Paul Perkins’ Recollections

Mountain Island – From Mill to Hydroelectricity

by Glenda R. Loftin

Although Paul Perkins spent only two years of his adolescence in Mount Holly, in a community that no longer exists, he is drawn back to this area by boyhood memories of steam shovels, jib-pole cranes, "dinky" steam engines, explosions, and the excitement surrounding the construction of the Mountain Island Hydroelectric Plant in the early 1920s.

The name Mountain Island came from a cotton mill which originally occupied the site on which the present plant is located. That mill was destroyed on Sunday, July 15, 1916 in what has become known locally as the "Great Flood."

In 1920 the Charlottesville, Va., company of Rinehart and Dennis was awarded a Duke Power Company contract to build a dam at Mountain Island for the purpose of using water power to generate electricity.

Perkins’ father, William B. Perkins, was vice president of Rinehart and Dennis and soon traveled here to begin work. He had been on the job site since the start of construction, and when young Perkins, age 13, arrived in the spring of 1921 with the remainder of the family – his mother, brother and sister – work was well under way on the project.

Perkins, a handsome gentleman who appears to be at least 20 years younger than his 80 years, remembers it vividly.

"On a high bluff overlooking the dam site there were a number of brick homes which appeared to have been unoccupied for a time, but the company refurbished them for families of white workers," he said.

Temporary Frame Houses

To supplement housing, a large number of temporary frame houses were built by the Rinehart and Dennis contractor. "We lived in one of these with electricity, but no running water. I believe the brick homes were built when the cotton mill was located nearby," Perkins continued.

"A separate camp of shanties for occupancy by black families was built about a quarter mile distance from the white area. The work force consisted of white skilled labor, who were operators of equipment, and common labor, who were principally blacks and rented convict labor from the state. The prisoners were in separate housing and always worked in groups under gun," he said.

The contractor operated a commissary at which workers could buy food and other supplies. A security officer, called a "shack rooster," was engaged to keep order. On weekends there were sometimes problems in this community of several hundred people. Work was conducted six days a week.

The ‘Big Explosion’

Perkins remembers, "One event of record in 1922 was the tremendous explosion of the company’s powder house, which was a half mile from the camp and contained 400 cases of Dupont blasting powder. One Sunday some workers fired a pistol shot into the powder house, and it exploded with a great concussion, leaving a hole about fifteen feet deep in the sand."

Rumor has it that the hole is still evident somewhere in the underbrush near the plant. Some senior citizens of Mount Holly may remember that the town was slightly shake by the blast and the bodies of three workers were picked up in pieces.

In 1923, only seven years after the flood, Mountain Island Hydroelectric Plant was completed and in service.

Perkins’ other memories center around home and community life in the Mount Holly area. His father owned a T-Model Ford which Perkins learned to drive at twelve years of age in Virginia.

"During school years at Mountain Island I drove the car, full of children, to Mount Holly every school day. I was 13 and the Mount Holly police stopped me for not being licensed. Since I was a fully competent driver, my father obtained a special permit for me to drive to Mount Holly High School and back to Mountain Island."

"During freezing weather we drained the car radiator every night. Fortunately, we never had a traffic violation. However, on one of our movie trips to Charlotte the car was stolen and never recovered. Father then bought a new T-Model Ford," Perkins recalled.

"In the afternoon at Mountain Island, I delivered a Charlotte Observer paper route of thirty papers, so I had some personal income. Also, in the summer of 1922 I was on the payroll as a pump (skinner) operator of a number of required water pumps around the dam site," he said.

Perkins’ Best Friends

At Mount Holly High School Perkins’ best friends were David Nims, Troy Lewis, Christine Rhine, and the Outen brothers. Mr. Roussel was the principal and the teacher he remembers best was Olive White, whom he described as "an excellent Latin teacher."

Perkins’ mother, who had been a music teacher, sometimes invited the female teachers of her children to tea at their Mountain Island home. His brother was 11 and his sister seven at the time.

The Perkins family attended the Baptist Church in Mount Holly and went shopping in Gastonia and Charlotte. One of his favorite pastimes was going to see the old Charlotte Hornets minor league baseball games. Dick Hablitzel was the star first baseman and manager.

Perkins, a graduate of the University of Virginia and retired marketing executive with Exxon Co. U.S.A. , currently lives in Houston, Texas, where he is a member of the Texas Jack Association.

In their spare time, Perkins and his wife, "Kaffy," enjoy bridge, dancing, gardening and fishing.

Of his stay in Mount Holly Perkins says, "I really enjoyed my two years in Tar Heel country and had hoped to graduate at Mount Holly High School, but my father’s company was awarded another contract for the L&N Railroad tunnels in Kentucky, and we moved there in 1923. I often wonder what happened to my North Carolina friends after 1922."

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