John P. King Manufacturing Company, 1701 Goodrich Street, Augusta Canal, Augusta

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER GA,123-AUG,46-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The John P. King Co. was built as part of Augusta's campaign to become the "Lowell of the South." The mill has always used the water power of the Augusta Canal and now generates hydroelectric power. The King Mill operated the largest number of spindles under one roof in Augusta and was one of the largest cotton mills in the South.

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER GA,123-AUG,46-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Alan J. Steiner, August, It is understood that access to this material rests on the condition that should any of it be used in any form or by any means, the author of such material and the Historic American Engineering Record of the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service at all times be given proper credit. John P. King Co. HAER GA-15 (Page 2) JOHN P.

King Manufacturing Company Organization

In Augusta, Georgia, was ready, willing, and able to support a new cotton mill. The municipal government had recently enlarged the Augusta Canal in order to provide attractive and ample water power for new factories. [1] The city council further encouraged the growth of industry along the canal by permitting temporary tax exemptions for those industries that settled there and used water power. The Enter- prise Manufacturing Company, a cotton mill established in and Situated on the canal, was successful enough to have initiated plans to double its capacity. [2] At least to local boosters, the success of the new Sibley Cotton Mill, also on the canal, seemed assured.

[3] A rapid rise in stock prices led local investors to sell their holdings at a profit, generating a supply of capital available for new investments. [4] "Start another factory," urged the editors of the Augusta Chronicle. "Who will start the ball?" [5] A group of Augusta businessmen, led by Charles Estes, incorporated the John P. King Manufacturing Company in May Estes, a trans- planted New Yorker, was a strong supporter of industrialization; during six terms as mayor of Augusta, he championed the enlargement of the Augusta Canal. [6] The new company was named for John P. King, ex- Senator from Georgia and ex-president of the Georgia Railroad Bank, [7] The entrepreneurs planned to build a spindle mill to spin and weave coarse cotton goods.

Also included in their plans was the con- struction of a mill village to house the operatives that the founders believed would come streaming off South Carolina and Georgia farms. To fulfill their goals, the businessmen hoped to raise one million dollars. Charles Estes was the primary solicitor of stock subscriptions. Inves- tors in Augusta, Charleston, and Savannah purchased over 50% of the capital stock, and Estes sold the remainder in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. [8] When the shareholders met in late December fol- lowing the completion of the stock sale, they named Estes president of the company. The John P.

King Company soon purchased a mill site along the first level of the Augusta Canal, adjacent to the property of the Sibley Mill, and then acquired nearby tracts for operative housing. (See sheet 1 of 3, King Mill Drawings.) Estes travelled to Columbus, Georgia, and hired civil engineer John D. Hill, superintendent of Columbus's Eagle and Phenix Mills, to design the King mill and supervise its construction. [9] The contractors broke ground in March The King mill spun its first bobbin of yarn in October and by January when the mill was close to completion, most of the machinery was already in operation. The King mill began operations with two production buildings. The John P. King Co.

HAER GA-15 (Page 3) main mill housed the weave, cloth., card, and spinning rooms, while the picker house contained the pickers, lappers, and slashers, as well as the machine and repair shop. An iron bridge connecting the upper two floors of the four-story buildings permitted the flow of materials for further processing. The company used equipment manufactured in the North, including 204 Foss. and Pevey cards, 760 Lowell Machine Shop looms, and Sawyer warp and filling spindles on Whitin Machine Works frames, to produce unfinished white goods, sheetings, shirtings, and drills. ARCHITECTURE The dominant feature of the original King mill complex was its massive central stair and water tank tower reminiscent of the villa towers of Northern Italy.

The tower was covered with ornamental brick- work, which divided and accentuated each of its upper stories. A vari- ety of windows and door openings, ranging from segmental to round- arched to circular, pierced the tower. The main entrance to the mill was located off-center at the corner of the tower to accommodate the stairway plan. Cast iron railings ringed the flat roof portion of the gound-arched openings of the belfry. The variety and arrangement of the openings caused the tower to lack unity. The facade of the King mill lacked the exterior engaged piers which provided a vertical emphasis and established a on the facades of its neighbors, the Sibley and Enterprise mills.

The engaged piers on the tower and the end wall contained the same intricate brick patterns, adding, with the projecting segmental arches over the fourth-story win- dows, a touch of ornament to an otherwise austere building. The facade was articulated further by string courses, one running between the first and second stories and another cutting through the third level. The decorative engaged piers and the arched openings, completed in and were the primary ornamentation carried over to the King's annexes. The King mill's office and supply building in front of the mill continued the ornamental cornice brickwork. A brick string course run- ning along the top and bottom of the windows added further articulation.

A miniature version of the mill's central tower topped by ornamental cast iron railings jutted above the office building. Although the little office building echoed the style of the main mill, many of the later additions to the complex did not. The original plan of the King allowed for an extension one-half the size of the main mill, but the additions did not follow this plan. The size and layout of the new buildings contributed to the asymmetry of the King complex. Yet one senses that, before the main building's facade was marred by bricked-up windows and refrigeration units, the King mill maintained a certain grandeur and visual excitement that led one writer to compare it-to "a great fort" and lavel it the "Monarch of the Mills." John P. King Co.

