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 Corps of 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.