Southside Dam and Powerhouse

Downriver from the Laboratory Cotton Mill in Lincoln County, NC, was the mill and hillside village known as Southside. The train ran between the mill and the village, and a local creek supplied water for the steam locomotives back in the day. My father grew up across the river and over the bluffs on Laboratory Mill hill, but he loved this river, and particularly the stretch below the Southside Dam. Today, at age 83, he was able to walk one more time down the rail bed to the dam, and then down the trail to the river. Danabug and I were honored to follow him to his favorite place.

 On the Carolina Thread Trail...at least for a few minutes

 The old powerhouse

 Pop and Danabug

 The South Fork of the Catawba River

 Don't you just want to go lay down in the rapids?

 The whole river runs through this gate now!

 The dam

 The Bug, looking for a rock to take back to the cairn

 Another view of the rapids

 Close-up

 Looking up at the powerhouse

 Sycamore across the river

 Now THAT'S a rock!

 Where the water ran through the turbines

 Beautiful sky!

 My father's favorite fishing spot: the island.

 The old rock wall below the rail road

 The road to Long Shoals

 Pop, recollecting so much today

 Above the dam

 Waterfall on a creek...people could drive their cars into a shallow pool above the fall and wash them!

 Back in the day, this water filled a large tank from which the steam locomotives could be filled.

 Where the old bridge crossed over the railroad from the mill to the village. The old store building still stands, just out of sight.

Ferocious guard dog, lol!