Tennessee Valley Authority: Lifeline During Depression

President Franklin Roosevelt set the Tennessee Valley Authority was into action on May 18, 1933. This was part of a set of programs known as the New Deal that attempted to lift the country out of a devastating Depression. It sought to provide much needed jobs to individuals all over the country and electricity and irrigation to the Tennessee Valley.

The Tennessee Valley area is the area sorrounding the Tennessee River. The authorities therefore utilized the natural energy of the river to provide hydel power to the area. This provided a much needed relief to the residents of the area by bringing power to their homes and businesses during the time of severe depression.

The residents of Tennessee Valley were quite poor and even referred to as the "Forgotten Americans". No wonder electricity was lacking in the valley. Roosevelt’s TVA rectified this notion by remembering these forgotten individuals and helping them in rebuilding the area. After the TVA brought electricity to the valley’s residents, the once forgotten Americans began to grow financially strong and their average incomes increased considerably.

Apart from producing electricity, the TVA worked to control the river itself, which was prone to flooding every year causing great deal of damage to the land and the towns along the river’s destructive path. Houses and crops were ruined when the river broke its banks and came tearing into the valley. The TVA built dams in an effort to control the river and stop this devastating flooding.

The dams provided a source of irrigation. During the years of the Depression, crops failed due to lack of water and farmers were often plunged deeper and deeper into debt. With electricity and irrigation facilities available the residents quickly changed to modern agricultural techniques of irrigation and gave up the old methods used by their forefathers.

Before the TVA developed the system of dams in the valley, the river was quite difficult for boat captains to navigate. After the projects were completed, the river navigation was made a good bit easier, allowing the area to become more widely traveled, therefore bringing more money into the Tennessee Valley.

The natural effects of the Tennessee Valley Authority were also substantial. The project worked to control and prevent forest fires. Additionally, the workers replanted trees to rebuild the forest that had been cleared for a variety of reasons. This reforestation in turn encouraged wildlife to converge in the newly minted forests, just as the dams encouraged fish to populate the new bodies of water.

The Tennessee Valley Authority was an excellent program initiated during a critical time in this country’s history. In addition to providing jobs for thousands of Americans who were unemployed at the time, the TVA worked to better the life for the residents of the Tennessee Valley.

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