Haw River Assembly Po Box 187, Bynum Nc 27228 919.542.5790

Everything you ever wanted to know about the Haw River But didn’t think to ask… An overview of the river’s geography, cultural and Natural history Prepared by the haw river assembly Po box 187, bynum nc 27228 919.542.5790 www.hawriver.org March 2004 Past and Present Over half a million people live in the Haw River watershed. The oldest settlements along the Haw were small Native American villages. The People of the Haw (the Sissipihaw) spoke an Eastern Siouan language and lived bountifully off the land through hunting, fishing and farming. They lived here for thousands of years before the Europeans arrived. It is believed that their population was severely weakened by European diseases brought through trading contacts. Few remained to see their land overtaken. The survivors joined tribes to the north and south and live on today through the Occoneechi and other Native Americans who live in the Piedmont of North Carolina. German, Scotch-Irish, and English immigrants came in the late 1700's building farms and settlements. Grist mills for grinding grains sprung up along the Haw and its creeks where drop- offs made good dams and mill races. Forests were cut down at an amazing speed for lumber and farms. One by one the larger animals declined or disappeared -- wolves, bears, beavers, otters, eagles. Although most settlers were yeoman farmers, there were also some large slave-holding farms or plantations. Due to the large number of Quaker people, especially in Guilford and Alamance Counties, the Underground Railroad had many stations (safe houses) in the Haw watershed. Escaping slaves used the Haw River and its tributaries as landmarks on their way North to freedom and to put off trackers. However, the river could hinder an escaping slave as crossing was often dangerous. During the Industrial Revolution, dams and mill races became the sites for textile mills, especially in Alamance and Chatham Counties, where water powered the looms and machines. Entire mill villages were built to house workers who left hard times in farming in search of jobs. The Haw became more and more polluted as factories and towns emptied their waste into the river. Piedmont North Carolina is very much a part of the new South. The declining textile industry has been supplanted by a surge of new economic development. People have moved here from all over the country, and the world. Modern cities live side by side with an older rural way of life. And still the Haw flows on, through farms and forests, abandoned textile mills and new suburbs. The forests have grown up where old farms once stood and the beaver, otter and eagle have returned. However, the mark of a more industrialized culture has been left on the River. A growing population has meant more runoff and wastewater. Without education, pollution will continue to affect our watershed in negative ways. Sources of Pollution Point Source Pollution: This is the term for pollution that enters a stream at one identifiable source, like a factory or municipal waste treatment discharge pipe. The federal Clean Water Act, passed in the early 1970's, has made a tremendous difference in cleaning up the Haw. Industries and waste water treatment plants were made to comply to much stricter standards and we have seen the river recover from its worst days. It's very important that this law not be weakened by Congress. Continuing problems with industrial waste usually result from factories that are out of compliance with their permits or are not pre-treating their waste. There are many cities and towns in the Haw River watershed, including Greensboro, Reidsville, Burlington, Chapel Hill and Pittsboro that empty their treated wastewater into the Haw River or its tributaries. Although modern treatment plants are capable of discharging cleaner water than in the past, problems arise when equipment fails or when factories discharge unacceptable pollutants (including high nutrient levels) into the wastewater before treatment. Such failures can result in short toxic bursts into the river, which are dangerous to aquatic life. Some scientists believe this source of pollution is a major cause of continuing extinction of endangered species of mussels and other river life. Excess nitrogens and phosphates in the water provide nutrients for algae blooms – never good for a river. Non-point Source Pollution: This is the catchall name for runoff from the land, which may contain pesticides, fertilizers, metals, manure, road salt, leaking gas and oil from automobiles, and other pollutants. Sources of these pollutants include farms, lawns, paved urban areas and roads, construction sites, timbering operations, golf courses and home septic systems. Non-point source pollution can quickly kill a stream by introducing organic and inorganic