The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-07-11

the right of way along a given rout,
for railroad, even in cases where tht
State was asked to aid the enterprise
the field of discussion has been lef
solely to the volunteers-thus the pub
lie interests involved in the undertak
ing, were rarely if ever adequately rep
resented and as general thing only
that side of the case which was argued
by the advocates of the enterprise ever
had hearing either in the Legislature
or the newspapers. Any voice raised
in dissent was weak and Intellectual
against the clamor of the interested,
while arguments in opposition were
too often answered only by charges OF
unworthy motives on the part of those
who ventured to make them public"
It looks as if this had been written
for the present situation, the only
change necessary being to substitute
the word "damn instead Of the work
railroad
Had the petition in your hands not
been circulated and the people warned
as to the things going on, and to their
rights, no doubt that dams would have
been tuilt here and there quietly, and
some day the people would have been
surprised, at their awakening, to find
their navigation, their highway, their
rights, all confiscated and their lands
lying on succession of ponds instead
on our magnificent navigable rivers.
BY the terms of their constitutions
and of the Federal constitution the
upper Savannah, and the Tugaloo and
the Seneca rivers do not belong to the
States of South Carolina and of Geor-
gia, they are United States waters and
belong 10 the United States.
Their powers are not the powers of
those States, they are the powers of the
United States, our powers, the powers
of the public, the powers of every cit
izen of the United States, and Con-
gress alone has jurisdiction upon those
rivers and their powers.
TO whom have we to refer, if we
want an appropriation for the i'm.
provement of our public navigable wa
ters, is it not to Congress
Are not all projects concerning such
provements submitted to the ap-
proval of Congress, and who make the
expenditures, Is it not the general gov
ernment through its department of
war?
Has not Congress, instead of South
Carolina and Georgia, passed upon the
original project of Improvement of the
Savannah river, from Augusta to the
Tugaloo, as shown by Appendix o re-
ferred to?
Is it not the department of war, in
stead of the States of South Carolina
and Georgia, who made the expendi-
lures with the funds of the general
government?
Surely if the Savannah river and
the Tugaloo river had not been &C.
knowledged United States property,
the general government would not
have consented to support the ex-
penses.
AS for the Tugaloo and the Seneca
rivers, though the general government
has made no expenditures for works of
improvement upon them, it cannot be
inferred that they are not navigable
rivers susceptible Of improvement, all
what can be said is, that the time does
not seem yet opportune to undertake
said improvements, and as for their
navigability the time is not so far from
US when Andersonville, then -four
ishing little town, was the distributing
point of the surrounding country.
The boats were then carrying 10 An
dersonville on the Tugaloo and the
Seneca rivers, the products from the
mountains, and were returning to the
mountains loaded with goods brought
by boats from Augusta. And only re-
Gently a steamboat could be seen ply
ing on the TIgaloo river.
The petitioners are not oppased to
the building of dams on the upper Sa-
vannah river.
But they think that the development
of the powers of said river as well as
Of the Tugaloo and the Seneca rivers
should 60 hand in hand with the de-
velopment of their navigation.
They think tbata general plan, COM
prising both navigation and powers,
should be mapped out, submitted to
Congress, then after adoption carried
out under control of the general gov
ernment, in order that the interests of
every one, and the interests of the fu-
ture should be, ,safeguarded.
There is no doubt that this section of
the country and mostly the parts re-
mote from the railroads would have
much to gain by the improvement of
the navigability OF our rivers and the
time will certainly come when the i'm
provement of said navigability will
become practicable, and 1t would be,
in my opinion, a great mistake to sac
rifice at present the navigability Of our
rivers,
am not a business man nor an en-
gineer, but I cannot help to suggest
that the shoals of our rivers which
hitherto have been an obstacle to the
navigation should be so harnessed as
to make their powers the propulsive
or Inactive agents of our boats or what
ever craft adopted. After the deduc-
ton of the powers so used it would
still remain sufficient powers to run
mum mberiess Industries on either side of
the Savannah, the Tugaloo and Sen
eca rivers.
1t is but a few years ago, Henry
Grady, our Southern statesman, had
understood, in his foresight, the posi-
bilities of the navigation and Of the
powers Of the upper Savannah river,
for the development of the immense
resources of our section now far or
even out of reach Of the railroads, be
resolved to see by himself and for the
purpose made trip from Anderson
Vile down the Savannah river.
He became enthusiastic at the mag
niticent sceneries which greeted his
eyes, and at the possibilities of the
navigation and of the powers of the
river.
| The lucky ones who had the good