172 MULTIPLE PURPOSE RIVER DEVELOPMENT 



in the physical conditions of the Alabama-Coosa river system and 

 the distribution of existing developments there. In this chapter, 

 we shall describe the Alabama-Coosa river system and sketch the 

 development plan of the U. S. Corps of Engineers, along with a 

 plan for its private development by the Alabama Power Company. 

 This will provide the materials required for an analysis of the 

 alternative plans. The data available in the case of the Coosa are 

 neither as comprehensive, nor as relevant in many instances, as 

 those for Hells Canyon. Hence, we shall treat some of the un- 

 answered questions and the side issues they raise, before summariz- 

 ing our conclusions based on information available in the public 

 record. 



The River System and Alternate Plans for Development 



The Coosa River is a major tributary of the Alabama-Coosa 

 branch of the Mobile River system. It drains an area of approxi- 

 mately 10,250 square miles — 4,000 square miles of which are drained 

 by two headwater streams, the Oostanaula and Etowah. These 

 rivers join at Rome, Georgia, to form the Coosa, which then 

 descends about 450 feet, in some 285 miles, while flowing from 

 Rome generally southwesterly toward the Gulf of Mexico. About 

 15 miles above Montgomery, Alabama, the Coosa unites with the 

 Tallapoosa River to form the Alabama River. The Alabama, in 

 turn, flows approximately 315 miles toward the Gulf through the 

 coastal plains — dropping about 106 feet in its course — before unit- 

 ing with the Tombigbee, where it forms the Mobile River about 45 

 miles above Mobile Bay. Combined, the Alabama-Coosa river 

 system drains about 22,800 square miles and has an annual average 

 discharge of approximately 26.8 million acre-feet. 



PLAN OF U.S. CORPS OF ENGINEERS 



Public interest in the development of the Alabama-Coosa river 

 system dates back at least to 1870, when Congress requested the 

 U. S. Corps of Engineers to investigate the feasibility of improving 

 the Coosa River for navigation. Nothing approaching a study of 

 the multiple purpose potentialities of the Coosa emerged, however, 



