The South Carolina Electric and Gas Company steam generator plant at Lake Murray, August 25, 1958. The South Carolina Electric and Gas Company had its origins in the creation of the Columbia Gas Light Company in 1852 to bring gas lighting to the state capital. Four decades later, the need to provide electricity to power an electric streetcar system led to the organization of the Columbia Electric Street Railway, Light and Power Company. In both of these, Columbia followed an example set by the Charleston Gas Light Company and the Charleston Consolidated Railway, Gas and Electric Company. By 1927, the demand for electric power had increased, and the Lexington Water Power Company began building a dam and reservoir in Lexington County to impound water to generate electricity for the central part of the state. The completed Lake Murray Dam, named after its principle engineer, was the largest earthen dam in the world for electric generating purposes. In 1950 these and other power generating companies merged to become SCE&G, a consolidated private utility that serves central and southern parts of South Carolina.
Courtesy of "The State" newspaper.
