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Storyline

Building University Lake, 1930–1932

How the University dammed Morgan Creek to make University Lake: the earlier water line, the 1930 drought, the start of work in 1931, the end of Matthew McCauley’s old mill dam, the rising water and fish stocking of 1932, and the lake’s first filling.

In briefIn October 1930 the creeks supplying the University and Chapel Hill ran low, and J. S. Bennett warned of rationing. A year later laborers began clearing the site of the University's dam on Morgan Creek, a concrete dam designed by T. C. Atwood, 380 feet long and 30 feet high, to flood about 200 acres. H. D. Carter wrote that the work would end the last remains of the mill dam built on the creek by Matthew McCauley. About May 1932 the lake began supplying the University and Chapel Hill, and after a weekend deluge in October it filled for the first time and spilled over the dam. Carter put the dam's cost at $180,000.

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No works in the index are currently linked directly to this storyline. The works below provide background on Water for the towns: University Lake, the 1976–77 drought, and OWASA.

Browse all 87 works on Water for the towns: University Lake, the 1976–77 drought, and OWASA Research sources View background reading ↓

The full story

In 1925 the University laid a 12-inch line about three miles long from a new intake on Morgan Creek. In early October 1930 the creeks supplying the University and the village were flowing only about 700,000 gallons a day, down 200,000 in four days and only 100,000 above normal use of 600,000, and J. S. Bennett of the Consolidated Service Plants warned of rationing. In the week of October 12, 1931 laborers began clearing the site of the University's dam on Morgan Creek. Designed by T. C. Atwood, the concrete dam was to be 380 feet long and 30 feet high and to flood about 200 acres. H. D. Carter wrote that the work would end the last remains of the mill dam built on the creek by Matthew McCauley, one of the donors of the University's land. About May 1932 the lake began supplying the University and Chapel Hill, and by June 3 water was rising about a foot a day behind the dam. In the drought of August, when Chapel Hill reached 106 degrees, the reservoir dropped several inches. In late September and October the lake was stocked with 1,200 black bass and bream and about 15,000 more fish. Around midnight on October 16, after a weekend deluge, the lake filled for the first time and spilled over the dam. Carter put 1932 building in and around Chapel Hill at $205,000, of which $180,000 went into the dam.

In the chronology

Events in this storyline, in date order. See these 13 dated events in the chronology →

  1. The University starts a three-mile water line from Morgan Creek Dropping its plan for a large reservoir, the University began laying a 12-inch pipe line about three miles long from a new intake on Morgan Creek near the Matthew McCauley farm, able to bring 500,000 gallons a day to campus and town. More than 2,000 feet were in the ground by late March 1925, and a $35,000 filter plant southwest of Memorial Hall and a $15,000 elevated tank west of Pittsboro Street were being built; the old line from Bolin Creek was to be given up.The Chapel Hill Weekly, March 26, 1925, p. 1
  2. A new water main and hydrants reach the Glandon Forest suburb By early July 1929 the University Consolidated Service Plants had laid a six-inch water main into the Glandon Forest (Gimghoul) section and set five fire hydrants there. Fire insurance rates on owner-occupied houses near a hydrant fell from 40 to 29 cents on $100, the Service Insurance Agency announced.Search the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, July 5, 1929, p. 2
  3. Drought threatens Chapel Hill's water supply After weeks of light rain, the two creeks supplying the University and the village were flowing only about 700,000 gallons a day in early October 1930, down 200,000 in four days and only 100,000 above normal use of 600,000. J. S. Bennett of the University's Consolidated Service Plants asked people to stop leaks and stop watering lawns and warned of rationing; the Weekly noted that the legislature had appropriated $100,000 for a dam and reservoir on Morgan Creek. People: John S. BennettThe Chapel Hill Weekly, October 3, 1930, p. 1
  4. Work begins on the University's dam and reservoir on Morgan Creek About 30 laborers for the contractors T. C. Thompson & Bros. began clearing the site of the University's dam on Morgan Creek, about three miles west of Chapel Hill, near the old weir and pumping station. Designed by T. C. Atwood, the concrete dam was to be 380 feet long and 30 feet high and to flood about 200 acres; with land and clearing it was expected to cost about $130,000 from the 1929 legislature's appropriation. People: Thomas C. AtwoodThe Chapel Hill Weekly, October 16, 1931, p. 1
  5. Work on the University dam ends the last remains of Matthew McCauley's mill dam on Morgan Creek H. D. Carter of Atwood and Weeks wrote that the building of the University's dam and reservoir would put into tradition the last remains of the earth dam and corn mill built on Morgan Creek by Matthew McCauley, one of the donors of the University's land. The Weekly headed the item as the destruction of the last vestiges of the historic structure. People: H. D. Carter, Matthew McCauleyThe Chapel Hill Weekly, November 6, 1931, p. 4
  6. Builders put a cofferdam across Morgan Creek for the University's new dam A temporary dam of log crib-work filled with stone was built across Morgan Creek above the site of the University's water-supply dam, with a timber flume to carry the stream. It backed water nearly to the Damascus road and served as a road for hauling out wood cleared from the reservoir site. People: H. D. CarterThe Chapel Hill Weekly, December 4, 1931, p. 2
  7. Chapel Hill and the University utility agree to lay a six-inch water main under Pittsboro Street After the fire of February 23 that destroyed the former Umstead home on Vance Street showed the southwest section's 4-inch main could not give the firemen enough pressure, the University Consolidated Service Plants told the aldermen they would lay about 1,300 feet of 6-inch main from Cameron Avenue to Vance Street. The town agreed to haul and place the pipe, resurface the street and supply the labor of people working out recorder's court fines. People: John S. Bennett, John M. FousheeThe Chapel Hill Weekly, March 11, 1932, p. 1
  8. University Lake begins supplying Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina dammed Morgan Creek west of Carrboro to form University Lake, which began supplying water to the university and to Chapel Hill. The lake and about 500 acres of surrounding land remain in university ownership, with OWASA entitled to use the lake under contract.Orange Water and Sewer Authority: Capital Improvements Program Book FY24-28 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, July 1, 1932, p. 6; Chapel Hill Weekly, June 17, 1932, p. 1
  9. Water begins to back up behind the University's new Morgan Creek dam With the dam at full height except for one section, water was rising about a foot a day and spreading out of the creek bed toward what would be a lake of some 200 acres. The University was buying a light motor launch and two rowboats to patrol it and expected the dam done by the end of June. People: Charles T. WoollenThe Chapel Hill Weekly, June 3, 1932, p. 1
  10. Chapel Hill reaches 106 degrees, an August record, in a summer of drought The weather bureau station in Chapel Hill recorded 106 degrees on August 31, 1932, which its chief, C. E. Ray Jr., called a new record for August. Rainfall had run 49 percent below normal in July and 55 percent below in August, and the new University reservoir dropped several inches, though J. S. Bennett said it still held weeks of supply. People: John S. BennettThe Chapel Hill Weekly, September 2, 1932, p. 1
  11. University Lake is stocked with bass and bream A state hatchery truck from Fayetteville brought 1,200 black bass and bream to the University's new lake west of the village in late September, and in October about 15,000 more fish were hauled in two truckloads from Lake Mattamuskeet, which the state was draining. Water superintendent J. S. Bennett expected fishing, from boats only to protect the water supply, to begin in about a year and a half. People: John S. Bennett, Moody W. DurhamThe Chapel Hill Weekly, October 7, 1932, p. 1
  12. University Lake fills for the first time and spills over its dam After a weekend deluge swelled Morgan's Creek and Brice's Creek, the University's new reservoir filled for the first time, and water began pouring over the dam around midnight on Sunday, October 16; by 8 the next morning it ran 15 inches deep over the spillway. Scores of people drove out from Chapel Hill to see the lake at its full size.The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 21, 1932, p. 1
Show all 13 dated events
  1. Chapel Hill building for 1932 is put at $205,000, most of it the University Lake dam H. D. Carter's year-end survey put building in and around Chapel Hill in 1932 at $205,000, of which $180,000 went into the University's dam west of Carrboro, built largely by Chapel Hill men. New houses went up for D. D. Carroll, Mary Graves Rees and six others; the totals for 1929, 1930 and 1931 had been $750,000, $484,000 and $297,000. People: H. D. CarterSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 16, 1932, p. 1

