The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1934-03-26
GREAT CARoLINIAN IS DEAD

Rusiness and industry IN the C"i oliii'''
sustains one of the greatest losses ol 'iie
present era in the death of William D. Lee
of Charlotte. Mr.. Lee was known as one Vi
the foremost hydro-electric engineers III
North America. He was an officer anu
director in scores of power and other OuSi-
ness enterprises and no citizen OF the C"ro,
Tpas doomed larger in the business "ol'o
than Mr.. Lee.
However. it was William S. Lee the
man. the loyal citizen of the CarohnaS' d
briIdar in two great States, who was oeS'
known to and most greatly trusted and aa-
noired bv Carolinians who were personally
ACQUAINTED with the man or VINO are Id
milan with his life and achievements.
Mr. Lee belonged to the same family as
the Lees of Virginia. His father was I"
school teacher, a teacher OF languages
He was born in Lancaster, S. C., and spei''
nuch of his life as a boy in Anderson III
that State. Possessing no family fortune
with family of nine children. the imam
cioI condition of the Lee family can De eS-
+imated by anyone. William Lee obtained
2 scholarship at The Citadel, the MILITARY
College of South Carolina, and graduateu
from that institution. in return for wnat
the State did in assisting him TO obtain a
college education he taught IN the puoIc
schools of South Carolina for two years.
and then set forth on career IN engineer
ing and business which placed him IN the
forefront of the engineering profession Oh
this continent and made him one Oh Ihe
leading business men of the nation.
As a young engineer Bill Lee went "
work in his native State and IN her slstei
State, North Carolina, to do Things WHICH
other men had failed to do, or estlmateu
&c inonossible, He worked as hneman or
nower lines, in the period of the beginning
of electrical development and construction
in the Carolinas, to demonstrate TO otner
workmen how things should be done. he
perfected valuable electrical Inventions
He designed and supervised the construc-
ton of power dams. This in addition to
his early experiences in other lines OF en-
gineering, including service as a military
engineer in the Spanish-American War.
Mr.. Lee first became prominent as d
hydro-electric engineer by building the
Catawba dam, situated on the Catawba
River in York county, S. c., near Rock Hill.
This was the first power construction on
what was afterward known as the South
ern Power Company, the original giant
power company developed by James Is.
Duke. James B. Duke and w. S. Lee made
the largest contribution to power develop
ment in the Carolinas of any men who
have been connected with the industry.
Their contribution to industrial develop
ment in the Piedmont sections of the two
States was equally large and important
They changed the industrial, commercial,
economic and social conditions in large
areas of the CarolinaS.
Industrial conditions in the Carolinas
today are in a large degree the fruits of
the efforts of Duke and Lee. They found
the Carolinas almost wholly agricultural
States, poverty-stricken in a large meas
ure, standing at the bottom of the roll of
States in education and in other spheres of
development. They left the CaroliRas with
vast industrial development; and while
they did not directly touch much of the
development of the past thirty or forty
years, they indirectly influenced, through
industrial development and business enter.
prise, alk<that has been accomplished in