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THURSDAY, JULY 17. 1958
THE PILOT—Southern Pines, North Carolina
CP&L Observing Golden Anniversary
Page FIFTEEN
The glow of electric arc lights
and the fclang of trolleys accom
panied (the birth of Carolina
Power & Light Company on
^ July 13, 1908.
In the days that followed, or
ganizational details were comple
ted and operation was underway
by August 1, 1908.
A ''‘family” of 1,500 customers
comprised the business 50 years
ago. Today the system serves
403,000.
Marking its Golden Anniver
sary this week, CP&L salutes the
enterprise of the early pioneers
who helped bring electricity to
the 300 Carolina communities
which it now serves. The anni
versary is marked by as little
fanfare as attended the origin;
but all across the system major
projects are preparing for still
greater growth in the next half
century.
The system’s largest generator
is “going on the line” at Mon-
cute. A still larger one is under
construction near Hartsville, and
plans call for enlarging the Til
lery hydroelectric plant. Like its
early predecessors, the company
is still pioneering—in an atomic
power project.
The 1908 charter united Cen
tral Carolina Power Company,
Consumers Light & Power of
Sanford and the Raleigh Electric
Company, which in turn was
born of several street lighting and
trolley ventures dating back as
far as 1858.
Through the Consumers com
pany, CP&L had acquired the
Buckhorn hydroelectric plant
which went into operation on the
Cape Fear on New Year’s Day,
1908, after eight years of person
al sacrifice by its promoters.
Buckhorn was the principal
power source of the area, not
only for Raleigh, but for San
ford, Jonesboro and the Fayette
ville industrial community.
CP&L’s second major genera
ting project was completed in
June, 1912, at Blewett Falls on
the Pee Dee River near Rocking
ham. It was begun in 1907, stop
ped when the Rockingham Pow
er Company went into receiver
ship in 1909, and was resumed in
1911 when Yadkin River Power
Company, a CP&L subsidiary,
acquiredthe properties. Its capa
city was almost 10 times that of
Buckhorn.
Crosses Border ;
Yadkin River served Rocking
ham, Hamlet and 'Wadesboro, and
in 1912 “crossed the border” to
Cheraw, S. C. This entry into
South Carolina was climaxed^
May 30 of this year when CP&L*
brokel ground for a 250,000-horse
power generator near Hartsville.
Before its units went into oper
ation in 1912, Blewett Falls had
already won a reputation as a
rough, tough, remote outpost that
pitted the physical abilities and
varied moods of whites. Swedes,
Irishmen and Negroes alike. Over
a thousand laborers inhabited
the camp, and stories of fist and
pistol fights are legend in the
Pee Dee area.
No Money Tree
Hardships encountered in such
early electric power projects
burst the bubble of investors who
thought that all they had to do
was dam up a stream, string a
few lines and sit in the shade of
a money tree and count their
profits.
Scores of individual investors
throughout the Carolines learned
CP&L CHIEF — P r e s i d e n t
Louis V. Sutton has headed
Carolina Power & Light Com
pany for over half its 50 years.
His service dates back to 1912.
the lesson the hard way. Many of
them, who were recognized for
pioneering in electric service,
withdrew from the business when
they had the opportunity.
Pioneers included Capt. W. T.
Weaver and E. G. Carrier at
Asheville, W. M. Morgan and
Capt. R. Percy Gray of the Buck
horn project, I. F. Chandler of
Southern^ Pines, John R. Mc
Queen of Carthage and a host of
others whose tiny ventures even
tually were welded into the
strong and extensive CP&L.
Electricity Was received with
mixed emotions. Residents in
Wilmington swore in 1891 that
the new electric street lights
drew poisonous water bugs from
nearby swamps. Draym^ in
Asheville cursed the shadows of
swinging street lights that scared
their horses into a frenzy. One
wag described a transformer as
a box that ground up volts into
sizes for use inside his store.
Fascination drew the public to
the new commodity. Textile mills
found it a boon to their opera
tions and electric power became
the handmaiden of the Carolinas’
textile spindles.
Handmaiden to Spindles
A lively little symbol of the
electric industry named Reddy
Kilowatt succeeded to the magic
of Rumplestiltskin. Reddy spun
the fiber of Carolina fields into
the gold of fabric for modern
merchant princes.
Manual methods gave way to
machinery. Yet tales of the
horse-drawn service wagon and
the rugged days of the pioneer
are legend. The weather-worn
lineman is still the hero of the
electric business. His perennial
companion, the weather, remains
as unpredictable as ever. Freak
ice storms drag down lines;
floods, repeated thunderstorms
and occasional hurricanes such as
“Hazel” continue to plague the
business and call out the lineman
at all hours of day and night.
These are the milestones in the
memories of the old-timers.
CP&L’s list of customers grew
with acceptance of electricity.
1926 Begins New Era
By April, 1926, when the Com
pany was reorganized to consoli
date all of its subsidiary com
panies, its customers had in
creased from 1,500 to 63,000.
operations, standardized, and
Reorganization strengthened
operations, standardized, and
rates lowered throughout the sys
tem.
