Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.
Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at .
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ags. .
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
American Geographical Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
Geographical Review.
http://www.jstor.org
AND THETENNESSEE
GEOGRAPHERS VALLEY
AUTHORITY*
RONALD REED BOYCE
745629.3
556.3
418300
sea
gates
of
So.'HOLSTON
"WATAUGA 815685.4
595.4 375 LLE
507.8
above 650 inundations
5Bristol
C. UQUCLAS
height
_A- N. Asheville
KNOXVI
V CHEROKEE 602
OnfributaryStreams LOUDOUN
reservoir
GLENVILLE,
FONTANA
Dams FORT
rCHER.OKEE ,NANTAH)LA 530
extensive
NORRIS BAR
JONTANA,CHATUGE the
RIVER
DOUGLAS
LOUDOU.NI
Storaqe
rNOTTELY
WATTS
FORT Note
HIWASSEE 471
CHEOAH
FKnoxvilej.
VALLEY NORRIS
SANTEETLAHI
RIDGE
NO.1BLUE
A.
HIWASSEEi
CALDERWOOD
APALACHIA 431
G CHICKAMAUGA
LS
NO.1
OCOEESNO.1
TENNESSEE
BAR BAR construction.
FALLS BAR
PLANT
WATTS
THE
River Chattanooga HALES 349
GREAT STEAM
WATTS OF
reservoir
Y. and BAR,
CHICKAMAUOA Authority)
and
K HALES GUNTERSVILLE
275
PROFILE
dam
Valley
259
WHEELER for
cumberl
TENNESSEE TENN
Nashville 207 plan
E L RM
AIA.
GUNTERSVILLEW
WILSON theTennessee
PLANT
WH the
LSON andof
WISTEAM
IjILSO4N
THE 1930s
see
tennes PICKWICK PICKWICK mouth
river thecourtesy
. in
above
KENTUCKY'
hior
Paducah ISS miles Valley
er
23
kCairo, riv M (Reproduced
ippi
KENTUCKY Tennessee
rississ Memphis PADUCAH
planned.
1-The
were
FIG.
that
GEOGRAPHERS AND THE TVA 25
maryactivity,wasespeciallydepressed,and TVAlegislationrequiredthatfertilizer
and powerbe availableto farmersat the lowest possible prices.The legislationalso
specifiedthat some farmlandthat had been heavilyeroded by the growing of row
crops-especially cotton, tobacco, and corn-on steep slopes be taken out of pro-
duction and reforested.Another issue was the need to aid existingbusinessesand
attractnew industry.To accomplishthese goals the TVAwas to seek state and local
cooperationthroughthe democraticprocessthat today is referredto as "grassroots
democracy."To its many critics, "grassrootsdemocracy"simply meant that local
power groups such as the FarmBureauFederationand the AgriculturalExtension
Service had to bow to TVA demands, particularlythose that would benefit large
landholders,such as white planters(Leuchtenburg1963,86-87). The primarygoal
was the generationof power from the dams to provide ruralelectrification.
