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First proposed in the Colonial period, the idea for a commercial waterway link between the Tennessee and Tombigbee rivers did not receive serious attention until the advent of river [[steamboat]] traffic in the early nineteenth century. It stimulated trade throughout the river cities, and the ability to get products to the Gulf Coast for overseas shipping. As steamboat efficiency gains caused [[water transport]] costs to decline, in 1875 engineers surveyed a potential canal route for the first time.<ref name="vanwest1">Van West, Carroll. ''Tennessee History''. University of Tennessee Press, 1998.</ref> They issued a negative report, emphasizing that prohibitive cost estimates kept the project from economic feasibility.<ref name="vanwest1" />
Enthusiasm for the project languished until the presidency of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], who took office during the [[Great Depression]] and quickly conceived of investment in major infrastructure projects to put many of the unemployed to work. The development of the Tennessee River by the [[Tennessee Valley Authority|TVA]], especially the construction of the [[Pickwick Landing Dam|Pickwick Lock and Dam]] in 1938, helped decrease the Tenn-Tom's potential economic costs and increase its potential benefits. Pickwick Lake's design included an embayment on its south shore at Yellow Creek, which would permit the design and construction of an entrance to a future southward waterway (leading to the Tombigbee River), should it be decided that such a waterway
Later, construction (under World War II emergency authorization) of [[Kentucky Dam]] at [[Gilbertsville, Kentucky]], near the mouth of the Tennessee River's confluence with the [[Ohio River]], would complete the "northern" half of the future waterway.<ref name="vanwest1" /> As early as 1941 the proposal was combined with those for other waterways, such as the [[St. Lawrence Seaway]], with the aim of building broader political support.<ref>''[[St. Petersburg Times]]'', April 13, 1941, pg 10</ref> Also, in the early 1960s it was proposed that the canal could be created by use of atomic blasts.<ref>''The Florence'' (Alabama) ''Times'', September 21, 1960, pg 3</ref>
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