The Norris Cotton Mills in Cateechee, SC was built in 1895. The name Cateechee is described well by townofnorris.org: "Cateechee was the name of the legendary Indian maiden who had ridden from Keowee Town above Six Mile all the way to Ninety Six, SC to warn settlers there of an impending attack by the Cherokee." In the early 1900s, Norris Mill (Later know as Cateechee Mill) and the village became a textile and lumber industry powerhouse in Pickens County. Compelted around 1901, the hydroelectric dam built downstream called "Woodside II" was completed and had a short transmission line to the mill and town. Woodside I, beside the mill, was converted to hydroelectric power later on and another dam was later built upstream of the mill for additional electricity. Near the end of the 1900s, Cateechee Mill closed and the town quickly deteriorated. The large Cateechee school sits abandoned among many of the mill homes and the gutted Cateechee Mill is now a pile of rubble. The Woodside dams were abandoned on the Six Mile Creek after the mill closed. A large modern industry upstream contaminated the waters of the Six Mile Creek, the sediment in the creek was released by demolishing the dams. Woodside II, built around 1901, is now removed. Saddly, its too late to explore. http://www.appalachianhistory.net/2010/01/get-your-liver-to-working-correctly-and.html |