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REPORT
ON THE
BRUNSWICK
CANAL AND RAIL ROAD,
GLYNN COUNTY, GEORGIA
WITH
AN APPENDIX CONTAINING THE
CHARTER AND COMMISSIONERS’ REPORT
_______________________
BY LOAMMI BALDWIN, ESQ.
CIVIL ENGINEER
________________________
BOSTON:
JOHN H. EASTBURN, PRINTER,
No. 18 State Street
___________
1837
Pg. 3
REPORT.
__________
CHARLESTOWN, MASS., JUNE 6, 1836.
SIR:—Having been requested by the
Brunswick Canal and Rail-road Company to examine and survey a route
for a canal from the Altamaha River to Brunswick Harbour, in
Georgia, which was incorporated by an act of the Legislature, passed
December 20, 1834, I have executed that trust, and present the
following Report, with a Plan, showing the route I recommend for
their adoption.
The Altamaha river is navigable from Darien 200 miles,
to the forst of the Ocmulgee and Oconee, and up the Ocmulgee, the
west branch, 300 miles, to Macon, and on the east branch, Oconee,
200 miles to Milledgeville, the capital of the state. Steamboats
are used with wheels at the sides, and take, on each side, a boat
loaded with five or xi hundred bales of cotton down to Darien from
Macon and Milledgeville and the intermediate points of the river.
The ascending freight by the same means is considered more than that
descending. The amount of cotton is increasing, and during the past
year there were about 130,000 bales brought to Darien.
From Darien, the Altamaha is also navigable 12 miles to
Doby Island for ships and schooners drawing 11 feet, at common high
water in ordinary tides. At Doby Islands, ships may come drawing 14
feet at common high water. Over the bar at Doby Inlet is 16 or 17
feet at high water, but an intermediate bar or spit of sand prevents
vessels drawing more than 14 feet at high water, passing to the
island.
The country bordering on the Altamaha, Ocmulgee, and
Oconee, and their tributaries, for an extent at least of 80 miles
Pg. 4
wide, and 150 miles in length, in the direction
of the rivers, abounds with pine, cypress, and white oak, which is
now almost useless for want of a good harbor at Darien. The
tributaries, the great Ohcopee, and the little Ocmulgee, have some
saw mills, from which sawed lumber of various kinds, and logs, are
rafted to Darien for country use, but none, or very little for
foreign markets. The Little Satilla, the Great Satilla, the St.
Mary’s, and the St. John’s rivers, are accessible from the harbor of
Brunswick, by the inland navigation. The St. John’s is the outlet
of a large portion of East and Middle Florida, and the St. Mary’s is
navigable to Coleraine for steamboats drawing 10 feet of water. The
Great Satilla is navigable to the head of tide, above one hundred
miles from St. Andrews’ sound, for vessels drawing 10 or 12 feet, at
all seasons of the year. This is one of the best streams in the
state for the lumber trade, having an almost inexhaustible quantity
of pine timber in the country through which it flows. The Little
Satilla is an arm of the sea, and navigable to its head, a distance
of about 35 miles from St. Andrews’ sound. These rivers will send
to Brunswick market cotton, rice, and lumber in great quantities.
From Darien to Charleston and Savannah, cotton, &c., is
sent by steamboats, schooners and sloops inland, and return goods
for the interior, to Darien, by the same conveyance. This inland
navigation is afforded by the passages between the islands and the
main land, though sloops and schooners occasionally pass outside the
islands, but the common route for all navigation is inland.
The river Chattahoochee is navigable for steamboats to
Columbus in Georgia, from Appalachicola Bay, but not for vessels
over 11 feet, at the mouth. This river passes through Florida and
in that province called Appalachicola, and is the boundary between
Alabama and Georgia, for the distance of 30 miles above Columbus and
for 120 down to the bounds of Florida. A steamboat navigation is
also afforded on its principal tributary, the Flint river, to
Pinderton, in Georgia, at the end of Spaulding’s Rail-road
communication with the big bend of the Ocmulgee. The town of
Appalachicola has been found unhealthy, and a Rail-road has been
opened from Wimico Lake to St. Joseph’s Bay, where there is 20 feet
of water, and much more healthy.
