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Natural feature in Orange County

Cane Creek

A tributary of the Haw River in western Orange County, dammed in 1989 for the Cane Creek Reservoir after a long fight between OWASA and the valley’s farm families.

Source: NCpedia, North Carolina Gazetteer

22 indexed works are connected with this place.

Themes here. The subjects the index files most often under Cane Creek.

Cane Creek Reservoir and Bingham TownshipWater for the towns: University Lake, the 1976–77 drought, and OWASAEno & EnvironmentGrowth, Land & PlanningCommunity & Civic OrganizationsFarms & Rural LifeBlack Life & Civil RightsFamilies, Land & Genealogy
Search these works Research sources View indexed works ↓

In the chronology

Storylines set here, earliest first. Each has its own page.

Cane Creek Reservoir and Bingham Township1961 to 1989 · 20 events · From the first engineering studies of 1961 to the filling of the reservoir in 1989: OWASA's Cane Creek Reservoir, the watershed land purchases, and the Bingham Township farm families displaced.

Other dated events here, earliest first. See these 51 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Cane Creek Monthly Meeting disowns Herman Husband The Quakers of Cane Creek Monthly Meeting disowned Herman Husband for openly criticizing the meeting's grant of a certificate of removal to Rachel Wright, a member who had committed some disorder.Search the index · Internet Archive: Archibald Henderson, ed., "Hermon Husband's Continuation of the Impartial Relation", North Carolina Historical Review 18 (1941), p. 57
  2. Cane Creek Baptist Church is organized Thomas Cates and members of the Cates family organized Cane Creek Baptist Church, the oldest Baptist church on the chapter's list. It later planted Antioch and Mars Hill churches.Search the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 300
  3. Cane Creek Baptists organize the Haw River Mountain Church, later Antioch Cane Creek Baptist Church set up a new congregation called Haw River Mountain Church, which moved in 1830 and became Antioch Baptist Church.Search the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 301
  4. Cane Creek Baptists replace their first meeting-house with a larger building The church's history committee judges that the log meeting-house of 1789 was probably replaced by a larger and more lasting building around 1806, the year the Sandy Creek Baptist Association held its meeting at Cane Creek.Search the index · Cane Creek Baptist Church Historical Research Committee, A Cane Creek Tapestry: A Picture History of Cane Creek Baptist Church and the Orange Grove Community (2003), scan p. 12
  5. The Cane Creek Agricultural Society asks Orange County farmers to share their experiments A committee of the Cane Creek Agricultural Society of Orange County, chaired by John Newlin, urged farmers to report their improvements and trials to it, and proposed a tax on distilling grain heavy enough nearly to prohibit it.Search the index · Hillsborough Recorder, October 24, 1821, p. 2
  6. Orange County's wheat crop largely fails The Cane Creek Agricultural Society reported that the county's wheat crop had largely failed and that the corn crop would be no more than enough, leaving the coming year's food supply in doubt.Search the index · Hillsborough Recorder, October 24, 1821, p. 2
  7. The West Cane Creek Agricultural Society asks James Mebane to stand for the Commons The West Cane Creek Agricultural Society resolved that its chairman, John Newlin, ask James Mebane whether he would serve in the House of Commons if elected. Mebane agreed to run but said that, because of the electioneering of recent years, he would not canvass and would leave the choice to the voters.Search the index · Hillsborough Recorder, June 29, 1825, p. 3
  8. Fire destroys the Rev. Elijah Graves's house on Cane Creek The Rev. Elijah Graves's dwelling house on Cane Creek burned on the night of Friday, June 6, and his family narrowly escaped. The paper understood that an enslaved man in the household, unwilling to stay at the place Graves had just moved to, set the fire to force a return to the old one; he was jailed the next day to await trial. People: Elijah GravesHillsborough Recorder, June 11, 1828, p. 3
  9. Bethlehem School on Cane Creek offers college preparation under George W. Morrow Bethlehem School, on Cane Creek twelve miles from Hillsborough, offered studies to prepare boys for college under George W. Morrow in 1829.Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 136
  10. Members of Cane Creek organize Mars Hill Baptist Church Members of Cane Creek Baptist Church organized Mars Hill Baptist Church, near the old Eno Quaker burying ground off the Hillsborough-Schley road.Search the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 301
