Abbeville Hydroelectric Power Plant, State Highway 284 & County Road 72, Rocky River

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Beginning at the intersection of South Carolina State Highway 284 and Abbeville County Road 72, proceed west on County Road 72, 3.2 miles to the site located across the Rocky River. UTM: Quad: Abbeville Date of Construction: Dam begun in Dam and Power Plant com- pleted in

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J. Roy Pennell acquired property and began con- struction of the multiple arch reinforced con- crete dam in Pennell abandoned the project in and it was completed by the City of Abbeville with Public Works Administra- tion funds in The two original S. Morgan Smith hydro turbines are still in operation. In the plant was enlarged and a Bush Sulzer diesel engine acquired to provide auxiliary power. The facility remains in op- eration today.

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John P. Johnson, September ABBEVILLE HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANT HAER (Page 2) #

Abbeville Hydroelectric Power Plant

The Abbeville Hydroelectric Power Plant is located 17 miles northwest of the City of Abbeville on the Rocky River in Abbeville County, South Carolina. The dam, power house and transmission lines are owned by the Abbeville Water and Electric Plant Company, a municipal corporation. Construction for the project was begun by a private corporation in and completed (with the assistance of Federal funds) by a municipal corporation in James Roy Pennell, a civil engineering graduate of the University of South Carolina, began acquiring land and water rights along the Rocky River in the early Land was acquired in the vicinity of Price's Grist Mill for Pennell*s hydroelectric power project. In January Pennell, a citizen of Spartanburg, and W. H.

White of Abbeville applied to the South Carolina Secretary of State to charter the Abbeville Power Company, Inc. In February the South Carolina Senate approved the charter for the purpose of providing inexpensive electricity to rural locations. Pennell and White announced that about acres would be inundated by construction of a 60' high and long reinforced con- crete dam. The reservoir created by the dam was to be 7 miles long and a maximum of three-quarters of a mile wide. Stone aggregate for the concrete was to be quarried and crushed on the site. Pennell indicated that the project would use local labor and estimated it would cost approximately Upon learning of it, Duke Power Company and the Southern Public Utili- ties Company immediately objected to Pennell*s private hydro project.

In response, Pennell announced that 90 percent of the land had been acquired and that the project was already underway. Construction began on June 22, when rock crushing machinery began operating near the dam site. At this time, Pennell announced that the dam would be in- creased to 75' high and long. Pennell estimated that HP could be produced by a hydroelectric facility at the site. In September the D. M. Rickenbacker Construction Company of Union, South Carolina, was contracted to build the multiple arch reinforced-concrete dam. The project was expected to be completed in S months and to employ 100 men.

In January Pennell announced that the dam would be increased to 80' (its present height) with the capacity to develop The lake would stretch miles up the Rocky River and impound approxi- mately acres. Pennell announced that 42 separate tracts of land had been acquired for the reservoir and that only 6 remained to be purchased. At this time the planned lake was referred to as Pennell Lake. In May the Southern Public Utilities Company objected to the proposed construction of rural power lines by the Abbeville Power Company. However, in June the South Carolina Railroad Commission (pre- decessor to the Public Utilities Commission) granted the local power company authority to construct power lines to rural areas not being serviced by the larger power companies.

ABBEVILLE HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANT HAER SC5 (Page 3) * By May Pennell and White abandoned the project with the dam only 80 percent complete. Presumably they ran out of money to finance the project. C. P. Townsend, City Engineer of Abbeville from until recommended that the city take over the project and seek Federal funds to complete the abandoned dam works. The Atlanta engineering firm of Wideman and Singleton was contracted to prepare plans for completion of Pennell's project. In June the Abbeville City Council applied to the Federal Public Works Administration (PWA) for a loan to complete the Rocky River hydro project.

The council applied for nearly to cover the cost of Pennell's land investment and construction costs; and to complete the dam, highway bridge above the dam, power station, penstocks, power generating equipment, and transmission lines. Approval of the PWA loan was held up pending resolution of a court suit concerning the legality of Federal funds being used to finance munici- pally owned electric generating plants. Fifty-one projects throughout the United States, involving more than 25 million dollars, were held in abeyance until the U. S. Supreme Court ruled in Duke Power Company et al. vs. Greenwood County et al. that Federal funds could be used to finance municipally owned electric plants.

This decision, made in December freed PWA funds for the development of the Rocky River hydroelectric project. In November the City of Abbeville secured the land and water rights for the Pennell project. At that time 215 acres remained to be purchased. The deed was not recorded until August Pennell and his associates had invested yet the City was able to purchase the abandoned project for Dam construction was resumed on August 28, with John B, Britton, State Senator from Sumter County, as the principal contractor. In November the concrete dam and two-story brick power house were completed and the spillway was closed. The Rocky River began to back up at the rate of one foot per day.

The lake was named Secession Lake to commemorate Abbeville's mark on Civil War history: the first town to secede from the Union in November The site has since been re- ferred to as the Abbeville Hydroelectric Power Plant, Rocky River Project. On December 3, the turbines were engaged and electricity from the generators was first transmitted. The principal hydroelectric equipment, installed in is still in service. The plant was constructed for two hydro turbines, manufactured by the S. Morgan Smith Company of York, Pennsylvania. They both operate under 80* of head. The. smaller turbine was built to operate at 400 rpm and generate Hp. The larger turbine was built to operate at 300 rpm and generate Hp.

