57. The RUINS OF SOAP CREEK PAPER MILLS

(ask directions at Sandy Springs on Roswell Rd.) lie along Soap Creek, a small branch of the Chattahoochee River, 16 miles northwest of Atlanta. The tranquil beauty of the spot has made it popular with picnickers in spring and summer. Pine-covered hills slope down to the stream, which flows rapidly over its shallow bed, its yellowish waters foaming over many rocks. The ruins, extending along both sides, are high granite walls, roofless and with bushes and small trees growing inside.

The creek was named for Old Sope, a Cherokee chief who remained in this vicinity after his fellow tribesmen were driven out in 1838. Kindly and peaceable, the old man was beloved by the children of this section, who gathered eagerly to hear his stories. Afterward the name was corrupted to Soap Creek.

When the factory was incorporated as the Marietta Paper Mills in 1859, Cobb County was rapidly developing as an industrial section with saddleries, shoemaking shops, printing establishments, grist-mills, and factories for cotton and woolen goods. In this mill, probably the first paper manufacturing plant in the South, tissue paper, writing, printing, and wrapping paper were made... from cotton stalks, wood, and rags. But industrial development was sharply interrupted by the advance of Federal troops upon Atlanta in the summer of 1864. On the night of July 8 General George Schofield's men, having marched to the Soap Creek neighborhood from near-by Smyrna, carried boats down the tree-covered slopes, loaded them with soldiers, and launched them downstream under protection of heavy artillery fire. The Confederates were unable to block this bold maneuver, which brought the invaders nearer their goal. The buildings of the factory were then burned by the fleeing Confederate troops.

Soon after the war the mills were rebuilt and again put into operation, but a succession of disasters followed. Partly destroyed by fire in 1870, they were rebuilt in the following year, but the factory operated only a short time before the national panic of 1873 made collections impossible. The buildings were bought at public sale by James R. Brown, who organized two companies, one to operate the paper mill and the other to establish a cotton goods factory here.

For a number of years the paper manufacturing plant successfully produced books, newsprint, and wrapping paper. In 1886 Saxon A. Anderson, part owner of the establishment, built a wood-pulp mill in addition to the rag paper mill. Three years later a paper twine factory was begun. As there was only one other such concern in the United States, prospects seemed bright for a profitable undertaking, but Anderson found that the machinery was patented and could not be purchased. Undaunted, he and Jeff Land, the mill superintendent, perfected their own machinery.

By 1890 the mills were manufacturing the first blotting paper made south of Richmond. For years the Soap Creek region provided a busy scene, and the work of paper manufacturing was carried on into the twentieth century. The buildings were abandoned when the establishment was moved to Marietta, where it was operated successfully for a number, of years.

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