Should Horse Creek Valley be asked to bear the burden of yet another landfill? 

Part One of Two

See also:
Horse Creek Valley and the Rabbit Hill Landfill
A Before and After Photo Gallery

By Laura Lance
May 10, 2024

For much of its history, Horse Creek Valley and its namesake waterway have served as the receptacle for Aiken County’s industrial waste, construction debris and household garbage. The recently-learned plan by Hilltop C&D, LLC to relocate to Bath, SC and create the ~530 acre “Rabbit Hill Class 2 Landfill” compels a closer look at the past history of waste and dumping in this area. Particular focus is placed on the neighboring towns of Langley, Bath and Clearwater, which reside on a four-mile stretch of Highway 421 and whose shared history over the past 60 years includes having at least 9 of Horse Creek Valley’s 14 EPA Superfund sites and at least 4 Aiken County dumps and landfills. 

One would be hard-pressed to find a more beautiful and ecologically diverse landscape in Aiken County than the Horse Creek Valley. One would be equally hard-pressed to find a landscape outside of the Savannah River Plant boundaries that has been more violated by industry. It is, of course, beyond the scope of this article to cover the full scale of soil, water and air pollution in the Horse Creek Valley over the years. The examples presented here should suffice to paint a picture of a place that has shouldered more than its fair share of destruction from industry and waste and should not be asked to give one more ounce of land to that purpose. 

Horse Creek begins near South Carolina’s Fall Line and takes a meandering path toward the Savannah River. Along the way, it passes through the Valley, winding down through the textile mill villages and their industries that derived power from this creek to run their factories. 

Foggy morning in Vaucluse. Photo by Laura Lance.

First is the village of Vaucluse, founded by French Huguenots in 1828. Vaucluse is the site of the oldest mill village in South Carolina. It was also the first cotton mill in the Valley and possibly the first cotton mill in the state. Vaucluse’s historic district is on the National Historic Register. This picturesque village is set around a lovely mill pond that, in earlier generations, was the setting for community picnics, swimming, fishing and baptisms. Today’s pond owners have largely barred local residents from the pond. The mill has been closed for decades and the surrounding village has been struggling with decline for nearly as long.

The Vaucluse Dump

The Vaucluse Dump operated from 1950-1973 on an 18-acre tract owned by the Graniteville Company for most of that time. Aiken County took over operations around 1969. The dump was sited just to the north of the Vaucluse village boundary, the nearest house only 1600 feet away. During its latter years, this dump was supposed to have operated as a sanitary landfill, which required that garbage be buried and covered with a layer of soil at the end of each day. In practice, chronic issues with inadequate staffing and broken-down machinery left the garbage uncovered for days at a time. According to an August 1970 account in the local paper, the Vaucluse dump had received overwhelming complaints concerning “suffocating smoke, wharf rats, flies and packs of wild dogs”¹ The newly-created EPA rolled out regulations in 1972 that led to the closure of numerous private and public dumps and landfills in Aiken County, including the Vaucluse dump. 

Twenty years later,  the EPA conducted studies and found the two springs below the Vaucluse dump contaminated with mercury, lead, chromium and cyanide. Today’s “Vaucluse Pond Fish Consumption Advisory,” located on the SC-DHEC, website likely stems from the legacy of that dump, and of the Vaucluse mill itself, which was the site of a contemplated Brownsfield clean-up effort in 2023 that never commenced. The sign announcing that effort has since been taken down. 

Brownsfield clean-up sign at the site of the historic Vaucluse Mill

Horse Creek plummets over a 42-foot drop at the Vaucluse dam beside the mill as it resumes its journey 3 miles south, as the crow flies, to the town of Graniteville.

Part of the rocky course of Horse Creek. Photo by Gary Dexter.

Along the way, the creek passes through the deep shade of rich bottomland forests and swamp lands, gathering more water from springs. Shortly before it reaches Graniteville, the sky opens to a clearing at Flat Rock Pond. Beyond that is Flat Rock Dam. These waterways, woods and landscapes were once open to local citizens for swimming, fishing, exploring and recreation but, as with Vaucluse Pond,  they have since been made off-limits to locals. 

