Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

furnishing the power not only for its new mill but for the old mill also. This was accepted and at once neces sitated the development of Portman Shoals. The work in this develop ment is now under way, and when completed will develop at the river some 5,000 hydraulic horse-power, and transmit of this at once about 1,800. The balance will require only the addi tion of thc necessary generating ap paratus and tiansmission 'line to make it available in the city. Portman Shoals has a fall of 48 feet in 2 miles, and by careful test? of the flow of the water in the river, the F-~-~-? BESIPENCE OF < available power due to this head is between 8,000 and 10,000 horse-power. The present development will consist of a stone dam, situate at the lower end of the shoal, to be 27 feet in height, which will give a head of 82 feet OD the wheels, and produce about ").000 gross horse-power. This con struction will obviate the necessity of a canal, and will re idily p?rmtt the en largementof thcplunt.so that the whole power in the river can be cheaply developed, wheu the demand for power shall make it advisable. As stated above the work on this development is now being pushed tocompletion. The contractors. Messrs. Withers & Hard away, of Birmingham, Ala., have at j present a force of 200 men and the | necessary engines, steam drills and derricks at work and will no doubt ? complete their contract by the 1st of June, 1897, the time set in their agreement. The Electrical Generat ing apparatus is being built by thc STORKUOO.M OF BRO1 Stanley Klectric Manufacturing Com pany, of Pittsfield. Mass., and will consist of two b'00 Ki 1 i natt two-phase trenerators and the necessary switch board apparatus and accessories. The current, will leave the machines at a pressure of 10.01)1) volts, and after passing through thc switch-board, will be transmitted to the city, a distance of 10 miles, over aline consisting of eight Xo - bare copper wires. Reaching the city, it will be carried into the Company's present station, and there transformed from 10,000 volts to 1,000 volts, and thence dis tributed throughout the city and to the Cotton Mill. The wheel plant will consist of four pairs of 20-inch .VicConnick Turbine Wheels, made by S. Morgan Smith, of York. Pa. They are guaranteed to give an efficiency of 80 per cent., and to develop 2.2U0 horse-power t.hen operated at full gate. They will oe mounted horizontally, two pairs in each flume coupled direct to one gen erator. Whilst this apparatus will constitute the present installation of generating and transmitting apparatus, the power-house is being built of suf ficient size to accommodate three more generators of like capacity, and the necessary turbines to drive them. The power house is situate immedi ately below t.hc dam. and the water is carried through the dam in iron flumes J. L. TRIBULE. into the power house and delivered to the wheels. These latter rest upon the floor of thc power house, and after passing the wheels the water is carried by draft tubes to thc tail race. If in future the full power of the river is developed, all that will be necessary will bc to raise the height of the dam to its limit, and nothing now built need be disturbed or changed. The officers of the Company are : Dr. S. M. Orr. President; W. J. Roddy, Vice President; Wm. C. Whitner, General Manager and Chief Engineer; J. L. Mauldin, Superinten dent; and F. G. Whitner, Secretary; with W. L. Roddy and W. J. Roddy, of Rock Hill. R. II. Wylie, of New York, J. L. Orr, of Greenville, S. M. Orr. j. A. Brock, R. S. Hill. B. F. Whitner, J. M. Sullivan, Wm. C. Whitner and J. G. Cunningham, of Anderson, as Directors. The completion of this plant will give to Anderson an abundance of WS, < >S1)0RNE & ('(?. I cheap power, which together with her other natural advantages, will, we are j cindiilcnt. soon place her in thc front ranks nf the manufacturing towns in thc South. The Company invite the correspondence of those seeking a manufacturing location, and will bc glad lo enter into negotiations for fur nishing power in any quantities up to the limit of their capacity. - The breezes from the hills tem per the heat of summer, while the hills, themselves, protect us from thc chill winds of winter. - Anderson county stock raisers are setting a line example to other sec tions of the State. They have found the business very profitable. PUBLIC HIGHWAYS OR COUNTRY ROADS. Anderson County leads the State, and probably the South, in good, smooth country roads and in the new system of road making. In every di rection from Anderson, run broad, smooth roads to the limits of the county, which are so thoroughly grad ed and constructed as to rival many of the noted drive-ways of the North and East. And these roads are play ing a very important part in increas ing the volume of business in the city of Anderson. To the citizens of An derson County it is now a matter of COUNTY CON1 surprise that our common roads have been for so many years and so univer sally neglected, amidst so much pro gress and prosperity in every other direction. It is indeed remarkable. Trade relations, both interstate and foreign, have brought magnificent and thoroughly equipped railroads, which span thc- country in every direction, and connect us with almost every mar ket of the world, but the common roads over \thich every pound of pro duce must be hauled to feed the great thoroughfares of commerce and travel have been, for many years, even more WORKING PUBLIC ROAD WITH ST: than a century, sadly neglected year after year. The legislatures have as sembled, enacted laws pertaining to almost everything else, but to intro duce a new system of road making either never occurred to them or seemed fraucht with so many difficul ties, no one appeared willing to under take it until in 1885. Maj. E. B. Murray, now deceased, a young and remarkably bright representative from Anderson County, introduced a bill providing for a wider road bed, an in crease in the number of days work re quired and for a tax of \ of one mill to be set aside as a permanent im VlEW ?'F I'l provemcnt fund. This bill became a law Dec. 24, 1896. It did not meet with general approval, but its ell'cct proved most beneficial, lt directed the attention of the people to the sub ject of better roads, and in 1893 a bill was introduced giving to us the present system of road making. This bill be came a law January 4th. 18i)4. The old Board of County Commissioners as abolished and Township Boards tablished in their stead. These Boards consist of three discreet free holders in each township in the sev eral counties, recommended by the representatives in the Legisture and appointed by the Governor. The office of County Supervisor