HAER GA-15 (Page 4) Architecturally, the King mill was not as flamboyant as the Enter- prise and Sibley mills. Jones S.. Davis, the architect of these earlier mills, had also played.an active role in the organization of both the Enterprise and the Sibley. On the other hand, John D. Hill, the archi- tect of the King mill, was hired after the company had acquired the ini- tial funding. Hill saw himself as an engineer and designed the mill with the industrial operation in mind. Charles Estes, the president of the. King mill, chose to avoid any attempt to outdo the other mills architecturally. Ee opted instead for a less expensive and subtle building style.

The King mill's ornamentation was more integral with the building and made its appearance somewhat more acceptable to a com- munity which, while anxious to industrialize, still feared the stereo- typical "dark, satanic mills" of New England.

Early Business History and Additions

The new mill began operation on the brink of the national financial panic of President Estes told stockholders that had "been the most disastrous to cotton manufacturing in its history in this country." The panic had forced quick reductions in wages and sala- ries at King. The directors soon discovered that running full and steady might create greater losses than would result from stopping operations. The determined group decided that the mill must accept losses, continue production, and "meet market prices" in order "to introduce our product and make our brands familiar to the trade." Besides financial hardships, the King mill, with other textile mills in Augusta, experienced the labor agitation for which the North was noted.

In the directors responded to the first strike at the King mill by locking out the employees. During the accompanying produc- tion stoppage, the company deepened the tailrace of its water power system. This change, which allowed more water to flow through the mill's wheels, permitted the company to run at full power with two tur- bines instead of three. The King mill survived the panic and the strike, showed its first profit in paid its first dividend in July and entered a period of consistent profits. The leaders of the King mill soon directed these profits toward increasing the production capacity of the mill. By mid-1887, the com- pany had installed additional looms and spindles in its existing produc- tion buildings.

In the directors decided to expand the opera- tion into some of the unoccupied territory at the mill site. A four- story annex completed in continued the brickwork style of the original mill. Purchases of new equipment brought the total numbers of cards to looms to and spindles to Estes found the annex well worth the investment. "This addition," he told the stockholders, "increases our power' for production more than its propor- tionate cost." (See sheet 1 of 3, King Drawings, to follow description of King mill expansion.) John P. King Co HAER GA-15 (Page 5) m With the mill continuing to register profits and pay regular 6% dividends, the managment looked to further expansion. The company had begun to purchase stock in the Aiken Manufacturing Co.

in nearby Bath, South Carolina, and the directors discussed further purchases which would give the mill a controlling interest. The King mill never gained complete control pf the Aiken Co..and eventually sold its interest. In addition to this type of expansion, the company made plans to erect another production building on its own territory. The King mill planned its new power plant, installed in to permit easy adaptation for further enlargments. In 189 7, Estes proposed a second annex. The mill now had the power capacity to operate machinery in a fourth building, and the directors gave the project their approval. The four-story "New Mill" or "Annex #2" was designed by the King mill superintendent Joel Smith, who continued the ornamental brickwork style of the earlier buildings.

The enlargment increased the production capacity of the King mill by one-half. The number of cards rose to looms to and spindles to The King mill, prior to this addition, was one of the largest mills in the South. The expansion increased its lead in number of spindles in any Augusta mill.

Mill Technology

The King mill installed machinery to execute all the process of cotton manufacturing. Openers loosened large bundles of cotton into small tufts and removed as much dirt as possible. Pickers contin- ued the opening and cleaning of the cotton and formed it into a lap, or continuous compressed sheet of cotton tufts. Carding machines further opened and cleaned the cotton, separated very short fibers from the rest of the cotton, and produced a continuous untwisted strand of cotton fibers ca-led sliver. Drawing frames lightened the strands and straight- ened the fibers. Roving frames continued to draw or draft the cot- ton and then twisted the material to give it strength. Warp and filling spinning frames reduced the size of the cotton strand, twisted the cotton, and wound it.

Spoolers wound the lengths of yarn into larger packages in preparation for warping. Warpers collected the num- ber of threads required for the warp in a uniformly tense, horizontal sheet of yarn. Beams produced by the warpers went through slashers, which coated the threads with a starch solution to stiffen them for weaving. The warps then were "drawn in" through the heddles of harness frames and were ready for weaving by power looms. The King mill began production with, new machinery, including the latest American cards, ring spinning frames, and power looms, standard equipment for the manu- facture of coarse cotton grey goods. The King mill's first venture into the adoption of new technology occurred when the' company completed its first annex.

The management moved the cloth room from the main mill to the annex and filled the vacated space with looms. The remainder of the annex was devoted to John P. King Co. HAER GA-15 (Page 6) carding and spinning, and President Estes installed new Ashworth Revolving Flat Cards. The decision proved a wis.e one; within five years the old stationary flat cards were to become obsolete. Estes told stockholders that the new cards were "capable of carding more than twice the quantity of our old cards and doing better work." The directors of the King mill hoped that the operation of the annex with its new machinery would increase production by 20 percent. In the ensuing years, the mill always produced more cloth than it did in the time prior to the building of the annex.

'set the labor and power situations (see "Water Power" section), the cotton and cotton goods markets, and changes in the company's distribution system caused fluctuations in production which made difficult an assessment of whether the mill achieved the desired production increase. The presi- dent soon found that just adding new machinery was not enough to increase production, and, said Estes, "to keep abreast of the times," the company increased the speed of the looms and warp spindles. In the King mill began the construction of its second annex. The King rejected the opportunity to install Draper Automatic looms in the new mill.

