Whitfield County receives grant to stabilize creek at Prater’s Mill

Published 8:15 am Saturday, June 21, 2025

More than a year ago, repeated heavy rainfall led to flooding of Coahulla Creek at Prater’s Mill, shifting the path of the creek to form a new channel west from where it previously flowed. This left the dam next to the mill exposed, posing a safety and structural hazard.

Whitfield County officials quickly fenced the area off in the interest of safety and began to look for solutions.

Now, County Administrator Robert Sivick says they have found one.

Since 2010 Whitfield County has been the owner of the site of Prater’s Mill, with the Prater’s Mill Foundation occupying it through an at-will, rent-free lease. The foundation has worked for more than 50 years to preserve and restore the mill site, and foundation officials say they want to preserve the dam. The mill has not been a working commercial gristmill for several decades, but it had operated during the annual country fairs held at the site and some other events, until the county closed the mill in 2023 because of concerns about the foundation of the building.

“We called upon our partner Limestone Valley Resource, Conservation and Development Council for assistance,” Sivick said. “Limestone Valley is a consortium providing environmental and technical advice as well as services to 11 area counties including Whitfield. Limestone Valley guided the process of addressing the Coahulla Creek matter including overseeing an engineering study, obtaining necessary approval and permits from state and federal agencies, and securing funding for remediation of the damage.”

DS Smith, a British multinational manufacturer of sustainable corrugated packaging, donated $1 million through its charitable foundation to The Nature Conservancy to fund conservation projects in the United Kingdom, the United States and Croatia.

Sivick said Whitfield County will receive $150,000 to help fund the Coahulla Creek realignment project.

“The Coahulla Creek project is part of The Nature Conservancy’s efforts to reconnect 10,000 miles of Appalachian rivers to restore and improve freshwater flora and fauna habitats,” he said. “It should also be noted Whitfield County Public Works and Buildings and Grounds employees planted numerous trees along Coahulla Creek to stabilize the creek banks, prevent erosion and reduce flooding. Those trees were provided by Limestone Valley.”

Ryan Rogers, director of corporate affairs North America for DS Smith, said its charitable foundation supports sustainability and environmental programs “across Europe and North America.”

“We’ve had a relationship with The Nature Conservancy for years,” he said. “We were just about to be acquired by International Paper, which has since happened, and they wanted to go ahead and make a sizable donation before the acquisition happened. We were talking to The Nature Conservancy about where the money could be best used, and Prater’s Mill was the project they identified in the U.S.”

Sivick said he can’t speak to the technical details of the project, as “I am not an engineer.”

“In general terms I can state the flow of Coahulla Creek will be stabilized largely in the bed it presently occupies,” he said. “This means the creek will flow further away from the mill building, reducing the frequency and severity of flooding posing a hazard to the building’s structural integrity.”

“It should be noted such flooding degraded the mill building’s foundation leading to a situation whereby the structure was in danger of collapse,” Sivick said. “In 2023 the county Engineering Department designed and the county’s Public Works and Buildings and Grounds Departments constructed a building and underground drainage system moving rain water away from the foundation, preventing further degradation.”

He said Coahulla Creek will now flow more directly under the Highway 2 bridge owned and maintained by the Georgia Department of Transportation.

“Previously, the flow of water banked off the concrete wall below the bridge leading to rapid degradation and reduced lifespan of the bridge,” he said.

Sivick said the dam will be preserved. Officials had previously said it might have to be demolished.

But he added the dam “will be rendered safe with fill dirt placed on either side leading to a gradual slope rather than an abrupt drop.”

“This will enable people to view the structure and even walk on it safely,” he said. “As to the dam being part of a working water-powered grist mill, that will not happen as both state and federal governments will not issue permits. That’s because such structures create a substantial threat to human life and safety, impede the natural flow of waterways, and as such are environmentally damaging. In fact, obsolete dams such as the one at Prater’s Mill are being demolished throughout the country.”

That part of the plan disappoints members of the Prater’s Mill Foundation, according to foundation President Lynne Cabe.

“It is cool that international money is coming to Prater’s Mill,” she said. “I’m not sure we understand the full plan. But our goal is to restore the mill pond (and have a mill that can be operated). The county says it can’t be done. But we’ve got engineers and millers who have worked with us who say it can be done. Our goal is to talk to (federal regulators) and try to see if they will agree that it can be done. We are trying to get them down here later this year.”

Sivick said additional funding for the project will come from the federal government.

“At present, permits are being obtained from necessary government agencies, and advertisement of the project and request for public comment will occur soon,” he said. “We hope to have the project completed by the end of the 2025 construction season.”