Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1878-07-04
What Will Charleston Do !?
A Rare Opportunity TO Recover
Old and Gain New Trade.
Another Appeal to Aid the Edgcfeld
and Trenton Road in an Extension
to Aiken--Thc Benefits TO Charles
ton Viridly Described.
correspondent Ne,cs and Courier ]

posed from Aiken to EdgeGeld anc
thence to Greenwood, l have hat
conversations during visit TO Edge
field with several Of the prominen
citizens Of that town. l found tina
the people of that section are fully
awakened to the necessity of direc
connection with the seaboard, that {
branch railroad from Edgefeld tt
Trenton (or Pine House, as it wa'
formerly called) OH the Charlotte
Columbia and Augusta Railroad
which has been largely subscribed to
both by the town of Edge6eld anc
by all the substantial men of the
county, will certainly be built this
year, and that the future sesboard
connection Of that road, and the con.
troll Of the Greenwood extension Of
it, will depend upon the sources
whence it derives the aid which il
. needs.
The conviction that the interests
not only OF Aiken, but Of Charleston,
are in large measure connected with
this enterprise. inclines me, at the
risk Of some repetition, to urge its
claims upon the mercantile commu-
nifty Of Charleston generally, and
upon the South Carolina Railroad
Company IN special, and in addition
TO the advantages referred to before,
to suggest other reasons why the road
should be pressed nrward with the
encouragement and the material sup
port Of Charleston.
And let It be said just here that,
while the feeling in the section rang
ing up from Aiken to the Saluda Val.
ley IN favor Of a direct trade with
the metropolis of their own State is
already Strengthening, it does not
affect the close and friendly relations
which now, and will ever, exist with
Augusta. The farmers OF that sec
|
hon require a direct outlet to The
seaboard, and they are going to lave
it. A discussion Of where the ter
animal point shall be must necessarily
touch upon the business operations
ma the railroad plans Of Augusta.
Shall the terminus ior this trade be
Savannah, Port Royal, Charleston,
or some port further to the North?
In my previous letter endeavored
to Show taAf much Of tie cotton and
other produce which usel to lo@ into
Charleston, had been diverted by the
establishment OF the Charlotte, Co
lumbia and Augusta Railroad, aad,
after passing through the hands ct
Augusta factors, was carried North.
Heretofore, considerable stuff was
carried to that city by wagons
and 10y flats upon the Savannah Riv-
er; but the new railroad facilitated
the transportation, and, tapping a
new country, gave an impetus to the
cotton and general trade Of Augusta
with this State. 1t must be remem-
bered that the section Of country
lying between the waters OF the Sa-
lada aud Savannah Rivers, of which
upper EdgeGeld and Abbeville lorm
the greater part, is as rich as a y in
the State, and, as the head OF naviga-
ton OF the Savannah is in Anderson
County, the whole Of this section lies
upon the river.
This is rot the first time that an
effort has been made to reach the
s.aboard Of our State by a direct
rail route from Abbeville County.
In 1872 the Legislature incorporated
|
the Spartanburg and Aiken Railroad
Company to connect those two points,
via Edgeiield, Ninety-Six and Lau-
rens, and, again in 1873, the Ander-
son, Aiken and Port Royal Railroad
Company taking in Abbeyille and
Edgefield in its route. Both Of these
were recognitions Of sectional needs,
and it was, perhaps, as much the
incorporators as the want of money
in the county which prevented any
active interest in those enterprises
Now that prosperity is returning to
cur State it behooves the people Of
/ Charleston to look about them and
see that the sources Of its past (and,
it shoald he, Of its futnre) wealth
are not tnraed in other directions
Now that the bar is abont to be I'M
proved the harbor TO be vastly bene
flied, it is more important that there
should be energy and activity in Sc.
curing all the outposts Of trade, and
the fertile sections Of our own State
should not be overlooked in strainiLe
the eyes over the Blue Ridge, Il
would lie isSing expression, too, o
CLallestons gratitude to EdgeReld''
distinguished son, Senator Butler
whose services have done much TO
wards the securing of the handsome
appropriation ct Congress for thu
deepening Of the bar, as we'll as th'
restoration Of the Citadel, ii the con
nectio4 with ldgeGeld should b,
completed through the assistance 0
Gharlpston.
This is az age Of railroad combi
roti,,e and ns trade centres bav,