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T HE W0 R K S PROGRA M *** --Wor ks Pr ogress Administration-For I mmedi ate Re le ase Friday , J anuar y 29, 1937 WPA Mobilizes Wo r kers to Save Tiptonville, Tenn., Levee . WPA officials in west Tennessee , at the urgent p l ea of U. S. Army Engineers, today massed. every a vailable worke r at Tiptonville in Lake County a t t he Kentucky line to save the l eve e a t that town of 2,000 and what is more i mpo rtant, perhaps, preserve the present cha nnel of the Missis s ippi River at tha t point, according to reports to Harry L. Hopkins, Works Proe res s Administrato r. S. T. Peas e , director of District No. 5 for WPA in we stern Te nnessee, sent out S O S calls to WPA superint endents in. all parts of the Mi ssissippi River section, telling them to s end all a vailable able-bodied men and to hire as many additional workers as pos sibl e . necessary on the plea that the He ordered them t o slmt do·nn all proj ec t s if 11 ma in thing i s to ge t men." The Army Engine ers are engaged in a heroic effort to save Ti ptonville fr om inundat ion, he reported . The Engine e r s explained t ha t if the leve e breaks, the Missis s ippi will f l ood Ree l foot Lake , cr r>a t e d 100 yP-ars ago by an ear t hquake , and allow the Mississippi, which elbows t o the north,,rest at that po int, t o come spilling in a straight li rte over a 15- rni l e sector. This c onditi on would create another cres cent- shaped l ake in no r thwestern Tennessee and destr o:r the natural game preserves of Reelfoot Lake, a Tenness ee playground. Whe n the caJ.l for assistance came from Army Enginee r s , WPA Director Peas e in t urn appealed to owner s of priva te cars and trucks ana. to the al1.vays coo perative State Highway Depart ment to tran sport the workers. The interest of flo oa control officials in all parts of t h i s region is now c 8ntered on Tiptonville. Pease sai d that WPA has approxima tely 7,000 a ble-bod.iecl workers in western Tennessee and that he wiJ.l turn them over t o Army Engineers if necessar:r to control the Father of Waters. Meanwhile, he ha.s concentrated 1,000 women on WPA sewing projects in a building at Third and Jefferson Streets to make clothes for the refugees and. ha.s directed additirrnal wo rkers to report to relief agencies to act as cooks, maids and porters in the refugee havens. ---o0o--- Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
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