Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-10-15
Misesllaneuus 8eaain9.
RAILROAD AND STEAMBOATS,.
Earliest Experiments Made In South
Carolina and Georqia.


Carolina and Georgia.
1 note that during this month ther
is to be a grand centennial celebration
in honor of Robert Fulton, the suppos
ed inventor of the steamboat
1t is a great pity that living, as W.
dc, IN a section of country that ha'
done so much for the advancement o
the worlds progress, we should ALLOW
the facts in connection with such i'm
portant matters to gradually slip ava!
from us until they finally almost merge
into the misty and mythical.
1t has always been an especial pride
and boast with me that the world a
large, and our own country in particu
lar, owes q debt Of gratitude to th'
three cities of Augusta, Savannah anc
Charleston, that can never be repaid
but we are sorry to say in the grea
rush and whirl of succeeding events
has been ignored and almost forgot
ten.
Augusta was the birthplace Of the
cotton gin. Reflect for a moment wha
this has done. Every piece Of cottor
cloth, useful and ornamental, manu-
factured anywhere in the world. Ev'
cry city that has grown and prosper
ed by reason of cotton industries ha:
accomplished this by virtue OF the
useful invention that made the growth
of cotton profitable. and the utilizing
OF its fibres practicable.
May / be pardoned and not consid-
cred out Of place IL l refer to the
beauty, the loveliness, the gloriou!
charm Of manner of the women whC
grace and make happy the flower
scented homes Of sweet old Augusta
Truly in no place In the world, car
be found the equal Of these winsomt
daughters, products Of the soft, sweet
sunny cline in which we are reared.
In snow white gauzy draperies indi-
vidualized and created with a beauty
of finish peculiarly their own, like
visions of loveliness, they are more
delightful than the shadows Of the
sweeping oaks, more lovely than the
freshest fiowers-while throughout al
we cannot but look back and ref1ec,
that all this charming witchery OF ar
ray, this dreamlike nothingness oi
muslin and of null has been made
possible by the priceless gift Of Ell
Whitney, first to Augusta and then tc
the world likewise.
Then again our children are taught
in their school books, and 1t has been
accepted as fact by the world at large
that the first really successful steam
boat ever put in operation in river
was Robert Fulton's little Cleremont
on the Hudson in 1907.
Now, no loyal Augustan for mo-
ment believes this to be true. Here
upon the broad Savannah it has been
handed down from father to son that
this first really successful navigation
of a steamboat upon a river was moi
done by Robert Fulton, on the Hud-
son, but by VIM. Longstreet at Angus
ia. Moreover, it has been boldly as
serted that while on a trip north II
was VIM Longstreet that gave to Full
ton his ideas and taught him how to
make his boat success. Longstreet
had been experimenting, we don't
know how long before 1888, when the
Georgia legislature granted him a
patent on his steam engine. The Au-
gusta Herald, 1908. speaks Of his sue
cessful experiment and refers to his
previous ones. Even Appleton's En-
clycopedia admits that he ran and sue
cessfully operated a steam boat on
the Savannah only a few days after
Fulton, whereas the National Cyclic
pedia admits the fact that 1t was said
that Longstreet's boat was in success
full operation in 1906. But my good
| friend, Mr.. Salem butcher, has already
sufficiently handled the subject in his
masterful way in a previous article.
That Fulton deserves all the hon.
ors for his labors he can get Is true
That Longstreet antedated him, I have
not the shadow Of a doubt in my own
mind.
The steamboat having then been an
accepted fact, and having for years
been in use on rivers, certain bold
spirits in the city of Savannah (and
we are proud to say Augusta, tool
put into operation the then undreamed
of possibility of sending a steamboat
across the ocean loaded with cotton
This vessel was named the Savannah
in honor OF the city that gave 1t Its
birth. and sailed May 25, 1919, and
made a successful trip to Liverpool
Copenhagen, Stockholm, st. Peters
burg and then back home. Yet for al
this certain English writer's have tried
to throw discredit upon the enterprise
referred to the Savannah as a myth
and giving the credit rather to the
Sirius and the Great Western, twen-
ty years later.
The foolish editor Of the Ocean, one
of the current present day magazines
In its June number, also scorns at the
l
Savannah, joining in this giving OF
the credit to the Sirius and Great
Western as the two first steam vessels
to cross the Atlantic.
Answer not a fool according to his
folly has been said by a wiser man
than the writer of this article.
A few years after the subject of steam
transportation on land was seriously
thought of simultaneously the Liv-
erpool and Manchester the B. & O..
and the Charleston and Augusta were
commenced, and as we all will after
wards see that in this instance the first
was not the last, but 1.-The last was
first" in genuine spirit and pluck
So little was at that time known OF To-
comotives, they were so greatly In
their infancy, that the directors of the
Liverpool and Manchester had about
agreed upon the plan, that instead OF
using horses to draw the cars they
would use stationary engines, three
miles apart, to pull the cars by ropes
from one station to the other. The b.
& O.. was built for horse power but
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