The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1922-08-17
Santee River Bridge.
Editor County Record:

Editor County Record:
When the Santee river bridge is
completed Williamsburg county will
be in touch with the world. It will
be simple matter to visit Charles
ton, Savannah, Jacksonville, etc. The
road extends from Boston to Jackson
vile and teaspoonful of gas will
fake one quite a way on this coastal
highway. We no longer live IN the
country; we live in the city with sub
urban homes. At this writing the
bride-across the Savannah is being
built and it is pleasant to know when
" Santee bridge is completed the
vannah bridge will be ready too.
t is fact that most of US howl
growl about taxes. The writer
kjust discovered panacea for this
.onal disease. The remedy is quite
,lmple. Get Mr.. Sam Graham to
show you this Santee project and let
him tell you how cheaply we are get
ting it. It will make you blush be-
cause our county has given so little.
Mr.. Sam Graham was one OF the
main ones to get this bridge and he
deserves the utmost praise and COM
bendation. 1t was a colossal piece
business and it is enough to make
burst into floods Of reproach for
chill indifference.
From a financial standpoint it is
kpossible to tell how much we have
Lade on this project. A few figures
kill set you to thinking. The ven
ture will cost eight hundred and fifty
Thousand dollars, (SS50, 0,000.00). The
Federal Government pays one half;
the State of South Carolina pays
nothing; Williamsburg county sixty
two thousand dollars; Berkeley county,
thirty-eight thousand dollars; Charles
ton county, three hundred and twen-
ty-five thousand dollars. Now isn't
it enough to make q nude ring-nosed
savage writhe in delight? In actual
money the county has made seven
I hundred and eighty-eight thousand
dollars. Of course the county has
been made richer than the above fig
ures indicate. The bridge is being
built ridiculously cheap and a more
opportune time could never have
come. If the venture had been un-
dertaken three years ago most likely
we would have been glad to pay
three million for it.
The bridge could not be undertaken
were it not for the wonderful ma
chinery. This is probably why we
! are getting the work done sa amaz-
ingly cheap. The dirt is scooped up
with a steam shovel and dumped on
a fiat-car. The shovel doesn't care
for a big pine stump at all. The
stump is shoveled up and thrown
aside. A big locomotive with six or
seven flat-cars hauls the dirt to the
swamp and there it is dumped. For
ty acres of land, scooped to depth
of ten to twenty-five feet, furnished
the dirt for the filling. The road
will be twenty-five feet to forty feet
high and about forty feet wide. The
length is four or four and one-half
miles. Imagine the immensity of the
undertaking!
All the bridges are concrete rein
forced with steel. 1t is wonderful
sight to see the tremendously high
bridges and their supports of big, gi-
gantic white piling. There will be
several small bridges of concrete be-
fore one reaches the big bridge which
is to span the river.
Before closing the writer would
like to speak of the hospitality ac-
corded the party. We were met at
St. Stephens and driven down to the
camp. We had delightful time and
every minute was jeweled with joy.
Those in the party were: Messrs.
AIsbrook, Hines, Greelyville; Chan
der, Clarkson, Sam Graham, Lanes;
]. W., and A. R. Register, Trio. Two
young engineers were especially pleas
ant and the entire party was impress
ed with these two young men, Messrs.
Roberts and Parrel. Mr.. Sam Gra-
ham was very pleasant and we owe
him a big debt or gratitude for his
Kindness for making the trip so thor
oughly interesting.