Above Hatton Shoal the river is clear for half a mile; 100 yards wide, 8 to 10 feet deep; velocity, 24 feet per second. Six-Hundred-Yards Shoal (113 m.).—Four feet fall. There are five equidistant ledges, and the aggregate length of rock is 400 yards; depth of water, 24 to 5 feet, and from 10 to 15 feet depth in the spaces between the ledges. Above this shoal the river is 10 feet deep, and is clear for 104 miles, to Knox's Bridge, average width being 50 yards, and depth from 4 to 10 feet. In this distance there are 6 small ledges, amounting to about 100 yards of rock. Then are passed Chambers' Ferry, Avery's Ferry, Wolf Creek, and Cane Creek, at the dividing line between Anderson and Oconee Counties, S. C. Shoal Creek, Georgia, (123 m.).—Cotton factory of 20 hands, 1 mile up the creek. Knox's Bridge (124 m.). Gum-Log Creek (126 m.).-Five yards wide; the dividing line between Hart and Franklin Counties, Georgia Wright's Shoal (1273 m.).-Rapid water, 4 feet deep, and Reed's Ledge, 200 yards, filled with fish-traps; 2 feet of water. Ralston's Ledge (128 m.).-Four hundred yards of rapids, with ledge of rock 5 yards long; water, 24 feet deep. Warren Shelah's Ferry (130 m.).-Two hundred yards above which, on the South Carolina side, Choestoe Creek enters; 5 yards wide. Stribling Shoal (1304 m.).—There are two ledges of rock-first, 50 yards; second, 150 yards-with a stretch of 400 yards of smooth water between them 8 feet deep. Length of shoal, mile; water on ledges, 2 feet deep. Old Stribling Ferry (131 m.), and the foot of Eastronolly Shoal. The river is 150 yards wide, and the banks are low. Shoal one-half a mile long. One ledge 100 yards; water, 2 feet deep; is obstructed by two lines of fish-traps; fall, 2 feet. Then we have a space, 250 yards long, of smooth water 15 feet deep. The next ledge is 50 yards long, with a fall of 18 inches. Above this there are 250 yards of gravel to the mouth of Eastronolly Creek, Georgia, (1314 m.). The river continues clear from this point for 12 miles, with the following exceptions; the depth is from 6 to 15 feet; width, 40 to 100 yards; velocity, 34 feet per second: (134 m.).--Gravel, 40 yards. (135 m.).-Ledge of rock; 30 yards; fall, 1 foot. (136 m.).-Gravel, 60 yards. (1364 m.).-Jenkin's Ferry; river 120 yards wide; gravel, 700 yards. (137 m.).-Gravel, 50 yards. (138 m.).-Fishery Shoal; 200 yards; water very rapid; 100 yards above is Barton's Ferry. (1384 m.).—Gravel, 800 yards; 2 feet of water. (140 m.).—Gravel, 200 yards; 2 feet of water. Chauga Creek, South Carolina (1414 m.). Town of Fort Madison, South Carolina (142) m.). Piedmont Air Line Railroad Bridge (144 m.), crosses the river, 100 miles east of Atlanta. This is at the dividing line between Franklin and Habersham Counties, Georgia. The river is 40 yards wide, 5 feet deep, velocity, 24 feet per second. It becomes very winding, the reaches varying from 50 to 300 yards in length. It continues clear to Panther Creek, 9 miles, with the following exceptions, viz: Jarratt's Old Bridge (1454 m.).-Gravel, 30 yards; water, 2 feet deep. (148 m.).-Gravel, 20 yards; rock, 5 yards. Smith's Ferry (1484 m.). (148 m.).—Shoal, 40 yards; fall, 6 inches. (1494 m.).-Gravel, 20 yards; fall, 1 foot. (150 m.).-Shoal, 75 yards; fall, 2 feet. Eighteen inches of water; channel filled with fish-traps; 6 feet deep above. (1514 m.). Two ledges and a dam; 30 yards. (152 m.).—Shoal, 150 yards; 1 foot of water. Gravel, 200 yards; 2 feet of water. The next 14 miles continuous shoal water, 1 to 2 feet deep. Panther Creek, Georgia (1534 m.).—This is 15 yards wide, 18 inches deep; velocity, 0.8 foot per second. (154 m.). This is as far as it is possible to carry a pole-boat; the remaining distance to the junction of the Tallulah and Chatooga Rivers (1564 m.) was a succession of rapids, the fall being 30 feet to the mile. The Tallula River was 40 yards, bearing west. The Chatooga was 150 yards wide, bearing N. 35 W.: the banks very precipitous, and the surrounding hills were from 800 to 1,000 feet high. GENERAL REMARKS ON THE RIVER. The river banks from Augusta to Panther Creek are from 10 to 12 feet high; the width is from 500 yards to 75 yards; the depth (except on the shoals, which will average 18 inches) is 5 feet; the velocity of the current, 0.8 foot to 34 feet per second, for 151 miles. Average winter river; about 1 foot higher than the above observations. The average high-water mark of freshets shows a rise of 16 feet; these generally occur during May and August. Low river lasts during October and November. Average winter river lasts from December to May. The most notable freshets that have occurred were in 1796, when the Lower Savannah cut through South Carolina from Beck's Ferry, above Pureysburg, to Oketer Creek, and thence emptied into Hilton Head; in May, 1840; in August, 