HISTORICAL AND ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT UPPER ROBERTS MILL (9DW73) DAWSON COUNTY, GEORGIA CHEROKEE COUNTY RAW WATER SUPPLY RESERVOIR

During the period of May 23 through December 7, 1995, R.S. Webb & Associates conducted archival research and data recovery excavations at Upper Roberts Mill (Site 9DW73), a late 19th to early 20th century mill. The mill is located in Dawson County, Georgia within the proposed Cherokee County Raw Water Supply Reservoir impoundment. Upper Roberts Mill is located on Yellow Creek in the northern end of the reservoir impoundment, approximately 9 .0 miles west of Dawsonville and 16.0 miles northeast of Canton. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Georgia State Historic Preservation Office agreed that Upper Roberts Mill is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Because construction of the reservoir will cause unavoidable adverse effects to Upper Roberts Mill, a data recovery program was designed and implemented by R.S. Webb & Associates on behalf of the Cherokee County Water and Sewerage Authority. The objective of the data recovery project was to recover and document information related to the construction, operations and economy of Upper Roberts Mill. Archival research included an exhaustive search of Cherokee, Dawson and Pickens County archival records. Available federal and state documents were examined_, along with manufacturing and business directories. Local informants were interviewed and provided insight into the operation of the mill just prior to abandonment. Relatives of the mill's founder supplied information on his life. Data recovery investigations included the mapping and photo-documentation of the surface features at the mill house, the head race and the mill dam. Excavations totaling 1,995 square feet were conducted at the mill house and included two, 10.0 by 10.0-foot units, two large blocks, nine trenches, one strip block and two stripped areas. These efforts uncovered the timbers and stone supports for the wheel pit and the mill house. No intact motive machinery (i.e., turbine or water wheel) was recovered; however, archival and archeological data suggest that the mill was probably powered by a vertical water wheel. The artifact assemblage is typical of a rural, late 19th century industrial site. Artifacts are primarily architectural and include nails, window glass, milled wood, roofing metal and cemented stone. A small number of industrial artifacts were recovered including gears, machine parts, mounts/linkage rods and bolts. The industrial artifacts, coupled with the configuration of the wheel pit feature suggest that a vertical water wheel was employed and perhaps complemented later by a horizontal wheel. The investigations at Upper Roberts Mill characterize the site as a grist mill with some historical and archeological evidence to indicate that saw-milling and cotton ginning was also conducted. The mill probably served the communities within about a 2.0-mile radius, particularly the community of Mica and the area around Shiloh Church. The mill was constructed about 1890 and operated until about 1915, soon after its founder and owner, Dr. John M. Roberts, died.