  11. Cane Creek Baptist Church joins the Beulah Association Cane Creek joined the Beulah Baptist Association in 1837. Its pastor Stephen Pleasant, put out of the County Line Association for supporting missions, had been one of the Beulah Association's founders.Search the index · Cane Creek Baptist Church Historical Research Committee, A Cane Creek Tapestry: A Picture History of Cane Creek Baptist Church and the Orange Grove Community (2003), scan p. 31
  12. The Cane Creek Farmers and Mechanics Company starts a cotton mill In 1837 the Cane Creek Farmers and Mechanics Company of Orange and Chatham Counties set up a cotton mill in southern Orange County, giving local farmers a place to have their raw cotton spun for sale.Search the index · NC Digital Collections: Historic Resources of Orange County, National Register multiple property documentation form (1993), p. 20
Show all 51 dated events
  1. Orange Whigs meeting at the Cane Creek Cotton Factory back William A. Graham for Congress Citizens of Orange met at the Cane Creek Cotton Factory with Richard Freeman in the chair and resolved to support William A. Graham of Hillsborough for Congress, after Willie P. Mangum, whom some of them had named in June, declined. They named a committee to work with Graham's supporters elsewhere in the Orange, Wake and Person district. People: William A. Graham, Willie P. MangumSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, July 14, 1837, p. 3
  2. Fire destroys the Cane Creek cotton factory The Cane Creek Cotton Manufactory caught fire and burned to the ground; the paper did not know whether any of the machinery was saved.Search the index · Hillsborough Recorder, November 15, 1838, p. 3
  3. Green, an enslaved man, is jailed on a charge of robbing and burning Thomas Thompson's house on Cane Creek Green, enslaved by Hugh Wilson, was committed to jail on a charge of setting fire to Thomas Thompson's house on Cane Creek while the family was at church, after taking about sixty dollars from it. At the fall superior court his trial for arson was put off to the next term for want of time.Hillsborough Recorder, June 22, 1843, p. 3
  4. The Assembly confirms the line between Orange and Alamance The 1849 act creating Alamance named Edward Benson for Alamance and Freeman Walker for Orange to survey the new county line, but Walker would not act with Benson, and the line was run by Benson with W. S. Moore of Orange. It started at a gum sapling on the Caswell line and ran due south, crossing Cane Creek three times, to a birch bush on the bank of the Haw River, then followed the river to the Chatham line. Walker and others measured nine miles due west from Hillsborough and came up 44 yards short of it. The General Assembly's 1850-51 session declared the Benson and Moore line the boundary.Internet Archive: David Leroy Corbitt, The Formation of the North Carolina Counties, 1663-1943 (1950; 1975 printing), p. 169, quoting Public Laws of North Carolina, 1850-51, ch. 43; the commissioners' report is printed on pp. 246-247
  5. Cane Creek Baptist Church buys ten acres from Thomas Brewer The congregation bought ten acres from Thomas Brewer; the deed calls it the Regular Missionary Baptist Church of Christ. The committee thinks a third church went up on this land near the old stage road.Search the index · Cane Creek Baptist Church Historical Research Committee, A Cane Creek Tapestry: A Picture History of Cane Creek Baptist Church and the Orange Grove Community (2003), scan p. 12
  6. The present Morrow's Mill is built on Cane Creek The timber-framed mill on a stone foundation known as Morrow's Mill was built in 1878 on Cane Creek in southwestern Orange County, the third mill on a site whose stone dam enslaved laborers had built before the Civil War. It ground grain until 1930, and the 1993 county survey found it the only rural mill building besides Faucett's still standing, with its dam kept up.Search the index · DigitalNC: Chapel Hill Weekly, October 30, 1956, p. 5 (the Forbus house, a converted grist mill) · Also: NC Digital Collections: Historic Resources of Orange County, National Register multiple property documentation form
  7. Two cotton gins operate on Cane Creek in Bingham Township Bingham Township, where cotton was a cash crop, had two cotton gins on Cane Creek in 1880. The township also had three flour and grist mills running full time, two on Cane Creek and one on Turkey Creek, and four sawmills on Morgan, Cane and Tom creeks.Search the index · NC Digital Collections: Historic Resources of Orange County, National Register multiple property documentation form (1993), p. 35