1852, it rose at Petersburg 44 feet in 48 hours above common river; in 1875 it rose at the same place 38 feet in 36 hours, and the streets of Augusta, which are 35 feet above the river. were inundated with 4 feet of water During the freshet a boat has been run from Petersburg to the Augusta lock in 5 hours. The freshets generally take three times as long to subside as to rise, but the conditions are too variable to form a general rule. The freshet at Trotter's Shoal in 1 rose 10 feet. The fact of these very severe freshets being possible forbids the idea of putting at any reasonable expense canals and locks around the shoals of the river. These shoals serve to create natural reservoirs of water, and in a few instances they may be cut through without too greatly increasing the inclination of the bed. In the larger shoals the river is 600 to 800 yards wide. A portion of the water scatters itself uselessly among the bowlders, while the channel, such as it may be, flows diagonally from bank to bank, interrupted by bowlders and ledges, or around the hill instead of straight down, thus establishing a kind of grade, By building wing-dams of loose stone, with which the bed of the river abounds, so placing them as to equalize the grade as much as possible and at the same time confine the waste-waters into one course, the obstruction may be removed or overcome so as to give the desired depth of water in the channel at such moderate velocity as not to lower the head of water above and thus cause a new shoal to be made. A wing-dam made of loose stone, 3 feet high, 2 feet on top, with slopes of 1 to 1, or a cross-section of 15 square feet, or 1.66 cubic yards for each running yard, can be readily and economically made, and in a little time would become matted with grass, trash mud, &c., and form a permanent wall. The little dams built by the Cherokee Indians for their fish-traps remain to-day in good condition wherever they have been left alone. Steam-drills can be employed everywhere by fitting out an ordinary pole-boat with a boiler, and providing a few bateaux and suitable piping. COUNTRY, POPULATION, AND PRODUCTION. The country on each side of the river from Augusta to Knox's Bridge, 124 miles, is cultivated for cotton; with the present careless mode of cultivation it produces on al average half a bale to the acre or about 3 to 7 bales to the hand. It is well adapte to the production of tobacco, grain, indigo, silk, and vine culture. Above Knox's Bridge to the mountains corn is the principal crop, the average pro Tobacco grows well. The country is well tim duction bring 35 bushels to the acre. bered and is well adapted for grazing. During the winter the hillsides are covered with a short growth of green cane. In Lincoln County, 4 miles west of Goshen, the Sale and Lamar mine has been re cently opened with a plant costing about $4,000; the yield from January 1 to Noverber 15, 1878, was $12,000 in gold. The ore assays $20 per ton and is mined and workei for $3.50 per ton. There are several mines in the neighborhood. On the dividing line between Edge field and Abbeville is the well known Dorn's mine, not worked. At Colonel Calhoun's, at Trotter's Shoal, there is another mine very well spoken of In Anderson County, 15 miles northeast of Andersonville, extensive arrangements ar being made for hydraulic mining. In fact, there are pockets of gold all through th country, and in Oconee County there are extensive beds of good iron ore, with aburdance of fuel and limestone near at hand. At Panther Creek limestone crops out, and there are a few kilns that supply the neighborhood. Occasionally it is sent down the river to the lower counties. The different points on the river are distant from the railroads as follows, viz: Petersburg to Washington, Georgia, 20 miles; Petersburg to Abbeville, South Carelina, 25 miles; Andersonville to Anderson, South Carolina, 13 miles. The Air-Line Railroad crosses the river at Fort Madison, 144 miles above Agusta. miles west of this point, at Tuccoa City, a narrow-gauge road runs south 51 miles? Elberton, which is 12 miles west of the Savannah River. A road is being constructed from Greenwood, S. C., to Augusta. It will run at 1 distance of miles from the river for 25 miles in South Carolina, and then it will cros into Georgia 15 miles above Augusta. We will suppose the production of the country which will be affected by the rivet to extend on each side half the distance to the nearest railroad point above Augusta. 15 X 8 120 South Carolina. 780 Georgia. 53 × 10 61 X 6 530 South Carolina. 154 miles. 1161 Georgia. 154 1116 South Carolina. Total number of square miles in Georgia and South Carolina As the upper portion of the river on both sides produces but little cotton for 30 miles, we deduct (30 × 2 × 6). square miles 2,277 1.917 |