Carroll County Chronicles Fall 2020

Carroll

County

Chronicles

The Journal of the Carroll County Historical Society

The Skaggs Dam

Fall 2020 Vol. 40, No 4

Carroll County

Historical Society

Contents

President

Shelby Inscore-Puckett

Vice President

Page 1 – The Skaggs Dam

Mark Harmon

Page 13 – Good Roads Come to Carroll

Page 18 – County Line Dispute

Secretary/Treasurer

Page 19 – Another Hillsville Fire

Mary Anna Turner

Directors

Victor Allen

Delilah Brady

Greg Goad

Mark Harmon

Ron Hall

Shelby Inscore-Puckett

Ann McGrady

Effie Thompson

Mary Anna Turner

Chronicle Editorial Staff for this Issue:

Ron Hall

The Carroll County Chronicles are published by the Carroll County Historical Society, PO Box 937, Hillsville, VA 24343; (276) 728-4113; http://www. http://carrollvamuseum.org/museum/ All members of the Carroll County Historical Society receive issues at no charge but copies and back issues are available for sale. The Carroll County Historical Society cannot vouch for the accuracy of any material submitted. Article submissions must follow guidelines inside the back cover of this publication. Send all submissions to Carroll County Historical Society at the address above.

The Skaggs Dam

In 1912, the Appalachian Power Company built hydro-electric dams at Byllesby and Buck in Carroll County to produce electricity for local factories, mines, homes, and the coal fields around Bluefield, WV. Although a short time later, they built 400 miles of transmission lines, none of the lines came to Hillsville. Residents of this mountain community were relegated to using mainly kerosene lamps to light their homes, muscle power to wash their clothes and wood-burning stoves to cook their food.

Since most folks in the county received a Sears-Roebuck or Montgomery Ward catalog, most knew of the existence of the marvels powered by electricity.

Some Electrical “Marvels” of the Early 20 th Century

The time was ripe for some enterprising person to come into the county and offer electrical service.

Two brothers, William Chadwell and Grover Cleveland Skaggs, were born in Pennington Gap in Lee County, VA, in 1888 and 1890 respectively. Their parents, John and Eveline Skaggs, had a large family of 12 children, but they gave the boys something of a good education. William attended 3 years of high school and graduated from Fork Union Military Academy in Fluvanna County, VA.

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As far as is known, Grover completed one year of high school. However, all of the Skaggs children did well in life.

In 1909, William married Callie Bruce and was living in Rocky Station in Lee County with her parents in 1910, working as a public school teacher. He volunteered for the army when WWI broke out and spent a year in France.

Also, in 1909, Grover had married Carrie Kirk and was also living in Rocky Station with her parents in 1910, working at “odd jobs.“

By 1920, Grover and his wife were in living in Ansted, in Fayette County, WV where he was working as a coal miner. William and his new wife, Annie Reeves were living in Burnsville in Yancey County, NC where he was working as a Civil Engineer on an electric line. It isn’t known what happened to his first wife… or how he was able to sell himself as a Civil Engineer since that was not in the curriculum of the academy he attended. Perhaps this bit of work experience made William feel confident enough to go out on his own. He convinced his brother that their futures were in becoming entrepreneurs in the electrical power generation field. In the summer of 1921, the brothers came to Hillsville with the idea of building a hydro-electric dam and providing electricity to the town. They scouted several creeks for a potential dam site and eventually settled upon Little Reed Island Creek just past where it crosses Water Plant Road. Although the newspaper of the day purported them to be “experienced hydro - electric engineers,” in actuality neither was. William, possibly had some rudimentary knowledge of electricity, having worked on an electric line, but there is no indication that Grover had any knowledge or experience at all in that area although years later he would work as an electrician. However, an electrician is a far cry from an engineer.

We don’t know exactly how they settled on Hillsville as a prime location for their endeavor, but they met with town leaders and sold their idea to the town and a

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number of investors. The brothers had loads of ideas and possibly good intentions, but they were short of the funds to accomplish the task.

