The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-09-30
PIEDMONT.

The !att Gil. II. 7. Hammctt start.
cd the machinery rolling some years
ago at Piedmont. and gave new in
pctuS to cotton manufacturing in up
per Carolina. The work that he did
has borre fruit four fold, and to-day
the Piedmont section of South Caro-
lima Leads the South in her cotton
mills.
Col. Hanuctt had desperate. and
for q time. apparently 1 hopcles,
struggle. The original capital of the
Piedmont Manufacturing Company
was S23u 600. 1t was subscribed, but
the great panic Of 1873 came on, no
body could ray and nothing could be
done. 1t was not until 1879 that the
first mill was built. and this was done
in the face Of many difficulties. which
would have dauured less courageous
men than those who were interested
in Piedmont At Que time thcre was
complete break Gown, aud thcrc was
not enough funds to buy supplies TO,
the hands who dld the work just III
the nick CT time, when every resource
seemed exhausted, and every hope was
apparently gone, COL Hammett sue
cccdcd IN securing aid at the North.
which Pulled him through triumph
antly.
Years ago where the water leapeG
and sang over the shoals. and there
was no othcr sound to disturb the 81
lcucc, 5000 srindles are whirling.
looms are humping and hundreds OF
pairs Of Lands are busy and there is S,
steady roar from morning until night
Mill Nc. is 80 feet wide by 25C
feet long, AID has ten thousand spin
dies. No. 2 was built in 1882, whcE
the capital Of the company was in
creased to 100000. 1t adjoin No. l.
is 20 by $50 feet, four stories, and has
1900 srindlcs. No. 3 was built i'll
1890, on tie Anderson side of the
river. just opposite l and 2. 1t is LOG
by 25O feet, aud has 24,OU0 spindIes.
No 4, which has only recently been
completed, is built of brick, auc is
four stories high. 1t is l02 by lS6
feet, ard contains 10000 sriudles.
1t is handsome mill and solid one.
built to stay. There is an abundance
Of window space in all the mills and
we'll ventilated. and with a complete
system Of elevators.
The completion of this last mill at
Piedmont puts that mill in the very
front rank among Southern Gotten
mills. Her success demonstrated
years age by cold facts and figures
the advantages this section has in
labor, climate, quality Of staple, water
power and other important respects
for the manufacture of cotton goods
on a large scale, and spindles have
come By the hundreds of thousand and
! dollars by the millions. Piedmont is
the only mill in the South which is in
the Chinese and Japanese markets un
der it's oEn brands and the products Of
which are regularly quoted in the
market reports of those countries.
The old pioneer mills are thoroughly
equipped, prosperous and expanding
continually and are the centre Of &
happy, healthy and growing communi-
ty. Besides its good schools Pied
mont has uuexcelled church facilities,
the Baptists. Methodist and Presby-
terians each having large, handsome
and comfortable church buildings OF
land given by the company. The
Presbyterian Church, just completed,
is really beautiful structure, finished
in HARD weed and designed after the
latest models for such edi6ces. The
other congregations are nearl y as well
equipped. The Piedmont company
long ago built Iinion church, but the
congregations have outgrown that.
A library O. 1890 volumes: estab-
lished aud kept up and constantly
added to by the company is free to all
employees. 1t is the pride and spe-
ciaI care OF Mr.. Rowell, foreman Of
the clcth rcrr:. who watches with keen
pleasure tie steady growth of taste
for reading, which is attested by the
we'll wcr~ appearance Of many of the
books.
With Nc. 4 at work there is labor
for many more hands, consumption for
many more bales of cotton. large in
crease IN tie amount of money brought
here from abroad to be distributed
among working people, farmers and
stockholders. The vast machinery, the
great aggregate of power, of water and
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