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. Aerial view of Duke Power Company’s
steam-generating Belmont Power plant on the Catawba River near Charlotte, NC, Buchanan, State Archives of
North Carolina.124 southern cultures, Fall 2014 : John James Kaiser
“Democracy in government is almost impossible until we have a democracy in industrialism
to the extent of public ownership of all the great agencies such as transportation by rail, water
power, coal mines, and oil wells . . . Public ownership of these utilities will insure democracy in
government . . . .”—Walter Clark, North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice