Arthur Holmes Merry Generator House, Signal Lake North of Range Road, Fort Gordon

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER GA-92. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Arthur Holmes Merry Generator House at Signal (Scout) Lake, Fort Gordon is among the oldest private water-powered structures in Georgia. The Generator House was constructed in By the generator supplied electricity to a nearby private home and pavilion owned by Arthur Holmes Merry. Merry was the founder of Merry Brick Company, one of the largest brick manufacturers in the United States and an integral part of the local Augusta economy. The overshot wheel at the Generator House was typical of hydraulic systems used in the Richmond and Columbia county areas to provide power to scores of grist- and saw-mills since the mid-1700s. The Generator House is not currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Report prepared by: Daniel R.

Pratt Staff Archaeologist Panamerican Consultants, Inc. 924 Avenue East Tuscaloosa, Alabama Date: July ARTHUR HOLMES MERRY GENERATOR HOUSE HAER#GA-92 Page2 INTRODUCTION The Arthur Holmes Merry Generator House remains at Signal (Scout) Lake are located north of Range Road in Fort Gordon, Richmond County, Georgia (UTM Coordinates N and E, Zone 17. The previously buried structure was recorded during a cultural resources survey of the Fort Gordon military base by New South Associates, Inc. of Stone Mountain, Georgia.

The earthen dam at the site had previously been breached following the failure of a steel drainage pipe on May 22, The Fort Gordon Directorate of Public Works need to reestablish wetland resources on the military base has prompted the United States Department of the Army to investigate possible concomitant effects of demolition and new construction on the base's cultural resources. In the Savannah District Corps of Engineers will bury or demolish the remnants of the Arthur Holmes Merry Generator House to construct a replacement dam for Signal (Scout) Lake. Because the Generator House has been considered eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places under criteria C and D,1 the Savannah District Corps of Engineers has contracted Panamerican Consultants, Inc.

of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to perform a Level I Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) documentation of the structure prior to burial or demolition. PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIONS A previous cultural resource survey of the Fort Gordon environs by New South Associates, Inc. of Stone Mountain, Georgia/ revealed submerged remnants of a wooden structure at the outlet of former Signal (Scout) Lake. On the basis of the structure's location and its broad association with nearly seventy-five similar structures in the region, it was presumed to be the remains of a mill.

Although New South's investigation was limited by the broad scope of their investigation, a preliminary archival investigation suggested that the mill had been constructed by Thomas Hanson or Rebecca Campfield in the first half or middle of the nineteenth century. An archaeological survey of the area surrounding the structure failed to reveal any intact subsurface deposits. Survey of the creek channel, however, revealed a great amount of wooden mill debris, including articulated timbers, that had been washed Historic Milling on Sandy Run and Spirit Creeks, Fort 1Reed, Mary Beth, J. W. Joseph and Rita F. Elliott, Gordon, Richmond County, Georgia, Submitted to GuH Engineers and Consultants, Baton Rouge, p. 83. 2Ibid., pp.

ARTHUR HOLMES MERRY GENERATOR HOUSE HAER#GA-92 Page3 downstream during the flood. The dam and the visible structure remains were mapped and photographed. At the time of the survey, the motive power of the structure could not be determined. As stated in the New South Associates, Inc. report, the remains of the mill were determined to be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion D, for their potential to contribute to the understanding of early twentieth century water power use in Georgia. 3 It was recommended that the structure remains and downstream debris be recorded to U.S.

National Park Service HABS/HAER standards, including large format photographic recordation and the drafting of measured drawings of all components (including plans, elevations and cross-sections). During the clearing of the structure at Signal (Scout) Lake, Panamerican archaeologists noticed the absence of square nails in the planks and timbers that comprised the foundation. Following a review of New South Associates' published data (noting the lack of mention of a mill or reservoir on the site before it was hypothesized that the structure had been built sometime during the This hypothesis was later proved correct when Panamerican located Mr. Pierce Merry, Jr. (b. of Augusta, Georgia, whose grandfather had built an earthen dam and generator house at the site. Mr.

