Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1902-11-26
LETTER FROM coLumBiA.
The City on the congaree Is Growing, an
Her Citizens ale Happy and Contented.

| Columbia, November 24.--Editors
Courier: The State fair for 1902 is
among the things that were. 1t was
bowling success, (coald be heard
at night for miles,) and the largest
crowd since 1882. The 6.foot inoun-
taineer, with his quarter section hat
and stall-fed looking feet, and the
diminutive wampoo, broth-loving
native of the bog, met and mingled
in sweet accord, and ail came laden
with glad tidings of good crops.
Many went out loaded with x goods,
and a bunch of headaches to last a
month. Much of this great moral
inyigorator was soaked up, indeed,
but peace and good fellowship pre-
vailed, and the police had but little
to do.
saw but little of the fair, and saw
but little, by night, of the mobs that
thronged the streets. The people
could not find lodging. Restaurants,
hotel lobbies, shops of all kinds were
packed and jammed. Every age,
size, color and condition of man was
represented; all talking and tramp
ing, just tramping-God only knows
where--heads up and mouths open
like cat hole in cabin door.
The street Rubes and fakirs came
in swarms and reaped harvest, too.
It's rough TO encourage this class of
people, yet it would not be fair
without them, as they are a part of
the show and have been since the
beginning of fairs.
Several hundred young men
formed hat-smashing brigade and
many derbies were destroyed. Some
got mad, others laughed it off and
marched on in happy ignorance of
the fate of their sky piece, and, with
one exception, all was peace.
There is, without doubt, the best
crop being harvested in South Caro-
lima that has been raised since the
war-everything considered. The
crops on the State farms are the best
in their history. Superintendent
Griffith is an able man, and one of
the best farmers in the State to- day.
Columbia is growing fast, and the
people are prosperous and contented.
Our post Office, once too large, is
now too small, and the people are
kicking for more room and better
accommodations. The present build
ing was completed in 1874, when
Columbia was in short skirts. Now
the mails from sixty mail trains pass
through her hands daily. In 1897
the receipts Of this Office were $685.
600. Now they amount to over
$4,000. In 1897 there were about
5,5OO,O0O pieces of mail handled in
this office. This year there will be
nearly 2O,OOO,000 pieces, so says
Postmaster j. f. Ensor, and it goes
to show how the old town is lump.
ing after Charleston, and in another
fifteen years will pass her. Just
watch!
The real estate agents here claim
that good houses are rented before
they are completed.
There will soon be a complete.
steamboat system between here and
Georgetown and Charleston, which
means much to the city.
There is some new enterprise OPEN
ing here every day. A $4,000 sup
ply company opened yesterday, and
still they come.
The weather is like spring. No
frost here yet to kill cotton, and in
places it looks as green as in August.
Cotton is still king, yet Wall street
sets the, price and sets m4ny good
men in the streets, as the following
comment on some poor fellows un-
doing will show. This paper said in
part: "There were ninety and nine
that safely lay in the shelter Of the
fold, but one to Wall street wan
dered away, and the bulls and the
bears with his fleece got gay, and the
wind wasn't tempered for him that
day, so this lamb caught his death of