Altamaha river is the medium of communication for an
immense tract of the interior of Georgia with Darien, which is
situated
Pg. 5
on the left bank about 12 or 13 miles from the
sea, but, unfortunately, has no harbor for foreign shipping. All
the produce of the country has now to be sent to Savannah or
Charleston, and return goods received from the same places by
steamboats and small coasting vessels. No foreign trade, from this
circumstance, can be carried on. It is a great state, with abundant
and increasing productions, without a good port. It is to connect
the immense traffic of the Altamaha with a convenient and capacious
harbor for the most extensive foreign shipping, that the Brunswick
Canal in Georgia has been contemplated.
Brunswick Harbor, Georgia.
St. Simons Light is on St. Simons
Island, at the south end, behind which, at a little distance, the
island is one or one and a half mile wide. From the east side, a
wide shoal or sand-bar extends about five miles in an east
south-east direction, gradually diminishing in width to a point,
forming what is called the north breaker. A similar bar extends
from Jekyl Island, opposite to St. Simons, wide at the island, but
gradually lessening in width as far as the north breaker, and
terminating at a point called the south breaker. Between these two
shoals and the two islands is the channel, and between the two
breakers is the bar about a mile long and half a mile across it. On
Saturday, the 13th of February, I went with Edmund N.
Blunt, an experienced pilot, Capt. John Anderson, of
Brunswick, a good navigator, &c., in Capt. Morgan’s, sloop,
to examine the bar, and found at low water three fathoms over the
bar. All on board agreed that there was that depth at low water,
and that the tide was six feet at ordinary tides, so that at common
high water there was 24 feet over the bar.
If ships, coming in when six or seven miles from the
light house, make the light bear W.N.W. they can enter. Immediately
on passing the bar, the channel gradually widens and deepens to the
light, so that the largest vessels and frigates may pass into St.
Simons sound above the Light, and on taking a southerly direction
they may pass up Turtle river, into the outer harbor of Brunswick,
or continue up Turtle river ten or fifteen miles where it is a mile
or a mile and a half wide, having from 4 to 6 or 8 fathoms at low
water. This extensive sheet of salt
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water is rather an arm of the sea than a river,
the tide flows up to the mouth of a small river, which soon
diminishes to a creek, has no navigation and furnishes no produce.
It is therefore an extensive harbor where there is ample room for
the whole navy, with very eligible situations for a naval
establishment, but has no river opening into the interior, and hence
no shops are ever seen in these waters.
Brunswick is situated on the east bank of an arm or
branch of Turtle river, separated from the main river by a marsh
island about a mile long and a mile wide. This branch is about a
quarter or half a mile wide, with a depth of water sufficient for
the largest merchant vessels at all times, except a shallow place or
bar between the lower end of the island, and Dennis’ Folly, at the
lower end of the town. This bar is one mile long and forms the
separation between the inner and outer harbor. The town was laid
out with streets at right angles, by direction of the British
parliament, about a century ago.
Capt. Stockton and Mr. Sherburne were
appointed by the Navy Department in 1826, to survey and examine the
bar at St. Simons and the harbor of Brunswick. Their soundings over
the bar and up the river for a distance of 10 or 12 miles are
accurate and numerous, giving over the bar from 16 to 18 feet depth
at low water. The report and plans are in the office of the Navy
Department. His report and extensive soundings are very conclusive
as to the depth of water above St. Simons bar and in the arm of
Turtle river, (on which the town of Brunswick is situated,) and on
the bar. But the most definite information, and I believe, from
personal experience, perfectly correct, is contained in the Report
of Messrs. Polhill, Lawson and Fort, made on
the 17th of July, 1833, to the Senate and House of
Representatives of Georgia, pursuant to their appointment; by a
resolve of the Legislature, Dec. 17, 1832, “to go and examine the
commercial advantages of the port of Brunswick, and the rail-road
avenue to the Altamaha, and report thereon, upon oath, whether or
not it would be advisable for the state to render any aid in opening
Brunswick to the interior.”
The valuable report of the commissioners is carefully
made and most satisfactory on all points relative to the object of
their mission, and especially in regard to the harbor of Brunswick.
The following extract shows their opinion upon this point.
