Portman Shoals: The Forgotten Settlement: Portman Shoals: The Forgotten Settlement

Long distance transmission of electrical power was conceived and first made a reality by W.C. Whitner in 1894 by a power plant he designed at High Shoals on the Rocky River near Anderson, South Carolina. Upon his meeting with another like-minded genius, Nikola Tesla, he was convinced his plan would work and went on to create a Hydro-Electric Plant that could produce 200 electrical horsepower from 5,000 volt generators. This was the first successful long distance transmission of electricity in the South. Due to this success, Stanley Electric Company (now General Electric Company) agreed to build 10-thread, 10,000 volt generators for Mr. Whitner and advised him that these were the first built anywhere in the world for this type of commercial use! Soon 11,000 volt generators began being built which gave ground-breaking hydro-electric power plants like "Niagara Falls," the ability to transmit long distance hydro-electric energy and forever change the world. The Portman Shoals Power Plant on Nov. 1, 1897 began lighting homes and powering business's for miles around even crossing state lines, making it the first hydro-electric plant to produce high voltage power without the need for step-up transformers in the United States and quite possibly the world! It was also the first in the world to create a cotton gin operated from electricity. Hence, Anderson, SC became known as, "The Electric City."