The Edisto Beach Causeway

     At Edisto, a person has the time to ponder those things which would never be considered in the workday world in the Upcountry.
     One such topic is the question, "How does one identify something as an island?"
     The answer itself lies within a question ,  "What is the state of the tide?"
     Years ago Edisto Beach (formerly McConkeys) was surrounded by Scott Creek, and thus was an island depending on the tide and your definition of a tidal creek. In any event, crossing Scott Creek required building a small wooden bridge in order to cross from Edisto Island itself to Edisto Beach (island). Its all very confusing for me in this advanced state of relaxation and seafood delirium.
     Scott Creek began at Jeremy Inlet  on the Atlantic Ocean and supplied a salt water flow through a tidal marsh,

Jeremy Cay Marsh

Jeremy Cay Marsh

 returning  to the South Edisto River at Big Bay Creek and back to the Atlantic again.
     Early in the 1940 s , someone had the idea that pavement was cheaper than bridge maintenance and the decision to build a causeway was made.

 No one consulted the crabs, herons or Spartina grass regarding cutting off the flow of Scott Creek. After all they probably would have supported it anyway. However, romantics as myself , never had a chance to comment on the fact that Edisto Beach (the island) would become simply a land mass connected to a larger piece of land.
     Now that the Beach is no longer an island, the Jeremy Cay side marsh is ocean fed through Jeremy Inlet and the western side or Big Bay Creek Marsh is supplied by the brackish Ace Basin.

Big Bay Creek Marsh

Big Bay Creek Marsh

 These two marshes do have some differences in the grasses that populate them and in the percentages of male blue crabs that live there. This may have some significance to the female blue crabs but I suspect that not having studied statistics they really don't care.

The Goose Creek- Edisto Tunnels

     In a rambling recently, I came across a phrase , "the Goose Creek-Edisto tunnels" and was filled with amazement that any one could have considered a car tunnel from Goose Creek South Carolina to Edisto Island South Carolina. A tunnel in the "low country" , a country filled with marshes and low lands. This just could not be.
     This "rabbit trail" just had to be followed.

     As it turns out, the story begins with the 1670 founding of Charleston and the need for shallow wells and rainwater cisterns to provide water for the inhabitants. The mineral rich ground water was preferred for household requirements while the more pleasant tasting rainwater was chosen for drinking.

     In 1823, following techniques developed in London, the first auger drilled artesian well was commissioned and completed in 1825 at 1260 foot depth, yet producing poor results.

     An artesian well uses the downward pressure of the weight of earth above an aquifer to create a pressure that lifts water to the surface. There are six main aquifers below ground in South Carolina. These are the Cape Fear, the Middendorf, the Black Creek, the Tertiary Sand, the Floridian and the Shallow Aquifer Systems.

     In 1879 Charleston successfully drilled a 1970 foot deep well producing tremendously and meeting the needs of the population with additional wells until 1902 when more water was needed to support the city.

     In 1904 an additional source, the Goose Creek reservoir was completed and provided additional "surface water" to support the growing demand.

     Leveraging the knowledge of  below ground conditions gleaned from the mining of hardened phosphate deposits in the late 1800s (see Blog item  Phosphate Mining  ), it was decided in 1937 to drill a tunnel, a water tunnel, as a conduit for water from the Edisto River, 23 miles away, down to Charleston.

                                                      

                                                                    Creating the Tunnel                                                     

                                                          Inlet to The Edisto Water Tunnel 

 In this way the tunnel would serve to provide "gravity fed" surface water to the city. This tunnel was dug by hand and had required 9 years to complete.

     In modern terminology, the loss of pressure in an aquifer is measured and referred to as "cones of depression". This is caused by the usage demands of artesian wells which drain the aquifer in an outreaching fashion. As aquifer water production declined and city usage increased in the early 1950s the Brushy Creek reservoir was constructed and later connected to the Goose Creek system by another seven miles of tunnel.

     "Car  tunnels" what was I thinking? Well I think I've cleared it up for myself.... now on to the next thing that may confuse me.

   

Sea Island Plantatation Owners ... Read the American Agricultural Magazine

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Sea Island Plantation Owners    .....Read the American Agricultural Magazine

    Scientific land management is not term that lands easily on the ear when hearing about plantation life in the early 1800s.

     Contrary to many preconceptions, the sea island plantation owners had much more to do than sit on the porch and sip some form of " southern comfort".
    These owners needed to manage the condition of the land as well as the sale of crops produced on their 300-400 acre plantations.

