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Taken: Circa 1920
Caption: Portman Shoals Power Plant, Seneca River
Additional Description: W.C. Whitner conceived the idea of the long distance transmission of electric power in 1894. First a small plant was established at High Shoals on the Rocky River six miles from Anderson. It transmitted 200 electric horsepower from 5,000-volt generators. Then the Portman Shoals Power Plant on the Seneca River, a 10-mile distance, was built by the Anderson Light & Power Company. Construction began in 1896. It used Stanley Electric Company's 10,000-volt generators. The Portman dam, swept away in December of 1901, was rebuilt and returned to service in September 1902. The plant caused Anderson to be called the "Electric City." (Source: South Carolina Postcards, Vol. IX: Anderson County by Howard Woody (2003), pg 79.)
Submitted: January 2, 2009, by Brian Scott of Anderson, South Carolina.
Database Locator Identification Number: p48696
File Size: 0.024 Megabytes

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