Background on Water for the towns: University Lake, the 1976–77 drought, and OWASA

Background reading on Water for the towns: University Lake, the 1976–77 drought, and OWASA. These works cover the broader subject and may not discuss this storyline. Follow a link to find a copy or view the material.

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.

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.

NC Cardinal UNC

Oral history interview with Elizabeth Brooks, October 2, 1974: interview E-0058, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Brooks, Elizabeth · 2006 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Elizabeth Brooks, a cafeteria worker at UNC and a leader of the 1969 food workers' strike, speaks in a Southern Oral History Program interview recorded October 2, 1974, by Beverly Jones. Born in Caswell County, Brooks had made her home in Hillsborough since 1949 and raised nine children before her first paid job, at the university. She describes the strike, the Black Student Movement's support for the workers, and the response of Governor Robert W. Scott. Published online in 2006 in Documenting the American South.

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.

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.

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.

NC Cardinal UNC
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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.

NC Cardinal UNC

A pocket guide to University Lake

1997

A pocket guide to University Lake issued by the Orange Water and Sewer Authority in Carrboro, eleven unnumbered pages with illustrations and a map, 18 centimeters. Dated 1997, though one page carries the notation 7/84. The guide describes the lake as a water source for Carrboro, Chapel Hill and Orange County.

UNC

Optimization of the operation of a multiple reservoir system using 0,1 mixed integer programming

Speight, Vanessa · 1994

Vanessa Speight's master's report in environmental engineering, submitted to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1994 and approved by Donald T. Lauria, Donald E. Francisco and Philip C. Singer. It applies 0,1 mixed integer programming to the operation of a multiple reservoir system, with the Orange Water and Sewer Authority's reservoirs in Orange County as the case, on water supply and theoretical models.

UNC

Comments on North Carolina Division of Environmental Management's environmental impact statement for Cane Creek water supply reservoir

Orange Water and Sewer Authority · 1982 · OWASA

The Orange Water and Sewer Authority's formal comments on the state Division of Environmental Management's environmental impact statement for the Cane Creek reservoir, the water supply built in western Orange County. Transmitted under a letter dated June 1, 1982, the volume covers reservoirs, water supply and water quality management in the county, with maps. Published by OWASA in Carrboro, one volume in various pagings.

UNC

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.

NC Cardinal UNC

Report and recommendations : Carrboro, North Carolina : November, 1982

Carrboro Water Quality Task Force · 1982 · The Task Force

Report and recommendations of the Carrboro Water Quality Task Force, presented in November 1982. Topics include water quality, water quality management and water supply in Carrboro, so the document belongs with the town's planning record from the early 1980s. One volume of various pagings with maps, issued by the task force itself.

UNC

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