TRANSPORTATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. G29 



sive modes, they prefer sailing to New York, and laying them in at that 

 place." 



Mr. Elias Horry, in his address upon the completion of the railroad to 

 Hamburg, in 1833, thus refers to the inception of that work, five years 

 earlier. " In South Carolina, particularly in Charleston, a respectable 

 j)ortion of our citizens wisely determined that railroads would be emi- 

 nently beneficial to the State; that they would revive the diminished 

 commerce of our city, and tend to bring back the depreciated value of 

 property to its former standard. In fact, it became necessary that some 

 efficient measures, some great enterprise, should be resorted to. Real es- 

 tate in and near Charleston had sunk to half its former value, and in 

 some instances to less ; and this depreciation had extended also to coun- 

 try property. 



Industry and talent had lost encouragement and met not their merit- 

 ed rewards. These evils had commenced and accumulated within a few 

 years, and were still progressing, and during the same period the North- 

 ern and Eastern States and cities had attained to great and increasing af- 

 fluence and prosperity, while those of the South were gradually falling 

 into decay. To improve, therefore, the welfare of Charleston, and for- 

 w^ard as much as possible her prosperity, and that of the State, our best 

 merchants and most intelligent men decided in favor of the adoption of 

 the railroad system. 



The plan was that a railroad be located from Charleston to Hamburg, 

 on the Savannah river, and that a branch should be extended from the 

 main line, when completed, to Columbia, and afterwards to Camden. 

 The project was grand, and required knowledge and experience to have 

 devised it." 



The first charter w^as obtained 19th December, 1827, but being unsat- 

 isftictory, another was granted by the Legislature on 30th January, 1828, 

 providing for a corporation, to be called " The South Carolina Canal and 

 Railroad Company." 



The Chamber of Commerce, on 4th February, 1828, appointed a com- 

 mittee of ten of its members to " inquire into the effect likely to result to 

 the trade and general interests of the city of Charleston by the establish- 

 ment of a railroad communication between the said city and Ham- 

 burg," also to collect information about railroads, and report the prob- 

 able cost of such a road, and the revenue likely to be obtained from it. 



Mr. Alexander Black, the chairman of this committee, on 3d ]\Iarch, 

 1828, submitted a very lucid account of all that was then known about 

 railroads, and added the committee's opinion as to the probable effect of 

 the contemplated railroad upon the prosperity of Charleston. Among 

 other things, we learn from this report that " the trade of Charleston is 



