what it's oops: Clifton Manufacturing, SC

In the early 1800's the SC Manufacturing Co. built and operated a mill to roll iron and a nail factory on the Hurrican Shoals of Pacolet River, at the site of where the Clifton cotton mills are now.

Dexter E. Converse was one of the investors who bought the Glendale Mill in 1856. He took over the management and moved into the old Bivings house in Glendale. In 1880 he began to acquire land on the Pacolet River not far from Glendale. As an outgrowth of the Glendale Mill, in 1881 the first Clifton Mill was built by D. E. Converse and Co. (Dexter E. Converse). In 1889, the second Clifton Mill was built. Dexter E. Converse introduced two new practices, the mill village and the marketing of the products through a New York broker.
Clifton Mill #2 in 1889

The worst recorded flood in South Carolina history took place on the Pacolet River and its tributary Lawson Fork Creek on June 6, 1903. It had rained of and on for five days. On June 6th it rained approximately 11". The water rose so rapidly that the land near the river was covered by 40 feet of water within one hour. Railway traffic was disrupted. There was complete loss of houses, churches, industrial plants and corn and flour mills along the river. The textile communities of Clifton and Pacolet were hit the hardest by the flood, but flood damage also occurred along other streams in northwest SC. The economy was devastated by $5 million (1903 dollars) in damage. Between 50-80 people died. Homes, churches and businesses, including 7 cotton mills, 13 railroad bridges, and 17 farm houses were destroyed. 4,300 people were put out of work due to the flood. Clifton Mill #2 was flooded up to the second floor. Clifton Mill #1 was partially destroyed and Converse Mill (aka Clifton Mill #3) was destroyed. Clifton Mill #2 was repaired, Clifton Mill #1 was rebuilt, Converse Mill was rebuilt on a higher level.

http://dept.wofford.edu/geology/pdfs/Pac1904.pdf
THE PACOLET FLOOD OF JUNE 6th,1903.
For a number of days preceding the disaster there had been unusual rainfall. Shortly after midnight on the night of June 5-6 a terrific downpour deluged the whole Piedmont region, and on the upper waters of the Pacolet must have Amounted to a cloudburst; for reliable men who were in the storm 'where it was not at its worst' testify that the waters fell in a mass in which drops were not distinguishable. The huge volume was greater than the narrow valley of the Pacolet conld carry of. The watchman at Clifton No. 3, the mill highest up stream on the Pacolet, says that at 4 o'clock on the fatal morning of June 6, the water was 20 feet above normal, and at 4 :30 the destruction of the mill was begun by a large tree plunging through the roof of the boiler room. Towards 6 o'clock the chimney of No. 3 fell with a crash towards the western shore, just after the dam had broken, and almost immediately the body of the great mill, embracing four-fifths of a plant worth upwards of $500,000, sank into the water. At the lower end of Converse, as the village at Clifton No.3 is called, stood a number of houses upon a flat plane of an elevation of from six to twenty feet above the river. Sixteen of these were swept away and ten of their occupants were drowned and one killed by exhaustion and exposure. The river turns sharply to the left at this point, presenting in its narrow course between it's precipitous banks one of the grandest stretches of scenery to be viewed in South Carolina. So violent was the rush of water this narrow that some fifteen feet of mingled earth and rock was washed away on the left bank
and some forty feet on the rightbank, against whose almost perpendicular side over a hundred feet in height the main fury of the fioodrushed point blank.

The mass of water rushing against this high hill, on which stands the Methodist church, could not escape at once through the passage of about 200 feet in width, and surged backwards so furiously on the right as to wash down large trees and leave them heading directly upstream.
The greatest displays of force, were the tearing away of the hillsides at this point and the marvelous power of transporting of machinery from Clifton No.3. For weeks after the flood there might have been observed on the right bank about a hundred yards above the dam at Noal, a card machine weighing 7,000 pounds which had been swept three-quarters of a mile downstream. Two others are known to have passed over the dam at No. 1 and one reached a point far below the dam at No. 2, having traveled about two and a half miles. These huge machines must have floated upon the floor of the mill as upon a raft. Out of 194 of them in No. 3, only six have been discovered. The loss of this item alone exceeds $180,000.