They were, however, able to sell shares in the enterprise to several investors in the town and planned to use the money as down payments on land, construction materials and equipment. Estimated cost of the project was $20,000 ($298,000 in today’s dollar values.) They bought 20 acres on Little Reed Island Creek from John and Lillie Crockett for thirty-one hundred dollars and paid five hundred down. They also bought acreage upstream from the dam site for the waters to pond, but, again, only made down payments. Among the investors were such notables as Dr. Chester B. Nuckolls, Stephen E. Wilkinson, and Attorney Alva E. Cooley. Some said George L. Carter was also an investor, but we have no evidence to the fact. The Skaggs brothers planned to retain ownership of the system, sell the power and use the income to repay their debts and the investors. All in all, it sounded like a good, solid scheme… on the surface. The Skaggs brothers had picked a good location for the dam; a place in Little Reed Island Creek with high banks on each side with a vast open field behind it. Work on the dam began in November, 1921. Since Little Reed Island creek had an abundance of creek rocks, they were close at hand for use in the construction of the dam. Sand was hauled to the dam site by wagon from various places in the county, as far away as Sylvatus and Shorts Creek. Equipment and concrete, purchased on credit, came via train to Sylvatus and was hauled to the jobsite by wagons. Most of the workmen and teamsters worked on “futures;” payment to be made after the dam was up and operating. A cursory study of the dam indicates a lack of knowledge of engineering and/or perhaps a shortage of funds to build it properly. The base of the dam was not quite 5 feet thick and, although it was said it was supposed to be 30 feet tall, it was barely half that. Older residents, such as John Reece and John Surratt who worked on the project claimed that the concrete did not contain enough cement.

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In addition, the footers were not sunk deep enough into the earth and no provision was made to handle excess water from storm runoff. The dam was designed to be a “concrete buttress dam” which was to be supported by a trio of buttresses on the downstream side. One end of the dam was attached to an outcropping of rock on the north creek bank and the other end was attached to footers dug into the hillside. On the south end of the dam, a race (or ditch) was dug which led to a concrete sluice. Once water rose behind the dam to the level of the race, the water would flow into it and then into the sluice. It then would flow out of the sluice into a 16- inch pipe which led to a turbine in the power house which was below the end of the sluice. The falling water, which fell about 10 feet, turned the turbine which turned the generator. The water was then returned to the creek. Perhaps it was not taken into account that Little Reed Creek can be a tempestuous body of water during rain storms. The streams that flow into the creek come from hills which drain quickly during rains . It doesn’t take a great deal of rain for these “feeder” streams to double their size, resulting in a likewise effect on Little Reed. There were a few flaws in the construction of the dam which points out the lack of engineering knowledge possessed by the Skaggs brothers and why the venture was eventually unsuccessful. The dam was built straight across the creek rather than having been curved like the outer side of a bowl (a convex shape.) Had they curved it, and the outside of the arc faced upstream, the pressure of the water would have been converted to compression forces on the dam structure rather than tension forces. (Concrete has tremendous compression strength but rather poor tensile strength unless it is reinforced.) However, in defense of the brothers, a lot of dams were built this way back in the day, but a lot of them failed, too. Problems with the Dam

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Where the end of the dam was attached to the rock outcropping, they depended only on the adhesion of the concrete to a rough-surfaced rock. Had they drilled the rock and inserted some steel rods, it would have been much stronger and might not have failed … at least in the manner it did. In an attempt to minimize costs, they used far too many stones as filler in the dam construction and far too little concrete. In addition, the stones were fairly large and were smooth creek rock and, what concrete there was, didn’t adhere all that well to them. No reinforcing steel was used in the dam itself, but some fence wire WAS used in the wall of the power house. (The front wall was only 2 inches thick!) The raceway from the lake to the sluice of the power house was earthen and the resulting silt would have accumulated rapidly in the sluice requiring almost constant removal with shovels. The buttresses on the downstream side of the dam were not anchored well, as evidenced today by their settling and fracturing. In addition, water pouring over the top of the dam would have eroded the stream bed around the buttresses fairly quickly and they would have failed long before they actually did in later years. Although we only have word of mouth that has come down as evidence, likely the base of the dam was not dug deeply enough into the stream bed and would have leaked, resulting in erosion under the dam. This would have also caused the dam to fail in time. A powerhouse was constructed and the generating equipment installed in it. A single transmission line was run to Hillsville and a single-bulb fixture was installed over the middle of Main Street in front of the courthouse.

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The Completed Dam and Lake

The dam was completed in February 1922 and as the lake filled up, it was dis covered that “wings” to the dam had to be built to prevent water from washing out the earth on the north end of the dam.

Remnants of the Sluice and Power House

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Sketch of the Dam and Power House

Within a week; water was backed up to the old Grayson Pike and began to flow through the raceway to the generator. Soon, it began to produce electricity, lighting the single bulb suspended over Main Street which proved the concept would work. Numerous modern-thinking people immediately contracted to have their homes wired and home-grown electricians, such as Daniel Allen (nephew to Sidna and Floyd Allen of courthouse tragedy fame) were kept busy installing the old-f ashioned “knob and tube” wiring in houses.

