The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-02-15
lFnoM AN OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT j


SpARrANBURa, February 10. Your corres-
pondent, "Bird's-Eye," while passing con the
wing through our county has certainly seized
and well portrayed some Of the strong points
in our position and resources. Perhaps you
may be willing to aar occasionally from ole
on the perch. had not the pleasure of read
ing tho s'Pacolet" letter to which he refers, and
may, perhaps, repeat somc itoms which were
in it. There is o remarkable passage in Lie
ber's report (1857), which shows how he was
impressed by g professional survey Of the
mineral resources of our section:
There is great reason to believe that, at O
future day, the northeast corner Of Spartan
burg and the northwestern portion OF York,
with small portion of Union, will form high
ly impott taDt mining district, in which the iron
ore beds, to which it has hitherto owed it's
whole reputation as q mineral egion, will form
the least important resources of wealth and
prosperity. The population will be entirely
changed, and the scattering shanties OF iron
ore quarrymen and charcoal! burners will give
place to the thriving villages Of industrious
mechanics and miners. This district would be
enclosed by semi-circe, having the point
where the Broad River enters our State for it's
centre, and the distance thence to Kings Noun
tain as radius, and would therefore cover about
eighty square miles. Such remark may ap-
pear to many readers to be overdrawn and too
highly colored. Yet it is the result of acareful
inspection Of the region.
This eastern part of our country is nearly all
an iron bed. The iron and other mineral ores
are found associated with the mica slate,
which everlies the gneiss in this part Of the
country.
Leber was struck with the itacolumite (flex-
ible sandstone) formation here. OF about
eighty square miles Of this rock in the State,
rock is elsewhere Gas in Brazil) found associat-
ed with diamonds. These iron regions attracted
attention even in the revolution. Early in this
century furnace was in operation near the
Cowpen's battle ground, which is sixteen miles
northeast Of the courthouse. In 1882, the
company selected beautiful shoal on Paco-
let, eight miles east OF our town, and built
the Rolling's Mills. .Ofthis company, Simpson
BobQ. ofour bar, was an,original stockholder,
and in addition, has been for many years the
agent Of the South Carolina Iron Manafactur-
ing Company. The Rolling Mills are connected
with the Cowpens Furnace, twelve miles dis
stant, by little rsilroad With hosss5 56Wer, per-
haps the largest roaduf the kind IN the country
In thic part of the county is the Bfving sville
Cotton Factory, on Lawson's Fork, four miles
east Of the courthouse. 1t stands on the site
Of ON old iron unill, burnt in the Revolution. It
was built by company chartered in 1887, with
a, capital Of one hundred thousand dollars.
The present proprletors have built since the
war magnificent brick building near the old
wooden one, but higher up on the hill side, so
as to be above the reach Of high water.s
The following list Of few OF our shoals is
from Mills Folio Atlas. from which Lieber CO.
pied it into his report alluded to above: Cher
okee Falls, Pacolet, 8 feet in chains; Rolling
Mills, Pacolet, 16 feet in 40 chains Cannon's
Mill, Pacolet, 10 feet in 8 chains Paoolet
Springs, Pacolet, IL feet in 10 chains Trough
Shoals, 20 feet in 60 chains; Bivingsville, Law
sons Fork. rs feet in Mountain Shoals,
Ennoree, IS feet in 81 chains.
We hope more complete list may be given
at no distant day. Few portions of our wide
spread country are more favored in water pri-
vileges. May you and T live to see tae day
when all our mountain streams will leap sea-
ward to the music Of a thousand wheels on
their banks. Of other points in the old Iron
Dlstrlct, more hereafter. ENNoREE.