Rabun County Historical Society

Rabun County Historical Society Before Georgia Power, There Was Thomas E. Roane: Or How Clayton’s Lights Were Turned On

By Richard Cinquina

ARabun County mountain man from Tiger, Thomas E. electric lights became a major selling point for hotels in their Roane, was not an electrical engineer. In fact, he had advertising. no college education at all. But that did not stop him Demand Exceeds Generating Capacity from engineering and building the first power generating system to bring electricity to Clayton back in 1914. Demand for electricity ultimately outstripped the supply generated by Roane’s tiny power plant. As reported by That was the same year Georgia Railway and Power the Clayton Tribune in July 1927, “Mr. Roane, owner and Company, the predecessor of current-day Georgia Power, manager of the local plant, realized some time ago that he started generating hydroelectric power in Rabun County was not able to supply the demands on his plant for electric with the completion of its current and proceeded Tallulah Gorge dam and to make arrangements power plant. However, with the power company not a single kilowatt of (Georgia Power) to connect that electricity benefitted with their lines at Lakemont Rabun County. All of and draw from them the electricity generated enough juice to supply the at Tallulah Gorge was demand.” Lakemont was transmitted to Atlanta to the site of Georgia Power’s power Georgia Railway’s Terrora hydroelectric plant. electric streetcar system. The July 1927 article But due to the efforts of proudly concluded: “In Thomas Roane, homes fact, we are now connected and businesses in with the Southern Power Clayton were able to turn Companies (the parent of on the lights. Georgia Power) and have as much electric power as any Electricity Comes to one has at any other place.” Clayton in 1914 Tom Roane, on the left, and his family at their home in Tiger Roane established Clayton Light and Power Clayton Light and Water Sold to Georgia Power Works Company in 1908 to build a hydroelectric plant at Roane sold his Clayton Light and Water Works Company the base of a small waterfall on Stekoa Creek, a few miles to Georgia Power in 1928. The Clayton Tribune wrote in south of Clayton. The force of the falling water turned a December of that year: “Mr. Roane began the service here turbine that powered a generator to produce electricity. some fifteen years ago as a pioneer, and though without Roane used his untutored knowhow to engineer and build much capital, he has made a success of his undertaking even the entire system. in the face of what sometimes looked like insurmountable By 1914, the small Stekoa dam and powerhouse were obstacles. He deserves a great deal of credit for his initiative completed, and poles had been erected and strung with in the matter of giving Clayton light and power when it was wire, connecting the generating plant with more than 50 so much in need of it.” businesses and residences in Clayton. The town was on the The article added “it is rumored that they (Georgia Power) grid. will build new lines and otherwise make improvements of Among the beneficiaries of electricity were the hotels that the system. At this time, they are installing meters wherever lined Main Street as a result of the tourist boom brought they are furnishing current…” by the Tallulah Falls Railroad earlier in the century. Having

Roane Enters Telephone Business

Thomas Roane’s entrepreneurial drive was not restricted to electricity. He also purchased Rabun Telephone and Electric Company in 1918, which provided phone service to Clayton businesses and residences. To improve service, he and Charles E. Cannon constructed a building on East Savannah Street in 1924 to house a new telephone exchange. Cannon used the remainder of the building’s space for offices and storage for his mercantile business. That building is now the site of the White Birch Inn.

Roane sold the company in 1927 to Western North Carolina Telephone System, which was a subsidiary of the Bell Telephone Company. In June of that year, the Clayton Tribune reported: “All the old poles and wires have been torn down and an entirely new system will be installed. New poles and leaded cables are being placed on the main streets. A new switch board will be installed also.”

Two-Digit Phone Numbers

In August 1927, the Clayton Tribune reported that many Clayton businesses and homes now had two-digit telephone numbers. Some of the numbers included 24 for the Green House Hotel, 29 for the Blue Ridge Hotel, 45 for the Bynum House and 16 for T.E. Roane.

The Tribune’s phone number was 21. The article encouraged readers “to use the phone to let us know of any news that the paper should have.” When speaking with the operator to make a call, readers were instructed to “Use the number. Not the name. Get the habit.”

Estatoah Hydroelectric Plant in Dillard

Meanwhile, in September 1928, a group of citizens agreed to build a hydroelectric plant to serve Dillard and the surrounding area of northern Rabun County, including the Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School. The engineering company of J.B. McCrary, a local resident, built a dam and powerhouse at the base of Estatoah Falls on Mud Creek, between Dillard and Sky Valley. Rabun Land and Water Company, which owned and operated the Estatoah hydroelectric facility, inaugurated electrical service to Dillard in early 1929.

Miniscule Generating Facility

The Estatoah plant was tiny. It generated only 240 kilowatts of power. By comparison, the Nacoochee hydroelectric plant, the smallest of Georgia Power’s six hydro facilities on the Tallulah and Tugalo rivers, generated 4,800 kilowatts of electricity at that time. In fact, everything about the Estatoah facility was miniscule. The masonry dam on Mud Creek, which was only 12 feet high and 50 feet long, impounded a small pond. The powerhouse totaled 400-square-feet. Roane’s hydro power plant at the base of a small waterfall on Stekoa Creek

Kilowatts Are Your Servants

An advertisement in the Clayton Tribune told readers why they needed Estatoah electricity in no uncertain terms. “The kilowatts you hear so much about are YOUR SERVANTS…Let these silent and unobtrusive servants work for you. They’re always ready to leap to the task. They never rest or talk back. They’re tireless, day and night, Sundays and holidays, every hour of every day of every year.” Who wouldn’t want a servant like that?

The Estatoah plant was sold to Georgia Power in 1960. The utility continued to operate the facility for 55 more years before it was taken out of service in 2015 due to its minimal power output and high maintenance costs. The plant was officially decommissioned in 2019. Barry Brookshire, manager of Georgia Power’s North Georgia Hydro Group, told the Clayton Tribune that Estatoah in its final years, “was more a novelty than an effective means of power distribution. It might produce enough electricity to run two modern households for a day.”

New Deal’s Rural Electrification Agency

Clayton and Dillard were the exception and not the rule when it came to electrification. Rural areas of Rabun and other northeast Georgia counties remained without electricity for decades to come. In 1936, New Deal legislation established the Rural Electrification Agency or REA, which loaned money to cooperatives to run power lines into rural areas. Founded in 1938, the Habersham Electric Membership Cooperative (EMC) was funded by the REA to bring electricity to rural portions of Habersham, Rabun, Hall, White, Stephens and Lumpkin counties. Power started flowing in 1939, and the Habersham EMC is still serving customers in these locales. Continued...

Lanterns and Lightning Bugs

Despite progress made by the REA, it was years before this area was completely electrified. In 1972, power lines were finally extended to Tate City, just over the Rabun line in Towns County. It was not all that long ago when candles, kerosene lanterns and lightning bugs lit the night.

Learn more about our history by becoming a member of the Rabun County Historical Society. Membership and complete information about the Society are available at www. rabunhistory.org. You also can visit us on Facebook. Our museum at 81 N. Church St. in downtown Clayton currently is closed while undergoing an extensive renovation. However, the building is open from noon to 3 on Saturdays for people interested in researching county and family histories. The Society is a not-for-profit organization under Section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code, making your membership dues and donations fully tax deductible. Merry Christmas from Georgia Mountain Laurel