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In mid-July 1916, the Asheville area in the mountains of North Carolina was experiencing what was described by the Albemarle Enterprise newspaper as “probably the largest rainfall in the past hundred years.”

According to the North Carolina State Archives, there was as much as 22 inches of rain that fell in 24 hours. The French Broad, Catawba and Yadkin rivers were all swollen with huge amounts of water heading downstream.

At this time, the Hardaway Contracting Company was busy working to complete the Narrows Dam near Badin.

The Narrows Dam construction site was flooded, and the Hardaway company lost approximately $75,000 to $100,000 worth of equipment. (Today this would be approximately $1.6 million to $2.2 million.)

It was expected to take several months for the company to recover from the loss and to be able to continue the work on the dam.

{Lewis Bramlett – Stanly County Historical Society}