The smaller turbine has a KVA Westing- house AC Generator and the larger turbine has a KVA Westinghouse AC Generator. Both turbines are equipped with governors manufactured by the Woodward Governor Company of Rockford, Illinois. The surge tank was manufactured by Bethlehem Steel Company in The main switchboard and transformers were manufactured by the Westinghouse Corporation. ABBEVILLE HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANT HAER (Page 4) In January the City of Abbeville announced official completion of the 7-year project, ending the City's 40-year dependence on the Duke Power Company. As compared with similar projects throughout the coun- the Abbeville project was constructed at a very low cost.

En- gineers from the PWA and Charleston, South Carolina, agreed that "Abbe- ville has a gold mine on top of the ground." Due to low construction cost, the project was expected to show a greater profit per invested dollar than any hydroelectric project in the country. The City received a grant of from the Public Works Administration, a premium of on the bonds, and issued bonds of bringing the total cost to approximately In February the Rural Electrification Authority financed power lines for the Little River Electric Co-operative to serve 450 farms in three counties. On March 1, the City of Abbeville began receiving power from its municipally owned hydroelectric plant. In April, the rural lines began to carry power.

In July, Abbeville Mills Corporation, a cotton textiles manufacturer, became the largest single consumer of electricity from the Rocky River plant. All electricity from the plant was subscribed for within 6 months of the plant's opening. By November approximately 30 percent of the power used by Abbe- ville 's electric system was purchased from the Greenwood County Electric Power Commission's nearby Buzzard's Roost Power Plant. To reduce the dependency on the Buzzard's Roost plant, City Engineer C. P. Townsend recommended acquisition of a diesel electric generating unit for the Rocky River Hydroelectric Plant.

The diesel would be used in times of little rainfall and low water when the capacity of the hydroelectric plant was reduced- The fully subscribed power was sold retail to custo- mers on the rural lines in the town of Lowndesville and the City of Abbeville, and was sold wholesale to Greenwood County Electric Power Commission, Little River Electric Co-Operative, Abbeville Mills Corpora- tion, the City of Abbeville (for street lighting, etc.), the Seaboard Railway, and other local industries. The Abbeville Water and Electric Plant Company financed for the diesel and plant addition with revenue bonds, so that there would be no increase in city taxes or electric rates. In January the Abbeville City Council accepted the bid of for a new diesel engine by the Bush Sulzer Brothers Company of St.

Louis, Missouri. The diesel engine was acquired to supply approximately KVA as auxiliary power to the KVA produced by the two hydro turbines. A Westinghouse generator and excitor, switchboard panel ad- ditions, and two diesel fuel storage tanks (capacity and gallons) were also acquired. A brick addition was made to the west end of the power house to accommodate the diesel engine, generator and auxiliary equipment. At this time, the ceiling-mounted 15-ton capa- city crane runway, manufactured by Mark Brothers of Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, was extended into the new two-story brick addition. The Bush Sulzer diesel engine No. arrived in late October Installa- tion was expected to take two months.

ABBEVILLE HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANT HAER (Page 5) ft For the last 40 years, the Abbeville Hydroelectric Power Plant has been producing low-cost electricity for the customers of this small municipal corporation. Today Secession Lake Dam is intact and, including intake gate and east abutment, is long. The dam supports a highway bridge for Abbeville County Road 72. An engineering report of the dam was completed in by Charles T. Mann, Inc., as a part of the National Dam Safety Program for the Charleston District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A house located west of the bridge was formerly occupied by the supervisor of the power plant.

Secession Lake has an elevation of approximately Water not di- rected through the intake gates on the west end of the dam is wasted through a gated spillway located southwest of the dam. Water directed through the penstocks, into the turbines, and out the tail race returns to the natural channel of the Rocky River. Approximately one-quarter mile downstream, the race water is reunited with the water directed through the spillway. The unique features of the site are the multiple arched reinforced concrete dam and the original turbine installations, which are in service daily. The Richard B. Russell Dam and Lake Project's reservoir will back water up to the tail race of the power plant. The future of the site is uncertain.

The Historic American Engineering Record docu- mented the site with photographs and a brief history during the summer of for the Savannah District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Footnotes: 1, Faunt, Joan R. , ed. History of the Class of University of South Carolina, Columbia, Class of pp. City of Abbeville, Book of Charters I, p. 63; the charter was approved by the State February 3, and canceled October 24, The Press & Banner and Abbeville Medium, January 9, February 9, March 23, 2 - PB & A Medium, February 9, June 22, September 14, 3 - PB & A Medium, January 11, May 10, June 28, November 8, 4. PWA Project No. S C PB & A Medium, May 16, June 24, July 18, August 1, 5. PB & A Medium, October 3, February 24, October 8, November 9, June 28, 6. Abbeville County Deed Book 63, pp.

PB & A Medium, August 24, 31, March 7, 7. PB & A Medium, December 14, January 25, March 21, April 4, May 2, September 5, November 14, 21, 28, December 5, 19, 8. Equipment tags, original catalogs and maintenance records were not available. ABBEVILLE HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANT HAER (Page 6) 9 - PB & A Medium, January 2, 23, 10. PE & A Medium, February 27, March 6, 13, April 24, May 29, July 10, October 30, 11. Townsend, C. P. "Electric Light and Power System of City of Abbe- ville South Carolina," Abbeville, Abbeville Water and Electric Plant, November 1, 12. Ibid.; PB & A Medium, January 10, October 31, 13. Main, Charles T. , Inc. Lake Secession Dam, Abbeville, S. C. , Rocky River, Savannah River Basin, Phase One Inspection Report, National Dam Safety Program. Inventory No.

SC Charleston, District U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, June Addendum to HAER No. Abbeville Hydroelectric Power Plant County Road 72 Rocky River Abbeville County South Carolina PHOTOGRAPHS Historic American Engineering Record National Park Service Department of the Interior Washington,