The single-bulb fixture over Main Street

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There are no records as to how many homes… if any… were connected to the system. Residents thought they had seen the end of kerosene lamps.

However, it is doubtful that the system could have provided enough power to do much more than light 1 or 2 lightbulbs in half a dozen homes. No transformers were used and the losses in the transmission line would have severely limited the power the system could deliver. Shortly after the system became operable, the Skaggs brothers’ partnership dissolved. We don’t know if they had a disagreement, but more likely, William, who apparently knew something of the science of electricity, foresaw the problems that would occur. Whatever the reasons, William moved away and Grover remained in sole ownership of the system… and the liabilities. Sometime in the April of 1922, we don’t know exactly when, a heavy rain caused the dam to fail. A man who lived near the dam said he heard a roaring followed by a crash. Probably a leak occurred on the north end and a large section of the dam broke off. Basically, the concrete on the north end was not adhered to the rock and that end broke off. Old timers say that Grover Skaggs left the county before the next sunrise. No attempts were made to try to repair the dam.

North End of the Failed Dam

Rock and Concrete Construction

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Lawsuits abounded; companies who provided materials and equipment, workmen who were owed for their labor and investors had lost heavily. However, Grover Skaggs had gone. The equipment was reclaimed, but the investors, workmen and suppliers were left “ holding the bag. ” Possibly Grover realized he did not have the money to make repairs and would not be able to regain the confidence of investors. Also, he most likely did not possess the technical know-how to correct the system.

What Happened to the Skaggs Brothers?

Grover reappeared in 1930 in West Jefferson, in Ashe County, NC working as an electrician in a power plant. That same year, William and his family were in Campbell in Blount County, AL and he was again working as a school teacher.

By 1940, Grover and his family were in Roda, in Wise County, VA working as an electrician in the coal mines. He died in 1982 in Fayette County, WV.

By 1940, William had recently moved to Trenton in Dade County, GA and was in the county jail working on the road. He died in Hueytown, AL in 1953.

The dam and the power house were never razed, but the equipment was reclaimed by the manufacturer. Today the remnants of the structures are still visible. The basic idea of the dam system was pretty good and likely would have been successful had basic design and construction rules been observed. In the writer’s opinion, the brothers simply did not have the funds to carry off a first class dam construction project and most likely were not crooks. It appears that they were possibly a little naïve and had gotten in over their heads and simply fled the consequences of their mistakes.

Luckily for the town, the dam was small and its failure did not result in any loss of life or significant property damage. It could have worse; the failure of the

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Johnstown, PA dam in 1889 killed over 2000 people and the St. Francis dam in California in 1928 killed over 400.

The question we are left with is; did the Skaggs brothers perpetrate a scam on the town of Hillsville and its citizens or was it just an overly ambitious attempt to achieve success in life. Most of the known facts tend to point to the latter. There is no evidence that the Skaggs brothers were ever located and made to answer for their errors. Most people in the county believed the whole thing was a scam and joked about it for years.

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Resurrection of the Site

For ten years, the dam and its surrounding property sat unused. In the early thirties, the idea was raised of using the site for a recreation area. In 1936, the idea went public. Even though the country was in the middle of the Great Depression, the idea caught on and the state and federal governments supported the idea and appropriated money for the construction with the caveat that the county raise part of the cost themselves.

Hundreds of local citizens donated what little money they could toward the project and it was completed in less than 9 months from the start of construction.

Construction began February 1 st , 1939 and on October 21 st , 1939, the camp was opened with a host of dignitaries, both local and national present. The ceremony lasted four-and-a-half hours.

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A Carroll News Article Promoting the Recreation Camp

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The Nearly Completed Recreation Camp – 1939

The camp remained open at least until the start of World War II and lots of elderly residents recalled picnicking and swimming there.

Today, if you drive down Water Plant Road, cross the bridge and look to the left, the remnants of the old dam and the foundations of the buildings are still visible along the creek. A sad reminder of what might have been.

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Good Roads Come to Carroll

From the first days of settlement in our county, residents had to battle the muddy roads. Finally in 1927, an agreement with North Carolina culminated in a hard- surfaced road from the state line, up Fancy Gap Mountain and through Hillsville. In 1928, the road was opened and a celebration held.

The Carroll News – October 11, 1928

Elaborate Plans Are made for Big Celebration

At a recent meeting, plans were completed for the Fancy Gap Road Opening at this town, Oct 19th.

Chairman H. G. Shihley and former Governor, E. Lee Trinkle will represent Virginia and the Governor and the past Governor of North Carolina will be on the program for that state.

