038 TRANSPORTATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 



In 1821, Mr. Robert Mills, avIio was both an ardent patriot and an 

 accomplished and accurate statistician, published through "The Tele- 

 scopic Press," at Columbia, a pamphlet, advocating certain internal im- 

 provements for the facilitating of trade and travel, and from this authentic 

 source we gather the following facts : 



1st. That the bales of cotton then weighed about 320 pounds, and were 

 reckoned as running seven bales to the ton (page 28). 



2nd. That the freight on cotton from Columbia to Charleston by the 

 steamboats which descended the Congaree and Santee, was $1.50 per bale, 

 equal to $10.50 per ton, but this route was so long and hazardous that 

 shippers preferred to send their cotton by wagons at a cost of $3.00 per 

 bale, equal to $21.00 per ton (page 19 and ser|). 



3rd. That the " merchandize, salt, liquors," &c., carried back to Colum- 

 bia, cost for transportation from $15.00 to $30.00 per ton, both by steam- 

 ers and wagons. The water route being 500 miles, and the road 110 

 miles. 



4th. That " there are annually brought to Charleston from the country 

 watered by the Santee and its branches, 50,000 bales of cotton, at a cost 

 for transportation of $115,000." This is equal to $2.30 per bale of 320 

 pounds, or $16.10 per ton. 



5th. Cotton carried from Chatham (now Cheraw^) and Society Hill to 

 Georgetown by steam and team-boats, cost, before the improvement of the 

 Peedee, $1.25 per bale, and afterwards 75 cents per bale. The carriage 

 by land cost $2.00 per bale, of 320 pounds, to Georgetown. 



The whole quantity carried in one year was put down at 6,000 bales. 

 A team-boat, carrrying 300 bales, required eight mules to propel it, five 

 men to manage it, and took fifteen days to descend the stream from 

 Society Hill to Georgetown. The freight from Georgetown to Charleston 

 is not given. 



It is impossible to compute how much the public gains in time and 

 convenience by having railroads, but considering only the gain in econ- 

 omy, calculated upon the data thus furnished, we shall find the follow- 

 ing results : 



Cost of wagon transportation between Columbia and Charleston in 

 1821, 110 miles : To Charleston, $10.50 to $21 per ton ; average, $15.75. 

 To Columbia, $15 to $30 per ton ; average, $22.50. Average both ways, 

 a little over $19 per ton — 17tV(7 cents per mile. The route between 

 Charleston and Columbia being the main artery of travel, rates were 

 probably lower on that route than on any other in the State ; hence we 

 might safely assume a higher rate per ton per mile for the cost of carriage 

 over the less frequented routes. The present cost, by average, on all the 

 railroads in the State is, according to the Railroad Commissioners, 2.7 



