Upstream: Tower

15-5 Fish Trap

Downstream: The Camelback Bridge (Cumnock)

The remains of an old dam are evident just above the Camelback Bridge. On page 244 Emmons (1856) says that the coal formation "recrosses the {the Deep River} again near the fish-trap and passes into the Taylor plantation." A careful study of the folding map included in Emmons's book shows that the spot he refers to is in this vicinity. I assume that the apparent dam remnants immediately above the Camelback Bridge are the fish trap that Emmons is refering to. Thompson (1848) proposed to build a dam at Farrish's that would flood out two fish dams (one at Farrish's) and one belonging to Peter Evans Sr. (presumably this was here). Although the 1846 William Snipes survey of the Deep River shows Brooks Harris fish dam somewhat below Gulf and then Peter Evans fish dam somewhat above Farrish's fish dam. So apparently there were three of them. One here, one below at Farrish's and one above here but below Gulf.

There is only six feet of fall in the river between Gulf (mile 24.0) and Farrishes' (mile 12.9), so no mill dam could have been here without interfering with the mill at Gulf (as Farrishes’ Lock and Dam did during the Civil War). Indeed in February of 1779, the Chatham Ct Min indicate that John Wilcox complained to the court that Stephen Rigdon's dam was backing up water over the ford at Gulf and that the dam should be declared a nuisance. The court sent a delegation to investigate with orders to have Stephen Rigdon remove the dam if it was indeed a nuisance. The minutes do not indicate just where that dam was, but Chatham DB C, pg 211 records Stephen Rigdon selling property adjacent to Deep River and Cedar Creek, which would be about here. H. A. London (1876) came to the same conclusion citing the recollections of Jordan Tyson, Sr. (then 80 years old) that as a boy he saw the ruins of an old mill and dam just above the Egypt bridge (ie the Camelback Bridge).

Areas for Research

Where was the Taylor Plantation?