She
J. D. BIVLNS, Managing Editor Established 1880 $100 per year, in advance
VOLUME XXIV. ALBEMARLE, N. C, THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 10. 1915 NUMBER 12
REMARKABLE INDUSTRY WHERE YAH RIVER FLOWS
Aluminum Company Building Whe.-ei
One Can Look From Mountain Tops '
Over Knobs and Hills and Let Im-j
agination Riot Without Limit A
Revelation of What Men Are Doing
With Natural Forces. I
Bion H. Butler, in the News and Ob
server. Albemarle, Feb. 5. Bad as I need
money I would give my nickle that !
has a big hole in it if I could lead the '
population of North Carolina over aj
little journey that I have taken from;
Albemarle out to Badin, and down to !
the dam building there by the Hard-;
away Construction Company for the(
Aluminum Company of America, and
over the hills from which a view may j
be had of the panorama which the,
mountain tops disclose. A man can!
stand on the top of one of the high
knobs out there above the river and
. let his imagination riot without limit,
and the chances are he will never
reach the real outer fringe of the pos
sibilities that are ahead.
I have seen a lot of the big things
that men have done, and a lot of the
ambitious plans that have been pro
jected, and a lot of the famous indus
trial developments of our country, but
here is one that more nearly gets me
off my feet than anything else I have
ever tried to cipher out. For a dozen
years or so I have been figuring on aj
trip through the Narrows of the Yad-i
kin river, but although I have been in !
gun-shot three or four times, it has i
never been possible to get down to the.
river side in the bottom of the Nor-
rows until this trip. j
It is worth the money.
It is worth the money as a natural ,
bit of scenery, or as a revelation of!
what men are doing with the natural!
forces of the State. The plans at
Badin have already been outlined. The I
Aluminum Company of America has i
taken the holdings and the develop-1
ment of the French predecessors, and j
enlarged schemes are now pushing
along to make this one of the big af- i
fairs of the world of production. I
I dropped down into the gorge j
where the work is in progress and i
nosed around in the den of Cyclops,
and it was not hard to imagine that
somewhere among the giant rocks the
Titans might be encountered forging
thunderbolts, or anything, enormous
and powerful.
The Wonderful Yadkin.
It is hard to realize that the Yad
kin river which is crossed by a bridge
about a quarter of a mile long up at
Whitney, is pressed into such small
compass that in the gorge it is com
pletely blocked up by a coffer dam of
concrete and its entire water content
compelled to turn aside and burrow
under the mountain in two restricted
tunnels before the water can continue
on its seaward journey. For millions
of years I would guess this old river
has been diligently cutting a rocky
course through the intensely hard vol
canic. crystalline schists that have re
sisted so successfully that while its
channel a few miles above is half a
mile wide, at some points in the Nar
rows it is barely sixty feet. Through
that refractory rock the river has
worked its course, and undisputed it
has held sway until men came to as
sert an intelligent authority. Then
as docile as a kitten, this powerful
current slips aside into the tunnels
cut for it, a coffer dam is thrown
across the narrow channel, and no
man has an idea when water will
again flow down the original stream.
When the Hardaway Construction
Company pulls out from the Yadkin
they will leave behind one of the great
hydro-electric powers of the United
States, and one of the most interest
ing additions to the picturesque scen
ery of North Carolina that has ever
been undertaken.
Across the valley the work cf build
ing the big dam has been taken up
again. In two or three weeks the
construction company will be moving
30,000 yards of rock and earth a
month, and in a little longer time
that limit will be doubled. About 1,
500 hands will be busy, with 25 loco
motives, or more than many of the
small railroads own, 50 big 50-ton
flat cars and 75 of the smaller side
dump flats, 45 steel derricks of 20
tons capacity, with 115 foot masts
and 100 foot booms, an outfit suit
able for Cyclops. Those derricks
pick up a lead of 20 tons of rock or
earth and set it down in the flat car,
so that about three or four swings of
the derrick boom loads a car and it is
ready to move.
To operate the machinery that is
building the dam wires have been
strung from electric plants of the
Southern Power Company, and a cur
rent equivalent to 7,000 or 8,000 horse
power is available in this job of build
ing. Stupendous Power. !
It is useless to go into any detail '
of this thing, for it is of such magni-j
tude that figures do not express any-j
thing. One comparison will be enough, j
The idea is to generate 100,000 horse I
pewer. At the last census 14 States1
of the Union reported the use of less!
than that total of power for the en-'
tire State. The vast scope of terri-!
tory comprising Nebraska, Wyoming,!