  8. Cane Creek Baptists build a new church after five years of setbacks In November 1883 the congregation chose to build instead of repairing its old church. Failed lumber orders, two refused calls to preachers, cost overruns and a building chairman's resignation held the work up until late 1888, and the old building was sold at auction for $58.50.Search the index · Cane Creek Baptist Church Historical Research Committee, A Cane Creek Tapestry: A Picture History of Cane Creek Baptist Church and the Orange Grove Community (2003), scan p. 13
  9. Bingham Township farmers form a Farmers' Alliance at Cane Creek Farmers at Cane Creek in Bingham Township formed a Farmers' Alliance and elected W. H. Lloyd president, T. J. Oldham vice president and Edward Snipes treasurer.Search the index · Hillsboro Recorder, March 22, 1888, p. 3
  10. A night storm washes out a Cane Creek mill dam and sends the Eno to a six-year high A heavy thunder and rain storm on the night of May 11 did great damage in the Cane Creek country and other parts of the county, washing away the dam of the Company mill on Cane Creek and injuring lands and crops. At Hillsborough the Eno River rose several feet, its highest in six years.Search the index · Hillsboro Recorder, May 17, 1888, p. 3
  11. Cane Creek Baptist Church gives part of its lot for an academy Under pastor J. F. MacDuffie the church voted to set aside church land for an academy and school, called Rock Spring in the motion. MacDuffie bought a house nearby and the school opened as Orange Grove Academy.Cane Creek Baptist Church Historical Research Committee, A Cane Creek Tapestry: A Picture History of Cane Creek Baptist Church and the Orange Grove Community (2003), scan p. 40
  12. The name Orange Grove first appears with the Cane Creek church school Through the 1800s the Hillsborough Recorder called the neighborhood around Cane Creek Church Rock Spring. The earliest use of the name Orange Grove the church historians found is the renaming of the church's academy as Orange Grove Academy.Search the index · Cane Creek Baptist Church Historical Research Committee, A Cane Creek Tapestry: A Picture History of Cane Creek Baptist Church and the Orange Grove Community (2003), scan p. 74
  13. County commissioners order new bridges over New Hope Creek, Cane Creek and Little River The Orange County commissioners ordered new bridges built over New Hope Creek at Robson Station, over Cane Creek near Oaks, and over Little River at Anderson Toler's. At the same meeting they settled with the county treasurer and revised the jury list.Search the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), June 6, 1901, p. 3
  14. Cane Creek Baptist Church votes a larger school building and sells the first one to the county The church voted to put up a much larger building for its Orange Grove School, south of the church, and to sell the original academy building to Orange County for use as a public school.Search the index · Cane Creek Baptist Church Historical Research Committee, A Cane Creek Tapestry: A Picture History of Cane Creek Baptist Church and the Orange Grove Community (2003), scan p. 104
  15. Orange Grove Academy's commencement program reports its music classes and ball team The academy's 1908 commencement program counted 86 enrollments in music under Prof. C. E. Redmon, among them 18 in the band and 12 in the orchestra, and told of a baseball team that played Wake Forest, Trinity Park, Elon and Bingham School.Search the index · Cane Creek Baptist Church Historical Research Committee, A Cane Creek Tapestry: A Picture History of Cane Creek Baptist Church and the Orange Grove Community (2003), scan p. 102
  16. Cane Creek Baptist Church buys its first organ A 1904 business meeting voted to buy an organ to replace the old piano; the money was not raised until 1919, and John Cheek bought the instrument in 1920.Search the index · Cane Creek Baptist Church Historical Research Committee, A Cane Creek Tapestry: A Picture History of Cane Creek Baptist Church and the Orange Grove Community (2003), scan p. 70
  17. Sample and Ina Forbus make the old Morrow's Mill on Cane Creek their home Sample B. Forbus, later director of Watts Hospital, and the writer Ina B. Forbus bought the 1878 grist mill on Cane Creek in 1938 and converted it into their permanent home in 1939, keeping its hand-hewn beams and setting millstones in the garden. The mill had run until 1930.Search the index · DigitalNC: Chapel Hill Weekly, October 30, 1956, p. 5 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, June 28, 1957, p. 5
  18. The old Orange Grove Academy building is torn down After Orange Grove School closed, Cane Creek Church took over its 1907 building, holding Sunday school downstairs while the Grange met in the upstairs hall. The building was demolished in 1949.Search the index · Cane Creek Baptist Church Historical Research Committee, A Cane Creek Tapestry: A Picture History of Cane Creek Baptist Church and the Orange Grove Community (2003), scan p. 104
  19. Cane Creek Baptist Church breaks ground for a new church After committees appointed in May 1949 priced a remodeling of the old church against a new building, the congregation chose to build. Tommy Lloyd, chairman of the deacons, turned the first earth at the groundbreaking.Search the index · Cane Creek Baptist Church Historical Research Committee, A Cane Creek Tapestry: A Picture History of Cane Creek Baptist Church and the Orange Grove Community (2003), scan p. 24
  20. Cane Creek Baptist Church holds its first service in its new church The congregation's fifth building was finished in 1951 and first used for worship on May 7. The 1888 church, already stripped of doors and windows, was torn down soon after.Search the index · Cane Creek Baptist Church Historical Research Committee, A Cane Creek Tapestry: A Picture History of Cane Creek Baptist Church and the Orange Grove Community (2003), scan p. 22
  21. Harry Byrd becomes Cane Creek Baptist Church's first full-time pastor Until the late 1940s Cane Creek shared its preacher with another church and held services on two Sundays a month. Harry Byrd, a 1953 Wake Forest graduate, came that year as its first full-time pastor and stayed until 1957.Search the index · Cane Creek Baptist Church Historical Research Committee, A Cane Creek Tapestry: A Picture History of Cane Creek Baptist Church and the Orange Grove Community (2003), scan p. 52
  22. Cane Creek Baptist Church dedicates its new church I. G. Greer of Chapel Hill gave the dedication address for the church built in 1949 to 1951. Julius Andrews chaired the building committee, and the new pastor Harry Byrd took part.Search the index · Cane Creek Baptist Church Historical Research Committee, A Cane Creek Tapestry: A Picture History of Cane Creek Baptist Church and the Orange Grove Community (2003), scan p. 22
  23. UNC considers the Jordan Reservoir for its water and Okun argues for Cane Creek While Okun was on sabbatical in 1961 the university began considering the Jordan Reservoir as a water source; on his return he persuaded the board that Cane Creek, which his students had studied in the 1950s, was the better site.Search the index · The Carolina Story: Cane Creek Reservoir (Water at UNC-Chapel Hill)
  24. Engineering study for UNC recommends a reservoir on Cane Creek After the 1968 drought left University Lake dangerously low, a study sponsored by the University of North Carolina and conducted by the engineering firm Hazen and Sawyer recommended damming Cane Creek. The Haw River, the proposed Jordan reservoir, an enlarged University Lake and the Eno were among the alternatives set aside. People: Daniel A. OkunCaselaw Access Project: In re Appeal from Environmental Management Commission, 53 N.C. App. 135 (1981)
  25. Cane Creek Baptist Church holds an annual Old Timers' Day Pastor James Bouseman started an Old Timers' Day at which members dressed in the fashions of an earlier time; it was held each year from 1974 through 1976, the last one part of the national bicentennial.Search the index · Cane Creek Baptist Church Historical Research Committee, A Cane Creek Tapestry: A Picture History of Cane Creek Baptist Church and the Orange Grove Community (2003), scan p. 68
  26. Cane Creek is chosen as the site of a new reservoir and area landowners organize against it A consultant's feasibility study concluded that Cane Creek, west of Carrboro, was the best site for a reservoir to supplement University Lake, and OWASA began assembling land there. Cane Creek residents and farmers formed a conservation group and fought the project in court for years, arguing that it would destroy farms and hasten the decline of agriculture and that expanding University Lake had not been properly considered. People: Daniel A. OkunANCHOR, A North Carolina History Online Resource: Cane Creek Reservoir
  27. UNC trustees approve a Cane Creek pipeline on OWASA's recommendation With University Lake 64 inches below capacity, the UNC Board of Trustees approved an $824,450 pipeline and small temporary dam to draw water from Cane Creek, described as a step toward the planned reservoir. OWASA, due to take over the University water system in January 1977, recommended the Cane Creek project over alternatives that included pumping raw water from the Haw River to a treatment plant.Daily Tar Heel (DigitalNC): Board of Trustees approve $824,000 pipeline from Cane Creek, October 11, 1976
  28. Orange Grove residents form the Cane Creek Conservation Authority Farm families around Cane Creek organized the Cane Creek Conservation Authority to stop the dam and elected 23-year-old dairy farmer Bobby Kirk president; the group had about 100 active members and said 12 dairy farms would be affected. It argued that the reservoir would end farming in the area, that owners had not been consulted, and that Jordan Lake and other sources were alternatives. People: Bobby KirkDaily Tar Heel (DigitalNC): Area groups opposed to planned Cane Creek reservoir, December 6, 1976
