Posted on 06/26/2014 11:16:33 AM PDT by Kartographer
Thanks for telling more about the TVA backstory.
He came to Kingsport to speak at our Jaycee annual banquet.
I’ll never forget the comment of my friend’s wife..... “but he’s so short”
My beef was over the damming of the Little T river. TVA made a list of dams back under Roosevelt and the last one was on the Little T. Other than to cross it off the list, many didn’t think it was needed. It flooded the ancestral Cherokee village lands.
TVA condemned and then purchased thousands of acres of prime agricultural land. Then after the dam flooded TVA sold some of the unflooded land. Howard Baker was part of a syndicate that bought it and developed condos and hotels.
Sleezy political act.
Must you salt the wounds of the suffering citizens of South Carolina?
Well said. The Democrat stranglehold on this state was severe until the 60s and 70s. The levels of corruption in the Democrat Party in this state are legendary. The change that took place from the mid 1960s through the 80s was so severe that now even our Democrats have to be pretty conservative to get elected anywhere but in Memphis or Nashville.
Baker was a moderate, and it’s long past time for Lamar to go, but they were a huge improvement on what Tennessee politics had been producing.
Nice history lesson and being a MS native it was educating
Aside from the state intricacies....the South moved to the once hated GOP becuse Dems moved so far left on social issues creating a distinction formerly more gray
McGovern really cemented this and Carters fiasco betrayal
But there were already signs with Ike and Nixon and Barry and Nixon again
My parents were social with the Bakers..dad always said Howard was a lawyer first
Little T {Little Tennessee} already had dams on it built mainly by ALCOA before TVA was formed. But those lakes were back up in the mountains and did not destroy the Cherokee Indian tribe sites and farms that Tellico Lake did. Chilhowie was the last dam on it before Tellico Dam. For those who don't know the area from Chilhowie Lake to upstream Fontana Lake is US 129 The Dragon. The Dragon is a relocated road built when ALCOA built the dams through the area.
Tellico Dam has Zero generation capacity. A channel of sorts was built to connect Tellico Lake with Ft Loudon Lake and Ft Loudon Dam is the generation plant. Before Tellico Lake the Little T emptied into the river below Ft Loudon into Watts Bar Lake. I'm 56 but I remember seeing the burial mounds and farms that were flooded.
One of the biggest ironies of FDR's propaganda about the lakes was to stop soil erosion. My dad grew up in Knoxville in the Lonsdale area and would spend his summers and school weekends in a community called Tampico on the Holston river just below Cherokee Dam before it was built. Him and his brother through the week camped on the river in the summer as kids. On weekends dad would ride a bike from Knoxville to Tampico to camp. About 30-35 miles one way.
Dad showed me where huge river bottom fields once stood that a family he knew farmed and they camped on. The rivers natural water flow was about a third or less of that of what the turbines put out. The rivers below the dams are far wider than the river were themselves. Over time it took out {washed away} the river bottom fields below every dam built. These were very fertile fields the farmers depended on. Again the progress wasn't what angered people it was the lies they used.
I have hiked several times from the Twenty Mile Ranger station up the mountain to Gregory Bald. It is on the Dragon
The thing to do is to go from the camp site up the ridge before sunset and look out across the valley below and see Maryville and Knoxville light up. You can see all the way over Rockwood to the plateau rising behind.
The quiet the stillness with all that light activity is unique..... and then there it is. The hum begins. The generators at the Chilhowee dam come on line.
I hiked To Gregory Bald a couple times from the back of Cades Cove when I was a teen. I also hiked into Eagle Creek down to Shuckstack Rock a couple of times for some fishing trips. First time was when the little kids was lost up there. We started up from Cades Cove next morning and didn’t know what was going on. Last hike I took was about 18 years ago up to Thubderhead via Spence Field & Rocky Top. My legs and feet wouldn’t get me but a couple miles on a flat trail now.
I know it sux but old Red Plaid Shirt is in zero danger of losing his seat
Carr is running a poorly funded ineffectual campaign
There is a reason a heavier hitting conservative..more so than Lamar...Is not challenging him but im not yet sure what it is...
Very informative.
Norris was a jag off, profile in courage my eye.
As to $$$$, if WE ever have adequate funding, we should check the candidate's DNA. Something is wrong. Beat the bad guys with a ground war and leave the expensive air war to our enemies. The ground war is sneakier and it works. Ask Eric Cantor.
Im not advocating voting for GOPe under any circumstances.
I am saying baring a miracle Lamars seat is safe for him
Carrs campaign is pitiful
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.