Graniteville is arguably the heart of Horse Creek Valley, its historic textile mill and village, founded in 1845 by William Gregg, was certainly the nexus for the kingdom of textile industries, mill villages, and the communities of people that followed — generations upon generations of families who were employed by these mills, their jobs passing throughout time from grandfather to father, mother, son and daughter. The histories of Graniteville and William Gregg are readily found online and must be read to truly appreciate this gem of a place and its community that has survived despite the economic ravages dealt by the death of the mills that began in the 1970s and finally came to a halt in 2006, its demise attributed to damages from the 2005 Graniteville Train Crash, which released a deadly cloud of chlorine gas that took nine lives and injured countless more, leaving in its wake a landscape cauterized by the toxic chemical .

The Graniteville canal before the 2005 train crash. Photo by Gary Dexter.

Graniteville Dumping

It would be difficult to overstate the devastation caused to the waters and lands by the collective injuries from industrial chemicals, heavy metals, dyes, solvents, pesticides and raw sewage dumped around and into Horse Creek along its course from Vaucluse to the Savannah River. The Graniteville Company’s contributions to this body load are immeasurable. Even when regulations were finally enacted in the 1970s, there were grace periods, special allowances, and a lack of adequate oversight and monitoring which allowed the contamination to perpetuate unabated. To cite just one example, which was reported in the local newspaper, the Gregg Division of Graniteville Company was, at one point, said to be dumping some 845 lbs of chromium per day² into Horse Creek. 

In addition to the wholesale dumping of chemicals, industrial waste and sewage from the mill into Horse Creek, there were numerous other dumping grounds scattered around the Graniteville community that were receptacles to a mix of industrial, commercial and household garbage and waste. Some of these were sited near schools. One was near the base of the cemetery hill on Graniteville Highway. Athletic fields were later built atop these dumping grounds, which led to stories of Friday night football players sliding into the glass shards that were embedded in the dirt. The drainage ditch adjacent to the football field was a legendary bottle-digger’s paradise, chock full of antique ink bottles from the nearby Leavelle McCampbell school. 

In the 1980s, Graniteville Company and the other mills below it on Horse Creek were the subject of numerous “Significant Industrial Pollution Violations” citations by the South Carolina DHEC. In the 1990s, and to no avail, a local group of parents of Byrd Elementary students banded together as CHASE (Citizens Helping Achieve a Safe Environment),² stood up to the polluters and demanded that the EPA do better monitoring. It is unknown to this author if the hazards of the dumping grounds near any of these schools and parks were ever evaluated. 

This isn’t to say that the knowledge and awareness of the contamination began with the advent of the EPA in 1970. It began much earlier and was empowered by a 1950 pollution control act that gave birth to the South Carolina Pollution Control Authority. Headlines in the 1950s and 1960s featured the stories of pollution, dumps and landfills, which were inextricably linked to, and situated with special intensity, in areas of industry and poverty. These local headlines grew in pitch and number during campaign seasons, as Horse Creek Valley, the political powerhouse of Aiken County at the time, was struggling with the effects of household and industrial waste. Local citizens were empowered to act, and did so, under the belief they might have some say over the squalor and stench being visited onto their towns.

In 1965, a headline in the local paper read, “ Horse Creek Pollution Petition Goes to Governor.”³ A group of local citizens, led by Aiken attorney Marion Smoak, asked for a study of the streams, and further appealed that the SC Department of Health, Education and Welfare obtain a federal grant to begin long-range cleanup of Horse Creek. The petition pointed out that the 12-mile strip of Horse Creek running from Graniteville to the heavy concentration of textile plants in the Langley-Bath-Clearwater area was an unclassified stream open to the unrestricted dumping of industrial waste and raw sewage. The petition — which termed the stream a hazard to the health of the people and said that pollution deprived them of an otherwise useful waterway — was signed by 3145 residents of the area. The petition sought a study of the area by the state and federal aid to help with the cleanup of “excessive pollution of Big Horse Creek.”

Records of any remedy found through this petition are difficult to locate. It is known, however, that in 1971, Horse Creek and Langley Pond were described in an EPA study as “biologically dead”⁴ with high levels of chromium, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other heavy metals and chemicals. There were no fish, no insects, no life in the creek. 

