The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-04-29
The Norris Cotton Mill.

Silently, placidly the Twelve-mile rolls
by Pickene and laves the feet of the ever
lasting hills in its curse to the seq. 1t
moveN slowly. Down below the mouth
Of Golden Creek huge gray boulders
seem to have conspired to arrest its on
ward course. But it gathered In Its
strength, and pressed through the bar
riers and for these many years 1t has been
leaping down those beautiful cascades,
~ioyfully singing the bewitching song of.
Mipnehaha, till the ear of commerce at
tuned to the eternal trill Of its music
came to hear it sing. Seeing That 1t pos
sessed not only the charm of music, but
the dignity of great power,
said: "Will you help me with my work?'
Without a pause in its leaping, Its laugh
ing and Its singipg, Twelve'mile said:
Eyes. if you will put the harness on me,
I'll roll your wheels" That is just what
the Norris Cotton Mill Company is doing
with an energy and push calculated to
astonish any citizen of Pickens County
who has time to 60 down and see the mag
nifcent results from o few months OF we'll
directed labor.
We do not believe that there is q site in
the State as we'll adapted to the erection
and successful operation of a cotton fac
tory as as that chosen by the Norris Cot
ton Mill company. The topography OF
the site selected for the town 10 such as to
give the most satisfactory drainage, and
is at the same time so picturesque as to
crafty the taste of the most fastidious.
No architect could have designed a
more beautiful model for the express pur-
pose.
From a switch on the Southern Rail
yay, nearly one mile distant, the town
is approached by 8 perfectly and gently
graded roadway. This terminates on a
level plateau in front of an elegant two
story building, 100 feet long by 80 feet
wide. On the first floor of this building
is as elegant a store room as can be found
in the Piedmont secti6n. This store is
provided with two genteel and most &C
commodating clerks, John F. Banister
and Harry Stribbling. The streets are
tastefully laid out and under the snper-
intendency Of L. r. Bass, contractor,
thew will soon be adorned with their
quota of neat cottages. There are up
wards of three hundred inhabitants there
now, and house room for a good many
more.
The factory building is down by the
side of the river on 8 foundation of solid
granite, with q basement reaching above
high water mark, made of granite boul-
deIs, found on the spot where they were
needed. This building is to be four sto-
ries high, and the walls are now compile
ted to the second story. The brick and
lumber, like the granite, have been pro-
cured without one dollar Of expense for
freight. This item alone represents an
immense saving TO the company.
Besides this, Col. Norris, the president,
is calling into requisition the best Skill
and every modern device for saving la
Dor and expense, and making the most
of every natural advantage. tor in
stance, instead Of having to erect e stand
pipe he will dig a cistern ona promon
tory OF such elevation as to give the me-
cessary pressure to afford ample protec-
ton from fire to all the warehouses and
the factory. Nor will many feet of hose
be required. The purest and best build
ing sand we have ever seen was mined in
sixty feet Of the factory, and at no great
or depth than four to six feet.
But the dam is the great work now on
band, and it will be completed in about
three weeks. I'll 3 made Of massive boul-
ders of granite laid in hydraulic cement.
and, Of course, extends from one side of
the rock-walled channel to the other.
The great fume which is to conduct the
water from the dam to the wheels on the
hither side OF The stream Is seven IeeG I'D
diameter. 1t is the great iron throat
| through which the factory will ever try
to drink the river dry, and thence de.
rive its heat. strength, light, motion and
life.
Col. Norris called attention to the fact
| that the axis of the water wheel is on q
| plane with the bottom Of the dam, but the
pressure gained by the erection of the
| dam is not more han half the available
| power, rs the water at the wheel has an
| elevation of some Is feet or more, this
much additional pressure is entirely util-
/! lied by means of having the escape down
| pipe OF the same capacity as the fume. 60
the water that is used to pull with as
much If not greater force. This Is .
triumph Of modern hydraulic engineer
ing.
Our space forbids such q description as
| the work already accomplished we'll de-
| serves, but W. hope to come nearer doing
| the subject justice or some future occa-
sion. 1t Is certainly q great boon for
Pickens County and the Piedmont SEQ
tion.-PickenS Sentinel.