    Plantation crop selection needed to accomplish the replenishment of the land, provide an inflow of cash and provide food for the table. This was not a simple task.

    Typically, Sea Island Cotton, the cash crop needed to be the primary crop to provide a source of cash. If needed, this cash could be used to buy food stuffs in case the "provisioning"  food crops suffered a poor yield.

    Commercial fertilizers were not generally used during these years and the owner would replenish the soil chemistry by rotating crops, laying acreage aside and by having mud and salt marsh grass tilled into the soil in the off season. Another innovative solution was to place movable cow pens in a field where straw, mud and the tendency of cattle to add fertilizer could be turned into the soil as the cattle move about.

    The owner kept at least two sets of books. One book was to keep track of the crop productivity, fertilizer applications, crop rotation and amounts of acreage planted with each crop. He also kept track of the temperatures, rain amounts, late and early frosts and the proper sequence of planting times for each crop.

    A second book was maintained to account for the transactions that were occurring with the owner's "factor". The "factor" was a representative for the owner typically in Charleston or Savannah. The factor charged a commission ( about 2 1/2% ) for selling the cotton. The factor would also charge for storage, shipment costs and interest and any credit operation that might occur in a lean year. This relationship was interesting in that the plantation owner was always of the opinion that the factor charged too much and the factor was always suspicious of the owner's management skills and crop quality.

    The owner paid great attention to the quality of seed being used, and constantly selected the best of his seed for next years crop.

    In addition to conversations with other owners to learn of any new ideas, there were trips to other areas to seek out new practices.

    After all this work was done the plantation owner could then sit on his porch, read his subscription to the "American Agriculturist" and sip on a beverage of choice.

Ref: A Social History of the Sea Islands

       By Guion Griffis Johnson
       UNC Press. 1930

At This Spot- The Old Post Office at Store Creek

     SC highway 174 is a two lane passageway through moss covered Live Oaks standing aside Palmetto trees and Edisto Island history as well. In the early days it served as a sandy pathway for those afoot as well as animal drawn wagons.
    
     Even before the early roads were developed, the low country rivers and tidal creeks served as a means of cargo and human transport. At the spot in 1825,
where one of the larger tidal creeks was crossed by this central roadway an early home and store was constructed which subsequently gave name to the waterway as "Store Creek" and the store, "Holmes' " store.

      Before the Civil War, slaves of some of the "good " plantation owners were allowed to grow gardens to provide for themselves, after plantation work was done. What they produced surplus to their needs could be sold for cash at a little market the plantation owners permitted near the intersection of the main road (now highway 174) and Store Creek.
     They sold corn, peas, beans potatoes, rice, okra and pumpkins but were forbidden to sell the long staple Sea Island Cotton since this was a highly profitable crop kept for the plantation owners.
     After the war during "Reconstruction" they were allowed to sell Sea Island Cotton at the market.

      A sawmill operator named Ackerman of Cottageville fabricated rafts and loaded them with lumber, then floated them down the waterways to the head of "Store Creek " where they were offloaded and then disassembled  to be sold to those building houses in the area. Nearby, a cotton gin was constructed and something of a 19th century business district began to flourish.
    
     Eventually a man named Stevens re-opened the store in 1881 and he and his two sons moved a house from Eddingsville with his sons taking over the cotton gin business.

     In the early 1900s  a Bailey married a Stevens and moved in the house and store became known as "Bailey's Store". Thereafter a small one room post office was opened, laying the groundwork for the naming of a restaurant in the distant future. Today a seasonal restaurant called "The Old Post Office Restaurant" is operated for the beach tourists to the island.

     My family has visited the gift shop there and when you walk down to the little Store Creek bridge  and look back, one can't help but consider all the changes that must have happened there yet it would seem to be unchanged somehow.

Reference:
1.  And I'm Glad ... An Oral History of Edisto Island 
     by Nick Lindsay and Julia Cart
2. Edisto Island  1861-2006  Ruin ,Recovery and Rebirth
     by Charles Sagett Spencer

The Low Country Phosphate Mines, rough crowd, rough work

     Many times, as I have traveled I-26 into Charleston SC, I would pass the sign " Ashley Phosphate Road" an give maybe 2 seconds thought to wondering what that was all about. Through no intent of my own I finally stumbled into the answer and hope my blog to follow may save my reader the burden of a life of wondering about this important issue.

