This pictorial history illustrates the Tennessee River's influence on Northwest Alabama and people, places, and events that have shaped the area's cultural and natural history. For centuries, the Tennessee River has shaped the lives of northwest Alabamians. Native peoples made their homes on its shores, living on the rich resources found in its waters and on its banks. Early Europeans and Americans recognized the river's importance in connecting east with west, although traveling the 40-mile stretch of rocky shoals between present-day Decatur and Florence was difficult. Overcoming that navigation challenge led to such 19th-century technological advances as the Tuscumbia, Courtland & Decatur Railroad--the first rail line west of the Appalachian Mountains--and the Muscle Shoals Canal. During the Civil War, skirmishes over control of factories, rail lines, and bridges characterized most military activity in northwest Alabama. In the 20th century, the construction of Wilson Dam and the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority improved the quality of life and increased economic opportunities in northwest Alabama. "Barske and Murphy have done stellar work in finding just the right photographs. Each renders clear the vast difficulties in regional development. We see racial discrimination, but also genuine good engineering work. Material errors are not overlooked, and the vast abundance of new industry, from tourism to fishing, to housing construction, to an electrical windfall are all placed in context. A group effort of university students, their leaders, and community researchers has brought about a classic study usable to explain our region's remarkable story. Florence Times Carolyn M. Barske, Brian Murphy, and Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area volunteers gathered images from the UNA Archives, the Alabama Department of Archives and History, University of Alabama, Florence-Lauderdale Public Library, the Lawrence County Archives, the Limestone County Archives, the Morgan County Archives, and the Library of Congress to tell the story of the Tennessee River in the northwest Alabama region.