TVA and the Dispossessed
The Norris Bassin was the Tennessee Valley Authority's first and most significant experimental laboratory in regional planning. TVA had been created in the post-World War I era in 1918 in an effort to end dependency on Chilean nitrates for war production. Years later, in 1933 during the Great Depression, the Authority began to acquire land in the upper Tennessee region. Its main purpose was to create a storage reservoir and hydroelectric facility at the meeting of the Church and Powell Rivers. Senator George Norris's federal action program was designed to manage the river for flood control, cheap nitrate fertilizer production, navigation and power production. The process of taking land was accomplished through eminent domain which displaced thousands of families. The purchase of land occurred whenever and wherever TVA built a dam and reservoir; the Norris dam was their first project.
The Norris Bassin was a close knit community living in a pre-modern society. Most of the displaced were poor resident farmers who suffered from over processed land in an isolated and economically deprived area. This was mainly due to over population in a geographically disadvantaged region. Although outward migration during the industrial era helped people stray from their pre-modern society, the great depression forced them to move back home. When TVA started their regional planning, they hoped to bring technology to the Bassin and help them develop into a modern society.
"The Authority possessed-bountiful and cheap power, regional planning apparatuses, legal strength, and federal backing were the means by which the regional inhabitants, and indeed the inhabitants of the entire Tennessee Valley, could esca...
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...came a great attraction for the area as a place to live. The Authority introduced educational and training programs for its employees, such as wood working and blacksmithing, in hope that these educational and technical activities would eventually be housed in the Norris School for children and adults. TVA also introduced medical services and furnished many types of medical care for the payment of certain fees per month.
In conclusion, the Norris Bassin Project made many contributions to the community, but in the end many view the experiment as a failure. The basic problem facing the community was the declining population. There was a significant rise of professional people, many of whom were commuters and did not actually live there. If TVA had had the people of the Norris Bassin's best interest at heart, there would have been a completely different outcome.