Friday, February 13, 2009

1899 Hydro-Electric Power Plant

To all of those who haven't heard, my knee/back has put me out of commission over the last few months. I've been back and forth to the surgical center in Pinehurst trying to get over a weight lifting injury. The doctor prescribed no lifting, no running, and no riding for the next 2 months... Basically no fun......

However, I have been doing some canoeing and some hiking as I try to make it through the 2 month sentence. I had heard of an old power plant located on the Cape Fear River. I couldn't believe that I have paddled past this place many times and never noticed it. I soon found out why.


The power plant is located on the Cape Fear River about a mile and half downstream from the current Buckhorn Dam. You follow a trail along the river until you get to a T-type intersection. You then take the grown up logging road on the left and follow it all the way to the plant. You can tell when you are getting close, as you will be scrambling up and down several very steep muddy banks. As soon as Daisy and I saw the power plant, she put on the brakes. She refused to get close to the power plant. After dragging her for a few feet, I gave up and tied her to a nearby tree. This is where she remained sitting contently while I explored the old plant.

The first thing you will notice at the plant is the numerous posted signs. CP&L currently owns the land and has posted all sides of the property. I'm not going to tell you anymore about what I saw, however I will give you a short history of eerie beginnings of the power plant below.

A short history of the Power Plant at Buckhorn. (This information was taken from Duke Power's Website and also from the newspaper of the time "The Chatham Rabbit".)

The facility began construction in 1899 when W.M. Morgan and Captain R. Percy Gray decided it would be profitable to develop power on the Deep and Cape Fear Rivers. These men in conjunction with a few other companies (Cape Fear Power, Deep River Manufacturing, and Cape Fear Iron and Steel) took a loan out for 350,000. (I'm not sure what the equivalent of 350,000 dollars would be today, but I'm sure it would be an enormous amount of money). This project must have been a little more involved than at first thought. In 1905 after six years of construction, the loan was found in default and the plant faced foreclosure.
During the foreclosure process, the Power Plant faced more problems. An epidemic had stricken the residents between Lockville (Lockville is in Moncure, NC) and Buckhorn Dam. This sickness was believed to be caused by the backwater from the Dam. The residents quickly tried to stop construction, claiming the dam was a nuisance and a health hazard for landowners in the vicinity. Landowners frantically sold their land in an effort to move away from this facility.

On Oct. 6 1906 the dam was sold at a public auction for $250,000 to Mr. S.D. Mitchell, a prominent electrician of New York. (Bondholders and stockholders of the company lost all they had invested.) Construction resumed on the property and it was near completion six months later, when disaster struck once again.

On April 25, 1907 four workers at the Power Plant were killed as their vessel was swept over the damn into their watery grave. This caused a halt in the operation of the dam. (There seems to be a history of bad things happening here). A month later disaster struck once more.

On May 23, 1907 70 feet of the Buckhorn dam washed away. Operation was once again halted to provide time for the dirt to be replaced by concrete.

Once this renovation was completed, it was reopened and began operations, successfully transferring power to Fayetteville and Sanford mills. However the catastrophic past of this eerie place continued. (Maybe Daisy was smart not to want to get close to here). As workers were continuing to complete the metal structure which was attached to the dam, a storm arose. The workers moved inside of the building to escape from the violent rain (21 workers). During the storm, lighting struck a nearby tree and ran inside the building. This killed 7 of the workers, and severely wounded another 7 (and also killed a horse). This halted the operation once again.

Over 20 deaths in a period of two years, just to try and get this place going... Creepy.

Next adventure... Camp in the attached building... (This is why I don’t watch scary movies!)