TRANSPORTATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. Go7 



order by the State, and the work should be done upon scientific princi- 

 ples, as respects grading and drainage. Since navigable rivers and rail- 

 roads are channels of public travel and traffic every road leading from a 

 highway to a frequented landing, or to a railroad station, should be re- 

 garded as a part of the highway. 



A Board of Works, with a competent engineer at its head, and the 

 convict labor of the State at its disposal, would soon demonstrate its value 

 and would take its place in public estimation as an indispensable part of 

 the machinery of good government. 



The war, terminating in 1865, had made excessive demands upon the 

 transportation institutions of the State, and left the railroads in an ex- 

 hausted condition, both as to motive-power and car resources, while 

 miles of track and trestle had been destroyed. The water transportation 

 had been early broken up, and towards the end many important bridges 

 had been destroyed. The common roads and the causeways, from neglect 

 and unusual traffic, were in bad order ; almost the only vehicles of any 

 sort in the country fit for use were a few army wagons and ambulances ; 

 horses and mules were scarce and dear, while horse-feed and forage were 

 equally so. 



The recuperation of the railroads proved to be very costly, owing to 

 the high prices which prevailed up to 1873, and when the exceptional 

 tariffs of that period were no longer practicable, corporation after corpo- 

 ration succumbed under the burden of their augmented debts. 



From 1873 to 1880 was the period of receiverships and reorganization, 

 and of legislative action directed towards the regulation of railroads in 

 their relations to the public. These matters can not be discussed here. 



The reorganization of the railroads on a lower basis of capital and 

 debt excited new hopes as to their profitableness, and encouraged expen- 

 ditures and a S3^stem of management, producing marked improvement 

 in rails, bridges, and station accommodation, and quite a new order of 

 things in the speed and frequency of trains. 



According to the report of the Railroad Commissioner for 1882, there 

 are in operation in South Carolina about 1,000 miles of railroads, which 

 transported in that year 961,313 passengers over distances Avhich make 

 the total passenger traffic equivalent to the carriage of 48,664,470 persons 

 one mile. 



The amount of freight carried over those roads in that year is 1,323,364 

 tons, and taking this vast quantity in connection with the distance trav- 

 ersed, it is equal to the transportation of 122,043,275 tons one mile. 



According to the same report, the average amounts paid by the public 

 were 3.42 cents per passenger p&r mile, and 2.47 cents per ton of freight 

 per mile. 