Merry was able to provide a brief history of the structure, photographs, and a brief description of the Generator House's internal machinery. THE

Development of Water Power Technology

General historical information concerning water power development is taken primarily from Terry S. Reynolds' Stronger Than a Hundred Men: A History of the Vertical Water Wheel. 4 A tabular summary of the introduction of various applications of vertical water wheel technology is presented in Table 1. The development of the water wheel can be seen on a continuum from early Near Eastern technological experimentation and development, to the growing industrialization of Europe in the Middle Ages, to what is classically considered the 3Ibid., p. 86. Reynolds, T.

S., Stronger Than a Hundred Men: A History of the Vertical Water Wheel, CTohns Hopkins 4 University Press, Baltimore, Maryland, ARTHUR HOLMES MERRY GENERATOR HOUSE HAER#GA-92 Page4 Table 1: Emergence of New Industrial Applications of Vertical Water Wheel to AD. From Reynolds, T. S., Stronger Than a Hundred Men: A History of the Vertical Water Wheel, Gohns Hopkins University Press, London, p. 94. Source: Blaine, Bradford B., "The Application of Water-Power to Industry during the Middle Ages," Dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, Type of Mill Date of First Occurrence (AD) Location Beer 861 NW France Hemp 990 SE France Fulling N Italy Switzerland? Iron SGermany SSweden Oil SE France Ore-Stamping N Italy Tanning NW France Sugar Sicily?

Cutlery (grinding and NW France polishing) Saw NW France Mechanical Bellows Styria Mustard SE France Poppy NW France Paper N Italy Mine-pumping (chain type) Moravia Mortar SGermany Turning (lathes) SE France Pigment (paint) NW France Blast furnace Belgium Pipe-boring SGermany Rolling and slitting Cent. France Wire SGermany SGermany Gem-polishing NW France Coin NW France ARTHUR HOLMES MERRY GENERATOR HOUSE HAER#GA-92 Page5 Industrial Revolution: the large-scale, aggregated industrial factories of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Early Mill Development in Europe and Asia East Indian texts from the fourth century BC describe a device called a cakkavattaka, or 11 turning wheel, 11 described as a machine with wheel-pots attached.

5 It is possible that this is an early form of noria, a vertical wheel used to transport water from a waterway to a raised sluice or trough. The ambiguity of the textual reference, however, suggests that the cakkavattaka may have been a treadle- or hand-powered device. The next point of possible origin for the vertical wheel is in the Near East at about 200 BC. The Greek technician Philo of Byzantium illustrates three small overshot and two undershot vertical wheels, but it is not clear that the wheels were used for driving machinery. 6 The first definite reference to power generated from a water wheel is included in the Greek Strabo's Geography, written in the first century BC.

While listing the spoils captured by Pompey from the Mithradates, Strabo mentions a palace at Cabeira, where a 'u8poAE' (water grinder) was located. The specific type of wheel, vertical or horizontal, is unfortunately not specified. 7 A contemporary of Strabo's, the poet Antipater, wrote an ode to a mill, suggesting that grist milling technology, at least, had already achieved the basic form that continued to be used until the nineteenth and early twentieth century: Cease from grinding, ye women who toil at the mill; Sleep late, even if the crowing cocks announce the dawn.

For Demeter has ordered the to perform the work of your hands, And they, leaping down on top of the wheel, tum its axle which, With its revolving spokes, turns the heavy concave Nisyrian millstones, Learning to feast on the products of Demeter without labor. 8 Hydro-Electric Generators The specific type and make/ model of alternating current generator used at the Arthur Holmes Merry Generator House is not known. Based on information provided 5Needham, J. (with collaboration of Wang Ling), Science and Civilization in China, Volume 4, Part 2, (Cambridge University Press, p. 6phiJo of Byzantium, Pneumatica, Chapters 54, 65. 7Strabo, Geography, Translated by Horace Leonard Jones, Volume 5, London, pp.