At Clifton No. 1, the broad, long river front on the right bank; formerly one of the most beautiful and populous sections of the town, was left strewn with the remnants of hideous ruin i but no lives were lost.

At Clifton No. 2 a large number of houses were built upon a beautiful plane on the right bank from ten to fifteen feet above the water and seventy-five yards in width. 400 yards lower down on the opposite side was another level plane that encircled by a sharp curve of the stream, where lay the section of the town known as Santuc. From these two flat places 60 houses were swept, and here occurred the great bulk of the fatalities. The drowned reaching the number of fifty. Here occurred some of the most pathetic scenes and some of the most thrilling escapes. Julius A. Biggerstuff, who loved Lola Hall, the daughter of his next neighbor above, had called upon his sweetheart Friday night; they were to be married, it is said, on Sunday morning. But before Saturday's sun had farly risen Biggerstaff and all six members of the Hall family had been swept into eternity. Here Mrs. Emory was washed ashore with a child of three years and another a few months old, all three of them almost stripped of clothing by the fury of the waters, while the husband perished. Here, too, Rev. W. J. Snyder, P. C. Hundley and Will Wilkins effected the most dramatic rescue during the disaster in saving, by means of two cotton bales lashed together and moored to a rope, Mrs. Landrum Williamand her two children and Mr. Hickman Stribling from a tree in which they had remained eight and a half hours, after having floated or swam to its branches. Here, too, lived B. S. Johnson, who escaped from the raging flood after having been borne for several miles upon its bosom, but whose wife and flve children were drowned. It was his little boy who floated on a piece of timber eight miles to Pacolet and disappeared in the waves flfteen feet high plunging over the dam and Shoals. Nor can we forget the pathetic case of Samuel Swearingen and his bride at Clifton No. 3, whom the onlookers from the bank saw sink in each others arms.

At Clifton No. 2 the operatives, thinking the river would soon fall, were working as usual in their places; the authorities marched them out before the disaster to the building, having almost to drive some to safety. The upper and riverside projections of this mill and of No. 1 were butted off, the shafting throughout was sprung and the first and second floors were covered with trash,
trees, mud and sand.

At Pacolet the great double mill Nos. 1 and 2, 600 feet in length, was more nearly completely demolished even than Clifton No. 3; for more of its foundation was carried off and only a mere cottaged sized remnant of the slasher and cloth rooms, based well upon the high bank, was left standing. No 1 went down about 8 in the murning and No. 2 about an hour later, in full view of
the whole mill population, whom the rising waters had prevented from begining work. At Pacolet No.3, the new five story mill half mile below the engine, boiler and picker rooms were wrecked and almost completely swept away; the upper corner of the main building next to the river was carried away and the first floor was filled with sand twelve to fifteen feet in depth. The river filled it's bed below the dam with huge rooks torn from their primeval resting places along its sides and changed it's course so as to wash directly against the foundation of the mill. One of the first tasks after the flood subsided was to excevate the old channel and turn the river back into it.

The Presbyterian church located just below Pacolet Nos. l and 2 and on the opposite or Eastern side, in that most fatal of situations a flat place circled by a sharp bend of the river opposite a precipice, was lifted bodily from its foundations and set down wrenched but entire 35 miles down the stream. No residence was destroyed at Pacolet and only one life was lost, that of a negro man who ventured too far in attempting to save cotton bales.

The water at Pacolet was twenty feet higher than ever before recorded.

On June 5th, Clifton stock was selling at from $175 to $180 and Pacolet could not be bought for less than $190. A month after the unparralleled disaster, Clifton was at par and Pacolet about $110.

Only one wagon bridge was left over either Pacolet or its tributary Lawson's Fork, that being a private one on Dr. Boyd's plantation three miles above the city of Spartanburg. Railway and mail communication were completely cut off by the destruction of trestles and high bridges, The steel bridge 150 feet long and weighing 2,509,956 pounds over Lawson's Fork a mile from Spartanburg was washed from its piers and carried 150 yards down the current, having, been forced from its piers 80 feet above low water presumably by the pressure of the rapid mass of water rushing against the houses and debris banked upon its upper side. Every line of communication by rail between up country and low country route from the North to the South through the Piedmont belt was broken on the morning of June 6 except that over the bridge of the Columbia, Newberry and Laurens railroad over the Congaree two miles above Columbia and on June the 8th, this gave away. The Southern railway completed a trestle across the great chasm at Lawson's Fork in a little over seventy hours and resumed it's tram service over the stream at a quarter passed three o 'clock Tuesday afternoon the 9th. The trolley from Spartanburg to Clifton crossed Lawson's Fork on a new trestle June 12.

