Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1906-04-19
18TH YEAR.
RARE BEAUTYsAND POWER
OF THE MIGHTY CATAWBA.
Industrial Activity on Historic Water
way, Which Passes Our Door.

~
way, Which Passes Our Door.
The following interesting arti-
Gle about the Catawba river and
the great power plant which is
being built at Great Falls" an
peared in the Real Estate Edi-
tion' of today's State:
There is no truer saving than
this: A prophet is not without
honor save in his own country:"f
and it can be applied with euua
force to the beautiful scenery iii
our own land. Travellers to Eu-
rope are often asked: why is it
you leaveSthe States to come here
before you have explored your
own beautiful land?" and having
said this much by way of intro
duction, | will apply it to some of
the beautiful scenery in old South
Carolina, In the Great Falls of the
Catawba river. Many will say,
Why, | never thought of this
before. " Il knew we had the
Catawba river, ETC." The artistic
In heart and sentiment often
point out objects of interest at
our own doors of which we have
never thought, and thus through
others we are taught to appre-
clate the good and beautiful
around us.
Rising in the Blue Ridge noun
tains of North Carolina, the Ca
tawha river flows south, through
South Carolina. 1t is called Ca
tawba until it reaches Fairfield
county where it niingles with the
waters of Wateree creek and
there loses its former name, and
is called Wateree river. At the
southeastern extremity of Rich
land county the Wateree joins the
Broad and together they form
the Santee. Onward they 90 to
add their strength to the great
Atlantic ocean, and thus play a
part in making this great ocean
just little part of their own.
In the early part of the eight
eenth century, before railroads
had ever been more than fabric
OF dream, the State of South
Carolina conceived the idea of
canaling all the shoals of her riv-
ers, in order to transport her
varied products to the ocean. 1t
is said that South Carolina spent
80, 600, 600 on this work. In spite
of this large expenditure, it is
very doubtful if any practical use
was ever made of these canals in
the upper part of the State.
One of the large shoals of the
Catawba, where the waterfall is
172 feet, is called Great Falls. ("
Here the water tumbles over
rocks and makes wild rushes be-
tween granite hills, which amount
IN some places to towering bluffs
and from whose majestic heights
one can have view of the river
for miles. An artist would grow
wild at the rare beauty of the
scenery-the fern-covered hills
and boulders wrapped in a mantle
of moss. The IL locks on the ca
nal here are more than 100 years
old, but are still in "a wonderful
state of preservation. In one of
them may be seen remains of the
old wooden locks gate. The walls
OF the locks are made of cut gran
lite, and the Workmanship is SO
beautiful that it attracts the in
terest not only of sight-seer, but
Of skilled engineers. The canal
empties into Rocky creek, at the
point separating Fairfield and
Chester counties. The ditch Of
the canal has in some places filed
with dirt and in it are growing
tall trees, some of which are sew
eral feet in diameter.
At one place the canal runs out
into the river, a granite break
water wall dividing it from the
river. At these falls was built,
by Mr.. Mccullough, perhaps
the first cotton factory in South
Carolina run by water-power.
and the remains of the old foun-
dation may still be seen. One of
the deeds granting the land to
Mccullough is signed by Thomas
jefferson. At this place a rock
ledge extends out into the river,
. forming a fiat surface of $50 feet,
and on this our forefathers an
chored a mill, by which all the
corn and meal of that section
were ground. At this romantic
spot, where the white capped
waters dash over the rocks. and