8 Antipater of Thessalonica, "On a Water-Mill," In Greek Anthologi;, Book 9, number edited and translated by Paton, London, pp. ARTHUR HOLMES MERRY GENERATOR HOUSE HAER#GA-92 Page6 by Mr. Pierce Merry, however, a small overshot water wheel was turned by the flow at approximately 30 revolutions per minute, turning a flat pulley (6 11 -8 11 diameter), and imparting a rotation of about 720 revolutions per minute to the generator. For general information regarding alternating current generators of the period, see Terrel Croft's Electrical Machinery: Principles, Operation and Management (McGraw-Hill, and Richard Muller's Hydroelectrical Engineering (G. E. Stechert & Company,

Historical Narrative

Arthur Holmes Merry and the Merry Brick Company Arthur Holmes Merry was born in in Berzelia, Georgia, one of twelve children. His grandfather, Bradford Merry, a whaler by trade, had emigrated from England and originally settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts. In Arthur Merry (an agent of Dun & Bradstreet) and his two brothers, Ernest and Walter, rented an industrial site in Hamburg, Georgia, at the western terminus of a railroad line. With two mules, a cord of wood, and they founded the Merry Brick Company and began manufacturing bricks for the growing city of Augusta and its environs. In the growing Merry Brick Company was relocated to a site just east of Augusta. Arthur Merry became President of the company, Ernest Merry, Vice President and General Manager, and Walter Merry, Treasurer.

By the early the brothers owned fourteen brickyards. In the McKinsey Brick Company was acquired. The company enjoyed healthy expansion after According to Pierce Merry, Arthur Merry's grandson, the company's No. 2 plant was the most frequently visited brickworks by the mid-1950s. In the company opened its No. 3 plant; in its No. 4 plant; and in its No. 5 plant. In the Merry Brick Company was sold to Boral Brick, Inc. of Australia. With the purchase of such an extensive and successful business, Boral Brick, Inc. has become one of the top five leading brick manufacturers in the United States. Arthur Holmes Merry and "The Lake" In George Blanchard et al. and Calhoun sold the property surrounding Signal (Scout) Lake to General Investments, et al.

and the Georgia Railroad Bank & Trust Company of Augusta (Richmond County Deed Book On ARTHUR HOLMES MERRY GENERATOR HOUSE HAER#GA-92 Page7 May 15, General Investments, et al. and the Georgia Railroad Bank & Trust Company sold the property to Arthur Holmes Merry. No reservoir existed at the site, and appropriately, the plat map for does not show a pond. In Arthur Holmes Merry built a home, earthen dam and generator house, boat house, clothes-changing buildings and an artesian well house on the property. The construction of the wood/ earthen dam created a shallow reservoir about 3.5 feet deep. This reservoir, known simply as "the lake" by the family children, was used for private fishing and recreation by the Merry family.

After the hydraulic head was channeled through a wooden sluice and overshot wheel at the dam (approximately feet in height), to drive an alternating current electric generator. The wheel rotated at approximately 30 turning a flat pulley (6 11 -8 11 diameter), and imparting rotation of about 720 revolutions per minute to the generator. The structure housing the generator had walls 9' high and a vaulted ceiling 131 high. The exterior of the structure was covered with cedar shakes, and was surrounded by a railing (HAER Photographs 1 and 2). As expected then, the Alabama Highway Department Map of recorded a pond behind the Arthur Holmes Merry Generator House. In Pierce Murray et al. sold the property to the United States government. The Generator House may have been demolished by the U. S.

Army to allow the construction of a larger earthen dam and the establishment of a deeper reservoir, or simply as a part of standard demolition procedure for new U. S. Army properties. THE STRUCTURAL

Remains of the Merry Generator House

The remains of the Arthur Holmes Merry Generator House consist of a wooden frame structure with diagonal wing cribs, driven wood plank walls, driven post floor supports and concrete sand bag stabilization (HAER Measured Drawing Sheets 1 and 2, and HAER Photographs 3, 4 and 5). Flooring The flooring of the Merry Generator House consists of 2 inch by 10 inch by 17 foot, 2 inch pine planks nailed to 8 inch by 8 inch, half-lapped foundation sill beams with wire nails (HAER Measured Drawing Sheet 2 and HAER Photographs 6 and 8). ARTHUR HOLMES MERRY GENERATOR HOUSE HAER#GA-92 Page8 Most of the floor boards have been washed downstream.