pollutants that can result in decreased oxygen, or poison aquatic life forms. Erosion of sediment into a stream can smother aquatic life and clog the gills of fish as well as cut off needed light to underwater plants. Fast growth in the Triangle and Triad regions has meant an explosion of road and housing construction contributing to erosion problems. The growing popularity of golf course developments brings its own set of run-off problems when fairways double as waste water effluent sprayfields, inadequate for the job. Furthermore, new chip mill technology in forestry has meant an alarming increase in timbering, including old hardwoods that had been spared until now. A Look at the Old Haw River Cotton Mill Towns Bynum school for workers and their families. The mill burned In 1779, Luke Bynum bought land upon which to build a down in 1916, but was soon rebuilt. In 1922, electricity gristmill and covered bridge. In 1872, the Bynum was installed and 29 more mill houses built. Though the Manufacturing Co. (Luther and Carney Jr.) built a textile mill closed operations in 1986, the town of Bynum still mill for weaving cotton cloth, while continuing to run the exists, with an historic church, the Bynum General Store gristmill. They also constructed 14 mill houses and a and a one-lane bridge crossing the scenic river. operated as Copland Fabrics and produces curtain Saxapahaw materials. This town had its beginnings as a settlement around a In 1869 the Holt brothers (James, W.E., and L. Banks) of gristmill on the Haw. John Newlin and his sons built a the Granite mill in Haw River bought land next to High cotton mill in 1844 for weaving. B. Everett Jordan, who Falls and established the Carolina Mill, which operated became a U.S. Senator (and is the namesake of Jordan into the 1960’s, but is now abandoned. Lake), was an owner and manager of the mill. In 1994, the mill closed due to tornado damage. The Jordan family is now renovating the mill for residential and Glencoe commercial use. James Holt bought a tobacco processing plant just upriver from Carolina Mill to expand his textile Swepsonville operations. There he built Glencoe mills, a company store, and mill worker homes. This factory operated as a George Swepson, and partner G. Rosenthal, bought the textile mill under the Holt family until 1968. Now land along the Haw River where Thomas Ruffin had abandoned, this decorative old brick mill and its two operated a gristmill. In 1868 Swepson built a cotton mill story millhouses are truly a ghost town on the Haw. Now there called Falls Neuse. During its early years, raw a National Historic Industrial Site, NC Preservation has cotton was sent on barges downriver from the town of recently begun historic renovation of the mill houses for Haw River to Swepsonville, and finished cloth was towed residential use. back upriver. The mill burned and was rebuilt twice. A subsequent owner changed its name Virginia Mills. It closed in 1970. Ossippee In 1878, James N. Williamson and sons built the Haw River Ossipee Cotton Mill. It, too, had a company store and mill houses, and the houses are still part of a present The Town of Haw River is rich with mill history. Adam day community. Although the mill is no longer in Trollinger and his family moved here from Pennsylvania operation, it is used by Glen Raven Mills for transport in 1745, and Benjamin Trollinger built a cotton mill on the and shipping with their nearby operations. river‘s rocky bank in 1844. He called it the Granite Mill. The Holt family bought the Granite Mill in 1858 and became known for their Alamance Plaids cloth. A Altamahaw second cotton mill was built across from it (later known Just upriver of Ossipee is the village of Altamahaw, the as Tabardry Mill). By the late 1800’s, little villages of site of earlier gristmills and a tobacco factory. John Gant company mill houses sprung up, with names like and Berry Davidson established a textile mill in 1870. Terrapin Slide and Red Hill. In addition, the mill owners During the 1930’s, it operated as a silk mill, and today built many grand houses that still exist today. Under has become part of the Glen Raven Mills operation. The later ownership, the mills were used to weave and dye beautiful Victorian-style old brick office building has been corduroy, and denim was produced. The mills have historically preserved and renovated as a conference since closed production, though the Granite Mill is still center. used as a shipping operation. For more information, visit the Haw River Historical Museum (Main St., Haw River, If you would like directions to take a driving across from Granite Mill open Sat.-Sun. 1-4) tour of these old mill towns, or for more information, send a stamped self-addressed Hopedale and Carolina envelope to HRA, P.O.

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