The new looms featured a rotating battery which automat- ically changed the bobbin, and a warp stop motion, which stopped the loom as soon as a warp thread had broken. The automatic loom speeded up the weaving process and permitted the company to assign each weaver 12 to 16 looms rather than 4 to 6. Hills adopting the automatic loom profited from increased production per unit and per worker. Presi- dent Estes, however, was not ready to accept the added expense of auto- matic looms, and Superintendent Joel Smith had his doubts about the new machinery. In correspondence with another superintendent, Smith ques- tioned whether the Draper looms were not stopped 20% of the time.

The King mill ordered Whitin looms, but Smith specified that the manufac- turer construct' the looms so that the Draper motion would be easy to install. In Charles Estes, who had led the King mill through its early trials, reached his birthday. Because of his advanced age, he stepped down from the presidency. One year earlier Estes had told the stockholders that the mill had re-covered its original, and surely out- dated, Foss and Pevey cards with new English card clothing. He reported, "The entire property is now in first condition." Landon A. Thomas, a former banker who had served as vice-president of the King since the creation of the position in replaced Estes as president. Evidently he had a somewhat different interpretation of the state of the mill.

During his first six years as president, Thomas attempted to mod- ernize the mill. In the mill replaced its old drawing frames with modern machinery. The following year Thomas installed new prepara- tory machinery and removed the original openers and pickers. In John P. King Co. HAER GA-15 (Page 7) the president noted that many of the oldest looms, were "very much the worse for wear," and the company replaced 600 of its original Lowell Machine Shop looms, with.Draper .automatic looms. The King mill thus became the first cotton mill in Augusta to make large-scale installa- tions of automatic looms. In and Thomas modernized spinning by replacing older spindles with high-speed Draper spindles. In the president grained the authorization to purchase more Draper automatic looms.

'Finally, in the company closed a contract for 132 new cards to replace its original 204 cards. The new machinery served the company well. The King mill had revised its plant extensively, paid regular dividends, and continued to show profits into By Thomas saw a need for more working capital. He, along with the Board of Directors, announced to the stockholders: During the past six years, have been put into the mill in the shape of improvements and new machinery. The plant is now modern in equipment and highly efficient in operation.

However, the textile industry had experienced "unusually unpropitious times" in and early The company's issuance of worth of 7% Preferred Stock provided the mill with the capital "to withstand successfully a continuance of hard times, or to take instant advantage of a return to prosperity." The second decade of the century proved highly profitable for the J. P. King Manufacturing Co., and Thomas continued to reinvest the mill's earnings in new machinery and expansion. By May the president had replaced the last 220 common looms in the mill with the latest Draper automatic looms.

Later that year the company purchased 50 additional Drapers "in order to avoid stopping spindles one day each week." Thomas placed these 50 looms on the first floor of the second annex, in the space formerly occupied by the machine shop, which the company had moved in into a new one-story brick building. In the mill also added refrigeration machinery, humidifiers, and a new tying-in room. In the directors considered and approved plans to change one cotton warehouse into an opening room and to send the cotton through a pipeline to the picker house.

Following the end of the First World War, Thomas hired an expert to examine the cotton manufacturing system at King "with the view of making...changes...both to improve the quality of our yarn as well as to reduce the cost, if possible." Effective management and the favorable business conditions caused by the war permitted the King mill to begin the with a comfortable surplus. The company soon met with a rise in taxes and a doubling of the city water rate, and suffered through a period of excess capacity, or John P. King Co. KAER GA-15 (Page 8) "cutthroat competition/' in the textile industry. Yet, even during periods of losses, the company paid regular dividends from its accumu- lated earnings.

Thomas, and his son Landon, who became president of the company in saw the company's huge surplus melt away. The presi- dent suggested in that the mill had paid excessive dividends during the and reminded stockholders that the company really had not allowed for depreciation during its first 29 years. Although the King mill had less funds available, the younger Thomas explained, "The com- pany will continue its. policy of renewals and replacements. The neces- sity for these is never ended." The Depression decreased the King's fortune. The company suffered relatively large losses from to but still found ways to survive. The mill reduced wages and salaries, while the Board defeated a stockholders' motion calling for liquidation.

After conferring with the company's sales agents, Minot, Hooper & Co., "in an effort to find salable styles on which the mill might be run," the Thomases decided to concentrate on wide sheetings. The president pur- chased 54- to 100-inch looms, some second-hand, and removed many of the mill's oldest 32- to 36-inch looms. The company was successful with this new product and purchased additional high-speed wide sheeting looms in the In addition to changing the mill's product to meet market demands, the Thomases strove to reduce production costs by adopting new technologies. In the company signed contracts for the installa- tion of the newest one-process picking system, for complete conversion to long-draft warp spinning, and for additional long-draft filling spindles.

One-process picking combined in one machine the equipment previously used in three separate machines. The continuous process machine saved space and reduced handling and labor. At the King mill, one-process picking converted a system with 16 lines, or sets of machinery, into a 7-line system. President Thomas believed the new tem would not only-lower costs, but also "do better and cleaner work." Long-draft spinning, an innovation which swept the textile industry in the increased the drafting capacity of spinning frames and per- mitted the elimination of one roving process. The King mill also made changes in its card and slasher rooms.

