Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1898-11-17
EDITORIAL ! NOTES
OF the Trip to Port Royal Over the
Route Of the I;laok Diamond.
f - ~ zss, =
BE5Ia ,tfA
slss'ss ~ "; S!!E
[The Dover (Ky,) Nows, November 10. !

~ 'h<o'oA .\'NJr N"N o SNoYSnpoS'iV iV'
At every point on the line of the
Black Diamond system reached by
the inspecting party, inquiries were
made for Col. Boone, who was ex-
pected on the trip, and who is recog-
nized as the power behind the build
ing of the great grand trunk highway
OF commerce, connecting the lakes of
the North with the tidewater of the
South Atlantic at Port Royal by a
double-track railway with maxi
mum grade of &C feet to the mile
something heretofore considered ut
terly impossible. The surveys show
it o&n be done. We congratulate congratulate c
Dover, saying nothing of tho efforts
of The News, that this magnificent
line passes through her borders, and
that the Ohio river will be spanned
within the corporation by million"
dollar steel bridge.
The Black Diamond Railroad has
a champion and friend in Mr.. J. L.
Tribble, of Anderson, S. @. 1t is
through his untiring work, assisted
by the energetic young business men
of Anderson, that the city voted o
subsidy of $4,000 with but one dis
senting vote, and that the city council
appropriated $400 toward defraying
expenses of inspection. TO him is
due the unbounded enthusiasm of
the people all along the line in South
Carolina and the whole South. He
is an earnest worker, a good talker
and an able writer, and best of all he
has concentrated his energies in the
direction of building up the South
land by connecting it with the great
Northwest 10y double track rail-
road.
Col. Boone's double track PROPOSE
ton, with q maximum grade of sc
feet to the mile, 80 much ridiculed
at first and branded as visionary,
will prove thv very agency that will
build the road. All estimates and
all calculations are being made on q
double track road, because a single
track could not carry the tonnage.
The location of the line of the
Black Diamond in South Carolina is
not settled permanently as it is North
of that State, and the final location
of the route to Port Royal, South of
Anderson, depends upon where the
people want it to 60. Several lines
are practical, and the towns that
want it most will get it; and if they
don't want it, then it will be run Just
where the company wants it to run,
regardless of any town or community.
Anderson, S. O., is the busiest
town we visited South of the Blue
Ridge mountains. The town is full
of hustling young business mon, and
they make things move. Eight hun
dred bales of cotton were sold on the
streets one day Of our stay there
which was counted a dull day. We
visited their electric plant q few
miles from town, which is run by
water power. One of the big cotton
mills is run by electricity generated
by this plant. In the two mills there
are employed $50 hands. Eleven
hundred and twenty looms are con-
stantly banging away, weaving a
superior grade Of cotton cloth. Most
of che cotton manufactured is raised
in the Immediate neighborhood of
the mill.
We visited the 1900 aol }
farm of MIR. w. @. Hammond, near
town. 1t is model cotton planta-
t;an, cultivated by oonyiots employed
from the State. Mr.. Hammond has
his lands terraced TO prevent washing,
and it shows careful management in
every detail, And withal Mr.. Ham
mond is clever gentleman.
We are in receipt of copies of a
neat little pamphlet, "IssaG=ena," G
legend of upper South Carolina,
from tho author, Mr.. Charles s. Reid
The book is of especial interest to us
because while in West Union, s. O.,
which is an endless extension OF
Walhalla, we were the guests OF
Capt. r. @. Strother, the father-in.
law of the author, and h,d the plea.
sure of meeting tho gifted young
writer. We. also visited the Issa-
quena Falls, in the Blue Ridge
mountains, near the big tunnel of the
Blact Diamond cut through Stump
House mountain, ono mile through
solid granite. 1t is beautiful and
romantic spot, and one calculated to
make ono believe there is truth in
the legend so beautifully portrayed
by the author of "Issaquena." BY
tho uay rant G:,nfhor ,11hnoaa ;,na