Powell Chapman, Harry Roberts and G. C. Lincoln will have general charge of the speakers and distinguished visitors during the day.

The Attendance Committee composed of Mr. C. O. Kuesor of Charlotte, Benj. Moomaw of Roanoke, Mr. William Ritter of Winston-Salem, Mr. Harlan Noyes of Galax, Mr. J. M. Sturkey of Lexington, Mr. W. T. Kyzer of Salisbury, Mr. W. A. Goodwyn of Bristol and Mr. Conrad Bayick of Bluefield have reported a minimum attendance of 30,000. Glenn Edwards will have charge of the historic pageant. W. D. Tompkins and J. P. Gardner in company with the local committee will have charge of the general arrangements.

Members of all committees will act as a reception committee.

Bob Nelson, Director of Publicity for the Virginia State Chamber of Commerce is assisting in the matter of publicity. Mr. Clark, State Chamber photographer, was at the scene this week making pictures for newspaper and magazine use.

Elaborate plans for a most unusual historic parade are being completed to replace the old and customary decorated cars and floats which the general committee

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decided not to have since they are seen at almost every celebration. The parade will begin with the early pioneer who first blazed the trail through the scenic archway now known as “Fancy Gap.” He will be suitably groomed to represent the age in which he struggled. His dog and axe will contrast with the other end of the parade made up as it will be of a modern high-powered automobile and an airplane.

The fifty-six piece band from Winston- Salem will feature the day’s program with a pageant by the young ladies of the State Teachers College of Radford.

The program will get under way at 10:00 AM with the motorcade leaving Hillsville to meet and greet the seven hundred cars already scheduled from Ashville, Charlotte, Winston-Salem and other points in North Carolina. Mount Airy, which lies at the foot of Fancy Gap will enter more than a thousand cars. This city will bring to the celebration and school, citizens numbering more than half its population. Galax is entering with four hundred cars. Altogether, the motorcade, which will leave Mt. Airy at 10:00 O’clock October 19 th enroute to Hillsville for the historic pageant at 11:00 AM, will be the largest to ever assemble for a similar event. The three thousand cars making up this huge mob will extend over the twenty- two miles intervening between Mt. Airy where it will start and Hillsville as its destination Owing to the fact that there will be about 50,000 people in Hillsville on October 19th, it would be a great proposition for the people of this place to even attempt to furnish food to this mass of citizens. Consequently, it has been worked out to what seems to be the best method of taking care of this part of the matter, and that method is this: let every individual, whether he be a governor, highway commissioner or what not, take care of himself. In other words, there will be no free lunch served by the authorities of the Celebration. This leads to an invitation extended to the folks attending from the county, to pack a basket dinner lunch, thereby making it an economical feast. Of course, you should pack more than you will need for your family, as there will be some friends Basket Dinner for October 19 th

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who you will wish to feed. However, in addition to the hotels and restaurants, there will be stands serving short orders and sandwiches at a nominal price. But these cannot take care of the vast crowd that will be on the grounds.

Boone Trail Marker to be Erected Here

A handsome marker in the shape of an Indian arrowhead with a tablet of Daniel Boone set in the face is being erected at the Continental Divide near Judge Bolen's. This will be unveiled on the day of the Big Celebration of the Fancy Gap Road Celebration October 19th. The motorcade is also invited to pause as it comes in from North Carolina and participate in the unveiling of this, the old Good Spur Indian Trail. The History Department of the Hillsville High School will act in the unveiling exercises as sponsors of the occasion

The Motorcade Enters Hillsville

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The Carroll News - October 25, 1928

Thousands attended the Big Road Celebration Here the 19th.

On last Friday, Oct. 19th, our little town was filled with people of this county, Southwestern Virginia and North-Western North Carolina. It has been estimated that between fifteen and twenty five thousand people witnessed the opening of the Fancy Gap Road. A huge motorcade from this county met the North Carolina motorcade at the top of the Blue Ridge where a Boone Trail Marker was unveiled by a niece of Judge Bolen's, Miss Edith Bolen. Then the longest motorcade in the world, led by Carroll's cars, proceeded to Hillsville where another Boone Trail Marker was unveiled by the high schools of this section, on Hillsville High grounds. Next was the pageant, "Fall," put on by the Radford College girls, which was very attractive. They also rendered several musical numbers. This, with quite a number of the other features, was viewed by the motion picture men. The welcome address was made by our young attorney, J. L. Tompkins, who spoke briefly but effectively. Judge Bolen, "The Grand Old Man of Carroll," was then introduced and made one of those historical talks which is always longed for by his attentive audiences. Mr. Powell Chapman, the speaker, introduced the subject of a bridge across Jackson's Ferry and every speaker who followed him made this the central topic of his own talk. Highway commissioner Massie said he had no doubt that the subject of this bridge would be laid prominently before the Commission this year. Mr. Carter of Mt. Airy spoke feelingly of the ties between his own state and Virginia and introduced Lt. Gov. Malone, who stirred the audience with a brief but interesting talk on road building. One of the most interesting and attractive features of the day was the Galax High School Circus parade. It was cheered by thousands and enjoyed by all.

