SOLON ROBINSON, 1850 391 



at more nominal freights, and thereby ultimately increas- 

 ing their own business profits, and greatly benefiting 

 agriculture. 



The freight charged for carrying a single horse or ox, 

 is $8. For two, $12, for four, $20, for ten, $30, for 

 twenty, $50. 



The road is well furnished with cars and engines, and 

 the Columbia and Camden branches laid with T rails, of 

 35 to 56 lbs. per yard and the other part is being relaid 

 with the same kind of rails, 51 lbs. per yard, so that the 

 country has the prospect of a good road, and if the direc- 

 tors will give them cheap freights, the benefits to agricul- 

 ture incalculably will be great. 



It is proper that I should remark that I am indebted to 

 William H. Bartless, Esq., one of the polite gentlemanly 

 officers of the company, most of the statistical informa- 

 tion herein given. 



I also had the pleasure and advantage of the company 

 of the Hon. H. W. Conner,^ president of the company, 

 upon a passage from Hamburg round to Columbia, and 

 through his politeness learned much of the history of the 

 road. The inclined plane has been a very expensive af- 

 fair; it is now operated by a descending locomotive at- 

 tached to one end of a wire cable, the other end being 

 fast to the ascending train, and the middle working over 

 a drum at the top of the hill. This plane could be avoided 

 without difficulty. 



There are no rock excavations, deep cuts, nor high em- 

 bankments, of any magnitude on the whole road ; though 

 there is some pretty long bridging across the Congaree 

 River and Swamp. One of the most striking things no- 



' Henry William Connor, born neau Amelia Courthouse, Prince 

 George County, Virginia, August 5, 1793. Major in Creek Indian 

 War, 1814. Settled at Fallstown, Iredell County, North Carolina, 

 and engaged in planting. Served in Congress, 1821-1841. Member 

 of state senate, 1848-1850. One of the directors of a company 

 formed to experiment with lighting the city of Charleston with gas, 

 1849. De Bow's Review, 7:346 (October, 1849); Biograjyhical 

 Directory of the American Congress, 841. 



