The Augusta Canal

The Augusta Canal. Enterprise Mill. , Until the Enterprise Mill was built Augustans were not sure that the 1875 enlargement of the canal had worked to attract industry. , The 1848 granite block building at the canal end of this complex is a former flour mill and the only remaining industrial structure which was built on the original 1845 Augusta Canal. , After enormous public investment to enlarge the canal in 1875, local residents became worried when two years passed and only one additional mill had opened, a small one at that. , However, the importance of the Augusta Canal to local industry and the economy became evident with the construction of the Enterprise Mill in 1877. Built and continuously operated as a textile mill into the 1980's, it was the first large scale mill to use the increased water power created by the enlargement of the canal. Huge turbines within the bowels of the complex continue to generate electricity from hydropower, even though operations ceased years ago. , The Enterprise Mill is one of the best preserved examples of the Second Empire style in American industrial arichitecture, with its characteristic convex-curved Mansard tower roofs. , With success of the Enterprise Mill, seven other cotton mills followed in the next decade, enabling the city to be ranked top producer of textile goods in the South by the turn of the century., (Carving text) Built- 1845 , Enlarged - 1875 , from Stevens Creek Dam east to 7th St.