Sunday afternoon, the day after the flood, a.full mass meeting was held in the opera house in Spartanburg and a subscription of $3,355 was raised in a few minutes which was later increased to $26,000. Hundreds if not thousands of dollars worth of food and clothing was collected by the wagons sent through town by the relief committee. The whole State and many friends beyond rallied to the occasion and supplied an amount greater than was needed. No more admirable traits were called out by the terrible crisis than the dauntless courage, the sane optimism and the splendid faith exhibited by mill authorities and citizens. And no better proof could be g~iven of the stamina of the expanding industries of the Piedmont section the fact that not an operative of the 2, 000 thrown out of work needed to remain idle longer than was required to place himself in anyone of the score or more of factories which sought his labor. And no higher tribute is needed to their law abiding, steady character than the good order prevailing throughout the villages between the disaster and migration to other mills, which in a few weeks left the populous hills of Pacolet and Clifton almost deserted.

The following is the list of dead, numbering 66. The Mr. Grier mentioned died from twelve hours of exhaustion and exposure in a tree which saved him from drowning:

At Clifton No. 2, 53: Julius A. Biggerstaff; Augustus Calvert, his wife and two children, Felix and Lou; Bud Emory; Mrs. J. R. Finley; JoelH. Hall, his wife, mother, and Ella, Jimmie and Lola, his children, and five other children; Mrs. Henderson; Mrs. B. S. Johnson and her five children; Oliver Johnson; Roscoe Johnson; the Loqin family of eleven; Mrs. Mossey and four children; Ed Robbs; Mrs. Robbs and two children; Genoble Sims; Novie D. Sims; Landrum Waddell; Martha Waddell; Dock Williams; Mrs. Jane William's baby.

At Clifton No. 3, 12:
Miss Fleetia Gosa; Mr. Grier; Mrs. Henson; Miss Maggie Kirby; Mrs. William Kirby; Garland Long and wife; Mrs. John Owens and child; Roy Owens; Samuel Swearingen and his bride; William Wood

At Pacolet, one:
Quay Worthy, colored.

The total loss of property, as nearly as can be estimated, aggregated $3,800,000

Loss to Spartanburg County in bridges alone was $50,000.

'l'he following is the report of the Central Relief Committee:
Mr. R. H. F. Chapman, Chairman Central Relief Committee;
Dear Sir: I hereby submit my report as treasurer of your relief committee:
Receipts
Subscriptions from out of town $21,454.98
Subscriptions from Spartanburg $4,543.29
Total $25,998.27
Disbursements
Relief committee at Clifton $10,500.00
Relief committee at Pacolet $ 2,890.00
Relief committee at Glendale $ 1,000.00
Relief committee at Whitney $ 500.00
Relief committee at Mary
Louise Mill $ 100.00
Orders for household goods,
sent operatives who moved away$ 3,022.68
Burial of dead (balance) $ 46.00
Sufferers at Upper Pacolet
Valley $ 7,406.24
Postage $ 14.00
Livery $ 13.00
Printing, etc $ 6.35
Total $24,998.27
Respectfully Submitted,
E.S. Tennent, Treasurer

The auditing committee have examined the books and vouchers of the treasurer of the relief committee and hereby certify they are correct.
W. E. Burnett,
A L. White,
Jno A. L.aw
Committee.

The New York Times New York 1903-06-07
Clifton and Pacolet, SC Cloudburst Causes Flooding, June 1903
CLOUDBURST SWEEPS TOWNS; THIRTY KILLED
PACOLET AND CLIFTON, S. C., CARRIED AWAY IN TORRENT
WATERS RUSH DOWN VALLEY, CARRYING AWAY MILLS, BRIDGES, AND COTTON OPERATIVES' DWELLINGS
Spartanburg, S. C., June 6. -- Pacolet and Clifton, in this county, where are located some of the greatest manufacturing plants in the Southern States, have been swept away, at least thirty persons have been drowned, and tremendous damage has been done to manufacturing establishments as a result of a terrific cloudburst that broke over this section between midnight and dawn today.

