Pineville, a historic refuge
Part 9: Santee Canal, the beginning

By Warner M. Montgomery
Warner@TheColumbiaStar.com

The Bridgewater Canal, England's first canal, was surveyed and designed by James Brindley. It opened in 1761 and is still used today for barge traffic as shown here. Brindley served as a consultant for the Santee Canal.

The defeated Brits left their former colonies, and the Americans set about building a new nation. Free from war, but deep in debt, owners of burned- out Santee River plantations returned home. Gen. Francis Marion and his brother Gabriel returned to their Pond Bluff and Belle Isle plantations. Thomas Walter, the botanist, settled at Mexico Plantation between the Marions and the Porchers and began writing his findings. Theodore Gourdin returned from Europe where he had been studying during the war. Col. Hezekiah Maham, the hero of Ft. Watson, settled at Lifeland Plantation and began building a race track for the enjoyment of the returning Sinklers, Couturiers, Gaillards, and other Huguenots seeking solace and refuge in the newly- developing Pineville community.

The year 1786 was critical in the history of South Carolina. In a historic compromise, the new state legislature recognized the growth of population and power that had developed outside Charleston after the Revolution and gave the Upcountry counties more representation in governmental affairs. The state capital was moved from Charleston to Columbia, and a South Carolina College was planned for Columbia that would recruit the best and brightest to be the next generation of leaders, a mixture of aristocrats and backwoodsmen.

Henry Mouzon drew the first map designating possible routes for the Santee Canal. Pointed out in red are Monck's Corner, Cooper River, Pineville, St. Stephens, and the Santee River.

Another critical event in 1786 was the signing on March 22 of the Santee Canal Charter, an agreement to connect the Cooper River, a tidal estuary that flowed from Monck's Corner to Charleston, with the Santee River, the state's major river system. This canal would allow unimpeded river traffic between Columbia and Charleston.

In national terms, it was South Carolina's attempt to compete with New York and Pennsylvania for access to the Midwest. New York was planning a canal to connect the Hudson River with the Great Lakes. Pennsylvania, likewise, was planning a canal between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

It was realized that if Charleston were not joined by water to the Mississippi River, the Holy City would lose its national prominence. Grandiose ideas were put to paper - first a Cooper- Santee Canal, then one at Columbia, another at Landsford, another at Greenville, and finally, one through the Appalachians to the Tennessee River at Chattanooga.

South Carolina was licking its wounds from Revolutionary War destruction. Rice fields were being rebuilt to restore the value of Carolina Gold on the world market. Indigo had become unprofitable because of a British tariff.

As soon as Eli Whitney's cotton gin appeared on the scene, General William Moultrie tested it on a small crop on the high ground between the Cooper and Santee Rivers. Within two seasons, cotton became a major staple throughout South Carolina. Forests from North Carolina to Georgia were converted to cotton fields. The newly- empowered politicians from the Upcountry wanted a cheap way to get bales of cotton to the Charleston market and goods from the world market into their homes.

Names of the directors of the Santee Canal Corporation read like a Patriot Hall of Fame: Gov. William Moultrie, president; former governor and future U.S. Supreme Court justice John Rutledge, vice president; future governor Edward Rutledge; Gen. Thomas Sumter; Judge Theodore Gaillard; Judge John Grimke, father of abolitionist daughters, Sarah and Emily; Col. John Huger; Henry Laurens, America's richest man; and from Pineville where the northern terminus of the canal would be located, Theodore Gourdin and Gen. Francis Marion.

The directors rushed along with what would be the first major canal in the United States. Gen. George Washington, elected the first president of the U.S. three years later, was appointed consulting engineer. He arranged for James Brindley to assist the project. Brindley had surveyed for many canals in England such as the Bridgewater Canal, the Coventry Canal, the Birmingham Canal, and the Oxford Canal. He is largely associated with the building of the so- called "Grand Cross," 2,000 miles of canals, which linked the four great rivers of England, the Severn, the Mersey, the Humber, and the Thames. Brindley visited the proposed route in early 1787.

Henry Mouzon, surveyor and mapmaker, was chosen to produce a map of possible routes of the canal. It was his map of the Carolinas that George Washington carried in his saddlebag during the war. (This map is now in the collection of the American Geographical Society.) Mouzon drew his map, on which were five possible routes for the canal.

Col. John Christian Senf, a Swedish engineer who fought with Gen. Thomas Sumter, was selected as the canal's chief engineer. He had just been appointed chief state engineer.

Senf began his survey in late 1786. His first challenge was to select the most efficient of Mouzon's routes through the pine ridge separating the two watersheds, at the same time utilizing the swamps at either end.

(Next week: Santee Canal, construction begins)