Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1880-04-29
Tho Seaport Of the South.
CHARLESTON Asserts HER CLAIMS 10
CONSIDERATION.

A special meeting of the Chamber of
Commerce was held at u o'clock Monday.
President Tuppcr stated tho object of the
meeting to DC tho reception of the prelimi-
nary report upon the advantages of this
city as port of import aud export, and
the consideration of the advisabilty OF
recommending national bankrupt law.
The committee OH Western trade pre-
scnted their report, as follows:
The Report,
To The Chamber of Commerce Of Char
lcston:
The special committee appointed by the
Chamber Of Commerce for the purpose of
exhibiting tho varied advantages of tho
city of Charleston, as port of import and
export for the trade and commerce of tho
United States, aud of Central and South
America, the West Indies aud Europe, beg
leave to submit the following preliminary
report, in the hope that it will have the
effect Of dirccting:publio attcLtoa here and
elsewhere to this important subject
Fifty years have passed since South Ca
rolina first projected the building of line
of railroad to connect this city with the
great food producing region of tho North
west. Upon the uncompleted Blue Ridge
Railroad, and upon distant lines in Tenncs
sec expected to be connected with the
South Carolina system Of railroads, this
State and city have expended, ut different
times, several million of dollars. The
breaking out Of tho war alone prevented
the completion of the Blue Ridge line, aud
the State in 1865 found herself without
the Western connections 20 which tho
people had looked forward for thirty years,
while the railroads in the State wcro worn
out or shattered. The first task was to
reconstruct and equip the roads already in
operation, but at no time, early or late, has
there been an abandonment of tho hope
and purpose to carry out the plans which
our far sighted citizens proposed in the
earliest days of railroad building in the
United States.
From the beginning of American railroad
history the objective point was the great
grain growing region of tho West Before
that timo produce and manufactures were
hauled in wagons or followed tho water
courses. Tho great tide of immigration
had not set in, and States now tccming
with population aud ovcrAowing with agri-
cultural wealth were on the outer limit of
of civilization. The Statos of Ohio, Indi-
ana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota,
Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska had
population of million and half and we're
barely solf-supporting. To-day net
work of eighty thousand miles of railroad
covers the country, and in tho States We
have named have population of thirteen
million souls, who, in commerce and in
agriculture, aro cohspicuously active, clear.
sighted and enterprising.
! The first Atlantic city Whioh succeeded
in reaching tho mino of commercial wealth
in tho West was New York. Thorc il was
effected by tho Eric Canal, which was COM
plcted in 1925. Tho products of the West
thon began to find an outlet at New York.
Twenty-Five years later no iron road had
yet crossed tho mountain barriers which
separate tho seaboard from tho great heart
Of the Continent, and the movement of the
Western products was confined to transpor.
tation upon tho groat rivers that drain into
tho Gulf of Mexico Still with each sue.
cccding year the flood of agricultural wealth
rose higher, being swclcd by the cnccasing
influx Of population and the improvements
in agricultural appliances which enabled
ono man to do the work of many. Tho
first railroad that penetrated to tho West
was tho New York and Eric. Next camo
the New York Central. Tho result of
their completion and of tho operations of
tho Eric Canal is startling and cncourag.
ing.
In tho year 1850 the total tonnage
moved East and West by tho Erie ond
Central roads and the Erie Canal was