Properties combined in the
new Company included old
CP&L, Yadkin River, Asheville
Power & Light Company, Caro
lina Power Company, and the
Pigeon River Power Company,
whose varied jiroperties extend
ed from the Sandhills to Western
North Carolina.
The reorganization was the
signal for construction of new
generating plants.
A steam electric unit had al
ready gone into production at
Moncure in 1924. The Tillery hy
droelectric plant was completed
on the Pee Dee River in 1928.
The Waterville hydroelectric
(now Walters) plant went into
service on the Pigeon River of
Western North Carolina in 1930.
These and smaller units were in
terconnected with neighboring
companies to serve growing
CP&L until the outbreak of
World War II. Two units were
added at the Cape Fear plant
near Moncure in 1942 and 1943,
to help the system supply defense
industries throughout North Car
olina, and later during the war,
for the government atomic pro
ject at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
The close of the war signalled
more construction. A new steam
plant rose on the Lumber River
at Lumberton in 1949, another at
Goldsboro in 1951.
Tide Wafer Acquisition
In early 1952, CP&L acquired
properties of the. Tide Water
Power Company and built a huge
plant at Mt. Misery near 'Wil
mington in 1954 to serve the
RALEI6H
MILBURNIE
buckhorn
FALLS
FAYCTTVILLe
NORTH
CAROLINA
50-YEAR-GROWTH —Carolina
Power & Light Company in
1908 served just 1,500 custom
ers in Raleigh, Sa^ord, Jones
boro' and miUs near Fayette
ville (top map.) Today it
serves 403,000 customers in
half the land area of North
Carolina and a fourth that of
South Carolina. The system
now spans 30,000 square miles
(lower map).
CONTRAST IN CONSTRUCTION—“No spurs needed” is an
apt title for the crooked power pole at upper left. It and the
wooden tower of Carolina Power & Light’s Buckhorn-Fayette-
ville transmission line of 1908 (lower left) are in sharp contrast
to the towering steel structure at right. These illustrate 50
years of progress in transmission and distribution construction.
eastern seaboard. It was named
in honor of Louis V. Sutton, who
had headed the Company for
more than 25 of its 50 years. An
other plant is named for his pre
decessor as president, Paul A.
Tillery and another bears the
name of Charles S. Walters of
Asheville, vice president.
In a half-century, the Com
pany has had five presidents and
four general managers. The pres
idents were: James D. Mortimer
(for 18 days), Charles E. Johnson
(1908-23), B. S. Jerman (1924-32),
Tillery (1932-33), and Sutton.
The general managers were: H.
H. Carr, 1908-19; Tillery, 1919-
33; Sutton 1933-55; and H. Bur
ton Robinson, since 1955.
Within the past four years,
generating units have been add
ed at Wilmington, Goldsboro,
Lumberton and Cape Fe^. Rela
ted facilities have kept pace.
Tide Water facilities have been
improved, rates lowered and
operations standardized.
Decade of Growth
■ The past 10 years have brought
phenomenal growth to the Com
pany. Its customers have increas
ed from 195,566 in 1947 to 403,-
214 in 1957.
Its operating revenues have
risen from $21,599,000 to $66,-
998,000.
CP&L’s electric sales have all
but tripled in 10 years. Its rates
have remained constant, and in
the old Tide Water area have
been reduced. Today CP&L’s
residential customer ' stands 43
per cent above the national aver
age in the use of electricity.
(Carolina Power & Light is
managed entirely by Carolina
residents. All of its 14 directors
are Caroliniaiis. Forty-six per
cent of its 34,000 stockholders
are also residents of the two
states. A total of 2,134 employees
operate the Company in 14 dis
tricts of the two states.
The Company now has five
steam and nine hydroelectric
generating plants. The first unit
of the 15th plant, to be built near
Hartsville, will bring CP&L’s to
tal generating capability to 2,-
000,000 horsepower.
Since World War II, CP&L has
spent more than $200,000,000 for
construction of plants, transmis
sion and distribution facilities. Its
1958 construction budget is $22,-
500,000. It expects to spend $75,-
000,000 for construction within
the next three years.
In 1958, its 50th anniversary
year, CP&L finds new meaning
in its mottos, “Our Future Is The
Future Of The Area We Serve,”
and ‘^Helping To Build A Finer
Carolina.” Its Finer Farms and
Finer Carolina contests are now
in their sixth and seventh years,
respectively. In addition, the
Company sponsors FFA and 4-H
farm and home electrification
competition and FFA land judg
ing contests in both states, and
conducts full-time home service
and area development programs.
Hydro-Steam-Atomic
Action by CP&L in meeting
future power needs measures the
Company’s hopes for the future.
In May, construction of a 250,-
000-horespower generating unit
began at Hartsville, S. C. The
50th anniversary date coincided
almost exactly with the activa
tion of a 235-horsepower unit at
Cape Fear.
In addition to these, the Com
pany is committed to U) redevel
oping the Yadkin-Pee Dee with
another hydroelectric generator
at Tillery and (2) shming in the
production of power from the
atom at Parr Shoals, S. C.
Today’s plans—written large in
terms of steam-electric, hydro
electric, and eventually atomic-
electric power—characterize the
Company’s faith in the future of
the Carolinas.
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