Evening star., 1951-04-01

prepares to do away with Ellen
ton on the Savannah River, q
miles below Augusta. Ga.
The commission is going to
clear 100000 acres, about 328
Third Of q series Of articles on effect OF
bomb pIon project in South Corolino.
square miles, for huge plant
to make tritium. the element OF
the hydrogen bomb. The plant
will lie along the Savannah, whose
waters will be ideal for cooling
processes because they contain lit
tie of the elements that acquire
radioactivity.
A population of 5000 to 1000
will be moved off the land, but
the biggest. problem Atomic En-
ergy officials concede will be max
ing equitable adjustments with the
residents of Ellenton. which has
a population of 723.
When the Government takes q
mans farm, it can give him a
liberal price for it and feel that
he will be able to buy a farm as
good or better with the money
and start over again.
But the problems of compensa-
ton for little community of
economic integrity, which serves
as the business center of the farm
area, are complicated. What's
to be done for the man with a
small insurance business, for a
physician whose patients must
move from the land, for the store
keeper who will have no more
customers?
Some Legislation Needed.
There are legal complications
that can be solved only by legis-
lation. For one thing, under pres
ent law, the money the Govern
ment will pay out in compensa-
ton for property is considered in
come to the extent that it ex-
ceeds what the man originally
paid for the property. The Acc
is supporting an amendment to
the income tax law now before
Congress that will enable dis
placed persons" in South Caro-
lima and similar situations else
where to re-invest their compen-
sation in similar properties with
out turning slice of it over to
the Internal Revenue Bureau.
But there are things the Acc
knows it cannot compensate for
-intangibles such as neighbor-
liness in community, where most
of the residents have lived for
several generations, respect and
position, which have been earned
by a lifetime of right living, and
all that "hoIae town" means toI
a people who have never travelled
far from it.
A stroller about Ellenton'sI
streets comes upon some very
interesting houses couple of big
pillared mansions and many
smaller houses that have been
lived in comfortably for a long
time.
Most impressive of the homes is
the Ashley house. It is huge
white frame structure. its porticot
and balcony in front supported by
four large pillars topped With
beautifully carved Corinthianf
capitals. 1t looked as if it hadi
been built about 1900, but learned /
later that the date was 1919,
Many New Rambiers.
About the town are attractive
new ramblers or ranch houses,
their picture windows decorated
by small plants within, all built
in the last 10 years. Ellenton has
had some recent prosperity.
No one has written a history of
Ellenton so, like Herodotus, I asked
the citizens about the past of their
town and accepted everything I
was told.
A4C "do cbo4 W.
a port for a few plantations before
Revolution. The first crops were
cotton. rice and indigo. The
produce was carted to the river
and loaded aboard ships.
There is one thing the book
reading people of the H-bomb area
want understood. 1t is this:
Erskine Caldwell's Tobacco Road
did not run through their terri
tory. 1t was in Georgia on the
other side of the Savannah River
above Augusta.
Railroad Created Town.
1t was the coming of the rail-
road that made the settlement a
town and gave it it's name. 1t was
built about 100 years ago. The
men building the railroad pitched
their camp there. They took a
liking to little girl named Ellen