Idaho, and Utah used just about asj
much power as this one big plant will :
develop. There are several right pre
tentious industries in the United
States that do not use so much pow
er for the entire industry. All the
tobacco factories in the country could
be run by the Badin dam, and enough
power left over to run all the facto
ries making men's and women's cloth
ing. Badin could run all the agricul
tural implement factories in the Uni
ted States, or all the boot and shoe
factories and leave power for some
thing else.
That's the Badin dam. The Harda
way Construction Company will get
three million for building it. That is
another way to get an idea of the size
of the job.
Rising 170 feet from the surface of
the water the dam will connect the
hills above the river with a wall if
masonry a quarter of a mile long,
which will be topped by a driveway
18 feet wide. It is the intention of the
people of North Carolina to build a
road from Wilmington to Charlotte
which will cross the river at the xlam,
and a more interesting route of travel
will not be found in America. Ap
proaching the dam from either side
the tourist will find himself in the
air almost two hundred feet above the
valley below him. Stretching away
up the stream will be the biggett
mountain landlocked body of water in
this part of the South. Nine square
miles of the country will be submerg
ed, the pool extending nearly ten
miles up the valley, and widening out
into ever natural hcllow made by the
streams that enter the river. A ten
mile lake, reaching almost to the
mountain tops, commanding a view of
the country for miles in all directions
and convenient to every portion of
the State by a modern road fit for
travel from every quarter, shouM
make the Badin highway one of the
most popular south of the Potomac.
The people of Albemarle are talking
of securing the club house at Whit
ney, which stands on the summit
above the Whitney dam, and under
taking to make of that mountain top
a summer and winter resort, a project,
which, if carried out, should fill this
section with visitors at all seasons of
the year.
Fine Highways.
The road scheme is close to materi
alization, for already much of the
stretch between Wilmington and the
dam is built. From Fayetteville to
West End the Capital highway is one
of the best in the State, and from
West End to Troy .the road is in fair
ly good shape most of the way. The
distance from Troy to the river is not
great. From the river to Albemarle,
Stanly county has already built a
good road, and the counties to Char
lotte are working on the job.
Lexington is agitating the question
of a road to Badin, and other counties
are figuring on getting on the east
and west line that will come from the
coast to the foothills. The road from
Raleigh, through Chatham and Lee
is counting on a short-circuit across
Moore county to Montgomery, and a
conection with the Charlotte road past
Badin. From all directions eyes are
turned this way, the ambition to be
on the picturesque road being com
mon. The purchase of the Badin plant by
the Aluminum Company of America
has resulted in the changing of plans.
The new owners are anxious to make
a bigger job than the old ones had
figured on. One of the first things
was to condemn the old power house
and arrange for a new one. So a fine,
big, 'new building, not yet finished, in
fact, is going into the junk heap to
make way for a more powerful in
stitution just across the narrow river.
The old building was meant to shel
ter units of some 11,000 horse power,
with horizontal delivery. The new
plant will have four vertical units of
1 25,000 horse power each, delivering
water from gigantic pen-stocks in
torrents that will be outside the range
of comprehension in their power.
An Industrial Factor.
j This dam on the Yadkin is not the
! aluminum plant. It is to be simply
the factor that provides the power
and the heat. It is like the engine at
the cotton mill, or the wheel at the
water mill. After all the work is
done, and the dam finished, and the
water wheels are turnincr, and the
wheel generators are loading the
wires with their enormous force, the
whole purpose of this outfit it to sun
ply the big factories back on the hill.
The power plant and dam are in the1
gorges of the narrows. The town of
Badin is back from the river, and high'
above the water line that will be es
tablished after the tunnels are close 1
and the head is raised when the dam
is built, and the power houses are
completed and the Allis-Chambers I
wheels and generators are installed, j
the upper end of the tunnels will baj
blocked up with rock and cement, and ;
the gorge from the dam up will give;
way to a lake that will drown out the '
river entirely. The river will ston.l
With the dam drawn down below the:
spillway by the requirements of the,
mills, when the gates are shut at
night or on Sundays it will be pos-j
sible to cut out for a period the flow ;
of water in the Yadkin It ceases to be
a river under certain conditions. A.
river comes into the lake. A river;
will go out from the power house
when the water runs through thsi
wheel pits. But a link of eight or:
ten miles will be cut out of the Yadkin !
henceforth.