The immediatetasksof the TVAwereto inventoryand purchasethe land needed
for building dams and reservoirs,to begin constructionof the Norris Dam on the
upper Tennesseeby October 1933, and to alternateconstructingan upriverflood-
control storagedam with constructinga multipurpose(flood control, navigation,
and power) dam on the lower Tennessee,therebycreatinga 650-mile-longnaviga-
tion channelfromPaducah,Kentuckyto Knoxville,Tennessee.Workon the Wheeler
Dam in Alabama,the first downrivermultipurposedam and reservoir,began on
21 December 1933 (Sayford 1935) (Figure 1).
The regionaldevelopmentaspects of the TVAproject requiredimmediatedata
andanalysis
gathering on a massive in agriculture,
scale,particularly and
forestry,
towndevelopment. TheDivisionof LandPlanning andHousing,withtheland-
scapearchitect
EarlS.Draperasdirector,
wascreatedtoaccomplishthattask.Draper
was interestedin town planning, conservation,and generalefficiency(Black2000,
85). The Universityof Chicago urban and regional geographerCharlesC. Colby
(1934-1944) was retained as a consultant. The division comprised five sections:
land classification,which included most of the geographerswho worked for the
TVAin its earlyyears;architecturaland aesthetic matters;town planning;conser-
vation and recreation;and service and drafting,which was later changedto maps
and mapping and eventuallyobtained divisional status (Massa 1995). G. Donald
Hudson (1934-1939), who had just completed his doctoral dissertation at the Uni-
versityof Chicago(1934), was appointedchief geographerof the LandClassification
Section. Other geographers,primarilyfrom the University of Chicago, included
Malcolm J. Proudfoot (1934-1935), Bernard H. Schockel (1934-1935), Robert
M. Glendinning (1934-1936), Victor Roterus (1935-1940), Allan A. Twitchell (1935),
and Howard V. Miller (1934-1944). Most of the geographers remained with the
TVAfor only a few years. They left because jobs became plentiful elsewhereand
perhapsbecause much of their early expectation of large-scaleregional planning
did not develop.
The geographersin the Division of LandPlanningand Housing undertookfive
majortasks:datagatheringand mapmaking,regionalanalysesand syntheses,farm-
ing and farmsteadanalyses,town economic-baseand trade-areaanalyses,and rec-
26 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
Unit-AreaLandClasses Notation,TVA
Types of AgriculturalLand:
Short Fraction: Sample Polygons on Long Fraction:
SummaryAppraisal MaporAirphotoBase Detailed Conditions
One Roman Numeral 200-AcreMinimum
Numerator:Land Use
Five Problem Classes First Digit..........5 classes
Second Digit...14 classes
Numerator:Use Quality ThirdDigit.........4 classes
IV3/4
One Digit.............5 classes Fourth Digit......5 classes
6 Fifth Digit..........5 classes
Denom:Land Quality
One Digit.............5 classes 1N333/4132114
4122114 Denom:Land Condition
First Digit.........6 classes
436
204 Second Digit....5classes
ThirdDigit........5classes
Fourth Digit.....4 classes
Fifth Digit........5 classes
Acres Sixth Digit........4 classes
Seventh Digit...5classes
Types of Non-AgriculturalLand: Numerator-One Digit,EightClasses,;
Denominator- Seven Diits, same classes as forAgricultural
Land
FIG. 2-An exampleof the unit-arealand classesnotation developedby geographersat the Tennes-
see ValleyAuthorityfor the purposeof rapid,large-scaledatagathering.Note the voluminousamount
of datathat could be coded in the field. (Draftedby JamesR. Wray)
nature and purpose of these studies as aiming "to furnish a perspective in which
more intensive studies may be viewed, and to which land planning policies and
specific judgments of the Division [of Land Planning and Housing] may be related.
... The present study-drafted by Allan A. Twitchell-illustrates the type of general
conclusions which can be established by the synthesis of available materials.... This
kind of synthesis can rapidly be extended, by counties or groups of counties, to
other portions of the Valley" (1936b). Regional synthesis was considered the highest
skill of the geographer, bringing together all aspects of an area-physical, cultural,
historical-in order to gain comprehensive spatial understanding.
Although these attempts at regional synthesis were cursory, pragmatic in scope,
and limited to readily available data, they should not be minimized, for they may
well have been one of the TVA geographers' greatest contributions. By identifying
subregions within the TVAthey demonstrated the fallacy of the common assump-
tion that "one suit fits all" (Garrison 1996), and they showed that different approaches
were needed in different parts of the Tennessee Valley.
Studies were based on county data available from the Department of Agricul-
ture. The entire Tennessee River basin was examined, and maps for each census
year were generated. Forty-seven maps from the 193o Census of Population and
Housing data were submitted between 1936 and 1937 alone (Figure 3). These maps
featured critical row crops, such as corn, tobacco, or cotton, as well as general crop-
30 THE GEOGRAPHICALREVIEW
FIGURE
II
RIVER
HUSTBURG-DUCK AREA
DIAGRAM
GENERALIZED :FOREST
OF LANDAND LANDUSE
RESIDENCE
PASTURE
LESPEDEZL GARDENS
BEANS
SOY IDLE
WLHE
IDLE
CORN TERRACE
LAND
BUCKR.
