I find Myself looking forward to your post  If you ever quit the group keep
me in mind for posting elsewhere
-----Original Message-----
From: Steven Coker 
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>; [email protected]

Date: Tuesday, February 24, 1998 8:59 PM
Subject: Black River Area


The first English settlers in South Carolina were restricted to waterbodies
>for movement of heavy and bulky goods and products.  As such, the Black
River
>basin provided significant water routes for penetration into the back
country.
>   In the early 1700's, the Black River was a "key water highway in Indian
>trade."  After about 1720, the river was extensively used for shipping food
to
>feed the slaves who worked the rice growing plantations around Georgetown.
>Indigo was grown along the Black River in the section which now forms
>Williamsburg County.  Naval stores (i.e. pitch, turpentine, rosin, and
logs)
>were also moved down the river.
>   Vessel traffic on the river and its tributaries (1780-1820) appears to
have
>been of various types and capacities until the advent of the steamboat.
Canoes
>constructed of cypress logs seem to have predominated originally, carrying
>perhaps sails and long oars.  The perriauger [1] was next in size, which
might
>carry a hundred barrels of pitch and tar or tobacco.  Larger vessels that
could
>also ascend some distance up the various tributaries of the river were
flats,
>scows, and various modes or rigs of sloops, schooners, and yawls.  These
vessels
>gathered products which were difficult to move over the meager road network
that
>was common to the region.
>   Such craft found no great difficulty in negotiating the river from
>Williamsburg down to Georgetown, so long as the river was cleared of snags.
In
>1737, for example, one Robert Finley received "two hundred bushels of corn
From
>the provincial government as a gratuity for his clearing the river for
large
>boats up to the Town of Kingstree, South Carolina."  Various statutes were
>passed while South Carolina was still a royal colony during the late 1700's
that
>addressed the problem of keeping the river open and free from snags.
>   With the advent of paddel-wheel and screw steamers, which coincided with
>South Carolina's interest for internal improvement in the 1820's and
1830's, the
>General Assembly funded additional efforts to keep the Black River clear of
>obstructions.  During the 1880's and 1890's, when the Corps of Engineers
first
>initiated its surveys and examinations, a thriving waterborne traffic in
logs,
>timber, fertilizer, and goods existed along the river and its major
>tributaries.  Around the turn of the century, such traffic was valued at
>approximately 1.25 million dollars per annum.  The Corps felt that the
river, at
>least in its lower stretch, needed no improvement.
>   Subsequently, the extension of the railway network and the construction
of a
>hard-surface highway system, during the period between World Wars I and II,
>proceeded to divert much of the waterborne commerce which had moved within
the
>Black River basin.
>   Black Mingo Creek (also referred to as Mingo Creek or Mingo River), a
>tributary to the Black River, was also a significant avenue for commerce.
The
>same naval stores, logs, timber, and the like were moved down both rivers.
>Likewise, development of Black Mingo Creek was similar to Black River.  In
1825,
>the South Carolina Board of Public Works reported, Black Mingo was
"formerly
>navigated by schooners to Wiltown Old Bridge ... 17 miles by water from its
>mouth.  Wiltown is now deserted."  Later that century, the River and Harbor
Act
>of 11 August 1888 authorized the following project for Mingo Creek: "... a
>channel adequate for 5 foot draft winter pole boat navigation up to the
head of
>such useful navigation, about 31 miles."  The portion of the river for
which
>steamboat navigation was projected had been thoroughly snagged, however,
the
>upper end of the creek had not been cleared.  In 1896, the Board of Trade
of
>Georgetown, S.C., reported that Mingo River had a "navigable length for
>steamers" of 13 miles, and for pole boats, a "navigable length" of 13 miles
>(assumed additional 13 miles).  On March 18, 1908, Congress passed the
Rivers
>and Harbor Act which "provided for a draft of 8 feet to the Hemingway
Bridge,
>9.9 miles."  This project was completed in 1913.  The river was then
cleared
>again, between its mouth at Black River and the Hemingway Bridge, during
January
>1945 to facilitate shipping of pulpwood to Georgetown.  From Corps of
Engineer
>Annual Reports of 1950 and 1974 it is apparent commerce had declined.  The
>navigation project on the creek is described as "completed", with "no
commerce
>reported."
>
>-------------------------------
>[1] Perriauger - A vessel used during the early development period of the
United
>States (1700's-1800's) for the transportation of supplies.  The vessel was
>sometimes oared, poled, or pulled and was occasionally fitted with mast and
>sail.
>
>
>Source:
>U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
>Charleston District
>Navigability Study 1977
>Black River Area Report No. 6 of 18
>
>
>
>John Michael O`Melia wrote:

 If possible I would like to see what information you can provide from
 your resources pertaining to the Black Water Swamp area of SC.

 I hope I have the area named correctly. The names of the families in
 that area were BOSTICK, BOSTWICK, GARNER, MANER, PORTER, TREUTLEN; just
 to name a few that intermarried in that area.

 Later, they moved west with the frontier that progressed across GA and
 AL into LA and MS.

 I thoroughly enjoyed your posts. Many of us on the list are not privy to
 this information. Keep up the good works. Take care and best wishes.

 John Michael O`Melia
 [email protected]
>
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>
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