Gorgas, Alabama

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]

• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. AL-138, "William Crawford Gorgas Electric Generating Plant, On Black Warrior River, Parrish, Walker County, AL", 4 photos, 1 photo caption page