Big Muscle Shoals

Big Muscle Shoals

Muscle Shoals; TVA; Tennessee River; Colbert County

The Big Muscle Shoals is a section of the Tennessee River in North Alabama. This is the main shoals that gives the surrounding area its name, there is also the Little Muscle Shoals. The section on the river totals 37 miles in length. This was once an impassable barrier along the river. It made navigation extremely difficult for people. The Shoals was named after either the mussles found along the banks or the muscles needed to canoe across the river there. Both are disputed explanations for the naming of the shoals. The area had shoals, reefs, gravel, sand bars, swift currents, and uncertain depths along the expansive of river. Until the canal was built in the early 1800s the area could only be navigated by small man-propelled crafts, such as canoes and rafts. The increasing problem of navigation through th area eventually gained the notice of Congress and they provided land for sale to generate funds to build a canal. This original canal was little help and was never intended to be used as a high traffic waterway. Coal barges could barely, if at all, fit down the canal. It was also a very slow option to navigate along the river, as it could take up to 11 hours to fully travel down over the shoals.

Carrie Keener, University of North Alabama

'FDR, TVA, And CCC Federal Influence In The Shoals: The Journal Of Muscle Shoals History Volume XIX'. 2015. Florence. William Lindsey McDonald Collection. UNA Special Archives.
Peyton, John Howe. 1916. 'America's Gibraltar Muscle Shoals'. Paper. Florence. William Lindsey McDonald Collection. UNA Special Archives.
Young, Ronald. 1976. 'History Of US Facilities At Muscle Shoals, Alabama, And Origins Of The TVA'. Paper. Florence. William Lindsey McDonald Collection. UNA Special Archives.

Alabama Cultural Resource Survey

December 1, 2015

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