Jack Delano, Photographer Family who had moved out of Santee-Cooper Basin, washing clothes on their “new” farm near Moncks Corner, South Carolina. Cut-over land in the Santee-Cooper Basin. Many of his photographs of the area can be seen at the Library of Congress’s American Memory website. Jack Delano was a WPA photographer who also documented the construction. Unfortunately, the website is not very well organized and is not searchable. The images shows the planning and early construction stages of the Pinopolis Dam and Lock, as well as images of the area from before work began. Poe kept a scrapbook of the project, which has been digitized and is now part of an online exhibit created by Clemson University. Poe, Senior Engineer for the Santee-Cooper Navigation and Hydro-Electric Project. Several photographers were instrumental in documenting the work. WPA Workers swarmed over the Moultrie basin cutting trees, clearing stumps, and completely clearing the area. The Works Progress Administration gave 9,672 South Carolinians jobs at the project’s peak, according to the 1944 “Picture Progress Story of the Santee Cooper.” In all, 12,500 workers were employed. Soon, blacks and whites, pulled from the relief rolls of every county in the state, were at work. But court fights with private utility companies delayed the start of work until April 1939. In 1935, a guaranteed federal loan and grant promised a beginning. Public Service Authority to construct and operate the Santee Cooper Hydroelectric and Navigation Project and improve “health, welfare and material prosperity.” The lakes and the dams would do just that by providing electricity. In 1934, state legislation established the S.C. According to a retrospective in The State newspaper… The lakes themselves weren’t really considered.īills were introduced, but the project lay dormant for another 20 years. Hydroelectric power was a secondary consideration. These early discussions of the Santee Cooper project focused on the navigation aspects – the creation of a new canal linking the two rivers. As early as 1914 it was reported that the Santee-Cooper project was being planned. The whole area was impoverished, and illiteracy was common. Floods threatened the Congaree-Santee basin on a regular basis, and malaria was prevalent. The plight of South Carolinians had not improved. However, the dream of a complete waterway connecting the Santee and Cooper Rivers persisted. Eventually, railroads replaced the canal traffic, and the canal fell into disuse. The canal did a great business until droughts of 18 dried up most of the waterway and left boats stranded. William Moultrie was one of the principal shareholders, and eventually president of the company. Construction was begun in 1793 under the direction of Col. In the late 1700’s the Santee Canal Company was formed to explore the possibility of connecting the Santee River with the Cooper River, providing a route into Charleston. There seemed to be no good way to get goods from the interior of South Carolina to its largest city. In this state, boats coming down the Santee River had a long stretch along the ocean beset with tides and storms. By contrast, Savannah was right on the banks of the Savannah River, which provided an easy way to get goods from far inland down to that coastal city. They provided adequate access to the low country plantations, but they don’t penetrate very far into the state. While the peninsula makes an excellent harbor situated between the Ashley and Cooper Rivers, those rivers don’t really go anywhere. It’s history has been one of controversy.Īs with many things that seem to cause trouble in South Carolina (slavery, Civil War, Mark Sanford, etc), that history had its roots in Charleston. The Santee-Cooper project was both hailed as a New Deal marvel, and derided for robbing many of their homes. That was not the case with other plantations and residences in the area. By the time the town of Ferguson was swallowed by the waters of Lake Marion, it had already been abandoned.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |