The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-01-14

Future.
The Columbia correspondence of the
Charleston Ners furnishes the following:
The purchase of the Columbia Canal, the
property of the State. by Major Pearce, who
is understood to be the representative or
agent of Senator Spragne, the famous cot
ton spinner of Rhode Island, is, we hope
and believe, the beginning of a movement
which, in the course of u few years, will
make Columbia, the capital of South Caro-
lima, great manufacturing city, whose
influence shall be felt from the mountains
to the sea. And in looking forward to this
advantages which Columbia enjoys, and
which make her peculiarly well adapted to
the high and important position which we
now predict for her.
Columbia is situated in the centre of q
fine country. and by the lines Of railroad, of
which she is, as it were, the focal point
can draw to her mills and factories all the
raw material that could be required. On
the North, is the Charlotte Road, running
into North Carolina and connecting with
the railroad system of that State. On the
South and East, is the South Carolina Rail-
road, connecting with Charleston and reach
ing with It's connections the whole of East
ern South Carolina. On the South west.
is the Columbia and Augusta Railroad,
which, when completed, will meet the
Georgia cotton at Augusta, and carry it to
Columbia, to be worked up into yarns or
cloths On the North west is the Green
vile Railroad. which traverses the North
western portion of this State, and will
ultimately form part of the great inter
statal line of railroad from Louisville and
Cincinnati to Charleston. There is, then. in
Columbia every facility for receiving cotton
and shipping the manufactured fabrics
The city is remarkably healthy, and for the
purposes of building factories and dwelling
houses, there nre tracts of clay suitable for
fine brick, and quarries Of granite OF the
same kind as that used in the construction
of the capitol. This is formidable list of
advantages, and to these may be added the
important fact that Columbia was in a posi-
tion to give the first opening for r1anufac-
turing enterprise, by Offering for sale and
selling the well-known Columbia Canal, of
which q brief sketch will doubtless be of in
terest.
Opposite to the upper part of the town
of Columbia, the Broad and Saluda Rivers
join and form the Congaree River. On the
Saluda River, about three miles from the
city, is the well-known Sal1da Factory of
Childs, johnson & Palmer, which now runs
about $500 spindles. About one and n
half miles from Columbia, on the Broad
River, the canal commences. It was origi-
nally six miles in length, and for three and
half miles down the neighborhood of
Bridge street is still in good order From
this point down to the mouth, the canal is
in ruins, it being difficult in some places to
tell that q canal had ever been cut, but the
rights and franchises remain and pass to the
present owner. There will be no difficulty
in rebuilding the canal and re-opening it
throughout, and Kinslers Brick yard, which
Senator Sprague has purchased, and through
which much of the canal runs, will furnish
the. material for making bricks Of an excel
lent quality.
The average fall in the canal for the first
three miles is fourteen feet, and the remain
ing distance from nineteen to twenty one
feet; and the supply of water being almost
unlimited, the canal can be enlarged to an
extent commensurate with any power that
may be required. If desired it may be
and in fact. tho whole water of the Conga-
rec River might be turned into the enlarged
canal
According to the conditions OF the sale,
the purchaser WILL within two years, widen
the canal to thirty feet and deepen it to
eight feet, this work being begun within six
months. and $4,000 being expended upon
it within twelve months from the date of
conveyance.
Ihe question naturally suggests Itself,
will this work be done, and will there soon
be seen factories and mills at Columbia, so
that she may reap the benefit of the advan-
tages which we have.endeavored to describe?
The reply is, that Senator Sprague and his
friends are not novices in industrial enter
prises. and that they carry out and make
successful whatever they undertake to do.
Senator Sprague himself controls cotton
mills running in all more than quarter of
a million of spindles, and slaughters $4,000
bullocks yearly for the use of his operatives.
He is man of large understanding and
liberal views. but in buying real estate and