Black River Area
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.
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Source:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Charleston District
Navigability Study 1977
Black River Area Report No. 6 of 18
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Copyright © 1998 S. J. Coker