The company equipped 60 cards with continuous strippers..' The new equipment was designed to keep the card clothing clean and saved on waste, while producing better roving. The mill installed a crane system in the slasher room to facilitate the loading and unloading of the machinery. Although the King mill did not run full time during the Depression, the new technology kept the company's product competitive. Technology was only one part of the cotton manufacturing process. Labor was another. At the same time the King mill was revamping its machinery to attain more production per unit, it was pushing its workers John P. King Co. HAER GA-15 (Page 9) to obtain more production per man.

In the company brought in the "minutemen" efficiency experts who conducted time-motion studies of the King employees. The experts 'soon found that the traditional ways of the workers were holding down production levels. The King mill then installed the Bedaux efficiency system, otherwise known as the "stretch- out," The workers did not like the Bedaux. Sam Cumbee, who held various positions in the' weave room at King during 49 years of employ- ment there, recalled that the Bedaux assigned double the usual number of looms to each weaver and broke down the weaver's job into three sepa- rate tasks handled by three different people. Mr. Cumbee preferred the weaver's job the old way and believed that the installation of the new system was a mistake.

The Bedaux increased production, he felt, but the result was a poorer quality cloth. Although the new system may have seemed harsh and degrading to some workers, the King mill was doing what many other mills already had done in an attempt to remain competitive. The late and the Second World War brought new profits to the King mill, and the management carried on its policy of expansion, machinery renewal, and product adjustment to meet market demands. By the company completed a new one-story plain brick cloth room behind the first annex. The mill proceeded with the installation of new iong-draft roving equipment. Long-draft roving eliminated one or two roving processes, depending on the quality of the product desired.

In the mill installed new warpers and spoolers and purchased new opening, drawing, roving, and carding machinery. Before all the new equipment had arrived, the company purchased additional wide looms and a new card-stripping system. During the Second World War, the King mill found a new product. The Army needed substitute tent duck, and the mill prepared about 360 looms to manufacture the new material. The King mill occasionally had to curtail production due to high labor turnover, government restric- tions on the use of electric power, and the scarcity of coal, but nothing could prevent the company from registering large profits. In late the management confidently hired the J. E. Sirrine Co., engineers from Greenville, South Carolina, to make recommendations on post-war production.

The younger Landon Thomas continued to lead the King mill in an aggressive style reminiscent of his father, who died in The mill finally completed the switch from mechanical to electric drive, which insured steadier and better production. In addition, the company began to generate its own hydroelectric power. Thomas reported to the Directors after the company had shown profits of over $1 million in that although cash appeared abundant, "the need for very extensive machinery replacements grows daily." The Board agreed in January that the company should set aside two to three million dollars for improvements. The president saw a need to replace all the mill's warp John P. King Co.

HAER GA-15 (Page 10) spinning frames at a cost of The company soon invested in humidification systems for the weave room. I68J Thomas made every attempt to make the King a first-class mill. The company continued to expand its plant and change its product through the and After constructing additions to the rear cloth room, the company began to connect its older buildings, filling in the spaces that had existed between them. In the early the Clay family took over the leadership of the King mill. Under the direction of Harris and Cassius Clay, the King mill began to manufacture blankets for use in hospitals. The production of blankets was the first entirely self-contained operation at King.

The mill wove the material, cut, sewed, dyed, dried, and packaged the blankets for shipment to distribu- tors of hospital supplies. However, the Clays, while investing heavily in the building of a new, extremely modern dye plant for the company in Dover, Georgia, apparently let the Augusta mill flounder. In Spartan Mills of Spartanburg, South Carolina, purchased controlling interest in the King mill. Spartan had owned only one small finishing operation, and instead of building another plant, they acquired the King, mainly to supply their new dye plant. In Augusta, Spartan found that the King's machinery was not the best; some was outdated.

Although Spartan left the management of the Augusta mill fairly independent, the new owners did attempt to improve the plant's layout, and introduced production of corduroys and sales yarn. Spartan undertook structural work on the inside of the mill, made an effort to clean up the grounds, and tore down some unsightly warehouses. The expense of modernization caused the King, which became a division of Spartan, to lose money for several years. After the installation of bale shuckers and open-end spinning, some of the newest developments in cotton manufacturing, and the return of more favorable business conditions, the King began to realize a small profit margin for its new owners.

Spartan Mills, a family-owned and operated organization, has attempted to live up to its philosophy of being a "good neighbor and corporate citizen in Augusta." The company realizes that the King plant may no longer be as efficient and profitable as plants -of modern design, but its leaders also know that the King serves a useful purpose in Augusta. The plant still employes 800 people and creates a family feeling amont them, just as it did in the old mill village. As the King approaches its year of operation, the management again has turned to the sources of the mill's previous successes, their willingness to renew old machinery, adopt the newest technology in cotton manufactur- ing, and diversity products to meet market demands.