Pg. 7
“When you approach within half a
mile of the town, there is a small salt marsh island which divides
the river into the northern and eastern branches, the main channel
running southward of this island. Between Brandy-point on this
island, and Dennis’ Folly, on the Brunswick shore, there is an inner
bar, upon which there is about 12 feet at low water, and as the tide
rises ten feet, it gives the same depth of water that we find on the
outer bar, with this advantage, that the bottom being soft mud
creates no damage to shops, and may be very easily deepened if it
were necessary. But no such necessity exists, as any ship that
crosses the outer bar can run over this at high water, and find the
best anchorage near the bluff along the whole extent of the town, in
from 20 to 40 feet water at the lowest time of tide. This we
ascertained from careful soundings at low water, and after having
finished the soundings for ourselves, ascertained that Stockton’s
report and diagram confirmed on our survey.”
Brunswick is healthy, surrounded as it is on the west,
south and east by the ocean. It is situated on a plain, generally
eight or ten feet above high water, and very convenient for
wharves. On the south part of the town, this point terminates in an
extensive salt marsh, which extends to St. Simons sound. St. Simons
light is eight miles from town, and the bar thirteen miles. Behind
the town, and within the distance of half a mile, are several small
holes or ponds, which contain shallow water, which may be drained at
very small expense. There is no other stream or resting place for
fresh water within many miles. These swamps, as they are called,
are low places in the sandy plains, where water in rains collect,
and in time have given rise to the growth of trees, shrubs and
plants of an aquatic kind, thick and matted together, so that it is
very difficult to pass between them; but the water is often dried up
in the summer, and as they are not boggy, the foundation is sand,
clay or hard earth, so that they are passable in any direction when
the water is dried up and the bushes are cleared.
Upon the healthiness of the place, the State
Commissioners are also decided. “in regard to health, we consider
Brunswick superior to any sea-port on the southern coast. It is a
high and dry bluff, with the total absence of lagoons, swamps of
stagnant fresh water, and rice fields, and with a broad sheet of
clear ocean water, almost as salt as the sea, and its pure sea
breeze setting in
Pg. 8
regularly from the ocean, make it not only a
delightful situation in summer, as we experienced it to be, but give
the strongest assurance of the health and comfort of seamen and
navigators, and of the inhabitants of the town. We found the wells
of water as good as could be expected in so low a latitude. Though
not very cool, we believe it to be pure, and that which we found in
town was better than the wells in the immediate vicinity. The
extensive marshes are overflowed at every tide with pure salt water,
and are not considered at all injurious to health. The sea breeze
sweeps delightfully over them, and we found some of the most healthy
families in the vicinity living immediately upon their edge.”
From my examination and experience in February, 1836, I
fully believe in the truth of the Commissioners’ Report, and from
the absence of all natural causes of unhealthiness, and the cheap
and easy removal, by draining, of the collection of fresh water
within several miles of the town, Brunswick may become one of the
most healthy and pleasant residences, in summer and winter, within
the southern sea board of our country. If once the buildings become
convenient, I believe it will become a resort for people from the
northern states, in winter especially, for health or for pleasure.
The above account of the great extent and width of the
Turtle river, after passing St. Simons sound, affords a complete
landlocked anchorage ground for the largest merchant ships and any
class of ships of war, as well as eligible and healthy sites for
naval establishments. There appears to me no doubt, that Brunswick
harbor will attract the attention of the navy, if the passage of the
bar does not forbid. Upon this point the Georgia Commissioners hold
the following language in their report:
“The object of Congress in ordering the survey having
been the establishment of a naval depot on Turtle river, it is to be
presumed that the officer made his report with a view to the strict
safety of our ships of war, and therefore preferred being rather
under than over the depth of water. We draw this conclusion from
the fact, that we found the soundings on the bar to be generally
about eighteen feet, at as near low water as we could judge; our
shallowest sounding was seventeen feet, but we found more water on
the same tack. As we found Stockton’s report, very accurate
in every respect, and as he had spent some time in the
Pg. 9
survey, we conclude that the water on the bar
may be set down at from sixteen to seventeen feet at low water, and
twenty-two or twenty-three at high water, striking a medium between
his survey and our soundings. This pilots and coasting captains on
board the vessel we employed in this service, seemed to be of
opinion that there was still deeper water, as they stated that they
would risk their nautical skill and reputation in undertaking to
bring the largest class of merchant ships, trading to the south,
across this bar, at any time of tide. An experienced pilot, whose
services we had engaged, assured us that he had been intimately
acquainted with this bar for about twenty-three years, and its
breadth and depth had not varied the least in that time. We judge
the extent of the bar across it to be about a quarter of a mile, and
from half to three quarters in width, between the north and south
breakers, to be navigable for large vessels. One of the great
excellencies of the bar is, that ships can pass over it in a direct
line with a favorable wind, and if the wind should be ahead, she has
plenty of room for beating up. Mr. King, the intelligent and
enlightened Senator of Glynn (county,) who lives immediately on St.
