TOWNS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. G79 



ment lias been engaged in extensive works for increasing the depth of 

 the entrance. A stone jetty from Sullivan's Island, running southeast 

 and seaward, and another from Morris Island, bearing northeast and to- 

 ward the first, are being built. There will be an opening of 2,000 or 

 2,G00 feet in width at their point of convergence, and it is estimated that 

 the concentrated force of the currents and tides will scour out and keep 

 open, through this funnel-shaped aperture, a permanent channel twenty- 

 six feet in depth. Foundation courses 15,000 feet in length, for the north 

 jetty, and 12,757 feet for the south jetty, in all 27,757 feet, have been laid, 

 varying in width from forty-three feet to one hundred and eighteen feet, 

 and height from two and a half feet to fourteen feet from the bottom, ex- 

 clusive of spur jetties at certain points. The expenditure has been 

 11,045,000, and it is estimated that it will require $755,000 to complete 

 the work, which can be accomplished by the 30th of June, 1884. 



In 1881, the entire management and control of the affairs of Charleston 

 harbor was vested by the State Legislature in a Board of Harbor Com- 

 missioners. The mayor of the city is, ex officio, chairman of this board, 

 which includes among its members, the President of the Chamber of 

 Commerce, a member of the Board of Health, and ten others, appointed 

 by the Governor, one of them a full branch pilot. The board appoints 

 annually, with power to remove at discretion, the Harbor Master and 

 Port AVardens, and defines and assigns their duty. Formerly there were no 

 port charges ; at present the support of the officers and other port expenses 

 i^ borne by a fee bill of five cents to ten cents per foot of length over all, 

 charged upon vessels ariving. The Harbor Commissioners have charge of 

 all matters pertaining to pilotage and cpiarantine. The pilot ground for 

 Charleston is thirty miles in any direction from the port. The service is 

 performed b}' eleven pilot boats and thirty-five authorized pilots ; the 

 rate of charges varying from fifteen dollars for six feet to one hundred 

 and eighty dollars for eighteen feet, with four dollars per day detention 

 money. Every care is taken to insure the faithful and efficient discharge 

 of these responsible duties. It is proposed to establish a marine signal 

 station, with telegraphic communication from the Charleston light-house 

 to the city, so that on arrival, masters of vessels will be at once in 

 communication with the commercial world. Charleston is nearer to the 

 grain fields of the great West than any Atlantic port lying to the north 

 of it. The distance from Havana to Cincinnati, via Charleston, is three 

 hundred miles less than by Baltimore, and five hundred miles less than by 

 Boston. For the European trade, this, the largest seaport on the South 

 Atlantic coast, is nearer than the Gulf ports, and ofi"ers to immigrants 

 the Scifest and most comfortable voyage at all seasons of the year, with 

 fiicilitie.s for their distribution on landing as cheap and convenient as 



