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 | Navigation in the Muscle Shoals
The area called Muscle Shoals extended from Elk River to Florence, Alabama
and featured a series of rapids, islands, reefs, and bars. It divided
the Tennessee River into two sections and presented the single greatest
obstacle to river navigation.
In 1827, Congress authorized a survey of Muscle Shoals. A canal was
begun around the Big Shoals in 1830, but it could not overcome the many
obstacles which made its operation impractical. This was a pattern
followed by many later projects.
Another canal was opened in 1890 by Captain George W. Goethals, builder
of the Panama Canal. It included Riverton Lock, a 26-foot lift over
Colbert Shoals. In Spite of the lock being the highest ever built up
to that point, towboats still could not negotiate the area safely.
Tennessee Canal was to be the first canal around Big Muscle Shoals.
It was 14.5 miles, 60 feet wide, and 6 feet deep. It contained 17 locks and
cost $644,594.71. It's construction was abandoned in 1837 due to lack
of funding.
The second canal around Big Muscle Shoals was 14.5 miles long also.
It had 9 locks and a total lift capacity of 85 feet. The system
included another canal at Elk River Shoals and a navigation channel at
Little Muscle Shoals. The Elk River Canal was 1.5 miles long. It
had 2 locks and a total lift of 23 feet. The entire project cost was
$3,191,726.50.
Railways established routes around the shoals to provide shippers of
produce located above the shoals with access to the Mississippi Valley.
These connections helped provide transportation variety.
After the creation of TVA, the Corps of Engineers plan to develop the
Tennessee as one river system was carried out. The Pickwick project ,
along with Wheeler and Wilson, eliminated the dangers of the shoals from
river navigation.
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| Lock History
Construction on the first lock was completed in 1937 by TVA. They
completed a new, larger lock and put it into operation in July, 1984.
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