Trench and camp. [volume] (Augusta, Ga.) 1917-1919, 1917-11-21
SOMETHING ABOUT AUGUSTA -

Augusta is one of the oldest cities i'm
Georgia, being settled in 1885 It was laid
out by General Oglethorpe, who founded
the state. II was at first designed for
an Indian trading. camp, at which point
traders from the Carolina and Georgia
coasts would come overland and by the
river TO meet the Indians from the west
and exchange white mans goods for the
things the Indians had gotten out of tbs
forests. The first settlements were down
Oh what is now known as lower Broad
street. The city was named Augusta in
honor of the granddaughter of George III,
KING OF England, who was about two
years old when the city was founded.
me city has a population of about Co.
u0U, OF which SIS. GOO are white and Is. 900
negroes Its principal industry is that
OF cotton manufacturing OF the $4,000
white people, probably is, coo are en-
gagged in the mills or else are dependent
upon them for their support. The COM
blned output of cotton thread OF the Au-
gusta mills is sufficient to go around the
world once every thirty minutes. The
mills spin enough cotton thread to reach
10 the sun and back again once every
years. The Sibley mill rs built upon the
spot, and, in part, of the brick that was
the old Confederate powder min. In front
Of the-Sibley mill there is still standing
the drying stack OF the powder mills,
which is left there as monument to the
Old industries of the South
The Augusta Canal is one of the great
est OF all its civic enterprises, being own
ed entirely by the city OF Augusta and
Duilt at a cost of several million dollars.
it contains more water for its length
than any other canal in the United States.
1t is nine miles long and reaches up to
the locks, at which point the water is
diverted from the Savannah River into
the canal to operate all of the cotton mills
OF Augusta. The water is sold for SIS so
per horsepower per year, which is the
cheapest waterpower in the United States
Augusta is the second largest inland
cotton market in the United States. Mem
phis being the largest. We annually han
die about half million bales of cotton,
which is about one-twentieth Of the en-
tire crop of the South. Immense cotton
presses are in Augusta, which compress
the cotton bales into very sInall areas for
storing int1e holds of Atlantic
steamers. 1t il interesting 10 visit these
cotton presses and see how a bale of
cotton is reduced to about is inches in
thickness and become a hard as stone.
Augusta is situated at the headwaters
Of navigation of the Savannah River,
about 1875 miles by rail and 400 miles by
water from the city of Savannah. 1t is
q matter of historic interest that upon
the Savannah River, in 1902, an inventor
by the name of William Longs8reet FIRST
operated successfully a steamboat, which
preceded the Fulton steamboat by Ave
years, LonEStreetS boat was very crude
affair, but 1t did run by a paddle operated
by steam. The newspapers Of that day
state distinctly that it ran down the river
for about mile and ran back again and
was tied up to the dock amid the cheers
OF the assembled crowd. Iongstreet was
a poor man anu not a very pushing in
Ventor, and after demonstrating the fact
that a steamboat could be run, he let it