The surplus water is not to run .
away over the dam. At a certain ele
vation shafts have been cut down to
tha tunnels, and when the water gets'
so high that it is desired to permit
the surplus to escape it is to enter the j
tunnels below where they are shut up i
and to flow away into the river at the1
lower end of the tunnels. Henceforth
the Yadkin will emerge from the I
mountains below the Badin dam in
the form of a gigantic spring, break
ing forth either at the tail race, or
at the foot of the tunnels, a transfor
mation of a river that has few if any
parallels.
Drains 4,000 Square Miles.
The Yadkin dam is going to have a j
salutary influence on the water flow i
of the stream below. The drainage j
area of the dam is about 4,000 square
miles, or about 400 times the area of;
the pond at the dam. As the water
used at the dam will have a constant
tendency to draw the head down the
pond will act as a reservoir for the
valley. An inch of railfall over the
entire area drained by the river, if
discharged into the river and brought
down immediately, would fill only 35
feet of the higher part of the pool.
The normal rainfall of the territory
drained is about 50 inches, or an inch
a week. The dam can permit the
power plant to figure on something
like an average supply of water, be
cause it is so big it can store flood
water against the day of scant rain
fall, and when floods come after pe
riods of low water the prospect will
be that the water in the pool is low
enough to store a large proportion of
the water that comes down in ordi
nary floods.
The result will be that such a vast
lake will bring the average of power
up to an unusual figure, and that the
frequent floods will be modified to a
flow of water more nearly uniform
the year round. The high water that
comes from above will be held in the
dam until it is filled to the limit, and
all the nine miles of surface raised to
the high point. That reserve supply
will be turned loose day by day to
the capacity of the plant, and not oniy
will the Badin power supply be re?-J
ulated by the uower of the dam t)
hold the flood water against the day
of low water, but the dams on the
river below will be to considerable ex
tent guarded from the extremes that
have been common in the past, for a
more uniform flow at this dam will
mean a more uniform flow at all points
down the stream. This means a great
er average power for the prospective
development farther down the nar
rows where the Aluminum Company
owns another location capable of 50,
000 horse power, and at the other
shoals until Blewett's Falls is reach
ed, where the storage of the Badin
dam should prove highly beneficial.
3,500 to 5,000 Employees.
On the hill at Badin, high above
the dam, hundreds of men are at work
preparing the buildings for utilizing
I the power when it is ready. That will!
i not be until the last of the year. In;
Uhe meanwhile it is proposed to ue;
power from the Southern Power Com-' with but one good leg. Now that wef harlotte-Pinehurst Road, Serving as
pany's plants, for it is the intentio i can prove up competency in any di-j Connecting Link Between Good
to begin the manufacture of alumi- j rection, it is permissible to insist that Eastern and Western Roads Meet
um within the next few weeks. H we have both feet firmly on the nK to Be Held Here March 9.
is said that the work to be undertaken, ground. ! The Charlotte-Pinehurst road will
will be thp production of the metal j A (;0O(j Combination. ! be built. When a people become so
in the pig, which will be sent to New ; i thoroughly aroused over a proposi-
Kensinpton, near Pittsburg, for fur-! If you think about it a minute yoution and see the great advantage of
ther manufacture, and to Edgewood, will be gratified at the combination it as the people all along the propo.s
in the New York territory. The over at the river. Pennsylvania, ed line of this road, it is only a queo
buildings put up for the French Com- Georgia, and North Carolina, one sup-jtion of time when things will hap
pany are almost in condition to ope- plying the money and the knowledge pen. The people of Charlotte, Con
rate, but at the same time an army of of the manufacthre of the metal, one cord, Mt. Pleasant, Salisbury, Albe
men is busy increasing house room for : supplying the ability to construct the;marle, Troy, Mt. Gilead, and Pine
the big factories, and enlarging the gigantic dam and power, and the third hurst want this road and they want
facilities. From 3,500 to 5,000 hands ! affording the natural opoprtunityi it bad enough to get busy. And no
is the number that the wise men say for the first and second to combine ! wonder, when one stops to think that
will be employed, although not muci'and all profit by ihe generosity of this road will be the connecting link
is said officially by any one at th.; nature. in the State's most important high-
plant, as the management that is to! It makes a man feel pretty good tj; way from the seacoast to the moun
handle the factorw has not as yet ar- stand on the mountain top above a tains. But, the latest and best news
rived from the North. i job like this one and realize that i is that a meeting has been arranged
Real estate dealers are swarming; while Europe is divided in a war in
at Badin and in the neighborhood, j which killing each other is the main
Much is doing in their line. The I object, America is united in subduing
prospects are that a revolution ri the mighty forces of nature and ii
prices is ahead. Town lot schemes j working for the immediate welfare of
are in evidence, and employing a lot 'the whole continent and the whole hu-
of hands. New buildings are provid-;man
ing work for a lote of people.
