The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-07-11
DRAINAGE.

Mr.. EpIToR: Since it is reasonably
certain that we shall have comparative
ly quiet political canvass in the approach
ingcampsign, public attention mighty very
properly be turned to local questions, af-
fecting their dearest interests-even the
very lives of our citizens. A few years
ago, under the pressure of great public
necessity, drainage law was passed for
Anderson County, which, in Its practical
operation, has fallen short of public ex-
pectation. And, ss is usual in all such
cases, where the public expectation has
been disappointed, instead of enquiring
patiently into the cause Of the failure and
applying the proper remedy, the public
pulse swings to the opposite extreme and
cries out for its repeal. That the law
ought to be and can be amended so as to
obviate all reasonable objections, there
can be no doubt. Virginia and Kentucky,
two of the oldest and most respectable
States in the Union, have drainage laws,
and no State needs such law more than
South Carolina. The health Of any COM
munity is of the highest moment, and
no principle is more thoroughly estab-
lished in medical science than that thor
ough drainage is essential to the public
health. And in proportion to the sobbed
and wet condition of the lands to be
drained is the necessity for thorough
drainage. If these propositions be true,
then instead of abandoning the idea Of
promoting drainage by suitable legisla-
ton, on account of partial failures here
tofore, It is only the more necessary to
strive to ascertain the cause of failure
and remove the same. Recent surveys
on several of our streams, even the most
sluggish, have shown the fact that there
is ample natural fall to dry even the wet
test. Why, then, the failure in any casef
Simply because the fail was not carried
from the starting point to the head of the
stream. If this had been done, to-day
there would have been no complaint Of
failure from any quarter. Is this the
fault of tho law, even as it now stands?
1t was made the duty Of the County Com
missioners, in cases where the fall was
obstructed, or refused, to proceed to let
out the contract for the necessary drain
age, by digging the main canal and as
sessing the properties benefited the pro
rata expense. In other words, the County
Commissioners should have let out the
contract for ditching from the mouth to
the head, with rigid specifications, and
then have assessed the lands benefited
the amount expended. But was this
done? Only after e fashion. They re-
quired the several owners to ditch their
own lands, and thus each individual
owner, for the most part, only carried
such all through his own lands, not car
ing whether it was sufficient fall to ena-
BILE the landholders above to drain theirs
or not. On the contrary, in many cases,
the fall was purposely dropped as they
approached their upper lines, to prevent
the flowing of sand through their ditch,
from lands above. Is it strange that
with such short-sighted policy, each
landholder being his own Judge, that
failure would naturally ensue? Not at
-all. No defect in the law here, but only
defect in the administration, The min
imum of fall no where has been found to
be less than six feet to the mile, and in
some cases it amounts to about fifteen
feet to the mile. And this on the Three
and Twenty Creek, one Of the most slug
gish streams in our County. So that the
fall is amply sufficient, if properly hus-
banded. To make the present law effec-
tive, it should be amended so as to re-
quire all owners of lands to keep their
streams and bitches clear of all obstruc-
tions, whether from floods or otherwise.
If this is not done so that the sand may
flow off readily, no amount of ditching
will be effective. So that the duty of our
next Legislature is not to abandon the
idea of drainage law altogether, but to
amend the old law, or substitute it by q
new one, much more effective.
And then again, any law, even the most
perfect, needs the hearty cooperation Of
the people themselves to make it effective.
Take the drainage law for instance. The
great difficulty to be overcome in any
system of drainage, is to provide for the
carrying of, or preventing, partially, the
flow of sand from the hill-sides on occa-
sions Of heavy rains. There are thou
sands of gullles and small rivulets lining
all our main streams, whose channels
carry millions of tons of sand into our
main bitches, and thus frequently choke
them to overflow. How easy would it
be for our farmers generally to obstruct
those channels with pine brush, which
would avert the flow of large quantities
of sand. The writer, few months ago,
threw few brush into gully at fence
crossing, which was as deep as mans
head. Now the gully is level full of sand.
| And then it would be we'll on all our steep
hill-sides lining the creek bottoms to let
them grow up in grass and bushes and
trees, and thus prevent the washing OF
those lands by stopping their cultivation.
Thus in many ways can each individual
farmer contribute his mite to the estab-
lishment of SO great public good.
BL. DEsPERaN1UM.
"a ~ ,,--.s. { si, 4