The Lower Mill:

Cotton Mill No. 1, Cotton Mill No. 2 & Cotton Mill No. 3

Cotton Mill No. 1 - 1881

September, 1908 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map

The first mill constructed by the Pelzer MFG. Co. was completed in 1881 and designed for an identical addition to be constructed at a later date. The basement floor was the hydraulic system (shown as the 'Gearing' and 'Pulley Room' on the plan) with power provided by the water wheels housed in the generator room to the far right of the building. In the main building, the 1st and 3rd floors were carding, 2nd weaving, and 4th spinning. In the building to the bottom left of the map, the basement floor was the 'Dust Room', 1st the cloth room, 2nd the picker room, and 3rd slashing. In 1885, the identical building Mill No. 2 was completed and in 1888, Mill No. 3 was completed.

Cotton Mill No. 2 - 1885

September, 1908 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map

In 1885, as a planned addition to Mill No. 1, Mill No. 2 was completed as an identical building to Mill No. 1. All of the floors were the same of Mill No. 1's with a fire wall dividing the two mills in the center. The building also includes a 'Machine Shop' and a separate cloth room. The Lower Dam transformer house for Mills No. 1 & 2 was located to the upper left corner of the map.

Cotton Mill No. 3 - 1888

September, 1908 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map

Mill No. 3 was the third addition to Mills No. 1 & 2 completed in 1888. The building was three floors and included a basement for the hydraulics with a 'Carpenter Shop'. The 1st floor was weaving, 2nd carding, and 3rd spinning. The building has a small connection with Mills No. 1 & 2 along with an 'Engine Room' and 'Motor House'. Mill No. 3's Lower Dam transformer house was located beside the bell tower.

Hydraulic Power

Before electric motors and lighting, cotton mills were dark, dusty, and dangerous places to work. In the Pelzer mills, the main power source for the cotton mill equipment and machinery was a system of belts and pulleys turned by two water wheel located to the far right, under Mill No. 1's main building. A masonry dam was completed in 1881 upstream a few hundred feet on the Saluda River (now the Upper Hydroelectric Dam) from the mills. A mill race off of the mainstream Saluda River fed the two wheels. The main hydraulic system was located in the basement of the main building and fed belts to each floor. From there, the belts powered all of the machinery from the ceiling, saving space on the floor. Mill No. 3 was powered hydraulically by a 450HP Harriss-Corliss steam engine.

Electrical Power

By 1895, the Lower Hydroelectric Dam was completed 3 1/4 miles downstream from the Lower Mill and power was transmitted to two separate transformer houses. One transformer house was located next to Mill No. 2 and another beside Mill No. 3's bell tower. The Lower Mill had incandescent lighting installed, General Electric motors to run machinery, and motors running ventilation units. A single General Electric motor drove the machinery and ventilation units in Mill No. 3 and the old steam engine was used as a source of auxiliary power. In 1914, the two hydraulic water wheels located under Mill No. 1 were replaced with turbines and generators providing more electrical power. In 1920, the Upper Hydroelectric Dam was completed and the old 1881 masonry dam was converted to produce hydroelectricity for the Lower Mill. Over the years the Upper and Lower Dams provided electrical power to the growing Pelzer mills, more generator units were added.

Electricity in the Pelzer Mills created a brighter, cleaner, and safer place to work and improved employees work lives. Around the 1980s - 1990s, the Upper and Lower Dams were sold to private owners and the Duke Power Company connected the mills to the power grid. The village had been connected to the grid since the 1950s, but the mills were company owned along with the hydroelectric plants for almost 100 years.

Cotton Warehouses

September, 1908 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map

Four cotton warehouses were built near the Lower Mill with railroad freight platforms. Both the Southern Railway and the Piedmont & Northern Electric Railway used the spurs for importing cotton and exporting the finished products. Warehouses No. 1, 2 & 3 were brick and identical with units separated by brick firewalls. Warehouse No. 4 was wood with a brick firewall separating two units. Warehouse No. 1 had units A, B, and C, No. 2 units D, E, and F, No. 3 units G, H, and I (note the map has Warehouse No. 3 marked as 'No. 1'), and No. 4 units J and K (note that the map has unit J marked as 'K' and is missing unit K above J).

After the mills were demolished in the early 2000s, Warehouse No. 1 remained on the Lower Mill site along with part of Warehouse No. 3. Warehouse No. 1 was recently used as a storage facility for old wooden pallets to be recycled by Carolina Pallet and Recycling. After a barrel of scrap wood was burned the embers set a stack of pallets on fire in April, 2012. The fire destroyed all of the wood roofing inside and outside of the building and caught the remains of Warehouse No. 3 on fire. Today, the brick walls and fire barrier on Warehouse No. 1 still stand. In the early 2000s, Warehouse No. 4 was destroyed by a fire when old cotton stored inside ignited. The wood remains and brick firewall were later demolished.

Images

Picture of the 1881 masonry dam in 2010.	A photo of the flume and 1920 Upper Dam powerhouse. Photo by Bill Cunningham.
Cotton Mill No. 1 keystone with a date of 1881. Photo by Bill Cunningham.	View of Cotton Mill No. 1's main building from the Upper Dam powerhouse. Photo by Bill Cunningham.
Looking toward the Saluda River and Upper Dam with Cotton Mill No. 4 in the distance. Photo by Bill Cunningham.	Power lines leading from the Upper Dam powerhouse to the generator room. Photo by Bill Cunningham.
Looking up the chimney. Photo by Bill Cunningham.	Warehouse No. 1 in 2010 before a fire broke out in April, 2012.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from the University of South Carolina Digital Library

Articles

Electrical World - Scanned article provided by www.insulators.info

Electrical Doings - Scanned article provided by www.insulators.info

Jeffrey Kraemer. E-mail: th9200jk@aol.com