  29. Court of Appeals lets OWASA survey Cane Creek land over owners' objections Landowners including the estate of Nancy Armstrong had refused OWASA's surveyors access to the dam site. After a trial court ordered access on April 28, 1977, the N.C. Court of Appeals held that the authority could enter and survey before starting eminent domain proceedings.Caselaw Access Project: Orange Water & Sewer Authority v. Estate of Armstrong, 34 N.C. App. 162 (1977)
  30. Army Corps of Engineers issues the federal permit for the Cane Creek dam The Corps' district engineer issued OWASA a Clean Water Act Section 404 permit to place fill for the dam on the same day the Court of Appeals voided the state certificate. The permit was set to expire on August 31, 1982 unless construction had begun.Caselaw Access Project: Cane Creek Conservation Authority v. Orange Water and Sewer Authority, 590 F. Supp. 1123 (M.D.N.C. 1984)
  31. Opponents sue in federal court, arguing the dam permit has lapsed The Cane Creek Conservation Authority filed suit in U.S. District Court claiming OWASA's Corps permit expired on August 31, 1982 because no fill had actually been placed at the site. OWASA said its preliminary work before the deadline kept the permit valid. People: Sam CrawfordDaily Tar Heel (DigitalNC): Fights on to stop OWASA dam, October 20, 1982
  32. OWASA agrees to buy the Stanford dairy farm at the dam site The same day the commission ruled, OWASA agreed to buy 267 acres of the dam site from dairy farmers William and Joyce Stanford for about $1.28 million, bringing it to 60 percent of the 728 acres it needed. Between 20 and 25 of the 48 affected landowners had sold by then.Daily Tar Heel (DigitalNC): OWASA buys 60 percent of land needed for Cane Creek reservoir, October 18, 1983
  33. OWASA buys out most of the Cane Creek landowners By April 1986 OWASA owned 48 of the 50 parcels needed for the reservoir, almost all bought through negotiated sales. Sam Crawford recalled an opening offer of $500 an acre that rose to about $3,500 to $3,600, and that his family lost 50 acres, including their biggest field. People: Sam CrawfordDaily Tar Heel (DigitalNC): N.C. Court of Appeals upholds (Valerie Stegall), April 4, 1986
  34. Federal court dismisses the opponents' permit suits for lack of standing The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina dismissed the two suits brought by the Cane Creek Conservation Authority and Teer Farms, finding they alleged only a general fear of environmental loss rather than a direct injury. The court noted that OWASA had so far acquired all its land through voluntary purchases.Caselaw Access Project: Cane Creek Conservation Authority v. Orange Water and Sewer Authority, 590 F. Supp. 1123 (M.D.N.C. 1984)
  35. Cane Creek Conservation Authority members go to the General Assembly to oppose an OWASA bill Fifteen members of the Cane Creek Conservation Authority traveled to the legislature to oppose a bill OWASA sought to settle its outstanding court cases and widen its authority.Search the index · Documenting the American South: Oral history interview with Sam Crawford, October 26, 1985 (K-0006)
  36. OWASA builds a temporary impoundment on Cane Creek During a water shortage OWASA built a temporary impoundment at the Cane Creek site as an emergency water source, while the permanent dam was still being designed.Daily Tar Heel (DigitalNC): Amy Weisner on the Cane Creek Reservoir, April 13, 1988
  37. OWASA breaks ground for the Cane Creek dam OWASA held a groundbreaking for the Cane Creek Reservoir, designed by Hazen and Sawyer: a 72-foot-high, 1,350-foot earthen dam on a 760-acre site, with a 480-acre lake holding 3 billion gallons. Completion was scheduled for June 1989.Daily Tar Heel (DigitalNC): Scott Greig on the Cane Creek groundbreaking, January 26, 1987
  38. Cane Creek Baptist Church marks its two hundredth year The church celebrated its bicentennial with former pastor James Bouseman back as guest preacher. During the year Cecil Crawford led members on a walk to the site of the first meeting-house above Cane Creek.Search the index · Cane Creek Baptist Church Historical Research Committee, A Cane Creek Tapestry: A Picture History of Cane Creek Baptist Church and the Orange Grove Community (2003), scan p. 68
  39. Cane Creek Reservoir is filled OWASA completed and filled the reservoir on Cane Creek west of Carrboro, adding roughly three billion gallons of storage drawn from a 32 square mile drainage area. Before it came online OWASA's estimated dependable yield was about two million gallons a day, and the 1980s had brought repeated mandatory restrictions and purchases of water from neighboring utilities.Orange Water and Sewer Authority: Asset Management Plan, FY2020

