Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1851-05-03
"A PETITION,

07 Our state at IT'S ne1t sitting, and
to tchich the signatures Of the citizens
Of Pickens District are respectfully
solicited.]
TO the Honorable the Senate and
House Of Representatives:
The humble Petition of the under
signed, citizens of Pickens District,
showeth to your Honorable body,
that PIckens District (cxtending East
and West, or from the Saluda to the
Tugaloo river, sixty miles, and North
and South, or from North Carolina
to the Anderson line thirty.6ve miles)
embraces within its limits an area Of
Territory much more extensive than
that which is usually contained with
IN the limits especially of a Judicial
District: Your Petitioners lurtherber
to be permitte to show to your Hon
orabIe Body, that this great extent of
territory occasions much and serious
mconvenience-neightened by the pc
cullar geographical and Topographic
cal characteristics of the country-to
a large majority of the people of the
District, and to crave that you will
take into consideration the propriety
of Dividing the same into Two Judi
cial Districts, to be called, the one
Calhoun, and the other Plckens, or
to be called y any other names
which to your Honorable Body Shall
seem most meet and proper.
Your Petitioners also desire to sug-
| II
line of Division, and to submit that
the territories included between the
Saluda and Keowee, and between
the Keowec and Tugaloo, being re-
spectiveIy of an average width of
thirty miles, and in length varying
from thirty TO forty miles, and respec-
lively containing Twelve Hundred
Voters, are quite sufficient for the forN
nation of two Districts Of convenient
and respectable size.
The extreme inconvenience arising
from its present unwieldy size, will
become apparent, when 1t is remem
bered that the eastern and western
borders are by far the most populous
parts of the District, and that persons
residing on either cf these must pass
over twenty-five or thirty miles to
reach the Court House.
These difficulties and disadvanta-
ges are still further heightened by the
unfortunate location of The Court
House, which being situated in the
midst of considerable extent of
rough and barren country, is ap-
preached from no one point Of the
District with ease or convenience.
These, and many other disadvan-
tages, arising from the same cause,
by preventing persons at distance
from settling amongst us, and thus oc-
cupylng, reclaiming and bringing in
to market the many thousand acres
OF Illlable lands, which now lie waste
and uncutivated around us, prevent
or delay the development of its re-
sources, and greatly retard the pros
perity of the District, while the whole
State suffers a proportionate loss,
from the langor and depression of
one of its parts. These causes have
also contributed to drive many ofou:
best citizens to hunt new homes in
the South and West, where their in
dustry would be trammeIled with less
Inconvenience; and thus, and fom
these causes, while their energies
have lent additional impetus TO the
rapid development of new States and
Territories, pure drops have been
drained from the lIfe-blood of our
State, and she has lost forever the
benefits of their labors and counseis
IN peace, andln war of their strength
and activity.
1t would be presumptuous were the
undersigned even to hint to your Hon
orable Body what it so well under
stands, viz: that-likeIy to be placed
IN a hostile attitude 10 the General
Government, and surrounded by cold
friends ifnot secret enemies-it is the
true policy of the State, by fostering
the peculiar interests of the various
parts OF the community, to render her
self, as far as may be, independent of
all foreign aid or extraneous assis-
tance; and no where is the truth
more clearly comprehended thantisby
your honorable body, that one great
step towards this desired ndepeu-
dence has been taken, when by wise
and impartial legislation the prosper
ity OF the gram growing Districts has
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