Gorgas, Alabama#Industry

Gorgas is located in northern Tuscaloosa and Walker counties.{{cite book |last1=Foscue |first1=Virginia O. |title=Place Names in Alabama |date=1989 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |isbn=081730410X |page=64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PCQBBAAAQBAJ&q=%22Gorgas%22+%22Alabama%22+%22town%22&pg=PA64 |access-date=December 2, 2020}} The boundaries of Gorgas were determined by the catchment area of the Gorgas High School.

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 {{circa|1916}}, and the settlement became known by the same name.{{cite book |last1=Terry |first1=Paul W. |last2=Sims |first2=Verner M. |title=They Live on The Land: Life in an Open Country Southern Community |date=1993 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |isbn=0817305874 |page=xi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uqODBQAAQBAJ&q=Gorgas&pg=PR40 |access-date=December 2, 2020}} The school closed in 1973.

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,{{cite journal |title=Review of recent books |journal=The High School Journal |date=March 1941 |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=141–142 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40367578 |access-date=December 3, 2020 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press|jstor=40367578 }} 30 black and 166 white.{{cite book |last1=Flynt |first1=Wayne |title=Alabama in the Twentieth Century |date=2004 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |isbn=081731430X |pages=135–136 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gjixu39X4tQC&q=%22They+Live+on+The+Land%22+%22Gorgas%22&pg=PA136 |access-date=December 2, 2020}}

A post office operated under the name Gorgas from 1918 to 1971.{{cite web|url=https://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=AL&county=Walker&searchtext=&pagenum=3 |title=Walker County |publisher=Jim Forte Postal History |access-date=December 4, 2020 }}

Beginning from 1917, Gorgas was home to a steam plant for producing energy.{{cite news |title=ACCEPTANCE OF LATEST AGREEMENT URGED BY HOUSE COMMITTEE ONLY EXCEPTION IS GORGAS |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/378441641/ |access-date=December 2, 2020 |work=The Southern Herald |date=June 9, 1922}} The steam plant was owned by the Alabama Power Company.{{cite news |last1=Holland |first1=E.L. |title=By electrical means - Gorgas in new gasification try |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/48059282/the-birmingham-news/ |access-date=December 2, 2020 |work=The Birmingham News |date=June 28, 1951 |page=5}} 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.{{cite news |title=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. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1922/06/02/archives/ford-stands-firm-for-gorgas-plant-declines-to-eliminate-it-from-his.html |access-date=December 2, 2020 |work=New York Times |date=June 2, 1922}}{{cite journal |last1=Lane |first1=Alfred P. |title=Muscle Shoals—Bonanza or White Elephant? |journal=Scientific American |date=May 1925 |volume=132 |issue=5 |pages=293–295 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0525-293 |jstor=24978899 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24978899 |access-date=December 2, 2020|url-access=subscription }} 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.{{cite news |title=Alabama Power closing Gorgas coal-fired power plant |url=https://apnews.com/article/6af5b3420542429ea86911876575814f |access-date=December 2, 2020 |work=AP News |date=February 20, 2019}}

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,{{cite journal |last1=Engel |first1=Leonard |title=Gas from the Mine |journal=Scientific American |date=June 1950 |volume=182 |issue=6 |pages=52–55 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0650-52 |jstor=24967478 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24967478 |access-date=December 2, 2020|url-access=subscription }}{{cite book |title=Quarterly Coal Report |date=1947 |publisher=State of Ohio, Division of Labor Statistics |page=22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JTdLAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Gorgas+Alabama%22 |access-date=December 2, 2020}} and then using electricity. 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.{{cite news |title=Gasification Tests On Coal Are Completed |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/81917113/ |access-date=December 5, 2020 |work=The Terre Haute Tribune |date=July 6, 1953 |page=5}} The experiments were reactivated after 1954, this time with hydrofracturing using a mixture of oil and sand, but finally discontinued in 1958 as uneconomical.{{cite book |title=The US Bureau of Mines - Report for the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs |date=September 1976 |publisher=US Government Printing Office |pages=61–62 |url=https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00022529/00001/70j |access-date=December 5, 2020}} The mines continued operation until the 1970s.{{cite news |last1=Howell |first1=Ed |title=Gorgas plant closing April 15 after 102 years |url=https://mountaineagle.com/stories/gorgas-plant-closing-april-15-after-102-years,19508 |access-date=December 2, 2020 |work=Daily Mountain Eagle |date=February 21, 2019}}

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• {{HAER |survey=AL-138 |id=al1225 |title=William Crawford Gorgas Electric Generating Plant, On Black Warrior River, Parrish, Walker County, AL |photos=4 |cap=1}}

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Category:Unincorporated communities in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

Category:Unincorporated communities in Walker County, Alabama

Category:Unincorporated communities in Alabama