Evening star., 1907-11-18
USE OF WA[ERP POWER
The Piedmont Region Becom-
ing Greatest Textile Center.
HARVESTING THE STREAMS
Development of the Employment of
Electricity.
FIRST INTRODUCED IN 1894
Cost Only Half That of Steam.
More Economical in Other Re-
spects and More Convenient.
FIRST INTRODUCED IN 1894
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

II
The development of the water power
and the cotton textile industry in this
section is astonishing Within a radius
of loo miles around Charlotte are located
$50 cotton mills. operating 4,744, ,45s
spindles, 11O,258 looms and 2,717 knitting
machines. Ten years ago in the same
area there were 200 factories, 1,G21, ,215
spindles and 973 looms, showing an in
crease of 16O factories 3123, ,243 spindles
and 52.741 looms in ten years. The Pied
mont region is becoming the greatest tex
tile center in the world because capital
and engineering skill are ha-nessing the
mountain streams that flow through the
cotton fields of North and South Caro-
lima. More than half the spindies and
looms of the south are in the Piedmont
region, and nearly all of them Will soon
be operated by electricity.
| Electricity was first introduced into
cotton mills at Columbia. S. c.. in 1894,
on a short circuit, and at Ande son in
the same state, on long circuit; and
today of a total of 100000 horsepower
used in cotton mills in the south more
than one-thirG is electricity. According
to the estimates OF the ablest engineers it
is possible to develop 1000, 600 hors power
from the streams in the Piedmont
ton, which represents the labor of six
million human beings. In New England
and other Older manufacturing sections
| the factories We're built upon the banks
| of the streams. In the south electrict ty
| is carried from the streams to the fac
| tories, which have been built at conven-
| lent localities on the railways by copper
! wires suspended from high steel towers
| at cost of from 5000 to 5000 a mile.
The streets, the residences and the bus- |
| ness blocks of Charlotte lighted by
| the force of the falling water of the Ca
| tawba river, eighteen miles away. The |
| power that runs the street cars comes |
| from the same source. Most of the cot |
| ton spindles and looms are run by the |
same mysterious fluid that comes over
| copper wires from that river, and it is |
very much cheaper than steam. The |
| Southern Power Company, which has it's |
headquarters here, charges only $50 per |
horsepower per year for eleven hours a
day. six days In the week, while steam |
under the most advantageous circum-
stances. costs an average of $40 per horse
power per year in his locality. Elec-
tricity is not only furnished for half the
price of steam, but is much more eco
| nomical in other respects as we'll as more
convenient and cleaner.
When the Southern Power Company has
reached it's full development, it's presi-
dent tells me- 1t can count on a gross in
come of 81 100000 a year upon an invest
ment of about 500 100000. and will be able /
to turn 100000 spindles at a cost of
| 1000 600 less year than the mills would
have to pay for steam.
Worlds Largest Electric Plant.
More electric power is used in the sec
tion around Charlotte today than in New
England. One plant at Great Falls on
the Catawba river already supplies more
power than is used at Holyoke and Lowell |
combiued. The Southern Power Company
will soon have the largest electrical plant
in the world.
The largest cotton mills in the south |
are in South Carolina. Here Is list of |
| those having more than 10000 spindles:
Spindles: |
Pelzer Mfg. Co. Pelzer, S. C............ 1900
Clifton Mfg. Co. Clifton S. C........... se,O0o
fai Henrietta Mig Co Co., Henrietta, \. c.: 5000
Piedmont Mfg. Co.. Piedmont, S. Co.. 81 600
CiafHey Mfg. Co, Galley, s. C........... 81 GOO
White Oak Mills, Greensboro, N. c.. 10000
There are two electric companies op
| erating near Charlotte, one on the Cataw
ba and the other one the Yadkin river
the Whitney company and the Southern
| Power Company. They both of them
came in a few years ago. bought up land
along the banks of those rivers, erected
dams, made reservoirs and put up plants
20 generate powe-, which they distribute
| over nearly 400 miles of wires to thefac-
tories in this neighborhood. The law gives
the owner of the land the right to use
the water that flows through it.
Organized by Outsiders.
Both of these great enterprises were
| inspired and organized by visitors. In
| 1897 Mr.. 2. c. B. Hambley, an English
| nan, came here for MS health from South
Africa, where he had been serving with
| Cecil Rhodes as hydraulic and electrical
ngineer. He located at Salisbury, forty
| four miles north of Charlotte, and occu-
| pied his time by riding about the neigh
bo~ hood. His professional training en-
| abled him to recognize promptly the inn
| portant features of the industrial problem
as well as the opportunities that existed
here for manufacturing. He saw the ad-
| vantage of bringing the power from the
| streams to the cotton mills, especially
from a remarkable geological formation
eighteen miles southeast of SaliSbu y,
| where the Yadkin river, which rises in the
| mountains of western North Carolina.
| rushes through a gorge four and A half
miles long and only from 60 to $50
feet wide, and very deep. Recognizing
| the conveniences of this natural phenom-
| mon for Harvesting the great power OF
the river for generating electricity, he
made a survey and took blue prints to
New York, Boston and other eastern
| cities hoping to induce capitalists of his
| acquaintance to furnish him the money
for its development. He finally succeeded
n interesting Mr.. George l. Whitney, a
banker and coke manufacturer of Pitts
burg, who furnished him money to buy
up, quietly, a tract of $4,000 acres of
land and the water rights at the mar
| rows and elsewhere along the Yadkin
or distance of many miles.
A company was organized and in 1904
work was begun. AT the head of the
narrows about 5000 feet of massive dam
| have been constructed of granite from a
| quarry owned by the company. The
| average weight of the stones used in the
masonry is nine tons. The base of the
dam is sixty feet in width and it is forty
| seven feet high. This creates reservoir
| in which the water from a drainage area
of 3.G3S square miles may be stored and
| uS9d needed.
| On the west side of the dam canal
has been built large enough to float any
ship that runs along the Atlantic coast.
= The canal is four and half miles long,
40 feet wide at the bottom, 40 feet wide
8 at the top and 20 feet deep. This carries
the water to a power house now under
construction on the west side of the
river The power house, 275 feet in length.
& 135 feet in width and 100 feet in height,
will be equipped N machinery to gen.
crate 10000 horsepower of electricity,
E which will be transmitted to Salisbury.
eighteen miles distant to High Po /,
where there are almost many furnitL e
factories as at Grand Rapids; to Char
lotte and other thriving manufacturing
cities. The investment of the Whitney
Z company in this plant will be about
3 $1,000. coo. 1t is expected that it will be
completed SO as to begin furnishing power
{ by July /, 1905 The headquarters are at
Salisbury, where announcement was made