This history of industry and energy development around Mooresville,
North Carolina tells the story of the early use of harnessing hydropower
for the textile industry, and resulted in the creation of Lake Norman.
The year 1957 brought change to Mooresville and southern Iredell County,
and that change arrived in trucks. Big white ones flashed the logo of
Burlington Industries, the new owners of the Mooresville Cotton Mills.
Bright yellow ones from the Duke Power Company brought earth-moving
machines to clear the Catawba River bottomland. That project, envisioned
by James Buchanan Duke, Dr. Gill Wylie, and William States Lee Jr., had
the end goal of harnessing the energy of the Catawba River to provide
electricity for the textile industry in the Carolinas. Duke Power's plan
for Cowans Ford Lake was the last piece of the network of hydroelectric
stations, and the result was beautiful Lake Norman.