Simons sound, assured us that it was by no means a rare occurrence
for coasting vessels of heavy burden, entirely unacquainted with the
bar, and without a pilot, to put into the sound in stress of weather
for safety, and that this is done at night as well as in day. This
we consider as the most conclusive evidence of the superior
excellence and perfect safety of this bar, and the protection
afforded to ships that run into the sound in bad weather. Of the
entire safety and excellence of this bar, for the navigation of
ships drawing from twenty to twenty-one feet of water, we can
therefore speak in terms of the highest approbation.”
For the purpose of connecting the immense and growing
trade of the Altamaha river, which opens an interior navigation
within the State of five hundred miles on the Ocmulgee as far as
Macon, and four hundred miles to Milledgeville on the Oconee, with
the capacious and beautiful harbor of Brunswick on the Turtle river,
the Legislature of Georgia has incorporated a company, with very
liberal privileges. The State has also been so well convinced of
the utility of the plan to unite the Altamaha, which has no good
harbor, with the harbor of Brunswick, which has no navigable river,
that it has authorized $50,000 of the stock to be
Pg. 10
taken in its behalf. The act of incorporation
of December 20, 1834, authorizes the company to make a canal or
rail-road, or both, between the water of the Altamaha and Turtle
river, and secures them in the perpetual enjoyment of their
privileges, and against the erection of a rail-road or canal within
twenty miles of either. It gives the company also a right to
establish any toll it may think expedient, provided that the amount
received shall not exceed, for any successive twelve months,
twenty-five per cent., net profit, upon the amount expended in
establishing the canal and rail-road, and keeping them in good
repair. The capital stock provided by the act is $200,000, which
may be increased one-third, in one hundred dollars shares. The act
of the company provides, also, that in the subscription to the
stock, $5 a share shall be paid down at the time of subscribing, and
in its own subscription the $5 per share shall not be paid until the
company have paid their portion of the first instalment. This first
payment both by the individual subscribers and on the part of the
State, have been already made, and $10,000 are now ready, in the
hands of the treasurer, to meet the expense of surveys and other
preliminary measures for commencing the work.
Instead of a canal with locks at both ends, it has been
suggested that a thorough cut would accomplish the object without
locks. But this would be injurious to the country, ruinous to every
kind of navigation, and probably lead to a total stoppage of the
canal. It would also carry into Brunswick harbor, a vast deal of
sand and mud, during freshes, from the Altamaha, and finally fill
the harbor so as to destroy navigation. For which reasons, I think
it would be policy for the State to forbid the execution of such a
plan, from the Altamaha, or from any other river discharging into
Brunswick harbor, without a lock of navigation in common form.
Proposed Route of the Canal.
Several lines were surveyed for the
canal. The first was begun at Powell’s landing on Gibson’s creek,
and carried through the pine woods over the sandy plain nine miles
from the south branch of the Altamaha river, as marked on the plan A
B C. This line, as seen on the profile No. 1, is very unfavorable,
being about twenty-five feet average depth of cutting to high
Pg. 11
water mark in Brunswick harbor, besides having
a circuitous route by the creek and Turtle river, of about eight
miles to Brunswick. Any line west of this will be more unfavorable,
while a better route may be found on the east, along the swamps
forming the head of Gibson’s creek, which enters into Turtle river,
and those which form the head of Six-mile creek, discharging into
the Altamaha, between the plantations of Mr. Charles Grant
and Mr. Hugh Grant, as shown on the plan. It was impossible
to carry the survey through those swamps, and it was conducted most
of the way along the sides, on hard and dry land, and extending
offsets into the swamp, from different points along the main line of
the survey. The crooked line O N M L K F was thus surveyed, as that
also marked L P Q R, and the profile of each is marked with the same
letters, Nos. 2 and 5.
