regard to cooperatively developed programs (assistance in relocating,
licensing of reservoir land, readjustment activities, and the like).
This type of education reduced the need for coercive action by TVA
in dealing with people who had to make major adjustments in re-
sponse to TVA activities. For example, in purchasing 320,244 acres
of land and land rights for the Kentucky Dam project, only 2.4
percent was acquired by condemnation.
Educational work in assisting families and communities with re-
adjustment problems was partially responsible for a change in TVA
land acquisition policy. In acquiring land for the first reservoir
(Norris), TVA purchased some 121,000 acres in fee in excess of that
actually needed for reservoir purposes. Subsequently, in other reser-
voirs (particularly in the Kentucky reservoir) policy was changed,
and the maximum amount of land was left in private hands through
reducing the amount bought in fee simple and purchasing flowage
easements to permit TVA to flood the land during the period when
crops are not normally grown. Where flowage easements were pur-
chased the original owners retained the agricultural use of the land.
This change in land acquisition policy reduced considerably the
number of people who were forced to relocate, but increased the need
for educational work with those who remained.
EXAMPLE OF EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES IN CONNECTION
WITH LAND ACQUISITION
Big Sandy and its trade area represent one of the communities
seriously affected by the acquisition of land for the Kentucky reser-
voir. Of the total 320,244 acres of land and land rights purchased
for the Kentucky Reservoir, some 11,300 acres were located in the
Big Sandy trade area. In keeping with its policy of collaboration with
existing agencies and the policy followed in other reservoirs, TVA
contracted with the University of Tennessee for the Agricultural
Extension Service to help families and communities to relocate and
adjust to new situations. Although the problems differed from com-
munity to community, the Big Sandy area illustrates the general
approach taken in working with communities affected by the acqui-
sition of land for reservoirs.
Big Sandy, a town of 650 people in 1940, is situated in Benton
County, Tennessee, on the east side of the Big Sandy River, a major
tributary of the Tennessee. In 1940, the town was a trade center for
an agricultural area of some 83,000 acres. The 191 families in the
town were employed in 31 business establishments, the usual public
services, and on nearby farms. Forty-eight of the families listed farm-
ing as their occupation. Thus, agriculture was the most important
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