Chattanooga and Tennessee Electric Power Company

The Chattanooga and Tennessee Electric Power Company was formed in 1905 by Josephus C. Guild, Charles E. James and Anthony N. Brady to produce hydroelectric power and improving the navigation of the Tennessee River.

Josephus Guild, a young engineer from Chattanooga, became interested in a plan drawn by Major Dan C. Kingman, the head of the local office of the Army Engineers. The plan was originally developed to control the turbulent waters below Chattanooga in the Tennessee River gorge known as the Suck, the Pot and the Skillet. These river features, long feared by riverboat navigators, impeded trade along the waterway

Rep. John A. Moon, a Democrat first elected in 1896, introduced a bill in 1904 that enabled the project. The bill said the construction cost would be borne by the recipient of the power franchise to be operated for 99 years and the government would hold title to the Dam.

After the city of Chattanooga failed to exercise their option on the project, Josephus Guild sought financial help from Charles James, a prominent Chattanooga businessman who was always eager to help promote the city's interests. James approached Anthony Brady, a New York financier with large interests in electrical utilities, who agreed to participate in the venture.

The Hales Bar Dam dam was built after Congressional action on January 7, 1905, changed the site from Scott's Point. The cost of the dam was over $10,000,000. Josephus Guild died during the construction; his son took an active role in the project.

In the 1920s, the company merged with the Chattanooga Railway and Light Company and Drexel and Company, which had a competing project on the Ocoee River, to form the Tennessee Electric Power Company. The combined enterprise was eventually purchased for $78,425,095 by the Tennessee Valley Authority and other participating municipalities and co-operatives.

References

• Govan, Gilbert F. and Livingood, James W. (1952). "The Chattanooga County 1540-1951 From Tomahawks to TVA" E.P. Dutton & Company Inc. New York