Power, Wheel House and Turbine

Power, Wheel House and Turbine. Glencoe. To power the turbine that ran the mill, the water that ran through the mill race flowed into the wheelhouse at the back of the mill. It dropped down through the 48-inch, 152-horsepower turbine located below ground level. A metal shaft connected the turbine with a big pulley on the first floor of the mill. That pulley turned the overhead belts and smaller pulleys that powered machinery in the Picker House. Sometimes, eels from the river clogged the turbine, shutting down the mill until workers cleared them out. . . In 1894, the Holts installed a smaller turbine to generate electric power and made Glencoe one of the first mills in the county with electric lights. In 1903 they installed a steam engine to power the Dye House, Finishing Room, and Napper Room. In the 1930s, they converted to electric machinery, using water power to generate the electricity. . This historical marker is Near Burlington in Alamance County North Carolina