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Gorgas, Alabama

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Coordinates: 33°38′57″N 87°12′29″W / 33.64917°N 87.20806°W / 33.64917; -87.20806
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Gorgas, Alabama
Unincorporated community
Gorgas is located in Alabama
Gorgas
Gorgas
Gorgas is located in the United States
Gorgas
Gorgas
Coordinates: 33°38′57″N 87°12′29″W / 33.64917°N 87.20806°W / 33.64917; -87.20806
CountryUnited States
StateAlabama
CountyTuscaloosa, Walker
Elevation
495 ft (151 m)
Time zoneUTC-6 (Central (CST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)
Area code(s)205, 659
GNIS feature ID119178[1]

Gorgas is a settlement in Walker and Tuscaloosa counties, Alabama, United States. It is named, via a former school in the area, after William Crawford Gorgas.[2]

Geography

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Gorgas is located in northern Tuscaloosa[2] and Walker counties.[3] The boundaries of Gorgas were determined by the catchment area of the Gorgas High School.[4]

History

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Originally the settlement had been known simply as "Camp Ground" after the local Bethel Camp Ground Methodist Church. A high school was created in the area named after William Crawford Gorgas c. 1916, and the settlement became known by the same name.[4] The school closed in 1973.[2]

In 1940 a study of the area commissioned by the Tennessee Valley Authority called They Live on The Land was published by sociologists Paul Terry and Verner Sims of the University of Alabama, though Gorgas was renamed the fictional moniker "Upland Bend" in their study. At the time of their study Gorgas consisted of 209 families, of whom 196 households were interviewed,[5] 30 black and 166 white.[6]

A post office operated under the name Gorgas from 1918 to 1971.[7]

Industry

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Beginning from 1917, Gorgas was home to a steam plant for producing energy.[8] The steam plant was owned by the Alabama Power Company.[9] During the 1920s, the steam plant was the subject of a dispute between Alabama Power and Henry Ford, who sought control of a stake in the plant in order to power his development at Muscle Shoals, which Ford ultimately lost.[10][11] The final Gorgas Coal-powered plant, located in Walker county, finally shut in 2019, more than a 100 years after the first coal-fired plant opened there. At the time of closing, it was Alabama's oldest coal-fired plant.[12]

Beginning in 1947, coal mines in the area, in Walker county, also owned by Alabama Power were the site of the first experiment in in-situ coal gasification in the United States, first using thermite as the ignition source,[13][14] and then using electricity.[9] The experiments were carried out in a partnership between Alabama Power and the US Bureau of Mines. The experiments continued for seven years until 1953, at which point the US Bureau of Mines withdrew its support for them after the US Congress withdrew funding. In total 6,000 tons of coal were combusted during up to 1953. The experiments succeeded in producing combustible synthetic gas.[15] The experiments were reactivated after 1954, this time with hydrofracturing using a mixture of oil and sand, but finally discontinued in 1958 as uneconomical.[16] The mines continued operation until the 1970s.[17]

References

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  1. ^ "Gorgas". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  2. ^ a b c Harris, Stuart W. (1982). Alabama Place-names. Strode Publishers. p. 75. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  3. ^ Foscue, Virginia O. (1989). Place Names in Alabama. University of Alabama Press. p. 64. ISBN 081730410X. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  4. ^ a b Terry, Paul W.; Sims, Verner M. (1993). They Live on The Land: Life in an Open Country Southern Community. University of Alabama Press. p. xi. ISBN 0817305874. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  5. ^ "Review of recent books". The High School Journal. 24 (3). University of North Carolina Press: 141–142. March 1941. JSTOR 40367578. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  6. ^ Flynt, Wayne (2004). Alabama in the Twentieth Century. University of Alabama Press. pp. 135–136. ISBN 081731430X. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  7. ^ "Walker County". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  8. ^ "ACCEPTANCE OF LATEST AGREEMENT URGED BY HOUSE COMMITTEE ONLY EXCEPTION IS GORGAS". The Southern Herald. June 9, 1922. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  9. ^ a b Holland, E.L. (June 28, 1951). "By electrical means - Gorgas in new gasification try". The Birmingham News. p. 5. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  10. ^ "FORD STANDS FIRM FOR GORGAS PLANT; Declines to Eliminate It From His Offer for the Muscle Shoals Property. CALLS FOR PROMPT ACTION House Committee May Agree Today to Accept the Detroit Man's Final Proposals. WEEKS FOR JOINT ACTION Wall Street "Interests" Warned by Ford That He Will Keep Muscle Shoals Away From Them". New York Times. June 2, 1922. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  11. ^ Lane, Alfred P. (May 1925). "Muscle Shoals—Bonanza or White Elephant?". Scientific American. 132 (5): 293–295. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0525-293. JSTOR 24978899. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  12. ^ "Alabama Power closing Gorgas coal-fired power plant". AP News. February 20, 2019. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  13. ^ Engel, Leonard (June 1950). "Gas from the Mine". Scientific American. 182 (6): 52–55. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0650-52. JSTOR 24967478. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  14. ^ Quarterly Coal Report. State of Ohio, Division of Labor Statistics. 1947. p. 22. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  15. ^ "Gasification Tests On Coal Are Completed". The Terre Haute Tribune. July 6, 1953. p. 5. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  16. ^ The US Bureau of Mines - Report for the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. US Government Printing Office. September 1976. pp. 61–62. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  17. ^ Howell, Ed (February 21, 2019). "Gorgas plant closing April 15 after 102 years". Daily Mountain Eagle. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
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