The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-02-07
PAST HISTORY AND PRESENT CONDITION.
FORTY YEARS Aao-Tm FIRST RA1RoAD-EARL,
MovEyENTs-BEaNNNaT THE WoRR-FAIRLY
UNDER wAY-sPEED IN 1833-THE GREAT
wEsT-TRAFFIo-ooPL
AT IT SC.
FORTY YEARS AGO.

many respects, very different from the Charles
ton of to-day. At that time the High Schoo
was not organized; but the Orphan House, less
complete and picturesque than it now is, was il
active operation. The Charleston College, which
was.ineorporated in 17s5, had been revived in
1928; and q year later Drs. E. Geddings, ofSouth
Carolina, Garvin, Of Georgia, Webb, OF South
Carolina, and Feldsr, of South Carolina, grad
uated from the Medical College in this city
The ST. Andrews, st. Georges and South Caro-
lima Societies were already widely known, anc
we're fulfilling the benevolent purposes fol
which they had been founded. But, while the
college, the almshouse, the school, and chari-
table society had been established, commerce
and general trade had not been forgotten.
Forty years ago, no line Of railroad entered
Charleston; no iron band bound Georgia, and
Virginia, and the North, to the metropolis ol
Carolina. No switt-moving steamers p!oughed
the quiet waters OF Ashley or Cooper River; no
huge propeller, or whirring wheel, drove the
vast hull which, with its thousand bales of cot
ton, was moving slowly towards Manhattan
Island, or those English shores which Still
rang with the remembrance Of long and
bloodv war. The wharves already extended
from the Battery to Hasel-street; but they
knew nothing Of the immense trade which
would pour upon them twenty years later. a
sailing packet and country wagon were the
signs Of those old, yet happy, days. Financial
facilities were abundant. The Union Bank,
the Planters and Mechanics Bank, and the
Bank of the State, were doing their business
quietly, and respectfully; and the merchants
and factors, during the quiet hours OF the day,
read the "Courier" OF the "Mercury," orper-
haps discussed the contents of the latest issue
OF the "Southern Patriot" then edited by the
| now venerable J. N. Cardoza. Mails arrived
irregularly, and editors we're put to hard shifts
to find slater and fresher news" but, when the
regular journals were exhausted, recourse could
be had to the richly laden shelves OF the
Charleston Library, and the excellent collection
Of books possessed by the Apprentices Libra
| ~ Society. The Charleston Chamber OF Com
merce, which was founded in 17SS, and in 1908
had fallen into disuse, renewed its charter just
forty years ago; and it's members drew up me-
morinl to Congress against what was then known
"a the sBll Of Abominations." This memorial
is said to have been the first protest against
protective tariff which was sent TO Congress
from the South.
Forty years ago men were living who had
| fought with Sumter or Marion, Green or Lee;
and gentle-women walked on the battery who
had witnessed the British evacuation, and had
waved their kerchiefs to the returning troops
of freed Carolina. In those days the city ex-
tended only to Boundary, now Calhoun-street,
but few scattered houses beyond the limits
showed that the city was quietly creeping
northward. Hayne- street, Meeting street,
King-street, in their present garb, were then
unknown. The great fires had not swept from
shore to shore, and made way for iron fronts
and modern decorations. Merchants did their
business in King-street, where the principal
trade was centred. Day by day, the long
trains of wagons loaded with indigo, tobacco
and cotton, rolled in from the interior, lining
King g.street from one end to the other. The
Charleston Hotel and the Mills House we're still
in the womb Of the future; and the fashionable
hotel was the Planters, at the corner OF
Church and Queen streets.
But forty years sgo the bells OF st. Mlchaers
chilned with mellow notes the call to prayer
and praise. They ohimed in the midst OF
temperate, honorable, united and God-fearing
people, they chime still, but they, and the
circumstances Of all around them, are sadly
and piLifully changed.
THE First RAILROAD
1t is little more than forty years ago that
the prachcability OF railroad communication
with the interior was first discussed in South
Carolina. Horse power was all that was contem-
plated; and those who favored the project be-
ieved that horse power alone, upon rail or
tram-way, would be 80 superior to the ordi-
nary road as to be highly profitable to the COM
pany as we'll as convenient to the public. One
OF the earliest projectors was Mr.. Alexander
Black, an Irisl,man by birth, and man of
great energy and perseverance. He was eblY
seconded by Mr.. Tristram Tupper, a man Of
great force and considerable influence; and
MI. VIM Aiken, Gov. Bennett, MIR. B. ]. How
land, and DR.. Samuel H. Dickson, gave tho un-
dertaking hearty and consistent support.
These gentlemen mot with every kind Of dis
couragement. They were laughed at and told
that they were vague dreamers, that wagons
wsre good enough, that there was not trade
CROUCH to support railroad, and at them was
hurled every objection with which anti Phillis-
tines have been threatened since the world be-
gnn. One gentleman, at public meeting, said
that it was we'll known that only about three
persons came through from Augusta at each
trip Of the stage, which then ran three times q
week. No one denied this fact, and the speaker
continued thus: Suppose you increase trade,
suppose you double the communication be-
tween the two cities and bring down slx pas
sengers each trip; suppose even that you
treble it, and bring down nine passengers e,ch
trip;-I ask you, as sensible and practical men,
u,N that support a rairoad?"
But Mr. Black and Mr.. Tuppor, and their
friends, would no. be disheartened. They per-
severed, they made converts, they gained
strength; and, as the result of their labors,
South Carolina may claim:
/. The first railroad Of any considerable
size built in the United States.
2 The first steam propelled cars, running
regularly with passengers and baggage, in the
world.
g. The first application OF American i'm