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Practically every speaker of the occasion made some touching and friendly reference to Judge Bolen, one of whom, Porter Graves, descendant of a Wytheville family, recalled many familiar visits at the Bolen home.

Hon. E. Lee Trinkle closed the program with one of his inimitable addresses that makes him a close friend of an audience.

The Citizens of this town wish to extend their thanks to each and every one who aided in any way in making the Celebration the great success it was.

The End of the Motorcade

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County Line Dispute

When Carroll County was lopped off of Grayson County in 1842, much of the territory of the two counties was wild and undeveloped. Therefore, no one questioned exactly where the dividing line was between the two counties. This attitude was prevalent until the early twentieth century when the cotton mill was being built at Fries. The town of Fries grew and so did the tax base. Both Carroll and Grayson now laid claim to the area where Fries was located, but the potential taxes that would be paid quickly caused questions to arise as to whether Fries was actually in Carroll or Grayson. Up until then, no one had much cared.

Newspapers in the state picked up on the dispute and probably tell the story best.

Richmond Dispatch – December 22, 1901

The people of Carroll and Grayson Counties are still contending over their county line. The Carroll people say that when it is properly run, the big cotton mill which is in the course of erection at Fries, and which is one of the largest and most valuable in the South, will be in Carroll County. This, the people of Grayson deny. They seem determined to hold on to Fries.

Judge Oglesby of Carroll County has appointed a committee to meet a like committee from Grayson to take steps to settle the controversy.

Richmond Times - December 18, 1902

Grayson gets Several Good Taxpayers from Carroll The commissioners who were appointed to settle the boundary line between Carroll and Grayson counties have made their report. By this report, the county of Grayson gets several good taxpayers that heretofore have been paying their taxes in Carroll. They marked the line by setting up stones every mile and where the public roads crossed the line, Grayson County retains the whole of the town of Fries, which started the contention on the part of Carroll County.

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Another Hillsville Fire

Most people in Carroll are aware of the great fire of January, 1931 which destroyed most of downtown Hillsville. However, in 1892, another serious fire claimed much of the town. At the time of the fires of 1892 and 1931, most of the buildings in town were wooden structures and Hillsville had no fire department or public water supply. It would be a foregone conclusion that a fire in a wooden-structure community during windy months would be uncontrollable without either of these services. A Serious Conflagration Hillsville, Va., March 1 - About 6 o'clock last Saturday morning the alarm of fire was sounded and the citizens turned out to find the drug store of Mr. R. J. Thornton on fire. The fires had made such rapid headway when first discovered as to destroy all hope of saving the building. In a few moments the fire had reached the Presbyterian Church, which stood very near the drug store. The church was very soon in ashes. The Central Hotel, which stood but a few feet north of the church, was then reached by the flames and it, like the church and drug store, was very soon destroyed. A building standing south of the drug store and near the storehouse of Johnson & Early, owned by James Wilkinson, and used as a wareroom by Mr. W. C. Smith, foundry man, was also burned. The storehouse of Johnson & Early caught on fire several times, but was saved, though a part of the roof and nearly the whole of the weather boarding on one side were torn off. Clinch Valley News - March 4, 1892

The county jail and one or two other buildings took fire during the time, but the flames were extinguished without much trouble.

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The loss of R. J. Thornton on stock and buildings is estimated at about $3500 and is said to be covered in part by insurance. The church cost $1600 and was insured for only $1000. The Central Hotel was owned by Mrs. Evaline Crockett and the loss on the building was $1,500 and she had no insurance.

All, or nearly all, the property in the church was saved, including the organ, carpet, chandeliers, pulpit, Bible and part of the seats.

Hillsville around the Turn of the Century

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Contributors

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We encourage our members/readers to submit articles of interest for publication in future issues.

John Alderman Raleigh Cooley Billie Ogle John Reece Dell Shockley John Surratt

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Good Roads Come to Carroll

1928 Motorcade from Winston-Salem Celebrating the Improvements and Hard- surfacing of Route 52 up Fancy Gap Mountain