As the electrification of North Carolina progressed in the early twentieth century,
water was regarded as a valuable energy source—something that was cheap,
abundant, and renewable. Clark wrote on the potential of hydropower, “There
will be no coal to go in, no ashes to go out, no gas, no soot, no dirt.” Many
local newspapers were similarly optimistic, reporting that electricity derived from
hydropower would soon replace steam as the main energy source for railroads,
mills, cities, and homes, and lauding water power investors. But as Raleigh’s News
and Observer lamented, the nineteenth century had lacked “men of business sense
with the necessary capital to establish large plants and fully utilize the water power
that has so long swept unused into the sea.