River Falls Power Company - River Falls, AL
N 31° 20.943 W 086° 31.929
16R E 544500 N 3468381
Site near two dams of the River Falls Power Company
Waymark Code: WMBGCC
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 05/18/2011
Views: 7
Roadside historical marker near the site of an early 20th century sawmill. The reverse side of the marker tells about the Horse Shoe Lumber Company. The marker is located on the north side of US Hwy 84 east of River Falls, AL.
Marker Name: River Falls Power Company
Marker Type: Rural Roadside
Addtional Information::
Marker Text:
E. L. More organized the River Falls Power Company in 1920 to provide a grid system to furnish electricity to nine counties along the FL/AL state line. Leslie Cheek of Nashville joined More and Cyrus A. O’Neal in providing the start-up capital. More became the company’s president and O’Neal its vice-president, while Henry Stanley served as secretary. The arrival of electricity served as an invitation to industry to locate in the area and More’s own Horse Shoe Lumber Company was one of the earliest customers. More constructed a modern all-electric sawmill on the same site where his old mill had burned in 1924. The power was supplied by the company’s Gantt and Point “A” dams built upstream on the Conecuh River in 1924 and 1926, respectively. To ensure uninterrupted electrical service, a large auxiliary steam plant was added to the system in River Falls. A third dam up the Patsalgi was envisioned for the future by the company, but those plans were abandoned after the 1929 flood.
Date Dedicated / Placed: 2010
Marker Number: None
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Visit Instructions:
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