is created and made elective every two years. The Supervisor has general jurisdic tion over all public highways, ::oads, bridges and ferries ; over the paupers and all matters relating te taxes and disbursements of public funds for county purposes, and invested with authority to administer oaths in mat ters appertaining to his office. The Supervisor, together with the Chair man of the Township Boards of Com missioners, constitute liie County 7KT CAMP. Board of Commissioners, with the Su pervisor as Chairman of the Board. From this Board one member is elect ed as a member of the State Board of Equalization. The Supervisor and Chairman of the Township Boards are required to lay off into convenient sec tions roads, bridges and ferries, and number them for the purpose of letting out same to be worked and maintained by contract. Advertisements are made for bids, which bids must be submitted in writing. The contract system is not made obligatory upon the County Boads. A commutation KEL CHAMPION ROAD MACHINE. tax is provided for which may be paid in lieu of personal labor. Road over seers are appointed by the Township Boards. The Courts are required to sentence all ablebodied male convicts, whose terms are not over two years, to hard labor upon public works of the county in which conviction is had. These convicts are organized into a county chain gang, under the control of the Supervisor, but arc .not permit ted to be worked in connection with or near a road contractor or overseer. The commutation tax provided for in this bill was ?2.Of), but it was found that many pr?f?red to perform work .HLIC KOAH. instead of paying, and in March, 1896, this tax was reduced to il.00. This reduction met with approval and is found to be satisfactory as a source of revenue. Inasmuch as the contract system was left discretionary with the County Board of Commissioners, and the sys tem was new, without rules or prece dents to guide in the details of the work, very few of the counties hive adopted it. In fact, Andersou county alone appears to have fully adopted it and taken the ivnitation in demon strating, unaided, that the system is thorough and satisfactory in cost and in giving the best roads the South has ever had. The first Supervisor, W. P. Snelgrove, was elected two years ago, and is again renominated in the Democratic primaries by an over whelming majority. It is very signi Scant that almost all of the other Su pervisors in the State were defeated before the primaries. From the very beginning Mr. Snel grove has exhibited a marked interest in this new road system, and in the plans adopted by him has clearly proven his fitness for this difficult po sition. In Anderson County there are I seventeen Townships. Up to this I time IMr. Snelgrove has purchased for t l?ese Townships seven Steel Champion Road Machines, which are manufac tured by the American Road Machine Co., Kennett Square, Pa. These ma chines were selected after careful comparison with other similar ma chines manufactured by others, and they have given perfect satisfaction. These machines shape, grade and ditch, leaving a smooth track sloping from the center to the side ditches, forming a kind of water-shed, which prevents the standing of water on thc road-bed. It is found that each Champion does :he work of about GO hands. The Supervisor intends to put a Steel Champion .Machine in each Township in the County in the course of a year or two. There is only ono squad of convicts in the County at present, and in the different Town ships work has to be performed by hired labor, bul. the Machines have gone over nearly the whole County, cutting down tbs hills, rounding up tho roads in good shape, and leaving them in a condition to be easily fin ished. At the convict camp there are about 30 convicts'. The camping out fit is complete. There isa substantial tent for the convicts 16 by 40 feet. At night the men are placed with their feet together, chained and guarded. The tent for the guards is 12 by 14 feet, and conveniently located near thc convict tent. The most unique article, perhaps, of this camping out fit is the portable kitchen, built of corrigated iron and placed on wheels. This kitchen is 7 by 12 feet, with a stove bolted down securely. It is ar ranged inside with shelves, tables and everything necessary for cooking pur poses. Ventilation is provided by means of wire gauze doors. Two mules only are required to move this kl echen from place to place. Every thing has been working smoothly at the camp so far. No attempt? to es cape have been made, but among the necessities of the camp are blood hounds. Several of these dogs have been purchased and are a terror to the convicts. The task of transforming a million miles, or more, of bad roads into good ones, a task which involved the dis ruption of century old systems, tho development of new lines of legisla tion in all the States of the Union, and in many even the changing their constitutions, and which has threat ened to require an expenditure run ning into billions, has commonly been deemed so vast and difficult as to bo utterly hopeless; but it suddenly ap pears that the few good citizens who have had the courage to attempt it here and there, have reason to be as tonished at their own success. Not only have the ways i'.nd means heen found without oppression to tho tax payer, but the actual cost of good road making has been brought far be low the early estimates. Sixteen* States have passed new road laws,, more or less radical in their nature,, and one has amended its constitution to permit the adoption of such laws. Many hundreds of miles of good roads have already been built, in localities widely separated, under varying -con ditions and through various methods of administration, finance and con struction. In the South more especi ally the question of better roads liait been thoroughly discussed, and active steps have been taken to have thc plans carried out. In Anderson County this new sys tem has given perfect satisfaction. The dread of country roads has given place to a delight to be upon them, while the receipts of produce in tho City of Anderson, due to thc improv ed condition of thc roads, are rapidly increasing. C- He-who contributes to thc build ing of a school house creates a legacy for prosterity. - Our public roads constitute ono of the most attractive features of .our many and varied advantages. - The drowning man catehcth afc thc straw. So doth the drinking man when there is a mint julep at the other extremity. - The negro in the South has shown a wonderful improvement and has dis played the racial susceptibility to moral and educational influeneesln at marked degree. The Souther? peo ple and the negroes understand).eac?? other and get along vd! together.