UPPERANDLOWER
BENCHES
FIRSTBOTTOMS
SODDY, TENNESSEE
TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTI4OIITY
OF LANDPLANNING
DIVISION HOUSING
1936
CHART 9
OF DETAILTDADE 1935
DISTRIBUTION
46.1%
ANNUAL 'S OF
RELIEF CLASSESOFBUYERS SALES TOTAL
FARME
ON UNEMPLOVED FOREST ALL CLASSES 224,362 100.0
WORKERS FARM4FOQEST
WORKERS 79,745 35.5
MINE
WORKERSOTWERS50,858 22.7
TRANSIENTS 4,900 2.2
PERSONS PERSONS
ONRELIEFF 103,377 46.1
MINE WORKERS SOMEWORKKERS
ItMCLUDES EMPLOYED
INCHATTANOOGA.
SOMEPERSONS
tINCLUDES PARTOFTHIEIR
OBTAINIHG
SOTHERS INCOMEFROMFARMI$N.
TRANSIENTS THEREAREHOFACTORY
WORKERS
EMPLOYEDI SODDY.
CHART 10
CLASSES OF ESTIMATED
LOSS %OFTOTAL
BUYERS ANNUAL
SALES AHII'L.
SALES1935
LOSS FROM
FARMWORKERS- ALL CLASSES 35,850 16.0
FARM WORKERS 10.5
23,.600
OTI-IERS
UNCLASSIFIED
URBAN i10,000 4.5
SERVICEWORKERS 2,250* 1.0
LOSSFROM LO'S
S"mNDIRFECT
SERVICE
WOIPKEI
LOSSFROMUNCLASSIFIED
URBANRESIDENTS
BASED ON FIELDINVESTIGATION
TENNESSEE VALLEYAUTHORITY
'ROCKWOOo
DIVISIONOF
LANDPLANNING
ANDHOUSING
CHICKAMAUGARESERVOIR AREA
TRADE CENTERS AND TRADE AREAS
WEST OF TENNESSEE RIVER
TRADECENTER BOUNDARYOF
3 4TRADEAREA
0 1SCALEOF
MILES
21963
DEC
SPRINGCITYA
IP'NEV.LE
OECATriL
DAYTON
ATHEN
GIRAYSVILLE
i
9SAUL
6A6E1-
NAKFMAI
SODDY
CHARLESTON
AISY
LEGEND
Dayton TradeArea
Valley Plateau (Walden Ridge)
HYSOM
Soddy TradeArea
BARHAMAYDAM
]Valley
Plateau (Walden Ridge)
Sale CreekTradeArea
It is mostunfortunate
thatthiswisewarningwasnot heededin themanydeclining
communities in other areas(Ullman, Boyce,and Volk 1961).
The questionof new town developmentwas also examined,and some new com-
munities were built (TVA1937). The town of Norris, designed by Draper,was the
most famous, and the nationalpressshowcasedit as a model town (Sample1935).It
contained curved streets and culs-de-sac and was served by a parkwaydubbed a
"freeway" (Creese 1990, 242-251). Feasibility studies for other communities were
made,but the planto use Norris as the prototypefor many other towns, like almost
all of the plans for regionaldevelopment,was abandoned.In 1948 Norriswas priva-
tized and purchasedby a group of investorsfrom Philadelphia.What role, if any,
the TVAgeographersplayedin town developmentis not clear.
RECREATION STUDIES
(Hodgson 1936; Martin 1941; Otte 1941) about issues within the Tennessee Valley
were written. Surprisingly,Proudfootwrote his dissertationon the major outlying
business centersof Chicago (1936).