Water Power

Canal water provided the sole source of power for the King mill* A row of wooden gates, operated by worm gears, controlled the flow of canal John P. King Co. HAER GA-15 (Page 11) water into a covered flume. The water then dropped 32 feet through the company's turbines to the tailrace which flowed to the Savannah River. The three 84-inch vertical turbines of the "Geyelin" type, manu- factured by R. D. Wood & Co. of Philadelphia, turned the single main drive via a system of bevel gears. The drive or jackshaft, running under the main mill, rotated four 12-foot pulleys, each of which was responsible for driving one floor of the mill via a system of belts, pulleys, and shafts. The jackshaft continued some 130 feet through a trench in the basement and ended in a set of bevel gears.

At this point, the main shaft turned a second shaft running perpendicular to it. This second shaft ran underground to the picker house, there driving the machinery by a similar system of belts, pulleys, and shafts. The King mill's original power grant from the City of Augusta was for horsepower. Water power at per horsepower per year was cheap enough to discourage the use of steam power at the King mill. The company erected a boiler house but used the steam only for heat and processing. Even the dynamo installed by the Edison Light Co. to supply electricity for lighting apparently was run by belting from an overhead shaft. The mill would later suffer from its complete dependence on water power.

Canal breaks and high and low water conditions would shut down the com- pany's turbines, thus closing the mill. At times like these, more expensive auxiliary steam power would have meant more to the mill than cheap, but temporarily useless, water power. During the strike, the King mill had deepened its tailrace in an effort to increase the flow of water through its wheels and to permit the mill to run at full power with just two turbines. When the company completed an annex in the management first underestimated the mill's power capacity. President Estes placed machinery only on the first floor of the annex until it was determined that the power system could drive additional machinery. The company then purchased machinery for the second floor and placed it in operation.

By the leaders of the King had enough confidence in their power system to com- plete the equipment of the annex. To drive the new machinery, the mill installed a third underground shaft which transmitted power from the jack shaft to the annex. In the King mill hoped to expand its production to a fourth building. The management decided that the original power system could not supply sufficient power to drive the full capacity of the mill, much less a new addition. Under advice from F. P. Sheldon & Son, consulting engineers from Providence, Rhode Island, the King mill revised its entire power system. The company uncovered and widened its headrace. In a new wheelhouse, workers installed three 51-inch "McCormick" type horizontal turbines, manufactured by the S. Morgan Smith Co.

of York, Pennsylvania. The new wheel arrangement placed two of the turbines in one casing and the third in another. All the turbines were on the John P. King Co HAER GA-15 (Page 12) same shaft, which drove the entire mill. The new system eliminated the less efficient transfer of power to the drive shaft by bevel gears from vertical turbines. The company then took advantage of the added power capacity by building its second annex. The new mill required from 700 to 800 horsepower. To drive the new machinery, the company extended the jack shaft and ran eighteen ropes from the shaft to the annex. By Landon Thomas, the president of the mill, tired of produc- tion stoppages that occurred when the water wheels could not operate, wanted to install an auxiliary steam power plant.

In the King mill had issued worth of preferred stock to increase the company's working capital, and funds were available to hire the company's consult- ing engineers to plan a steam power plant for the mill. F. P. Sheldon & Son recommended that the mill install a Compound Condensing Engine, with the necessary boilers, and apply the steam power directly to the jack shaft. The King mill went ahead with plans for the steam plant. During the first half of the company added two boilers and made changes in the main shafting to accommodate the new plant. In a new engine room, the mill apparently belted the engine to the main drive. Although Thomas was an all-out moderniser of the mill's cotton manufacturing process, he was not to turn to electricity for power for another 10 years.

Throughout the the power situation for users of the Augusta Canal was unsure. The city of Augusta considered both municipal and private development of the canal for the generation of hydroelectric power. Both Landon Thomas and his son, who had become vice-president of the mill, supported municipal development, under which the company would maintain its power rights. No matter which, if any, development of the canal occurred, the King mill eventually would have to employ elec- tric power. The canal was too irregular and inefficient to guarantee sufficient power to run the mill steadily at full capacity. The company explored plans to erect a steam-electric power plant, and then embarked on electrification in late by purchasing power from the Augusta and Aiken Railway Company.

In Landon Thomas, told the stockholders, "Electrification, at a cost of several hundred thousand dollars, faces us in the not distant future." The King mill entered negotiations with the Georgia Power Company in for the pro- vision of electric power in exchange for its water rights, but the two companies did not come to any legal settlement, The city of Augusta never followed through, with any of the various schemes proposed for the electrification of the canal. The uncertain future of the canal during the surely acted as a deterrent to any thoughts of expen- sive water-wheel electrification at King." In the as the time approached for the renewal of the mill's water power contract with the city of Augusta, the King mill directors John P. King Co.

HAER GA-15 (Page 13) questioned the continued use of water wheels. The J. E. Sirrine Com- pany, consulting engineers, completed a study which, compared the costs and advantages of water-wheel electrification with those of purchasing electric power. In late the engineers advised the mill to revamp its water wheels and install its own generators. If the mill ran full and steady at shifts a day, canal power would produce a slight savings. In October the King mill renewed its water power contract. The management had been gradually electrifying the mill since By mid-1944, prior to the purchase and installation of two generators, electrification of the mill was nearly complete.

The King mill's generators arrived in late The larger 1500-kVA Canadian General Electric generator was purchased second-hand through the Sirrine Company. The small generator, a -750-kVA General Electric unit, apparently was new. Government controls during the Second World War delayed the ordering and manufacture of new turbines. In late after the war had ended, the Georgia Power Company installed new, larger-capacity transformers at the King mill, and the company reconditioned its entire power plant. The company's new S. Morgan Smith horizontal turbines were arranged in a manner similar to the old ones. Two wheels again shared one large casing on the same shaft; the third, alone in its casing, was in this case mounted on a separate shaft.

