The Alluvial History and Environmental Legacy of the Abandoned Scull Shoals Mill

Abstract

A study of the abandoned nineteenth century Scull Shoals mill site in Georgia distinctively combined geomorphic, hydrologic, and historical datn in interpreting and managing a riparian landscape. The combination was appropriate for revealing the interdependence of land use, watershed process, and economic histoy. The watershed above Scull Shoals had supported cotton production for 130 years. Although the mill had vitally participated in the cotton economy, abusive cotton cultivation generated a massive volume of alluvial sediment that buried the mill's dam and power system fourteen feet deep; only the tops of some posts and walls are visible above ground today. The productivity of the mill and the life of its village have been destroyed, and it is difficult to overcome the legacy of environmental abuse even for preservation of the mill's historic remains. The watershed's alluvial readjustment to the mass of mobile sediment and the changing upstream land use are projected hundreds of years into the future. The story of the failure of the mill encourages questioning the form of economic development.