Upstream: Bryant’s Lock and Dam

3-3 Lockville Dam

Downstream: US 1 Bridge

The 7/10's of a mile long falls that began at Bryant's above here and conclude just below the present Lockville dam are most commonly known as Pullen's Falls (after James Pullen who ran the mill at one time), but much of the rapids are now covered by the backwater of the Lockville Dam. Campbell (1923) refers to the rapids here as Jones Falls, after Alston Jones who was at one time the owner of the mill here.

This engraving of the Lockville dam was published in Swain (1899)

Hadley (1970) reports that the site was known as Ramsey’s mill in 1780 for its original owner, Ambrose Ramsay or Ramsey, and it was also known as Ramsey & Stokes’ mill. Ambrose Ramsey's grandchildren sold the mill to William Boylan in 1822 (Chatham DB Y, pg 151). John A Williams bought the mill in 1839 (Chatham DB AE, pg 410). Charles J & John A Williams and Jonathan Harelson sold this mill to Richard Smith in 1844 (Chatham DB AF, pg 493) including the dam, mill, ferry boat & landing, and a slave named Jim. During Smith's ownership, the mill was evidently leased to James Pullen (See Chatham Ct Min Feb 1846). Smith sold the mill to Alston Jones in 1852(Chatham DB AI, pg 11) including the boat, ferry landing, mill building and "a negro man, Jim the miller, aged about 40 years." Chatham DB AL pg 271 (dated 1851, recorded in 1860) is an easement agreement between Alston Jones and the Navigation Company related to this site.

Robinson (Hist of Moore) says that Nathaniel Greene chased Charles Cornwallis across the Deep here in Cornwallis's retreat toward Wilmington in 1781.

Before the Cape Fear and Deep River Navigation Company began improvements here, this dam was eight feet high and deepened the river to cover the upper part of Pullen’s Falls. The Navigation Company converted Pullen’s millrace into a canal that carried traffic half a mile below the dam. But Hadley says there were constant problems with the workmanship here and the lock and canal, which had been undertaken in 1852, were not complete until 1859. Consequently no river traffic passed from the Deep into the Cape Fear for the first 10 years of the Navigation Company's existence.

During the 1870's George G. Lobdell of the Lobdell Car Wheel Co. purchased an interest in Deep River Manufacturing Co. which then owned the dam at Lockville. Lobdell's company brought the locks and dam between Endor and Buckhorn on the Cape Fear into working order. For some years, iron ore was mined at Buckhorn, shipped up to the furnace at Endor, and then down to Lockville to be loaded onto the railroad. This operation was purchased by the American Iron and Steel Co. in 1876 and continued for some years.

The dam at Lockville collapsed in May of 1901 (Barringer v. Virginia Trust Co, 132 NC 409, 1903). Ther was also a suit in 1880 between the owner of the dam and the easement holder (Silas Burns owned the mill at that time I think).

In 1920 this site was turned into a hydroelectric plant by the Moncure Manufacturing Company. The hydroelectric plant is still in operation today.

Kenneth W. Robinson wrote a very extensive history of the Lockville area, which can be found here: http://www.ncdot.org/doh/preconstruct/pe/ohe/Archaeology/chatham/

Robinson's report is the source of all of the otherwise-unattributed information above.

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