The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1883-01-11
THE COLUMBIA CANAL.

hundred ablc-bOdicd convicts and fifteen
thousand dollars, to DC paid out Of tho
net earnings Of the penitentiary. The
development Of the Columbia Canal is
no new enterprise, rs considerable sum
Of money was expended on it before the
war, an! great dca! Of effort, with some
practical work, has been given 10 it
since 1876. II belongs to the State, and
when completed will be the property Of
the State. Two surveys have beer made
Of this Canal in recent years The first
was made by Mr.. Holly, the Engineer
who built the Augusta Canal, we believe
about 1857, and the second by Maj.
L. Il. Lee, an accomplished and expert
cnccd Engineer, in 1882. Both Of these
gentlemen substantially agree in placing
the cost Of construction with hired labor
at about 800 900, so that il is safe to As.
sumo that the actual figures will no,
greatly vary from these results, which
have been reached by two separate sur.
vcys. Their estimates are made for
hired labor With convict labor it is cs.
timatcd that the work can be done in
five years, with All annual outlay Of fifteen
thousand dollars, making u total Of sew
cnLy five thousand dollars. This Canal
when completed, will have n capacity Of
twelve thousand horse power, which is
three thousand more than the Augusta
Canal has. Ours will cost in actual
money $4,000 for 1000 horse power,
while theirs cost Il ,OO0,000 for 5000
horse power, giving lis u much greater
power and Eiuch smaller Investment
When completed, our water rents would,
if used by factories, amount to sixty
thousand dollars Il year, or if only half
the power should be used we would re-
ceivo in watcr-rents thirty thousand dol
lars year, thus quickly making back
every cent the construction Of the Canal
will cost, and after that giving the State
good income for all time to como. But
it is said that we have no guarantee that
amy factories vii! Ie built upon the
Canal after it is completed. Augusta
| had none when she spent $1,000 900 to
get her Canal, snd yet today all Of the
available power Of that Canal is en-
| pOycd. There is no doubt that factories
will DO built upon any wa,er-powcr situ-
a,cd ut II railroad center, where the tracks
Of the several lines can be laid directly
into the factory buildings, and freights
loaded aud unlondcd without the neces.
sity Of teams fer additional trlnsporta-
tinn. No business man doubts that fac.
tories will he built upon the Columbia
Canal when it is completed Then, in
addition to the water. rents the State
would get the taxes upon from four tc
six millions Of dollars, and tho taxes
upon the enhanced values around the
factories, SO that tho State would certain
ly ge, back every year after the complete
development Of this water-powcr more
money than the cash actually put into
its construction.
These were some OF the reasons which
induced the State TO undertake this
work, but the lato Act was merely passed
to render the work more efficient than il
had been during tho last year. The Ac,
Of 1881 gives to the Canal one hundred
cunvicts and ten thousand dollars year
until it is completed. This would take
ten or twelve years, and the last Legis-
lalure thought it more economical and
better policy to double the number oi
hands and give fifteen thousand dollars
year, so rs to complete this important
work in five years, rather than to spend
more money and take n longer time to
get through. 1t is the difference between
putting full force Of hands on a lob, SO
rs to finish it speedily, and putting a
small number and being ut it much
longer time. We think the Legislature
was right in fastening up thia work. We
want to see the Cansl finished and put
| the convic,s at some other work.