Terry & Fred,
Also, TVA was under construction at the time and many power lines had the same Cu substitution. They kept it quite quiet to keep the hillbillies from "harvesting" the Ag before the lines could be replaced. :-)
Yup, and only 20 miles away, via "thunder road" from Clinton/Oak Ridge where Fred was sipping clear spirits, mixed with muddy coffee, was another TVA follow-on under construction, where the aluminum power line wire was eventually was to be made. Then it was the largest factory in the world (Y-12 being the second largest) not to mention - the local town was named after it: Alcoa. They even owned their own Dam, which TVA did not appreciate. Not bad ... rural Appalachia going from less-than-nothing to near-respectability in a decade - thank you very kindly, FDR.
To be fair to the hillbillies, they would only "harvest" metals which were useful for certain "plumbing" tasks, and copper was the condensation coil of choice for the local cash-crop essence, which one suspects Fred took a few Mason Jars worth back to impress the folks in "Cosmopolitan" New Mexico.
Matter of fact ... it would be a safe bet that some of the more ambitious locals will likely be dusting off Gramp's old 'still in the coming months, now that gasoline will be pushing $4 bucks this summer....
Jones
