Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1913-1915, 1913-05-29

head of the Saxon Mills of Spartan
burg, Mr. Walter Montgomery, head
of the Spartan Mills at the same place,
Mr. Horace Bomar, a prominent law
yer and financier, Mr.. Alex White,
president of the Merchants National
Bank, Mr. George Ladshaw, civil en-
| gineer. Mr.. Joseph Lee, prominent
business man, all of Spartanburg, and
Mr.. William A. Law, vice president
and chief executive officer of the First
National Bank of Philadelphia, have
for long time been interested in the
water powers of western North Carroll
ma. Most of these men have large in
i terests in cotton mills in that section
and were desirous of getting cheaper
/ electric power to operate them. In
! addition to that, they had been for a
long time interested in the building of
an interurban railway between Spar
tanburg and Asheville, and several
yers ago had some surveys made for
this railway. They began to acquire
water rights for hydro-electric devel-
opment and finally organized the Blue
! Ridge Inter1rban Railway Company
whose immediate purpose is the con-.
structfOn Of a railway from Hender-
| to the site of the dam on Green River.
Magnitude of Enterprise.
H. ma gnitude of the enterprise is
staggering. 1t is proposed to erect on
Green River, a short distance below
where Big Hungry Creek flows into it
a dam 100 feet high. 1t may be re-
! marked that the water flowing over
this dam viii have a fall equal to that
l<1f 80 oil lob
ii is claimed will be the biggest thing
,tof the kind perhaps east of the Missis-
/ sippi River, and will put Lake Toxa
way far in the shade. The scenery
around the lake will be unsurpassed.
A SeabOard Connection Proposed.
The railway company to be imme-
diately constructed will run from Hen
dersonville to Saluda, and will have
! it's nose pointing in the direction of
Rutherfordton. 1t is said to be with
in the contemplation of the parties to
connect the Interurban with the Sea-
board Air Line at Rutherfordton and
thus give freight and passenger con-
nection with this syste minto Hender-
sonville and probably with Asheville.
This becomes interesting to Charlotte
people, as it would give somewhat
easier route into the mountains from
this point.
Cheaper Power to be Furnished.
The power to be generated by this
plant will amount to $4,000 horse
power, and the surplus of the power
not needed for operating the Interur<
ban system will be sold wherever
needed. Wires will be running to
lSpartanburg and the cotton mills there
supplied with electricity, and all
through the mountains this mysterious
motive power will be conveyed to light
the cities and furnished to drive ma
chinery.
Obstacles in the Way.
The chief obstacle in the way of the
IInterurban Company was the acquiring
of water rights for the area covered
by such an immense dam. The Hen
dersonville Light and Power Company,
which is owned by Mr.. r. M. Oates,
formerly of Charlotte, had besides its
present water power plant two other
holdings below this plant on Hungry
Creek. The Interurban Railway made
an effort to buy these from the Hen
dersonyil1e company but this company
contended that the plants were worth,
at 41CcAOC, Y19O,OOOs O4 L1C OI1O1 MANU-
the Interurban contended that neither
one of the riparian rights involved
were sufficient to constitute water
power and that they were only worth
a few hundred dollars each. Not being.
able to agree, condemnation proceed
ings were begun and the whole of last
week of the Hendersonville court was
spent in trying out before Judge Lyon
and jury the question involved.
Representative PIummer Stewart Vim
dicated.
One extremely interesting feature
of the controversy arises out of the
fact that after the condemnation pro-
ceedings were begun last February the
Hendersonville company went before
the Legislature and secured an amend
ment to the existing law which it was
thought would prevent the Interurban
Company from acquiring any of the
holdings of the Hendersonville COM
pany. Representative Plummer Stew
art of this county championed the
cause of the Interurban Company be-
fore the Legislature and claimed that
It was unfair to this company to url,
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