The.double turbine unit drove the large generator, while the single turbine unit turned the small generator. Water-wheel electrification did not mean the end of mechani- cal power transmission at King. The company continued to drive some machinery by belts from overhead shafts until the early The inexpensive water power available from the city of Augusta, and the low cost of mechanical power transmission, discouraged swift and expensive electrification at the King mill and the other large textile mills in Augusta.

In comparison, mills on the Lowell, Massachusetts, canal system, which Augustans had imitated with their canal, had con- verted over half of their water power to electricity by By that year, the American textile industry as a .whole was over 50% electri- fied, while none of the Augusta mills used electric power until the early While the management of the King mill quickly updated the company's cotton manufacturing technology, they only slowly modern- ized the power transmission system which was common to all the machinery. John P. King Co. HAER GA-15 (Page 14) Footnotes See HAER Augusta Canal Project, Report #1, Augusta Canal. See HAER Augusta Canal Project, Report #2, Enterprise Co. Augusta Chronicle and Constitutionalist, 19 January p. 2.

(Hereafter referred to as -AC&C.) See HAER Augusta Canal Project, Report #3, Sibley Co. U. AC&C, 20 April p. 1. 5. AC&C, 19 January p. 2. 6. Charles Estes was born in Cape Vincent, Jefferson County, New York, on 2 February Estes learned the trade of watchmaker and jeweler as a youth. Later he moved on to become the superintendent of construction on a section of the Genesee Valley Canal in New York. Estes went to New York City and became a salesman in a whole- sale dry goods house. In he relocated in Augusta and formed a dry goods firm, Dow & Estes. In Estes entered the wholesale grocery trade. The firm of Estes & Clark became the owners, for a period, of the Augusta Flour Mills, located on the Augusta Canal. Estes retired from the grocery business in and entered local politics.

Estes became a member of the City Council and accepted the chairman- ship of the finance committee. In he was elected mayor and was| re-elected until For more on Estes's role in the enlargment of the Augusta Canal and in the attempt to make the city the "Lowelll of the South," see HAER Augusta Canal Project, Report Charles C*[ Jones and Salem Dutcher, Memorial History of Augusta, Georgia (Syracuse, New York, reprint edition, Spartanburg, South Carolina, Part II, pp. (hereafter referred to as Jones & Dutcher, Memorial).; AC&C, Trade Issue, September 7. King personally saved the Georgia Railroad and Banking Co. from bankruptcy in He served as its president until his retirement in For King's part in the projection of the Augusta Canal, see HAER Augusta Canal Project, Report #1.

King held only a tempo- rary and honorary officer's position in the company named for him. The organizers hoped to draw on King's prestige and reputation in starting their company, as well as to honor him. For a short bio- graphy of John P. King, see Dumas Malone, ed., Dictionary of Ameri- can Biography V (New York, p. 8. AC&C, 29 December p. 4. John P. King Co. HAER GA-15 (Page 15) 9. AC&C, 20 January p. 4. Hill, from Petersburg, Illinois, had come Co Columbus, Georgia, in and began Co work for Eagle and Phenix Mills (sec HAER Columbus Project, Ragle and Phenix Mills). His associate, a Mr. Neracher, came south at about the same time. The pair established the Hill-Neracher Automatic Sprinkler Company to market their patented automatic sprinkler system.

The company combined with a New England organization to form the General Fire Extinguisher Company, which became the Grinnell Corporation, an important manufacturer of automatic sprinklers. "Eagle and Phenix Mill Centennial," typescript in Eagle and Phenix Company Record, Columbus, Georgia. 10. AC&C, 5 August p. 3. 11. Jones & Dutcher, Memorial, p. Minutes, Board of Directors, King Record Book, 24 January 7 March (hereafter referred to as ^inute^s) The King Record Book is in the company's vault in Augusta, Georgia. 12. President's'Report to Stockholders, John P. King Manufacturing Co., Minutes, 23 January The cost of the mill was Seventy-nine tenements cost 13. AC&C, 5 August p. 3. The mill was 453 feet long and 76 feet wide. At each end of the card room were fly frames and slubbers.

The cards sat in the center of the room. There were 4 frames, 10 slubbers, and 2 fly frames. Other original buildings at King were the boiler house, waste house, oil house, warehouse, and office- supply building. 14. The Lowell Machine Shop looms were 32" and Minutes, 24 January Supt. Joel Smith to George Draper and Sons, 16 September Letters Storage Room, King Mill, Augusta, Georgia (here- after referred to as Letters Minutes, December Augusta Exchange Club, compiler, The Industrial Advantages of Augusta, Georgia (Augusta, pp. AC&C, 5 August p. 3. 16. Most of the ideas presented about the King mill's architecture were developed by Robert Jorgensen, Student Historian, and Craig Morrison, Supervising Architect, HAER Augusta Canal Project. 17.