Maps of Cane Creek

Dated maps that show this place, oldest first: town plans, county, road and soil maps, fire insurance sheets and the U.S. Geological Survey’s topographic maps, each linked to the library or archive that holds it. The USGS maps are free to download.

  1. Map of Orange County UNC · a county map
  2. Map of Orange County, N.C. UNC · a county map
  3. A map of Orange County, N.C. UNC · a county map
  4. Soil map, North Carolina, Orange County sheet Duke · a county map
  5. School map, Orange County, North Carolina. UNC · a county map
  6. Map of Orange County, N.C. : 1939 UNC · a county map
  7. An atlas for Orange County, North Carolina UNC · a county map
  8. USGS topographic map, White Cross quadrangle (1:24,000) U.S. Geological Survey (PDF)

Indexed works

Related works found in catalogs and archives across North Carolina, the most widely held first, novels aside. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it.

Widely held

Oral history interview with Nancy Holt, October 27, 1985: interview K-0010, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Holt, Nancy · 2007 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Raised in Orange County's Cane Creek community, Nancy Holt became one of its organizers when the Orange Water and Sewer Authority planned a reservoir there. Interviewed alongside Brian Holt by Frances E. Webb in October 1985, she describes farm life, the school and church that held the community together, how scattered neighbors cooperated, and the environmental and social costs residents expected from the reservoir. Runs about two and a half hours; electronic edition from the UNC library, 2007, through Documenting the American South.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Cane Creek Reservoir (N.C.).

NC Cardinal UNC

Oral history interview with Sam Crawford, October 26, 1985: interview K-0006, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Crawford, Sam · 2007 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Sam Crawford (born 1949) helped found Cane Creek Conservation Authority, the residents' group formed in 1975 to fight plans by OWASA, the Chapel Hill area's water utility, for a reservoir on Cane Creek in rural Orange County. In this October 1985 interview with Judith Wheeler, joined by Patty Crawford, he recounts how residents learned of the plan and organized, and the environmental and water-supply arguments on each side. A little over two hours; electronic edition from the UNC library, 2007, through Documenting the American South.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Cane Creek Reservoir (N.C.).

NC Cardinal UNC

Oral history interview with Bobby Kirk, October 28, 1985: Interview K-0013, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Kirk, Bobby · 2005 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Dairy farmer Bobby Kirk, who led the conservation authority formed at Cane Creek, describes the fight against the Cane Creek Reservoir, proposed for southwestern Orange County. In this Southern Oral History Program interview, recorded October 28, 1985, by K. Campbell, Kirk explains why he and neighboring farmers opposed the project, how residents first organized against it, and his view that the reservoir was badly planned. Just over an hour long. Published online in 2005 by the UNC-Chapel Hill Library in Documenting the American South.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Cane Creek Reservoir (N.C.).

