r>74 MANUFACTURES. 



Xevcrtheloss, from {in early period numerous processes were invented 

 and practiced by the people of Carolina in rendering raw material suit- 

 able for business uses. Such was the extraction of indigo, in the middle of 

 the last centur}', and notably the inventions for threshing and cleaning 

 rice. Power mills accomplishing the latter purpose were first invented in 

 this State, and have since served as models in this important industry 

 for the rest of the world. South Carolina was also the first State to pay 

 Eli Whitne}' for the use of his invention in cleaning seed cotton. The 

 first water gin was erected by Captain Kincaid, on Mill Creek, near !Mon- 

 ticejlo, Fairfield county, in 1795, and for many years, dating from 1801, 

 the Boatwrights, of Columbia, were the great .manufacturers of cotton 

 gins for the South. Before and during the Revolution the families of 

 l)lanters and their slaves were clothed in cotton homespuns made in tlie 

 State. A factor}^ weaving these goods for tlie supply of the adjacent 

 country, was established some years previous to 1790, by the Scotch- 

 Irish settlers, at Murray's Ferry, Williamsburg county, and Mr. Benja- 

 min Waring established, in the latter part of the last century, a cotton 

 factory, near Statesburg, for spinning and weaving " Manchester cotton 

 stuffs." At this time there were in York, Greenville, Spartanburg, and 

 Anderson, seven iron works for extracting the metal from the ore, and 

 Avorking it. The one in York possesses a forge, a furnace, a rolling mill, 

 and a nail manufactory, and was operated by an improved water blast, 

 the invention of Mr. Hill, one of the proprietors. There were five fulling 

 mills in the upper country, and throe excellent wheat merchant mills on 

 Pine Tree Creek, Camden county, one of which, thought to be equal to 

 any in the United States, produced fifty barrels of superfine flour per 

 da^^ By the census returns of 1810, the CaroUnas, Georgia, and Yir- 

 ginia manufactured greatly more in quantity and in value than the 

 whole of New England together. These facts, at least, make it plain 

 that neither the original character and activities of the people, or their 

 natural surroundings, such as the climatic or physical features of the 

 country, were hindrances to manufacturing pursuits. 



That manufacturing has not held a more prominent position among 

 the occupations of the people is by no means wholly due to the great 

 profits accruing to agricultural pursuits. The improvements in spinning 

 and weaving, the invention of the power loom, the development of great 

 iron ore and coal resources, and the consequent activity in the manufac- 

 ture of machinery of all sorts, which took place in Great Britain in the 

 earlier part of the century, distanced competition in other countries, mak- 

 ing English goods far cheaper than any produced elsewhere. But the 

 chief obstacle to manufactures in South Carolina was the institution of 

 slavery. The large land holders had a monopoly of labor, which, in 