Charles Estes to the Stockholders, Minutes, 28 January 18. Minutes, 27 May 1 October John P. King Co HAER GA-15 (Page 16) 19. See Merl E. Reed, "The Augusta Textile Mills and the Strike of Labor History Reed noted that the direc- tors of the Augusta mills seemed more responsive and open than northern capitalists. They permitted the strikers to examine com- pany books. 20. Annual Meeting, Minutes, 26 January 12 July Profits ($ (Net Earnings) (Net Profits) 3% dividends usually were paid semiannually. Information from Minutes. 21. Textile Record 8 (June p. The company added 70 looms and spindles. 22. Estes to the Stockholders, Minutes, .22 January The annex added 6 drawing frames, 4 slubbers, and 18 fly frames, spindles, and 256 Lowell Machine Shop looms.

Since the annex con- tained the cloth room and carding and spinning rooms, the new looms probably were installed in the cloth room vacated in the main mill. The annex was 91 feet by 101 feet. Estes to Stockholders, Minutes, 23 January 22 January The company's pickers at this time were all made by Kitson Machine Shop of Lowell, Massachusetts. Textile Record 9 (May p. Estes to the Stockholders, Minutes, 22 January Minur.es, 9 March The company's superintendent, Joel Smith, served simultaneously as superintendent of the Aiken Co. The King mill also owned shares in the Clearwater and Crystal Spring Bleacheries. 25 - Minutes, 15 February.1897. 26. In a letter, Joel Smith said, "We have decided to enlarge the King Mill to the amount of 20,000'spindles.

I am making the plans and specifications." Superintendent Joel Smith to Whitin Machine Co., . 22 February Letters #2, John P. King Co HAER GA-15 (Page 17) 27. King mill supposedly had "the largest number [of spindles] under a single roof in a Southern mill" in Auj^u_s_t_a_Kxposition Edi- tion of (Augusta, p. 31. 28. Gilbert Merrill, Alfred R, Macormac, and Herbert R. Mauersberger, American Cotton Handbook (New York, 19A9) , p. (Hereafter referred to as Cotton Handbook.) 29 Cotton Handbook, pp. 30. Script for King Mill orientation, in possession of Tom McCaslan, King Mill. 31 Cotton Handbook, pp. Heddles are parallel wires with eyes in the harness of a loom which serve to separate and guide the threads. 32 - Textile World 118 (April p. 33. Estes to the Stockholders, Minutes, 23 January 34.

Cloth Production (Yards) Information from Minutes. 35. Estes to the Stockholders, Minutes, 25 January 36. Textile World 118 (April p. Cotton Handbook, pp. See Irwin Feller, "The Diffusion and Location of Technological Change in the American Cotton-Textile Industry," Technology and Culture 15 (October pp. 37. Superintendent Joel Smith to G. M. Whitin, 24 July Smith to G. L. Cutting, Superintendent, 19 August Smith to Whitin, 19 August Letters #3. 38. Estes to the Stockholders, Minutes, 24 January 39. Landon A. Thomas to the Stockholders, Mimrtes^, 22 January 40. Thomas to the Stockholders, Minutes^ 28 January 41. Minutes, 4 March John P. King Co. HAER GA-15 (Pago. 18) 42.

On 2 July Augusta mills had Che following numbers of Draper looms: Sibley 0 Enterprise 0 Augusta Factory 32 King 600 Information obtained from Draper Catalog, Hopedale, Massachusetts, in possession of Donald Marshal, Draper Office, Spartanburg, South Carolina. A3. Minutes, 2 March 5 April 5 December 44. Net Profits Information from Minutes. 45. Directors and President to the Stockholders, Minutes, 17 April 46. Minutes, 5 October Directors and President to the Stockholders, Minutes, 17 April 47. Annual net earnings, before common stock dividends, were over every year from to See Minutes. 48 - Minutes, 5 May 3 November 26 January 7 March 2 April 49. The company listed gross earnings of for and for and a net profit of for See Minutes for those years. 50.

See Landon Thomas, Vice-President, to the Stockholders, in Minutes, 26 April See Lloyd Reynolds, "Cutthroat Competition/" American Economic Review 51. President to the Stockholders, Minutes, 26 January 52. The King mill listed losses, after provision for depreciation over in and See Minutes. 53. William E. Bush at Annual Meeting, Minutes, 27 January John P. King Co. HAER GA-15 (Page 19) 54. Minutes, 3 August 9 February 55. Minutes, 4 November Textile World 118 (April pp. 99, Cotton Handbook, p. 56. Minutes, 4 November Cotton Handbook, p. 57. The Hirst mention of the Bedaux was in Minutes, 23 January The system, devised by Charles Eugene Bedaux, an American indus- trial engineer, involved a point system of wage payment.

The com- pany did not "install" the system until In May the Directors discussed "the installation of the Bedaux System and the difficulties being encountered, especially among the doffers." (Doffers remove full bobbins from spinning frames and replace them with empties.) Minutes, 6 May 58. Unrecorded interview with Sam Cumbee, 19 July Mr. Cumbee worked 49 years in the King mill weave room. He began as a "learner" in at the age of 16. His first regular task involved oiling the looms and "blowing off" cotton cust. When Mr. Cumbee became a weaver, his task included filling the batteries of 12 looms, start- ing them, and taking the cloth off. The company added pick clocks when they installed the Bedaux. The weaver's job became one of watching the looms.

