TRANSPORTATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 017 



I am informed that, oiih^ two or three generations ago, cotton was sent 

 by wagon to Philadelphia from the neighborhood of Hamburg ; and if 

 from a point in constant water communication with Charleston, why not 

 more probably from points not so advantageously situated in that respect? 

 In Gregg's History of the old Cheraws, page 110, it is said : " The stock 

 was driven to Charlestown and other places on the coast, as well as to more 

 distant markets. Large numbers of cattle were sent from Peedee to Phil- 

 adel}»hia." Also, at page 112, in a note, Ave find the following : " Gen. 

 Harrington sent three four-horse wagon loads of indigo to Virginia, and 

 with the proceeds bought 15@20 negroes." 



It may be a mere coincidence, but it is singular that, to-day, when 

 railroads dominate trade, the only railroads in the State which are avow- 

 edly ancillary to the trade of Charleston, are those which terminate at 

 Hamburg, Columbia, Camden and Cheraw ; precisely the four points 

 which, a century and a half ago, were outposts of European colonization ; 

 while all the railroads traversing upper South Carolina are controlled 

 either by the Pennsylvania Railroad, or by the Richmond and Danville, 

 of Virginia : 



Is it the persistence of some occult natural law of trade, is it fate, 

 or is it simply accident, that has wrested from Charleston the control she 

 once had of the Greenville and Columbia, the Blue Ridge, and the Lau- 

 rens railroads, and thrust them into the hands of Pennsjdvania and 

 Virginia ? However this may be now, tliere is evidence that, as soon as the 

 settlement of , the upper country developed itself, the Provincial Legis- 

 lature, at Charleston, were diligent in passing Acts for the establishment 

 of ferries and the construction of roads to connect the new settlements 

 with the capital. It appears, from a careful comparison of the.se Acts, 

 that many of them failed of their purpose, for the same roads and the 

 same bridges were over and over again ordered to be constructed, and 

 frequently new commissioners were appointed at each repetition of the 

 legislation. 



The principal roads (omitting those connecting the coast settlements, 

 and one from Charleston to the " Congarees") were projected as follow- : 



1753. From Eutaw Springs, on the " Congarees " road, by Beard's ferry, 



across the Santee, through M mchester, Camden and Lancaster 



C. H., " to the upper settlements on the northeast of the Watoree 



river, near the Catawba nation," about 120 miles. 



(This Act also provided for openin.g out the navigation of the Wateree 



river.) 



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