POWERGRAMS

23 Joe McDonald (lived in Jordan village 1946-65) "The Jordan Dam village was a safe area where one could go anywhere day or night, without fear. Not only did we not lock our doors, we didn't even have a key to the front door of our home. The company encouraged employees to live in the village by charging $15-a-month rent for a five- room house. In the early '60s it was increased to $25 a month and included free water and exterior painting, and any repairs were furnished by the company. The dams and steam plants were usually located in remote areas and, by furnishing housing, the company had the readily available workforce whenever breakdowns occurred or they needed to have employees raise floodgates during the spring floods. During outages (such as water turbine maintenance) in the fall, employees would work 12-hour shifts, seven days a week. Being only 5-10 minutes from home was beneficial to employees working such long hours. From about age 12, I had a boat and a 7.5-horsepower outboard motor. I would walk about a quarter-mile from my house to the lake every day in the summer to fish. In 1954, at age 12, I won third place in the APCO fishing contest by catching a 1.5-pound shellcracker bream. With the $10 cash prize, I was a kid rich!" Margaret Jones Barnett (lived in Jordan village, mid-1940s-1959) "The Jordan Dam community was a very tight community. We kids knew that if we did anything wrong, our parents would know it before we got home. There was no hiding anything from them, as all the parents were parents to all the children. I have been reprimanded many times by parents who were not my biological parents. They never had to worry where we were or what we were doing, as there was always someone looking after us and we knew that when we heard the lunch or afternoon whistle, it was time to stop playing and go home. There were about 18 families living in the camp. We had annual barbecues that the company gave the men if they did not have a lost-time accident, and we always looked forward to these barbecues. My dad was given the day off so that he could help with the cooking. We would hang out where they were cooking, with the anticipation of having barbecue, camp stew and ice cream for dessert. Some of the dignitaries from Birmingham would always come down and join us. It was an exciting day for everyone. We did not have air conditioning, telephones or any of the luxuries that we have today. However, we did have good, clean, filtered water, thanks to Mr. Walker, who made sure the water tank was always filled. At night after the dishes had been washed, dried and put away, my mother would read to the entire family. It would be a book from the library at school or some book we had around the house, sometimes even the Britannica Junior Encyclopedia. Every Christmas, we had a play and party, with VILLAGERS' MEMORIES OF JORDAN DAM Birthday party at Jordan Dam. Gloria Johnson is the little girl at far right. Margaret Jones Barnett, sister-in-law Janet Jones and Patricia Jones Halladay, c. 1952-1953, on the steps of the Jones house.

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