From these lines of survey the offsets were occasionally
made into the swamp, at places where the level of the water standing
in them indicated a general level of the ground. From these
offsets, or cross levels, have the two lines through the swamp been
drawn, either of which may be adopted for the canal. The first,
beginning at F, on the left bank of Gibson’s creek, below the
bridge; thence the line F straight to G, thence straight to H,
thence straight to I, where it opens into the Six-mile creek, and
follows the creek to the Altamaha river. The second direct line is
the same to G. Here is an angle at the creek, from which point to
the Altamaha river at J the course is straight.
It will be seen that both these lines, on the profiles
Nos. 3 and 4, through the swamp, are much alike as to expense of
excavation for about four and half miles to S, and having a mean
depth of about twelve feet to the level of high water in Turtle
river or Brunswick harbor. The north end of the first line crosses
the Six-mile creek, twice between the Messrs. Grants farms,
then passes over Mr. Hugh Grant’s rice field, and enters the
creek about half a mile above its junction with the river. On
examining the profiles, Nos. 3 and 4, from S to I on the first line,
and from S to J on the second, some advantages are obvious in the
excavation of the first over the corresponding part of the second
line. But the claim for damages by Messrs. Grants, for
injury to their plantations, disturbing their use of the creek,
crossing the rice fields, and the inconvenient mode of entering the
Altamaha, render it doubtful whether it is not expedient for the
Pg. 12
company to encounter the greater expense of
excavation on this part of the second line, rather than to incur the
risk of claims for damages on the first. It will be seen, also,
that the place of entering into the Altamaha on the second line is
much more advantageous than into the Six-mile creek. The length of
these two lines, from G to J on the Altamaha, and on the first from
G to the mouth of the creek, are much alike, and making a circuitous
navigation of the river more than a mile and a half from the mouth
of the creek to the termination of the second line at J. If the
second line be adopted the navigation by the canal to Brunswick will
be one and a half miles shorter than by the first route.
The second line passes straight from G to the river, and
over the west side of Mr. Hugh Grant’s rice field, to avoid
which, and keep the canal still straight, the line may be turned on
the point G, so that it may be laid along the edge of the swamp on
the western side of the rice field, and thus lessen the damage he
may claim, enter the river in a better position, and the cost of the
work be no greater.
From S on both lines, the one through the deep cutting
will cost about $40,000 more than for the other along the creek, and
the part through the rice field or both will be nearly the same.
From I on the first to J on the second is two miles of crooked
navigation by the creek and river, which is lengthening the canal
nearly for that distance more than the straight line. The course
may be turned along the foot of the high land towards T, and then
fall into the river, unless it goes in a direct line to J.
I propose also to drain the swamp by the Six-mile creek,
as the waters of Gibson’s creek, where I propose to let it into the
canal, is now almost fresh during many seasons of the year. All the
water may therefore easily be sent the other way to the Altamaha,
and leave the little that is allowed to collect at the other end to
run into the canal, and Gibson’s creek will then be salt. As no
fresh water ever ought to be admitted into the canal in great
quantities, some inconvenience for the drain by the creek will arise
from making the canal on that route.
I present these views to the consideration of the
company, because Messrs. Grants are the only persons on the
whole route, who can have any claim for damages, and in no case have
I estimated the value of land taken, as I believe all the adjoining
Pg. 13
owners, even Messrs. Grants will be
greatly benefited by the canal.
The line I shall therefore recommend for the canal, on
account of the much better and shorter route, is as
follows:—beginning about a mile from Brunswick, on the Academy creek
at D, thence the surveyed line to E near Ellis’ bluff is 3.2358
miles. The first part of the line across the marsh from D to V to
be a canal and the remaining part to follow the creek, deviating but
little from the line surveyed, as laid along the edge of the marsh
at the foot of the sandy bluff.
From E to F through open fields and woods to the left
bank of Gibson’s creek below the bridge, the distance is 1.1941
miles, having a depth of cutting about 8 feet to high water mark in
Brunswick harbor.
From F to G, a distance of 2.0312 miles, the line is
along the creek and crossing it several times, with a depth of about
6 feet to high water.
From G to J on the Altamaha, the distance is 6.3733
miles with a mean depth of 12 feet to high water through the swamp,
and through the deep cutting at the north end, the depth, for about
1.14113 miles is 22 feet. From the deep cut through the rice fields
to the Altamaha, is 0.5445 miles, and one foot above high water in
Brunswick harbor.