Badin
industrially is
already
very much
alive.
We have seen what the big dam
means. It is one of the big sources of
power in this big country, and thej
power is wholly for this one industry.1
I am told by semi-official authority gtuart R Marshall, the manager :,f j Montgomery county attorney, and Ed
that the power development at Badin 1 the Badin properties for the Alumi- par Haywood, clerk of the superior
is not a fourth of what this concern num Company of America, was a Sal-.coart of Montgomery county, were i.i
will ultimately use. But there is a ' isbury vipitor this morning. Mr. 'Albemarle on Tuesday. They are en
simpler way to try to comprehend I Marshan was enroute for the proper-! thusiastie and they report that the
what it all means. The manufacture tieg and left on a later train for citizens of their good county are also
of aluminum commenced in 1883, in : Badin . ' "d-hot over the proposition. They
which year the amount produced was1 While in the city Mr. Marshall waste11 us Albemarle people that Mont
83 pounds. Three years later the'the center of a ' of entk.men fernery county means to have a good
quantity had increased to 3,000
pounds, being still wholly experimei-
tal. In 1887 it had increased to 18,-
000 pounds, six times as much, but
still not enough to indicate an estab-1
lished industry. Three years more'
saw it increased almost three and a
half times, while another two years,
saw that increase multiplied to four
times as much more.
Aluminum Production.
By 1896 aluminum had established
itself with an annual production of j a ciean, white and sanitary town, one
far above a million pounds. The next that will appeal to the very best peo
year it boosted that figure to thr e pie and assure the most excellent con
times as much. Climbing in goo.l ' ditions of living for those who work
earnest. Six years later it had dou-1 w;th the company,
bled again, and three years later it! To this Mrs. Marshall will give
doubled again, now reaching a pro- much attention and only the most
duction of almost 15,000,000 pounds, sanitary methods will be employed
Three years more and the production ' and the most healthy conditions will
doubled one more, and in 1912 it had be fostered.
almost doubled again, the total pro-! "We will build a hospital and have
duct being above 65,600,000 pounds. 'a physician in charge," said Mr.
In 1913 it climbed again to 72,379,000. j Marshall. For while we do not ex
I do not have the figures since the pect much sickness, there will be
but it is no doubt still heading up- j some, and it is our intention to take
ward, for the things made of it are the very best care of such cases as
becoming more common every da;'. ' we do have."
The fact is that the use of aluminun ' "We expect to build a large store
seems now only to have commenced,
That being the case we can see how j while we will not have anything to j a short while of the county eommio
it is actually starting something out do with the management of the store,! sioners of gtanly and Montgomery
in the north end of Stanly county, and we want it operated to the best inter-! counties, jointly, with some of the
incidentally in this town of 'Albe-' est of the community so that it j ieading 'men 0f w two counties, for
marie. : will serve tne wants and needs ot tiie
The introduction of aluminum in people."
many new lines promises to make it' Mr. Marshall stated that he
forge ahead in production as fast i.i ' thought the company would be mak
the future as it has in the past. New ing aluminum before the end of the
uses are for electric wires, in whi;h present year. Not on a large scale
it has the advantage of being the perhaps, but he gave it as his opinion
lightest wires known, a good conduc- that the company would be in opera
tor, and a strong wire. Being strong tion before the end of the year,
it can be depended on for suspendod The Aluminum Company of Amor
wires, and being light a lot of wires ica is one of the largest business con-
do not overload the poles and towers
like iron and copper wires do. Alu-
minum is also coming into use rapidly ufacturing plants and power proper
for tubing, as it has several advanN ties. One of the largest properties of
ages for use in that respect. It is not the company's holdings is that in
poisonous like brass and lead, does Southwestern North Carolina, where
not corrode like iron, stands heat, is j large power is being developed for
light and in every way adaptable for the operation of the manufacturing
ordinary pipe construction. plants across the State line in Ten-
A thing that caught me at Badin j nessee.
was the fact that the big dam job is in I Mr. Marshall declared that he was
the hands of a contracting company on his way to Badin to go to work.
that is of the South. The Hardaway
Company comes from Columbus, Ga.