NC Cardinal UNC

Oral history interview with Dr. Daniel Okun, October 22, 1985: Interview K-0021, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Okun, Daniel Alexander · 2004 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

The case for the Cane Creek Reservoir, made by Daniel A. Okun, professor of environmental engineering at UNC, in a Southern Oral History Program interview recorded October 22, 1985, by Laura Drey. Okun sets out why a new reservoir was needed in Orange County and answers the Cane Creek farmers' objections on water quality and watershed management. It pairs with interviews of opponents Bobby Kirk and Edward S. Johnson. Published online in 2004 by the UNC-Chapel Hill Library in Documenting the American South.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Cane Creek Reservoir (N.C.).

NC Cardinal UNC

Oral history interview with Edward S. Johnson, October 28, 1985: Interview K-0012, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Johnson, Edward S. · 2004 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Edward S. Johnson (1933-2022) recounts the organized effort to stop OWASA, the Orange County water utility, from damming Cane Creek for a reservoir, in a 40-minute Southern Oral History Program interview recorded October 28, 1985, by Patricia E. Sloan. Johnson describes how neighbors came together into a coherent opposition, the questions of eminent domain raised by the taking of farmland, and the environmental review of the project. Published online in 2004 by the UNC-Chapel Hill Library in Documenting the American South.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Cane Creek Reservoir (N.C.).

NC Cardinal UNC

Oral history interview with Joe Herzenberg, November 18, 1985: Interview K-0008. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Herzenberg, Joseph A. · 2004 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Joseph A. Herzenberg (1941-2007), later a Chapel Hill Town Council member, was interviewed by Mary Dexter in November 1985 about the Cane Creek reservoir fight. OWASA, the water and sewer utility serving Chapel Hill, proposed damming Cane Creek in rural Orange County, and residents there organized against it. Herzenberg supports the reservoir and discusses the local politics and water-supply questions behind the dispute. About an hour and a half; electronic edition from the UNC library, 2004, through Documenting the American South.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Cane Creek Reservoir (N.C.).

NC Cardinal UNC
Show 2 more

Draft Cane Creek EIS

1982

A draft environmental impact statement from 1982 on the Cane Creek Reservoir, the water-supply impoundment proposed for Cane Creek in southwestern Orange County near the Alamance line. Prepared by the Division of Environmental Management of the state Department of Natural Resources and Community Development, it runs 144 pages in various pagings with illustrations, maps, bibliographies and an index. Topics include reservoirs, water supply and environmental impact analysis for Orange County.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Cane Creek Reservoir (N.C.).

NC Cardinal UNC

Cane Creek Lake : black crappie surveys, 2001-2019.

2020 · North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, Inland Fisheries Division

Two-page online report from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission's Inland Fisheries Division summarizing black crappie surveys at Cane Creek Lake from 2001 to 2019. Published in 2020 with charts and a map. The lake's location is uncertain in the supplied information: Union County is identified, but the work is also linked to Cane Creek Reservoir in Orange County.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Cane Creek Reservoir (N.C.) -- Statistics.

NC Cardinal

Recently indexed: Abstract of Orange County, North Carolina Cane Creek Baptist Church: Membership Rolls for May 31, 1829 and August 1856 (1993) · Before the Environmental Management Commission, in the matter of Orange Water and Sewer Authority application for the Cane Creek Reservoir : direct testimony of Hazen and Sawyer, P.C. (1982) · Cane Creek Reservoir watershed study : draft report (1996) · Environmental assessment of Cane Creek Water Supply project : prepared for the University Enterprises - Water Division, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1973) · Environmental impact assessment of proposed Cane Creek Water Supply Reservoir : prepared for Orange Water and Sewer Authority (1977) · Final Cane Creek EIS. (1982)

Search all 22 indexed works →

Research sources

Resources picked for this place, each with a note on what it holds.

Historic sites, markers, and maps

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Cane Creek Library card An advanced search of the state’s shared databases already scoped to Orange County’s places and this subject; edit it freely, and sign in through your North Carolina library to read

Local help

Related themes

Cane Creek Reservoir and Bingham Township →Water for the towns: University Lake, the 1976–77 drought, and OWASA →Eno & Environment →Growth, Land & Planning →Community & Civic Organizations →Farms & Rural Life →

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