     In 1867, with the discovery of phosphate deposits in the Edisto Marl, the state of South Carolina began to issue licenses to mining companies to extract the phosphate rock formations located beneath the flat overburden near the sea island rivers in the Edisto area.
     The state required a dollar per ton royalty for river mining and no royalty for land mining.
     This material was highly prized for fertilizer with crops in different regions of the country. Cotton in the south, fruits and vegtables in the east and grain crops in the west all benefitted from its use.
     Mining was economical to 10' of depth and this resource was critical to the areas recovery after the Civil War.
     There were at least 36 companies involved in mining in the low country, with 5 companies in the sea island area providing "convenient" work to those living on Edisto Island.  Convenient meaning using the Steamboat Landing, with a Monday Friday trip on the "Mary Draper" and camping out at the mines.

Five of the closest mines were:

     Bradleys Phosphate Mine  on Rantowles Creek
     St. Andrews Mining Company on Stono River
     Bolton Phosphate Mine on Stono Creek
     Pon Pon Phosphate Mine on the Pon Pon River
     Linstedt Mine on Rantowles Creek

     The mines attracted rough men to do the rough work. There were Irish, German, former slaves now freed, contracted convicts from the state penal system and gamblers attempting to harvest money from the work of the miners.

     These men worked in pairs in 6' x 12' pits, loading small guage rail cars with busted rock. They produced 200,000- 500,000 tons of phosphate a year in the 1880s. Two thirds of which was exported to Europe.

The work was hard, the times were hard but the pay was the best around; they did what they had to do.

Rural Train Passengers Should Be Reasonable

     Adams Run, South Carolina is not one off the major cities of the United States today and I suspect that in 1898 it was smaller, if that is possible.
     Yonges Island, South Carolina is about 15 road miles or 8 pelican miles from Adams Run, should such a creature choose to dine on pine forest beetles as opposed to low country sea food.
     Nevertheless, it appears that on or about March 6th, Mr. S.E. Barnwell was inconvenienced by the late or non arrival of a train from Yonges Island, operating on the Charleston and Savannah Railroad line.
     His complaint to the Office of the Railroad Commission of South Carolina offered the opinion that the "Railroad" didn't even pretend to keep to the schedule of service to the local stops on the line and further, that the poor people of the rural south were being neglected to the needs of the rich people of the north.
     The usual exchange of  "copy to" and "forwards"  occurred with a response finally coming from Mr. G. S. Gadsden, superintendent of the railroad.
     Gadsden forwarded a lengthy list and schedule of all "through" and "local" trains. He pointed out that there were 4 local service trains on the Charleston to Savannah run and 4 through service trains. He also listed in specific, train # 20 leaving Yonges Island at 8:36 AM arriving at Charleston at 10:38 AM (2 hours) and a return leaving at 3:55 PM and arriving back on the island at 4:20 PM (25 minutes).
     The letter then continued to to explain the effect that the hard winter and poor economy had had on railroad operations and schedules and yet how busy the through trains had been. He finished with a statement that the rural people should be reasonably satisfied with the service they were getting.
     I'm sure Dale Carnegie would have loved to have conducted a seminar in Charleston if he could have caught a train in time.
   

The Goose Creek Men

The Goose Creek Men
     The “Goose Creek Men” were English planters, some who came to S.C. from Barbados early in colonial times (1670-1690) . These colonists settled a few miles west of Charleston near a stream called Goose Creek.
    
     They soon became wealthy through the Indian trade, since a major Indian trade path ran nearby.The colonists were active in the deerskin trade and also traded guns, ammunition, cloth, rum, and other goods for furs. They traded with a number of Indian tribes as the Catawbas, Coosas, Westos, and Yamasees in the lowcountry and the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws farther in the backcountry.
    
     They later became involved in the conduct of  illegal trade in Indian slaves slaves and with pirates. This trade was met with the disapproval of the Lord's Proprietors who wanted an upright and Christian colony paying honest returns to them.
    
     By the 1690s many held important offices in the colonial government.
 "The Goose Creek Men" formed a political faction opposing the Lords Proprietors between 1670 and 1720. Two of them, James Moore, Sr. (d. 1706) and his son James Moore.[5][6][7]. (d. 1724) served as governor of the colony.

     They became well known for their independent and contrary ways. It is sometimes speculated by South Carolina historians that perhaps the independent attitude of our citizens is a genetic contribution of these Barbadian transplants.

     Although the area's history dates back many centuries the the city of Goose Creek was not established until 1961.