The storm settled over Spartanburg late last night, and the flood swept away the dams, causing the whole valley to be submerged by a whirling stream of water. The great overflow from river and creek is still rising, in many cases the water in Pacolet having reached a height above the roofs of the houses, only a chimney here and there being left to show where once stood a prosperous milling village.

Mill No. 1 has been washed away, Mill No. 2 is destroyed, while the third is in imminent danger of going at any moment. The dams of all three mills have been swept away, and through the great gaps in them the water is rushing into the valley beyond.

At Clifton, also in this county, where the great Clifton Mills Nos. 1, 2, and 3 are situated, great damage has been wrought, and further reports may show that the loss there is just as great, if not greater, than at Pacolet.

President TWICHELL of the Clifton Mills says that the reports received by him indicate that No. 3 has been wrecked and that the other two mills are greatly damaged. He also says that he understands there has been great loss of life and that several of the giant warehouses near the mills have been swept away. The exact number of the dead it is impossible to ascertain. First reports were that fifty persons were lost at Clifton and twenty-five at Pacolet. Six bodies were seen floating near each other in the stream at one time, and others are being reported at short intervals.

What the property loss will reach it is impossible to say, but that it will be a figure considerably in excess of $2,000,000 is conceded.

A partial list of the victims at Clifton is as follows:
AUGUSTUS CALVERT.
MRS. AUGUSTUS CALVERT.
MISS LIZZIE CALVERT.
M. FELIX.
MRS. W. B. TINSLEY.
MORLAY SIMS.
MRS. B. J. JOHNSON and Four Children.
MRS. MAGGIE KIRBY.
MRS. JOHN OWENS.
ROY OWENS.
GARLAND LONG.
MRS. LONG.
MISS FLETIA GOSIA.
ROBERT FINLEY.

The ill-fated Pacolet cotton mills were the heaviest property losers, President VICTOR MONTGOMERY estimating the damage to the plant at $1,250,000.

About 1,200 operatives in the mills are thrown out of work there, and within a few days will be in need of daily bread.

At 6 o'clock this morning it was noticed that the water was rising rapidly in the Pacolet River, but no special importance was attached to it by the mill operatives, who began to form in line to enter the mills.

At Mills Nos. 1 and 2 the water pressure soon became dangerous, the boiler rooms were submerged, and the workmen were ordered back.

A little later the fury of the raging river struck Mill No. 1, sweeping the plant entirely away. The strong current then swept against No. 2, demolishing that mill and leaving only the cloth room standing.

The big bridge over the Pacolet River, a steel structure, was then carried away by the flood, which had burst through the dams.

The warehouse, with nearly 3,500 bales of cotton and 4,000 bales of domestic cloth followed, all the cotton being carried down stream.

At Pacolet Mill No. 3, one half the picker room and five stories on the left side of the long building were washed away. The main building, supported by a thick brick wall, is still standing, but is very shaky and may collapse at any time. The boiler room is gone, but the smokestack is yet standing. The dam at No. 3 is intact. All the machinery in this mill is ruined.

At Glendale, four warehouses filled with cotton and cotton products were swept away, along with the dam across Lawson's Fork and the trestle of the City Electric Railway. The mill at Glendale was not materially damaged.

At Converse, the main building of the Clifton factory collapsed, and the matter[sic] rose till the second floor of the mill was four feet deep -- forty or fifty feet above the ordinary water mark. The Converse Mill is utterly demolished, nothing standing except the picker room building, which is badly wrecked. The Clifton Mill No. 3 also lost its boiler room, machine shop, engine room, and smokestack.

The Whitney mills on Lawson's Fork were damaged by the heavy rise of the water, and some houses and a steel bridge at that point were swept away.

At the Tueapau Mills the water rose to the second floor of the building and considerably damaged the machinery.

One of the great mills at Clifton, the Converse, founded by and named in honor of the founder of Converse College for Women of this city, which is a 51,000 spindle concern, capitalized at more than $1,000,000, was reported destroyed at one time, but a telegram from MR. TWICHELL to F. J. PELZER of Charleston, the head of the great cotton milling corporations at Pelzer, S. C., says that the main structure is still intact.

