waterway's movements consist of such bulk commodities as iron ore, coal, sand and gravel, limestone, crude petroleum, gasoline, clays and earths, and heavy packaged products. These cargoes are transported to a great extent in tows of 7 to 11 barges, each 25 feet wide and 140 feet long and carrying at maximum draft 500 tons. Also operating on the Warrior-Tombigbee is an increasing number of dry cargo tows consisting of one to three barges which are 35 to 50 feet wide and 175 to 220 feet long and carry from 1,100 to 2,500 tons. Liquid cargoes are moved in tows of one, two,

or three tank barges ranging from 30 to 50 feet wide and from 120 to 260 feet long. Their individual capacities are 500 to 3,000 tons.

Although the forerunner of these modern towing vessels, the steamboat, began operating on the Warrior-Tombigbee as early as 1818, it was not until 70 years later that a program was undertaken for the stream's canalization. Between 1888 and 1915, a system of 17 dams and 18 locks was constructed, opening the waterway to year-round navigation from Mobile to points on its headwater tributaries, the Locust, Mulberry and Sipsey Forks, north of Birmingham.

Although the packet steamer, for which they were designed, had long since disappeared, all but three of the original locks and dams still remained at the end of World War II. They were outmoded, obsolete, and woefully inadequate to serve modern barge shipping. To further aggravate matters, several of the projects were deteriorated to the point that they presented a real danger of total collapse. The dams were designed as low structures to maintain a 6-foot navigation channel. When barges and towboats were introduced to the river, masonry crests and flash boards were added to increase the height of the dams in an effort to provide the 9-foot depth these vessels require. At best, this was an expedient and makeshift arrangement, and was insufficient to overcome the restrictions caused by low water, shoals, and currents.

The locks, averaging 52 feet in width and about 285 feet in length, impose even more serious problems. Because of their limited size, they can lock only three 500-ton barges and a towboat or four barges at one time. Consequently, multiplebarge tows must break formation, transit the structures in two or three lockages and regroup on the opposite side. The operation requires about 11⁄2 hours for a 7-barge tow and approximately 24 hours for an 11-barge tow. When the larger barges are employed, double lockages must be made when only two barges are in tow.

Under a comprehensive plan projected by the Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, all of the old locks and dams are being replaced by modern navigation structures. When the program is completed, the waterway will be canalized by 6 projects as opposed to 17 originally.

The new, higher dams will create long, deep water pools ensuring speedier and more efficient towing operations, and the locks-600 feet long and 110 feet widewill reduce locking time for all tows to 30 minutes.

Through the wisdom and foresight of the Congress which has clearly seen the need and merit of improving the Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway, progress to date has been most gratifying. The first new facility to be built in the current program was the Demopolis lock and dam, dedicated in 1955 as a replacement for four of the old structures. Located just below the confluence of the Warrior and Tombigbee Rivers, it creates a pool extending 50 miles upstream, and, according to actual operating data, is saving large tows more than 2 full days of travel time per round trip.

Warrior lock and dam, which has reduced travel time by up to 40 hours per voyage, was completed in 1957 at the upper limits of the Demopolis Pool to eliminate two more obsolete structures, and provide an improved channel reaching 80 miles upstream to Tuscaloosa. Along the lower Warrior-Tombigbee, the Jackson lock and dam is under construction to modernize a 100-mile reach by replacing three of the old projects. Under the present schedule, the lock is to be opened to navigation during the third quarter of 1960.

These three new porjects will make the Warrior-Tombigbee a fully usable, efficient and economical carrier of commerce for made than 350 miles between Mobile and Tuscaloosa. However, there remains a critical need for improving the channel above Tuscaloosa by constructing the proposed Holt lock and dam as a replacement for existing locks and dams 13, 14, 15, and 16. Holt lock and dam is the last all-new structure necessary on the main stem of the river, since the John Hollis Bankhead lock and dam, built in 1915, and the William Bacon Oliver lock and dam, built in 1940, will be incorporated into the six-project canalization system projected by the Army Engineers.

Locks and dams 13 through 16, constructed between 1905 and 1915, are located along an 18-mile reach between the Oliver Dam at Tuscaloosa and the Bankhead Dam, the northernmost navigation project on the waterway.

The major difficulty encountered by navigation about Tuscaloosa is caused by the small size of the locks. Since only four 500-ton barges can be handled at one time, the large tows must transit in segments, a costly operation taking up to 24 hours at each of the four locks. When multiple lockages are made, tow

haulage equipment on shore is used to pull barges from the lock chamber. Because there is little clearance between the barges and lock walls and sills, considerable difficulty is experienced in pulling the vessels from the chamber, especially during low river stages. The towing units ride on the gate sills until the volume of of water they displace in the chamber is replaced through culverts in the sides of the locks. Because of limited approach conditions, long tows must place a line on a timber guide crib and carefully maneuver into a favorable alinement when entering or leaving the locks, causing a still further delay. Tows also lose considerable time when high water and currents either close the locks or make navigation too hazardous for normal operations.

