Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1963)

OHIO RIVER LINKS VAST INDUSTRIAL AREA continued 2,000-horsepower diesels and drifted over to the Indiana shore to let the empty tow pass. Right in the middle of the bend the two other tows passed without incident; three in the bend might have meant serious trouble. The oxbow incident was typical of a dozen, or even a hundred minor problems that occur in a day along the 981 -mile river, a lifeline whose importance to the economy of a major area can only be understood by close-range inspection. Changed with War ■ Pre-World War they still look like older, steel mills. But there are two main differences — older furnaces are being modernized with new oxygen equipment and the clouds of smoke that the sun barely penetrates are starting to subside. Smoggy Weirton, W. Va., classic example of a fumepolluted community, is being surveyed by smoke-abatement engineers. The industry-lined shores can be seen by a slow drive or even better by a weekend on a towboat such as the Ohio River Co.'s Oreo. Steeped in historic lore, the stream industries turning out pigs and billets, and finally the fabricating plants that consume the basic products. Now take a fast hop over some of the Ohio Valley's economic peaks: ■ Fastest growing aluminum producing center, thanks to cheap power and river transport. ■ Three-fourths of the aluminum market is within 500 miles. ■ Billion-dollar dam and lock program to be completed in early 1970s, new 1,200-foot locks avoid split tows; number of locks will be cut from 46 to 19. ■ Year-round navigation, with no Fourteen 195 x 35 foot barges carry 21,000 tons of alumina up the Ohio to the Olin Mathieson Chemical Corp. plant at Clarington, Ohio. Tows consist of as many as barges. An average railroad car carries only 50 tons. 21 II the old valley was somewhat resigned to a monotonous economic role that blended heavy industry, harrassing floods and fabricating plants. Came the war, and a desperate need for coal, ocean-going ships and the many other things that could be supplied by mills along the river, especially around Pittsburgh. That's when the old, smoky city started making ocean ships for the military as well as the other products of the metal industries. Up and down river an observer of the Ohio Valley will find the whole appearance of communities changing. Older cities in the hilly upper valley are still conspicuous for their antique architecture, known tolerantly as Milltown Gothic, but they are feeling the crunch of the wrecker as new glass and metal buildings and attractive industrial plants take their place. Older steel mills still operate, and flows through beautiful country that must be evaluated from a practical marketing perspective if its basic attributes are to be appreciated. When the economic history of the valley's 195070 development is written, it's a safe bet the combination of low-cost water transport and one of the world's greatest stores of underground natural wealth will get much of the credit for one of the nation's least understood and most spectacular industrial explosions. Six-State Area ■ From Pittsburgh, leading the upper valley in its commercial and industrial renaissance, on down to the flats where the Ohio joins the Mississippi, the six-state region offers literally hundred of lessons in economic adjustment and the importance of basic industry. All around are the primary needs of hungry plants — cheap coal and hence cheap power, economic transport, metal low-water problem and minimal stoppage from freezing and flooding. ■ Army engineers are reducing flood threats as new dams are built. ■ Ohio tonnage exceeds that of Mississippi River (excluding ocean tonnage). ■ Best coal veins in the world are within easy haul; 80% of nation's coal mined in the valley. There's natural gas and oil, too, plus pipeline crossings. ■ Over three times as much water empties into the Mississippi as enters at the mouth of the Missouri. The 98 1 mile course has only a 427-foot fall from Pittsburgh to Cairo, Ill.-Wickliffe, Ky. ■ Eight-state cooperative cleanup campaign has brought sewage-treatment to 95% of the population along the river. ■ Diversified economy, ranging from steel at Pittsburgh, Wheeling-Steuben 76 (SPECIAL REPORT: OHIO VALLEY) BROADCASTING, March 18, 1963