Scores of homes at Clifton have been wrecked, and at least 4,000 persons who worked in the mills are in a pitiable condition, with all their household effects either completely ruined or rendered almost valueless, and a long period of idleness before them.

Pacolet and Clifton are situated in the defiles of two valleys, and most of the homes of the operators were located near the mills, where the destructive power of the flood was greatest. These people are in dire need of assistance now, and a relief committee, of which the Rev. W. J. SNYDER is at the head, has been appointed to receive and turn over money, food, or clothing sent for the sufferers.

The damage in other parts of the county will also reach a great figure. Every bridge on the main line of the Southern Railway in this couty is reported washed away, telegraph and telephone wires are down, while the bridge over the Enoree River, along the banks of which, near the station of Enoree, and situated the Enoree cotton mills, has been carried away. That stream has also overflown its banks, and it is feared great damage will be done.

It was hardly more than a decade ago that Spartanburg was simply one of the smaller townships of upper South Carolina. Then came the great cotton milling movement, and the county, owing to its magnificent natural water power, secured the very cream of the investments. Mill after mill was built along the banks of its rivers until to-day millions of dollars are invested.

Fire insurance was carried on the ruined mills, but whether they were insured against loss by flood is not known. That every one of the mills will be rebuilt at once is the general belief in the city tonight.

(For more about the 1903 Flood.)

Clifton Mill #1 after the flood.

Clifton Mill #1 about 1910

Annual Report By South Carolina Dept. of Agriculture

Annual Report By South Carolina Dept. of Agriculture

Spartanburg Herald Journal
By Jason Spencer
Published: Monday, March 10, 2008 at 3:15 a.m.
The owner of the surviving Clifton mill has big plans — he wants to mine for sand along a small beach area just across the Pacolet River, eventually turning it into a park, and put loft apartments, maybe condos, in the sturdy old building.

Restarting the hydroelectric plant is part of his vision, too.

But David Sawyer’s plans are mired in financial problems, and some people in the community are leery of a mining operation coming into their quiet village.

Still, he remains optimistic about the future of Clifton Mill No. 2, and his role in it.

“When the textile industry went offshore, we lost the means to help these people maintain their lives. We’ve done very little to help little communities like Clifton. Clifton Mill No. 1 should have never been torn down. It’s a sad commentary when we lose gorgeous old buildings,” said Sawyer, who turned 65 Sunday.

“There’s so many neat things you can do with them. All you have to do is open your mind.”

Sawyer bought Clifton Mill No. 2 from Best Machinery Movers & Erectors — a small company headed by Dennis Goode and Ron Davis — on June 15, 2004, for $535,000.

Goode and Davis financed the deal.

But as of May 2007, Sawyer still owed the entire principal and, along with interest, taxes and attorney fees, a judge ordered him to pay Best Machinery $684,901.41 in October, according to court documents.

The property was put up for auction on Nov. 5, and Goode and Davis thought they had it back.
But Sawyer had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Georgia (where he is from) three days beforehand.

The sale was set aside.

Sawyer was then doing business as a limited liability company called Habersham Mill, which is now called Clifton Mill Lofts.

Habersham’s bankruptcy filing was dismissed in February, as the company’s sole asset was the Spartanburg property and there was no record of that company being authorized to do business in Georgia.

Foreclosure proceedings on the Clifton mill have resumed, and a hearing will be held Thursday in Spartanburg.

The property once again could go up on the auction block.

But at the first of the week, Sawyer plans to file for Chapter 11 protection again, he said — this time in South Carolina. He said he hopes it will buy him time to come up with a plan that will help out his cash flow and allow him to keep the property.

Mining the beach and a sandbar in the Pacolet is a large part of that plan.

“It’s an asset of the property, and sand is a marketable commodity,” Sawyer said. “We do two things by doing this. We improve the river by deepening it, and second, we’ll increase the amount of water available to us when we restart our hydroelectric plant.”

Sawyer said he has a partner in Atlanta, a veterinarian, but would not name him, and that person’s name hasn’t appeared on any documents obtained by the Herald-Journal.

At least one other man has been involved in the project, but he dissolved his relationship with Sawyer — which Sawyer said set things back.

