According to Brad Steinecke, Director of Archives and Local History Programming at the Spartanburg County Libraries, there was a big, booming system of textile mill villages that had built-up around where textile plants were located on rivers in the Upstate by 1903. \u201cThe flood catches people by surprise, they are sleeping. They wake up to this, and it\u2019s already at that point a pretty catastrophic thing,\u201d\u009d Steinecke said.<\/p>\n
Historical and media accounts from the time said that when the flood waters on the Pacolet reached the ten mile stretch of river where the mills and mill villages were located, the current was moving at about 40 miles an hour, and the water level was believed to be 22 feet above the river\u2019s flood stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s enough to move buildings, it\u2019s enough to float the wooden houses, it\u2019s enough to erode these enormous brick structures,\u201d\u009d said Steinecke. \u201cTrees and everything you can imagine is all up in that water,\u201d\u009d Steinecke also said.<\/p>\n