Consequently,there is also a paucityof publishedinformationabout the role of
geographersin the TVAand about the TVAitself written by geographers.This is
doubly surprisinggiven that much of the TVA'Swork was of great public interest
and that, more particularly,some of the work undertakenby the TVA geographers
would have been most valuableto the profession.J. RussellWhitakerpointed out
that geographersare "not noted for blowing their own horns" (1996). William
L. Garrisonsuggestedthat WorldWarII was the primarycause of changedpriori-
ties of both the nation and the geographyprofession (1996). Marion Marts,who
workedfor the Bureauof LandManagement,emphasizedthat employeeswere ex-
pected to clearall of their publicationswith their agencies,which may havebeen a
deterrentto publication(Marts1996). All reportswithin the TVAweremarked"This
reportis for use within the TVAonly. Not for publication."
Unlike other social scientists,geographersgenerallyavoidedpublic controversy,
policymakingissues,and politics, perhapsin orderto remain detachedand objec-
tive.The result,GeorgeDemko observed,has been that "too much of our work is of
little significanceand will be of no significance"(1988, 577).
UNANSWERED
QUESTIONS
The studies of TVAgeographersdemonstratea greatgap betweenplanninglaw as it
pertains to cities and to rural areas.Urban planning and zoning had been firmly
establishedin 1926 by the famousEuclidv.AmblerRealtycase.The smallmunicipal-
ity of Euclid,a suburbof Cleveland,Ohio,passeda zoningordinancethatprohib-
itedtheindustrialuseof vacantlandin a partof Euclidin orderto protectresidential
property.Thezoningwasupheldin the U.S.SupremeCourt,therebymakingzon-
ing a policepowerwhereby,forthe welfareof a community,rightscouldbe taken
fromlandownerswithoutcompensation.In contrast,agricultural land-userights
were almost sacred.The geographersin the TVAmade some stridentrecommenda-
tions with respectto ruralland and the takingof farmsthat might be impactedand
made marginalby reservoirdevelopment-for which they were roundly criticized.
No similarrecommendationswere made for urbanbusinessesthat would be made
marginalby reservoirconstructionin their trade areas.In hindsight,it is apparent
that an opportunitymayhavebeen missedin the applicationof urbanland-use
planningand zoninglaw to ruralland use. Unfortunately,
this planningconcept
was not directlytransferredto the TVAlegislation.
Considerabledifferencesstill exist between police control of urban land and
that of ruralland. Ruralland-use rights are still treatedgenerously,whereasurban
land-use planning is much more restricted.Moreover,such zoning controls in cit-
ies are exercisedwithout compensation.Farmlandin the TennesseeValley,as else-
where,is still occasionallyabusedby farmers,though land erosion has been much
reduced.The precedentset by the TVA,wherebyeroded and idle land was restored
withoutpenaltyor costto the farmer,is no longerapplied.Thatpolicyfocusedon
remediesforland-useabuse,not on its causesandcures.
GEOGRAPHERS AND THE TVA 39
classificationtechniquesindependently,field men must have six to eight weeks'work under the rigid
direction of an experienced supervisor" (1935c, 13).
5. In city planning, zoning had been declareda police function, requiringno compensationfor
any prohibiteduse. This possiblycould have been applied to the field-erosionproblem in the TVAin
such a manner as to protectthe land from erosion in the future.Politically,however,that was impos-
sible (New York Times 1933).
6. Hudson was very pleased with this liberal taking policy, and he frequentlyspoke about it.
However,despite the criticismsof "overpurchase" that later changed TVApolicy, he never published
any defense of the originalpolicy; nor, to my knowledge,did any of the other TVAgeographers.
7. I. RussellWhitakeremphasizedthat he was quite criticalof some of the TVApolicies,but when
Atlantic magazine asked him to write about them, he declined because he did not want to become
involvedin the controversy(1996).This attitudeseems to have been prevalentamong geographersat
the time.
8. In Hudson'sprivatepapersa note insertedinto the La Follettestudy reads:"Studyof this kind
would be interestingas a field problem for training camps-perhaps for master'sdegree."Interest-
ingly,Ullman's1945dissertationon the wholesaletrade area of Mobile,Alabama,written at the Uni-
versityof Chicago under Colby'ssupervision,was in many regardsthe prototype of such studies.
REFERENCES