Below Graniteville is the community of Madison, followed by the mill village of Warrenville, where Horse Creek is joined by Sand River, a tributary from the east that originates in Aiken’s urban forest, Hitchcock Woods. From Sand River, Horse Creek has inherited over the years the sometimes high levels of E. Coli from equine sources, aged septic systems, and leakage/overflow of the sewage pipes routed through Hitchcock Woods.⁵

Warrenville 

Warrenville was built around the Warren Mill, which was in operation from 1898-1982, the latter years under the ownership of the Graniteville company. Unlike the other mills in the Valley, the Warren Mill, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is currently being restored to create a luxury apartment community.

June 2024 images of the ongoing transformation of the Warrenville Mill into the Warren Mill Lofts.

From Warrenville, Horse Creek takes a southwesterly turn as it continues its journey through the rest of the Valley and toward the Savannah River, the creek’s course running more or less parallel to most of Highway 421.

Town signs. Photos by Laura Lance

The towns along this 4-lane highway are strung like beads on a necklace beginning with Stiefeltown at the eastern end of 421, and continuing westward to the towns of Warrenville, Mixville, Gloverville, Langley, Burnettown, Lynwood, Bath and Clearwater. If not for the road signs, a traveler would miss the transition from one town to the next. 

In fact, if not for those signs, a traveler might never know these places existed. This is because, according to the US Postal Service, the US Census Bureau, and the GPS and 911 systems, nearly all of the addresses in this stretch of Horse Creek Valley are now in Warrenville. It didn’t used to be this way, and one could go down a rabbit hole trying to explain the changes. Suffice it to say that there is contradictory information regarding the locations of these spots on the map. For instance, one document may list Langley Dam Park as being located in Warrenville; in another document, it is located in Langley. The same goes for the Langley Landfill, which is sometimes listed in Warrenville, other times listed in Beech Island, (which is some 6.76 miles away as the crow flies), and other times listed in its true geographical location — Langley, South Carolina. From here, a conversation could begin on the disappearance of towns and what this means for the communities of people who live there. 

Gloverville

For everything that Horse Creek Valley communities have shared in common over the years, there were always certain divisions. Some of this stemmed from the physical distance between the eastern and western side of the Valley. Some stemmed from the ownership of the mills and even the mill towns during much of their earlier history. The Graniteville Company owned the mill towns of Vaucluse, Graniteville and Warrenville, while United Merchants and Manufacturing owned the mill towns of Langley, Bath and Clearwater. A certain rivalry existed between the owners of these villages.

Standing between the two worlds was Mixville, then Gloverville, whose history began before the existence of the textile industry. Possibly the oldest European settlement on present-day Highway 421, Gloverville was said to be the site of an early sawmill dating to the early 1800s. Somewhere between Mixville and Gloverville, Horse Creek widens to form the head of Langley Pond. 

Langley

Situated halfway between Aiken and Augusta is Langley. Power for the Langley Mill was provided from the dam at Langley Pond. The Langley Mill, originally called the Kalmia Mill, was built before the Civil War and underwent numerous expansions and changes over the years, including the 1870 name change to “Langley,” which was given to both the mill and the town. The Langley Mill was bought by United Merchants and Manufacturers in the early 1900s. 

The old Langley Railroad Depot, restored and repurposed to house the Midland Valley Public Library. Photo by Wren Dexter.

In addition to the Langley Mill, United Merchants also owned the Seminole Mill, Clearwater Finishing Plant, and Bath Mill. The United Merchants land holdings in the Valley were huge, including most of the property fronting the Aiken Augusta Highway from the Midland Valley Country Club to the Clearwater-Belvedere Road; the land surrounding Clearwater and Langley Ponds, and the mill villages of Langley, Bath and Clearwater.

This is to say that, for much of the 20th century, almost the entirety of the Valley was owned by the industries of Graniteville Company, United Merchants, and the owners of the various kaolin strip mining operations. By the time Horse Creek arrived to Langley Pond, it was already carrying an ample load of industrial waste and raw sewage from upstream.

