Nation: Dreaming of the Golden Gulf

Long sought Southern waterway threatened by lawsuit

Ever since the early 19th century, citizens of Alabama and Tennessee have periodically urged the Federal Government to build a waterway linking the Tennessee and Tombigbee rivers. Such a canal would provide a direct outlet to the Gulf of Mexico for all the barge traffic in the Ohio River Basin and southern Appalachia. After years of studies and debates, Congress finally authorized the Tenn-Tom project in 1946, and after 2½ decades more of planning and preparation, construction began in 1972. Today the project is still only one-quarter...

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