Thus, when Dr. Wylie presented J. B. Duke with an opportunity to invest in the
future of the Carolinas’ water industry, Duke responded positively, inviting the
doctor and his head engineer William S. Lee to discuss the matter at his estate. At
that meeting, Lee presented “diagrams and preliminary plans . . . for extensive
[water power] developments on the Catawba [River]” that would cost $8,000,000.
Lee later reflected that the large dollar figure “seemed to attract