Evolution Of Transportation

Early travel in this area has a romantic backdrop of animal and Indian trails. Animals, naturally seeking the easiest terrain over whlch Indians. These were in use many years before the white man came to this area and before the Indians acquired horses from the early explorers. Two notable trails pass through our area, Warrior Trail and Keowee Trail.

The past one hundred years has seen the greatest transition in transportation since the world began. Early transportation in our area was confined to foot or horseback as there were no roads, only the Indian trails. Later, as some roads were cut out of the forest, wagons and carts came into use. This was even before the "horse-and-buggy" days as the early settlers could not afford either and depended greatly on oxen. The latter were cheap and could be raised at home by growing out the calves from the milk cows. As communities grew, roads improved, and need for more travel arose, the stagecoach was developed for overland passenger transportation. The coach from Walhalla traveled to Augusta where it connected with another coach for Charleston.

The wagon train, with its necessary tar bucket hanging on the rear for lubrication purposes, carried freight. The covered wagon from the mountains, often ox-drawn, bearing such produce as cabbage, apples, and chestnuts, was a familiar sight In all of our foothill area until the 1920's.

Where large streams had to be crossed, the trails, and later the roads, led to fords or shoals. One ford for traffic from Oconee County into Georgia was Smash Waggin Ford across the Chattooga River at Russell's; another further south on the same river was Rogue's Ford. The ford across the Keowee into Pickens County was Shallow Ford. Another was Chapman's Ford with Its "Pilot Rock." When the water covered the rock, the river was too deep to cross. Before the advent of bridges, ferrys were used to cross the rivers. Some of these were Jenkins Ferry, David Ferry, Ramsey Ferry, and Walton Ferry, all being on the Tugaloo. There were also several ferries over the Seneca River.


Before the county assumed the responsibility of road and bridge building, many of these ferrys were replaced by their owners with covered bridges, and toll was charged for crossing. The idea of the roof over the bridge was to protect the floor and sills from weather damage and reduce the cost of maintenance. The county later took over these covered )ridges and maintained them. Two still remain in Oconee County; one of these, Prather's Bridge. is still In daily use. Later, as engineering skills were developed steel bridges came into use. Nimmons Bridge was one of the first steel bridges in our county.

Then came the train' It was a great day when the Blue Ridge Railroad was completed between Anderson and Pendleton in 188 and then extended to West Union in 1860, Following the Civil War the line was extended to Waihalla in 1870. In the interim a carriage-like van, holding sixteen to twenty people, transported passengers between West Union and Wallialla. It was drawn by four horses and the driver sat on top of the vehicle with the baggage. About this time there was a stagecoach drawn by four horses that carried passengers from Walhalla to Highlands.

In every town the hack played the important role of transporting "drummers" (as salesmen were then called) to and from the depot to the hotels and boarding houses. The steel-tired carriage, usually drawn by two horses, was the family type vehicle. In these early times a carriage was a sign of affluence, and the old farm wagon was more commonly used for family transportation. The buckboard and later on the two passenger buggy came into being. About 1910 steel tires on buggys were replaced by rubber tires; this was a thrilling innovation and added greatly to the comfort of travel.

In the early 1900's the horseless carriage came into being, and the unheard-of speed of 25 miles per hour was attained. These noisey contraptions frightened the horses and mules as they traveled along the narrow dirt road. They were fair weather vehicles and wet, muddy roads were not passable. It was the height of embarrassment for a new car owner to get stuck and require a nearby team to pull him out. Old-timers can vividly remember their first glimpse of a car and remember who bought the first one in each town.

In the 1850's pole boats were used on the Tugaloo to carry farm produce to the market at Augusta. The )oats were built by farm labor in the periods when work was slack. These same laborers, first slaves and later tenants, accompanied these boats to market and poled supplies hack up the river. These flat boats carried a large load In both directions and were relatively easy to handle. The head of this l)oat travel on the Tugaloo River was Pulaski, a town located where Brass Town Creek entered this river, Early maps show this as one of the largest settlements in this area. To reach this point, boat sluices were constructed thru the shoals in the river. Oldtimers tell of seining in this area and being cautioned not to get in the boat sluice as It was too deep and swift. From Pulaski freight was hauled by wagon to north Georgia and Western North Carolina. This early town is now covered by the waters of one of the Georgia Power Company lakes.

In the early 1900's a paddle-wheel boat was used on the Tugaloo. This was the era of a large lumber operation in the Madison area and the logs were floated down the river to the mill. This boat was used in some of this work. Later, about 1914, when the Southern Railroad was being relocated, this same boat pushed the barges of stone and other material out of which the trestle foundations were built.

With the advent of power driven vehicles has come a network of paved highways. City parking lots have replaced the livery stable. Oconee County can boast of progress from the Keowee Trail to  the Oconee Air Port. The miraculous development  of modern  transportation has brought the dual problem of speed and space, completely unknown 100 years ago when there were no traffic cops and parking meters. Nuclear power and advanced rocket development will make space travel routine in the next hundred years. To those who celebrate Oconee's 200th Anniversary, the jet travel of today will appear as horse travel now appears to our generation.