The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-05-29
A MARVEL NEAR us.
The PeIzer Mills and the Town
of PeIzsr.
Greenville Ne,os.

LII 1oOz CouuGly 1ooV lSu AAo.A
Williamson, two miles, to Wilson s
bridge over the Saluda river which
divides Anderson County from Green
vile. Wilson's bridge had in the old
times before bridges were built been
Wilson ford, there being shoal and
fall in the river there where the road
crosses. It took it's name from Henry
Wilson who settled at the shoals not
long after the revolu. mary war and
who was member of congress from
this State in 1872. His grave is yet
on the place.
The road from williamson to Will
sons fridge led through open fields.
Down along the river corn and cotton
were cultivated, there were three log
houses, the population numbered pro-
badly 20 and the taxable value amount
ed to few hundred dollars. A num-
Der of gentlemen in Charleston whose
attention had been attracted to the
! possibilities of cotton manufacturing
| in upper Carolina were seeking loca-
tion. They had several shoals under
| consideration but finally determined
| on Wilson's shoals because they were
| only half mile from the track of the
Columbia & Greenville railroad. The
Pelzer Manufacturing Company was
| organized with 100000 capital, 500
| acres oil land was bought from Geo. W.
Anderson, of Williamson, who then
| owned it, and in the spring Of 1882
Capt. E. A. Smyth, who had been
elected president, broke ground along
the shoals for the first building of the
town Of Pelzer.
Now in the early summer OF 1879,
13 years after, there are at Wilson 9
bridge, replacing the cultivated and
waste fields and thickets and three or
four lonely log houses, three big cotton
mills whirring all day long, their un-
ceasing vibrations blending with the
steady roar of water falling over rock
dam rs feet high. There are ], 400
busy people at work, there is town
Of 8, 500 people with some Of the finest
stores in the State, two large churches
and all the belongings of a busy and
prosperous town.
There is q fourth mill nearing COM
pletion-a mill which is a wonder, in
several respects an innovation, the big
gest this side of the Potomac river.
When it is finished, which will be by
next fall, the Pelzer Manufacturing
Company will employ a total Of 5000
people, the town Of Pelzer will have
between 5000 and 1000 population
and will be the fourth town in South
Carolina-a town started, built and
established in 13 years-a town repre-
senting investments of over million
dollars town without corporation,
a municipal government OF any politics
yet a town in which disorder is al
most unknown, in which the people
are thrifty, sober, moral and content
ed, in which all the departments,
streets, health, police, fire and all, are
run without complaint and with thor
ough efficiency:
The new mill is the only one in this
part Of the country built right on top
of a hill. The others have had to go
down in the valleys close to the
streams to get the water power on
their wheels. Pelzer mill No. 4 ac-
oepts modern improvements and sci
ence and disregards proximity to the
stream which will run it.
What would mill men of Is years
ago have thought Of $1,000 spindle
mill two miles and half away from
its water power? Yet that is just
the miracle that is being done at Pei
ger.
The dam for mill No. 4 is at Hol-
land shoals, two miles and half be-
low Wilson's shoals. 1t is marvel
in itself. w. A. Chapman & Co., Of
Providence, R. l.. are building it. 1t
is of stone dug from a quarry owned by
the Pelzer Company-which, in fact,
controls the river on both sides for
seven.miles. The work is revelation
to peoplewho are unused toit. Stones
weighing 20, 900 pounds are cut out,
handled and swung into place with as
much ease as so many blocks of wood.
On each side of the river. is tower
81 feet high. They are 700 feet apart
and wire cables connect them. A big
traveller runs from tower to tower with
chains depending from it and these
chains clasp and swing the blocks OF
great loads Of brick or timber. Porta-
Bile engines control the movements of
the traveller and the man at the engine
with a touch of his hand stops ten
ton rock precisely over the spot where
it is wanted and drops it into its bed
Of cement. The dam is being placed
to stay. It will give 40 feet fall and
will be with wings 700 feet long. 1t
will be "a feet wide at the base and
six feet at the top, all Of solid stone
and cement. The rolling way will be
325 feet.
The Saluda river naturally objects
to being monkeyed with by strangers
from Providence, Rhode Island, and
enters a brawling, swelling protest
with an occasional freshet. But the
people from Rhode Island have simply
showed the Saluda river out Of their
way. They built strong Golfer dam.
ran the river to one side and went to
work in it's bed. They found the old
river had been playing tricks and that
q part of it's bottom was Of rotton rock
unfit to make foundation for such o
dam as is being built there. They had
to dig and dig until they got l3 feet
below the bed Of the river and struck
solid rock, and there the foundations
were created to remain there until the
time when this old world begins its
final rocking. When the dam build
ers have their work across the river
bed completed they will let the water
run back in the course it laid out for
itself so many long years ago and
find it's way through the waste gates
and wheel pits through which it must
hereafter go and do the work OF run,
ming the S., 900 spindles up on the hill
two miles and half away.
There will be five wrought steel
draft tubes through the dam, each tube B e
ten feet in interior diameter and 81
feet long and discharging into wheel
pit Is feet wide. Each Of the tubes
will furnish l .O28 horse power. They
represent the suction principle Of de-