The Langley Dumps

Langley Pond, itself, was site for much dumping from various industries and individuals over the years– the heavy metals and chemicals gathering into the pond’s sediments, creating a toxic layer that remains there to this day. As earlier mentioned, by the 1970s, the pond was devoid of fish and all life, the trees and vegetation at the pond’s edges dead. According to locals, it had been this way for 20 years.

The Langley Mill, located beside the Langley Pond dam, ceased operation early in the 20th century, the building converting to warehouse storage for United Merchants. The mill had survived numerous difficulties and setbacks over its history, between lightning strikes, fires, financial struggles and flooding before finally burning down in 1946. From its ashes rose a chemical factory called Val-Chem, which manufactured a broad range of chemicals for the textile and paper industries including resins, surfactants, dyes, solvents and agents for textile finishing. For the first 25 years of its history, there was no oversight of Val-Chem’s activities regarding dumping into local lands and waters.

The red star marks the site of the former Val-Chem Chemical Co. located near the Langley Pond Dam. Click image for full size view.

The odors from the plant — an accepted fact of life for locals — had been ongoing for years. With the advent of the EPA in 1970, local waterways, including the Savannah River, began to come under study. In 1972, the high levels of chromium in the river were traced to its Horse Creek tributary. Horse Creek and its own tributary, Little Horse Creek, were determined to be “grossly polluted from the discharge of more than 11 million gallons per day (MGD) of untreated textile mill wastes and more than 1.3 MGD of raw and inadequately treated sanitary wastes.”⁶

In March 1972, the EPA called for an “immediate halt”⁷ on the dumping of chromium by three industries upstream — Graniteville’s Gregg Mill, Val-Chem Chemical Co. and Clearwater Finishing Plant. This “immediate halt” was softened to a recommendation that the companies submit a feasibility study by October 1, 1972 on removal of chromium from their discharges. At some point among the studies and discussions among local, state and federal officials. it became clear that the problem of pollution and water quality was both a Horse Creek problem and a regional problem. 

In May 1974, the Aiken County Public Service Authority held public hearings on a plan to build a regional waste treatment plant at the junction of Horse Creek and the Savannah River. This was to be completed in 1978. It opened in 1979.

In exchange for promises to tie into the regional wastewater treatment system, Val-Chem, Clearwater Finishing and Gregg Mill received temporary discharge permits from the EPA. During this grace period, by agreement, these companies could not be prosecuted for polluting Horse Creek. Part of the deal included an agreement that Val-Chem would haul their wastes to the landfill in a solid form.⁸ This both did and did not happen. 

____________________

Next: Part 2 of 2. Topics to include the 1975-76 Val-Chem accidents; the school children’s pollution petition; the Clearwater Swamp Dump; the Reimer Drums, and more.

In related news….

See the May 9, 2024 local report on this area from WJBF News in Augusta, GA
Locals React to Potential Rabbit Hill Landfill in Bath, SC: “We didn’t even know about the landfill.”

See also the local petition on the proposed Rabbit Hill Landfill which is currently collecting signatures:
Halt the Construction of Rabbit Hill Class 2 Landfill

References:

1. Hindman, Emily. “Garbage Problems Continue to Mount,” Aiken Standard, August 17, 1970.
2. Burris, Roddie “Clean-up Lag Irks Citizens: Impatient Valley Demands Action,” Aiken Standard, January 25, 1994.
3. UPI, Columbia, SC “Horse Creek Pollution Petition Goes to Governor,” Aiken Standard, December 7, 1965.
4. ”DHEC to Give Update on Langley Pond,” Aiken Standard, December 6, 1987.
5. ”Tracking Fecal Pollution Sources in the Upper Reaches of the Horse Creek Watershed in Aiken County, SC” S.M.Harmon, A.E. Bodie, K.A. Fettro, J.R. Yates, University of South Carolina Aiken, Department of Biology and Geology, Aiken, SC.
6. Craw, Steve, “Aiken County Feeling Bite of Pollution Teeth,” Aiken Standard, April 17, 1972.
7. Craw, Steve, “Joint Pollution Effort Ordered,” Aiken Standard, March 24, 1972.
8. Wendell, Debby, “Val-Chem Housewife’s Target,” Aiken Standard, May 15, 1975.