The remaining floor boards exhibit wooden braces (HAER Measured Drawing Sheet 2 and HAER Photographs 6 and 7), possibly used to stabilize the generator machinery used at the site. The generic character of these braces does not, however, suggest a particular type of machinery. The flooring was supported by half-lapped foundation sill beams at the north and south walls of the structure, and by pine posts driven into the stream bed. One-half inch steel rebar pins were driven through the floor boards and into the posts to provide firm attachment.

Walls and Wing Cribs The walls and wing cribs of the Generator House consist of 2 inch by 9 inch by 8 foot long pine planks driven into the stream bed (HAER Measured Drawing Sheets 1 and 2, and HAER Photographs 8 The joins between each plank are tongue-in- groove. Possibly due to the water pressures of the flood, the wall and wing crib planks on the east and west sides of the structure have been shifted southward. This has resulted in a 11 saw-tooth 11 appearance as the wall planks slid in their tongue-in- groove joins (HAER Photographs 8 and The wall and wing crib planks are stabilized by 8 inch by 8 inch sill beams joined by half-lap notches at the structure 1s corners (HAER Photograph 8) and nailed with 6 inch wire nails.

Five pine plank backing boards were observed (HAER Measured Drawing Sheet 2, Detail at C). A central wall of like construction was located near the north wall of the structure, ostensibly to help stabilize the structure, resist the downstream force of the water and support the triangular brace associated with the main sluice (HAER Measured Drawing 2 and HAER Photographs 10 and The wing cribs were constructed to provide structural support to the main frame of the Generator House, and would have been buried within the matrix of the earthen dam. Sluice Support Structure The triangular support structure in the center of the building was used to resist the downstream force of the water entering the generator wheel assembly.

A similar triangular structure with a generator assembly was observed by Panamerican researchers at the nearby Rhodes Mill in Richmond County, Georgia (HAER Photograph ARTHUR HOLMES MERRY GENERATOR HOUSE HAER#GA-92 Page9 Concrete Sand Bag Stabilization Cloth sand bags filled with concrete were used to stabilize the south (downstream) wall of the structure (HAER Measured Drawing Sheet 2 and HAER Photographs 13 - Many of these sand bag forms can be seen in the downstream debris field, underscoring the extreme currents generated by the flood and dam burst.

Downstream Debris Field The material observed in the downstream debris field included bricks, pine planks, concrete sand bag forms and two brick and concrete slabs that may have formed the generator seat (HAER Photographs The bricks examined revealed no evidence of maker's marks, but are probably all from the Merry Brick Company brickyards (HAER Photograph The pine planks in the debris field were fragmentary and could not be associated with specific aspects of the structural remains at the Generator House. The brick and concrete fragments found just downstream from the Generator House may have been the seats for the generator machinery. Unfortunately, no fasteners, bolts or brackets were found that would suggest a particular type or size of generating device.

ARTHUR HOLMES MERRY GENERATOR HOUSE HAER#GA-92 Page 10 REFERENCES CITED AND RELATED TEXTS Croft, Terr el Electrical Machinenf Principles, Operation and Management. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. Hindle, Brooke America's Wooden Age: Aspects of its Early Technologtj. Sleepy Hollow Restorations, Tarrytown, New York. Muller, Richard Hydroelectrical Engineering. G. E. Stechert & Co., New York. National Park Service Historic American Engineering Record, Field Instructions. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C. Historic American Buildings Survey Guidelines for Preparing Written Historical and Descriptive Data. National Park Service, Southeast Region, Atlanta.

Historic American Engineering Record Guidelines for Preparing Written Historical and Descriptive Data. National Park Service, Southeast Region, Atlanta. Plwtographic Specifications: Historic American Buildings Survey and Historic American Engineering Record. National Park Service, Southeast Region, Atlanta. HABS/HAER Standards. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C. Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Records: Preparing Documentation for Transmittal to the Libran; of Congress. National Park Service, Southeast Region, Atlanta. Reed, Mary Beth, J. W. Joseph and Rita F. Elliott Historic Milling on Sandy Run and Spirit Creeks, Fort Gordon, Richmond County, Georgia.

Submitted to Gulf Engineers and Consultants, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Reynolds, T. S. Stronger Than a Hundred Men: A Histon; of the Vertical Water Wheel. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. Salaman, R. A. Dictionary of Woodworking Tools. Taunton Press, Newtown, Connecticut.