The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1919-09-30
POSSIBILITY OF A COT
TON MILL AT DAWSON
By J. B. PETTY.

Strange it may seem to think of Dawson
having a cotton mill to turn into cloth the
vast amount of the staple produced in our
section, but just think of the possibilities
of such an enterprise in our city. We have
on one side of us the Nochaway creek and
on the other side the great Kinchafooee,
either or both supplying abundant water
power for furnishing electrical power to a
good size cotton mill some distance off. The
use of water power has had its ups and
downs, depending on industrial conditions
and inventions. 1t was factor of great I'M
portance to our forefathers in the colonies
by furnishing a means to grind their meal
and saw their logs. The occasional power
on these small fuctuating streams sutficed
for these small but important services The
old-fashioned overshot water wheels so COM
mon in the early part of the nineteenth CEN
fury were largely displaced by improved en-
gines and cheap coal, but water power IS
again coming into use since the invention
of the new turbine and pelton water wheels,
and the ability to transmit power in the
form of electricity many, many miles to
convenient place of consumption The easy
construction, effectiveness and permanence
Of we'll built concrete dams are factors
whose influence in water-power installation
is just beginning to be felt. This alone is
enough to give US new epoch.
When l say power could be had from one
mean that the cotton mill would have to be
built on the banks of the stream. Indeed
not. A small power plant can be built on
the stream, where the water can be used to
generate the current, and the mill can be
built wherever convenient in our city. In
this way water power would be used lndl-
rectly to run the mill. The water resources
of country are affected by any circum-
stances. The most important factor is some
form of natural water storage. The beds OF
either Nochaway or Kinchafoonee are broad
enough and deep enough to store sufficient
water for all the power needed. No doubt
very few of our citizens and business men,
if any, have given the idea a thought. Our
city needs more manufactures with large
pay rolls, and these would to a large extent
increase our population and wealth, as 1t
would bring workmen here.
There are many opportunities open to us,
but we are blind to them, and until we wake
up to the fact and take hold of some of the
opportunities offered we will still be at a
halt. The people of Dawson, Terrell county
and Southwest Georgia have got to wake up.
Why do we sell our cotton at low price,
ship it away, maybe out of the state and in
number of instances out of the United
States, and then buy it back in the form of
cotton goods at d price over double what
we got for it? Is this business? Why, no;
you can see this for yourself. Then, whose
1ault is II but our own thaC we 90 not man
ufacture the cotton into cloth here at home,
where we have so many advantages? AS
have said, no doubt this will bring on more
talk, as it is a new idea, but it does not seem
like bad idea at all to look into the mat
ter and give it thorough study and in
vestigation. People kick on the high cost of
food, clothing and everything in general
when we could do a lot to help matters if
we only would. They forget they might be
partly at fault. cotton mill with great
ray roll would be great thing for Dawson.
Why don't some of our progressive business
men get together and discuss the matter?
PERHAPS it will be mentioned at som of our
Chamber of Commerce meetings. Let's see
if we hear anything more upon the subject.