COS TOWNS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 



moving at a trot. It is claimed that six to eight inches of such clay, 

 spread ovel' these sand beds, will make a durable road of this character, 

 easily kept in repair. As bodies of this clay are met with in nearly 

 every locality throughout the sandy lower two-thirds of the State, the 

 above experiments suggest the material and methods suitable for construct- 

 ing good and cheap dirt roads in this section. Graniteville, on Horse 

 Creek, where the Columbia road approaches the Charleston and Augusta 

 railroad, is a thriving manufacturing village of 1,669 inhabitants. Vau- 

 cluse, a few miles above, and Langley and Bath, a short distance below, 

 are similar villages, situated in the valley of this stream. Hamburg, 

 opposite Augusta, has now only about 485 inhabitants. Fifty years ago 

 it was a prosperous village, of 1,200 inhabitants. Besides flour, corn, 

 tobacco and other productions, there was then shipped hence by steam- 

 boat to Savannah and Charleston as many as twenty-six thousand bales 

 of cotton in one season. Fifteen steamboats, capable of transporting six 

 hundred to one thousand bales at a load, once plied regularly, making 

 Aveekly trips between this town and the cities of Charleston and Savannah. 



LEXINGTON COUNTY 



has eleven towns and trading settlements, with sixty-three stores, dis- 

 tributed as follows : Batesburg, nineteen stores ; Leesville, sixteen stores; 

 Court House, twelve stores ; Gilbert Hollow, six stores ; Countsville, three 

 stores ; Rish's, two stores ; Bars, Keisler, Pine Ridge, Rishston and Sin- 

 clair, one store each. Of this number four sell liquors, twelve miscella- 

 neous articles, and forty-seven general merchandise. The estimated 

 wealth of the storekeepers is $350,000. 



Leesville, on the Columbia and Augusta railroad, has a poj)ulation of 

 177. The situation is high and level. Soil sandy, with clay sub-soil. 

 There are two hotels, a Methodist and a Lutheran church. The Leesville 

 English and Classical Institute accommodates one hundred and twentv- 

 five pupils. The real and personal propert}' is valued at 8100,000. The 

 town taxes aggregate §112.50 yearly. Four thousand bales of cotton are 

 shipped annually, with fruit to the value of $15,000, lumber, oats and 

 otlier products. The yearly sales are, provisions, $112,000; dry goods, 

 S25,000 ; hardware, $2,000 ; miscellaneous, $10,000. The place is growing 

 rapidly. 



EICHLAND COUNTY 



has seven towns and trading settlements, with one hundred and sixty- 

 nine stores, distributed as follows : Columbia, one hundred and fifty-four 

 stores ; Eastover and Gadsden, five stores each ; Shand's, two stores ; 