That it is a thoroughly competent !
company is shown by two tests. It!
has been doing several jobs of this
character for the Southern Power Co.,
and it gets the job at Badin from men.
who want efficiency. Three million
dollar jobs are not given out except
to men who can show right good re. -
sons for getting them. The Hardaway
Company is about the biggest concern
doing this class of work. Its annual
contracts run about $5,000,000. The
reason this interested me is because
it shows the United States is coming
to be a nation of efficiency and ability
in every quarter. Then it was left
for Northern contractors to do all thej
big things as if there were a country;
race,
An American has a right to get
chesty sometimes.
BADIN WILL BE A WHITE
AND A SANITARY TOWN;
Salisbury Post, Feb. 1st.
, jntp,.pKted in the larire dpVeloDmentsi
down the river. He talked to a rep-! Per P,e OI aansoury are anxious lor a
resentative of the Post, and while he!loafl connecting that good town with
Louid no p-jve anv details of the
j. undertaken in Stanly county by Salisbury in close connection witn
hi, Pmnonv hp trave a few of the'tn's great mountain-to-the-sea high-
large outlines of the company and
jts Work.
Mr. Marshall said that there would
be built at the site cf the company's
properties at Badin a model town. It
is his intention, and that of the coin-
nanv ne renresents. to build at Badin
i room also," said Mr. Marshall, "andl
cerns of the country. It owns large
landed estates and a number of man-
He said there would be much activi-
ty at Badin beginning at once, that
he would be a very busy man and at
this time could not nay much about
the plans and the details ahead of
him.
Mr. Marshall is a man of forceful
personality and clearly a man ac
quainted with large dealings. As soon
:as his home at Badin is completed he
will move in and remain close to the
heart of things.
Mr. Marshall is in charge of all
properties in North Carolina, this in
cludes the large holdings in the
western part of the State.
Mr. Marshall said that these de-
FROM THE MOUX-
TAINS TO THE SEA
'
for committees and all interested cit
izens all along the proposed line to
be held in Albemarle on March 9,
when the matter will be taken up in
earnest. The commissioners of Stan
ly, Cabarrus and Montgomery coun
ties will be on hand and a large crowd
of boosters will be here to push the
thing to some practical conclusion so
that work may be started at once.
Now, let every one talk the road and
be here March 9.
The Montgomery
county people are red-hot for the
road. Messrs. R. T. Pool, a leading
,oad to Badln at whatever cost The
Albemarle and Badin. This will put
way, and will also give Albemarle two
outlets to the National Highway
passing Salisbury. Mt. Pleasant is re
ported to be anxious and Concord,
also. Therefore, Albemarle will soon
be situated on one of the most im
portant highways of the State. Gen
tlemen, is it worth while? Let's not
allow the opoprtunity to pass without
taking advantage of it. Contributed.
That Road to Southern Pines.
Correspondent.
The question of a highway from
Charlotte to Southern Pines by way
of Albemarle and Badin is taking on
a more tangible form, and so enthus
iastic are the people of Stanly anrt
Montgomery counties, as well as all
others along the route for this road,
that it is safe to predict that within
a few months work will have been
commenced in .earnest, towards the;
immediate completion of the highway.
a rneetinir will be called here within
the purpose of taking the matter up
properly and coming to some definite
conclusion as to where the road will
go, the crossing of the Yadkin rive1',
etc. It is learned here, through Mr.
Marshall, general superintendent of
the works at Badin, that the report
which has gone out as to the cross
ing on top of the big dam is incor
rect. Mr. JJaishall says this will !u
impossible, but that company will
I otherwise assist in voting a crossin
over the Yadkin. It would, there
fore, seem that the only way of
crossing the river with this highway
will be by the construction of a steel
bridge. There are many supporters
of the road here, as well as in Mont
gomery county who think the bridge
will have to be built at Swift Island
Ferry and go by way of Mt. Gilead.
j velopments would mean a great deal
to the State at large as well as to the
immediate vicinity. This can be very
readily appreciated, for the plans of
the corporation are to build a town
that would be a credit to any section,
one that will be builded and operated
along modern lines, with everything
done to make it a city of happy
homes and contented people.
This is very clear fdea of what the
Aluminum Company of America has
in mind and in the manager it has,
in mind and in the manager it has a
man who grasps the significance of
the situuticn and with a clear vision
will work these plans into reality.