Another problem is traffic congestions. Greater and greater volumes of commerce are being transported over this reach of the river, as indicated by Corps of Engineer tabulations which show that in 1957 about 53 percent of the total waterway traffic moved about Tuscaloosa, as compared with 38 percent in 1949. Traffic congestion is a bottle neck for all tows but deals a particularly severe blow to single lockage tows. Since the existing four locks are in close proximity to one another, the small tow often is delayed by as much as twelve hours when it must follow a multiple lockage tow.

Delays and interruptions to operations along the upper waterway are a growing problem that can only become worse as new commerce is attracted. Until they are removed, the value of the new project to the south will be nullified to a marked degree.

Essentially, Holt lock and dam-which the Army Engineers estimate will save an average tow of eight 500-ton barges almost 22 hours per round trip-will consist of a gated spillway 758 feet long and a 600- by 110-foot lock with a maximum lift of 63.6 feet. In addition, the overall plan calls for the future installation of a hydroelectric generating plant. The project will be built about 9 miles upriver from Tuscaloosa and about 2,800 feet downstream from present lock 13. A significant step was taken in December 1958 when the Secretary of the Army, acting under authority of the River and Harbor Act of 1909, authorized construction of Holt lock and dam for navigation benefits. Additionally, he acted under authority granted him by the River and Harbor Act of 1912 and authorized the inclusion of preliminary features necessary for the future development of power. Alabama Power Co., a privately owned public utility, has, on the basis of preliminary studies, filed an application with the Federal Power Commission for a license to construct the proposed powerplant, and has indicated its willingness to fully coordinate its plans with those of the Corps of Engineers.

At its last session, the Congress appropriated $146,250 for preconstruction planning of the navigation project. The association understands that the Corps of Engineers has a capability of economically using about $600,000 during fiscal 1961. Most of these funds, if appropriated, will be used to complete the planning, with the balance going toward the initiation of construction.

Holt lock and dam is an essential and integral link in the program to modernize the Warrior-Tombigbee barge channel. Its early construction is vital in order that the waterway may be more efficiently utilized as a carrier of the raw materials and heavy commodities necessary to sustain the economy of a heavily industrialized and expanding area. It is a major and indispensable step in conserving and putting to full use one of the principal rivers of the southeast. With the completion of the Holt project, only one of the original structures, the John Hollis Bankhead lock and dam, will remain. Although built in 1915, it is structurally sound and meets all requirements of the waterway, except for the small size of its two locks, which are 285 feet long and 52 feet wide and operate in tandem to provide a total maximum lift of 72 feet. The continuing upward trend in commerce on the river doubtless will make replacement of these locks by a single modern chamber economically feasible within the next several years. It may also become necessary ultimately to install a 600- by 110-foot lock at the Oliver Dam to replace or supplement the present 460- by 95-foot lock. In addition to the developments on the waterway's main stem, there also is a signally important project underway in the headwaters of the Warrior River. Under FPC license, Alabama Power is building the Lewis Smith Dam on the Sipsey Fork between Walker and Cullman Counties. The structure is one of three headwater storage dams recommended by the Corps of Engineers in a report contained in House Document No. 414, 84th Congress, 2d session.

The 300-foot high Smith Dam will provide a substantial measure of flow regulation. It will materially benefit the entire river valley and the State as a whole by assuring adequate water for navigation; by lessening flood damage now total

ing an estimated $1 million annually in the basin; by increasing the supply of water for domestic and industrial consumption, and by creating new opportunities for water recreation. The ultimate generating capacity at Smith Dam will be 160,000 kilowatts.

Present plans are to close the dam during late 1960 with the reservoir going into normal operation during the summer of 1961.

Under the same license authorizing Smith Dam, Alabama Power will install a power plant with an ultimate capacity of 45,000 kilowatts at the Bankhead Dam.

The other two headwater storage dams recommended by the Engineers were proposed for the Mulberry and Locust Forks.

Major accomplishments have been made during the past decade in the program by public and private interests to fully develop Alabama's Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway in order that its potential may be realized in the future growth and expansion of a widespread region. It is essential that the program be completed with all speed consistent with economic justification.

The Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway is one of Alabama's most valuable and extensively used natural assets and deserves a high priority in plans for the conservation, development and utilization of the Nation's water resources.