the 20th century saw columbia emerge as a regional textile manufacturing center. in the 1920s, columbia business people constructed a large dam on the saluda river to make hydroelectric power. the dam, using the native red clay soil and bedrock, was the largest earthen dam in the world when it was completed in 1930. lake murray, formed by the dam, is 41 mil, es (66  km) long and 14 miles (23  km) wide at its widest point. when the lake was finished, it was the world's largest artificial reservoir. the company built the dam grew to become scana corporation, one of columbia's largest employers.