Best for the community?
The land that would be affected by the mining operation is about 8.6 acres, according to the application Sawyer filed with the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
He plans to replant vegetation over one acre in increments between 2013 and 2017.
The actual operation would be about 800 feet southeast of the intersection of Clifton-Glendale and Goldmine roads.

The state is accepting comments on the project through 5 p.m. March 18.

People who own property adjacent to the mill, such as Kevin Lee, have already been contacted.
“I’m totally against it — just the mess, and I don’t know if these small roads around here can handle it. The tanker trucks that come through seem to keep the road pretty broken up, anyway,” said Lee, 38. “I think this guy is trying to come up with any way possible to stay around. His intentions are not for the betterment of the community or anything. It’s just to try to stay put where he’s at.”

Goode and Davis are against the plan, too. “We don’t like the idea whatsoever. It really does not belong to him until he pays us, since he is in default. So, if there’s anything we could do to stop it, we would,” Goode said.

Davis added: “You can’t come in and do it in six months’ time. You’re looking at three to five, maybe even seven years, and you’re going to have those trucks, the mining operation, the danger of children being around it. It’s just not a good place to set up a mining operation.”

‘A great old elephant’
The one thing everyone has in common is they say they want what’s best for Clifton. They just have different ideas as to what that is.

“I think it could turn around down here and be a real nice area,” said Lee, who grew up in Clifton and recently moved back. “It’s a beautiful area. It’s just a matter of somebody spending some money and doing the right things to make it happen. And I don’t think this cat here is the guy to do that.”

Don Bramblett, a community activist, hopes to see the small beach once again become a hot spot for the community to fish, swim or rest in the sun. Crime got out of control a few years ago, and the beach has largely been closed off, although it’s still easy enough to get to.

“People out here can’t afford to pay dues at a neighborhood pool or Spartanburg Country Club. They’ve got to have access to a place to recreate. I know Spartanburg County is trying to build more parks, but we have nothing out here. We have nothing. If we could — and this is private property, I know — but there is a lot of interest in people kayaking and canoeing that’s just been generated over the last couple of years. So, I’d like to see that nurtured and grow into something nicer,” Bramblett said. “Mr. Sawyer … had good intentions originally, but I think they’ve kind of gone sour. And for him to venture out into some long-term project, with a huge investment of money, when on the surface it looks like there’s a lot of other problems, it’s somewhat distressing to me as a resident. I’d hate for him to come in here and start doing things and leave it in a mess.”

Goode said if he and Davis do get the mill property back, “We really don’t know what we’d do with it.”

And so, Sawyer is pressing forward. He can tell you the history of the mills along the Pacolet back to the disastrous flood of 1903, and then some.

“This is a great old elephant, and we want to keep it alive,” Sawyer said. “Our dream is to make residences there. I want to save the building. It’s a beautiful, historic building. I still think this is the prettiest industrial building in the South. We have had no help from local lenders on this project. The people who we felt would benefit the most from it have all turned us down. You don’t have to have a whole lot of imagination to see that lofts and adaptive re-use of a historic building could work. It’s worked everywhere in the country. But these folks are so near-sighted that they won’t help it come true.”

Sources:
http://www.slobotabouttown.com/clifton_mill_one.html
Clifton: A River of Memories and Herald Journal
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E05E2DA1639E433A25754C0A9609C946297D6CF
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E05E2DA1639E433A25754C0A9609C946297D6CF
http://www3.gendisasters.com/south-carolina/6367/clifton-pacolet-sc-cloudburst-causes-flooding-june-1903
http://sciway2.net/2001/clifton-glendale-sc/Index.htm
http://books.google.com/books?id=Ibd1u3CgOHMC&pg=PA94&lpg=PA94&dq=clifton+manufacturing+company,+SC&source=web&ots=lJYvd4lXbm&sig=iz5ZP6EGfN6cPiAjWtPvpNwtIHY&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result

These are the photos I made of Clifton Mill #2 on 12/13/2008.

This is a bar located on Goldmine Rd and it's in this dirt parking lot that you park. You cross the street to the "No Trespassing" sign and you can see the path to the Clifton Beach on the Pacolet River. Crime used to be pretty high in this area so I don't recommend it.