Other employees filled the batteries and took the cloth off looms. After working as a weaver, Mr. Cumbee became a "head changer," changing the cams and gears on looms. 59. Cumbee interview, 19 July Even though Mr. Cumbee. disliked the Bedaux, he retained fond memories of the elder Landon Thomas. He recalled that Thomas would enter the weave room, doff his hat, and discuss with each worker the problems that he or she might be having with an overseer or the job. Cumbee felt that when Thomas died in a certain spirit among the workers died as well. 60 - l ^i^ M u8 (April pp. 61. Minutes, 1 June 19 38; Cotton Handbook, p. 62. Minutes_ 24 January 6 March 6 November 30 December 5 March 26 March 7 May 63. Win.VXi ^ December 64. Minutes, 12 November 24 June 5 April John P. King Co.

HAER GA-15 (Page 20) Profits (After provisions for depreciation and taxes) .03 See Niinutes. 65. Minutes, 3 November 66. At a special meeting after Landon's death, the Board of Directors eulogized: "When he assumed the active management of this company in , its equipment was outmoded and its finances depleted. When he closed his desk the day before he died, its equipment was modern and its finances abundant... Its success is due to his leadership." The exact division of responsibilities between Thomas and his son at this date was unclear to the researcher. Minutes, 7 December 67. See section on Water Power. 68. Minutes, 5 November 28 January (Annual Meeting), 8 November 69.

Information about King Mill's production of blankets obtained from conversations with Tom McCaslan, employee, King Mill, summer and from tour of plant. 70. Phone conversation with Vernon Foster, Public Relations, Spartan Mills, Spartanburg, South Carolina, 24 August conversations with Tom McCaslan, summer 71. Phone conversation with Vernon Foster, 24 August 72. Phone conversation with Vernon Foster, 24 August Cumbee inter- view, 19 July 73. The head today is listed as 32 feet on plates on the company's tur- bine casings. 74. Samuel Webber, "Water Power: Its Generation and Transmission," Transactions of the Society of Mechanical Engineers 17 p. 53; AC&CJ 5'August'" p. 3; Minutes, 1 February 75 - AC&C, 5 August p. 3; length of shaft estimated from Hill's plans. John P. King Co.

HAER CA-15 (Page 21) 76. and Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, Map Room Science Library, University of Georgia, Athens, list the King's power as 800 horsepower. The figure of hp comes from a listing of the "Powers Granted on the First Level of the Augusta Canal." On wall of office of Sonny Andersen, Maintenance, Sibley Mill. 77. Webber, "Water Power," p. 53. 78. Minutes, 25 December The mill did employ a small steam engine to power equipment for grinding and dressing cards prior to starting up. Whether the company owned or continued to use this machine is unknown. See AC&C, 5 August p. 3. 79. Estes to the Stockholders, Minutes, 22 January 80. Blueprint, Preliminary Plan for John P. King Co., by S. Morgan Smith, York, Pennsylvania, 27 February In office of Plant Engineer, King Mill. 81.

List of shafting, pulleys, etc., for Annex #2, April 26, Letters_J-2_. 82. Blueprint, Sections and Plan of Pulley Pit showing Driving Shaft, Rope Sheave and Pulleys, April 15, Office, of Plant Engineer, King Mill. 83 - Minutes, 2 April 27 June 84. Landon Thomas, Vice-President, to the Stockholders, Minutes, 26 April 85 Minutes, 7 May 1 April 26 January (Thomas to Stock- holders), 3 April 1 May 86 - Minutes, 23 December 194 3. 87. Electrification was complete except for 500 looms in the //I mill. . Minutes, 5 April 88. Minutes, 2 August 4 October 5 September 7 November 89. Recollection of Tom McCaslan, employee, King Mill, conversations with McCaslan, summer 90. Arthur T. Safford to C. P. Baker, 7 May Proprietors of Locks ^an.a.'-s.

Papers > Baker Library, Harvard University, Allston, Massachusetts. John P. King Co. HAER GA-15 (Page 22) Selected Bibliography Company Documents Blueprints., Office of Plant Engineer. King Mill Orientation Script, in possession of Tom McCaslan, employee. King Mill. Letters of Superintendent Joel Smith, in mill storage room. Minutes, in company vault. Books Augusta Exchange Club, compiler. The Industrial Advantages of Augusta, Georgia. Augusta, Pp. Listed the King Mill's products. Jones, Charles C., and Dutcher, Salem. Memorial History of Augusta, Georgia. Orig. ed. Syracuse, New York, (Reprint edition, Spartanbur'g, South Carolina, Contained information on the mill and a brief biography of Charles Estes. Merrill, Gilbert; Macormac, Alfred R.; and Mauersberger, Herbert R.

American Cotton Handbook. New York, Background information on cotton manufacturing process and tech- nological changes. Periodicals Augusta Chronicle and Constitutionalist, Several articles on the King Mill and its organization. Textile World 118 (April This centennial issue provided background information on techno- logical changes in cotton manufacturing. Webber, Samuel, "Water Power Its Generation and Transmission," Transactions of the Society of Mechanical Engineers 17 PP. Described the water power system at King. John P. King Co, HAER GA-15 (Page 23) Maps Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, Map Room, Science Library, University of Georgia, Athens, Interview Sam Cumbee, July 19, Unrecorded. Mr. Cumbee provided information on the Bedaux efficiency system, the mill village, and the Thomases.