72 THE UPPER PINE BELT. 



PHYSICAL FEATURES. 



The land is level, without being flat, and is sufficiently rolling to insure 

 good drainage for the most part. While the general slope follows the 

 southeasterly course of the rivers, the land rises more rapidly in the Avest, 

 which gives the region a marked easterly slope in addition to its south- 

 easterly inclination. Thus, in the west, Appleton, on the Port Royal 

 railroad, 46 miles distant from tide water, has an elevation of 259 feet, 

 while Orangeburg, on the South Carolina railway, 65 miles from tide 

 water, has only the same elevation, and Wedgefield, on the Manchester 

 and Wilmington road, 74 miks from tide water, has an elevation of only 

 236 feet ; these being the highest points on the respective roads. The 



WATER COURSES 



rising in this region, or in the sand hill region above, are clear and rapid, 

 while the larger rivers passing through it, that come from the mountains, 

 are turbid. The latter iurnii^h this region with A'aluable facilities for the 

 transportation of produce. On the western side, the Savannah is navi- 

 gable to Augusta for steamboats of two hundred to three hundred tons 

 burden. The Salkehatchie river, rising in Barnwell county, might be 

 rendered navigable to the county seat, b}^ ■ removing logs. The two 

 Edistos might be rendered navigable for small steamboats, and if the 

 contemplated canal, connecting these streams with the Ashley river, were 

 opened, it would become an important avenue for the cheap transporta- 

 tion of produce. Steamboats carrying eight hundred to one thousand 

 bales of cotton have passed up the Santee and its confluents, the Con- 

 garee and Wateree, as far as Granby (two miles below Columbia), 

 and to Camden. In the east, the Great Pee Dee is navigated to Cheraw, 

 one hundred and twenty miles in an air line from the sea, by steamers ; 

 for smaller craft, Lynch's river (the Kaddipah) and Black Creek were 

 navigable, the one eighty, and the other thirty miles from where they 

 join the Great Pee Dee. The Little Pee Dee is also navigable for vessels 

 of considerable burden. Besides the large streams mentioned, tliere are 

 numerous smaller ones in this region, flowing with a rapid current, 

 through healthy localities heavily timbered with pine, and capable of 

 furnishing water-powers sufficient for the largest factories. Such are the 

 Three Runs creeks and the Little Salkehatchie river, in Barnwell, with 

 many smaller mill creeks ; in Orangeburg, such are Four Hole, Caw Caw, 

 Halfway, Bull, and Dean swamps, with many lesser mill streams (on the 

 ridge between the North and South Edisto, springs of tine drinking water 