Form, depth, and dimensions of Canal.
Before any calculation can be made
as to the cost, the kind of navigation and the general uses of the
canal must first be determined. The object of the canal is to open
the trade of the Altamaha with the harbor of Brunswick, where no
trade or boat at present is ever seen, and seldom any kind of
vessels but the smallest coasting craft. The boats in use on the
river are 21 feet wide, and 80 or 90 long, and some, I am told, are
115 in length. These boats carry down the river to Darien from
various parts of the Altamaha and its branches, from 500 to 700
bales of cotton in bags of about 300 pounds each. Two kinds of
steamboats are also employed; one 35 feet wide between the outside
of the wheels which are used for towing tow boats loaded with
cotton, one on each side, but seldom take other loading up or down
the river except passengers. They often proceed below
Pg. 14
Darien with their cotton to ships which load at
Doby Island 12 miles below, and sometimes even proceed to Savannah.
The other kind of steamboats have a wheel in the stern, and are
about 20 feet wide. These carry cotton on board and sometimes take
a boat in tow. Cotton is the descending freight principally, but
grain, rice, and other produce is occasionally added. The ascending
freight is equal or superior to that which descends, consisting of
iron, West India and European goods, manufactures and other
articles, carried up for distribution in various directions through
an extensive country. There are about 130,000 bales of cotton
brought down the river annually, and it is increasing.
Besides these agricultural products there is a quantity
of timber, plank and scantling, brought down the river on rafts from
the interior of Georgia, which will greatly increase when it can be
carried by the canal to foreign ships in Brunswick harbor, where it
may be immediately shipped.
I propose, therefore, to make the canal six feet deep
below ordinary high water in Brunswick harbor, and depend upon the
tide for a constant supply, and admit none from the Altamaha, which
is always fresh. During floods it is very turbid, will have a
tendency to render the immediate country unhealthy, and will, in
process of time, fill the canal with silt. In winter, when the
water in the swamp will naturally be most abundant, it may all be
turned into the canal, and even in the driest season the canal my
thus effectually become a drain for a small part, instead of
Gibson’s creek, and the health of this part of the country be
secured from the sickness and fevers which prevail near these fresh
water swamps. The level of the canal may be raised one or two feet
in the spring tides, above common high water, which will facilitate
the navigation.
Giving a depth of 6 feet, making the bottom 35 feet
wide, and the slopes 1.5 feet base to 1 foot rise, leaves the
breadth at the surface of the water 53 feet, which is sufficient for
the boats now in use on the river to pass each other. A boat 80
feet long and 21 ffeet wide, drawing 2 ½ feet, displaces 113 tons of
salt water at 63lbs. the cubic foot, and with a load of 600 bales of
cotton at 300lbs. each, it will weigh a little over 80 tons, thus
leaving 33 tons for the weight of the boat and other loading. At
the depth of 2 ½ feet, two such boats with perpendicular sides will
pass each other with a space of 3.5. feet to spare. This kind of
boat
Pg. 15
has not upright sides, but they are rounded
inwards, and perhaps draw a little more than 2 ½ feet of water, but
may pass easily.
The tow path to be 12 feet wide, which in common inland
navigation is generally made a foot above the water of the canal and
sometimes more, but here I would wish it sufficiently below the
surface of the ground to make a clear and smooth path, leaving it
three or even five feet above the surface of the canal. The tow
path should be on the east side, that it may be extended on the bank
of Academy creek quite to the town of Brunswick.
Locks.
A lock will be necessary at each
end. They should be 23 feet wide and 100 long in the clear, with
counter guard gates to prevent the river at one end, and the tide at
the other, ever entering the canal, whenever either rises above its
level. When I was there in February, 1836, there was but a few
inches difference between the level of the Altamaha and high water
in Brunswick barbor [sic]. But sometimes in freshes the river rises
three or four feet above the tide in the harbor, and if not
prevented by guard gates, the water will have admission into the
canal, which it is important to prevent.
A similar lock will be necessary at the south end. This
should have counter guard gates also, but for reasons a little
different from those which require them at the Altamaha. They are,
that during the spring tides, when they flow over the marshes, the
tide rushing in through the locks will produce such a current as to
injur the banks and impede very much the navigation to the south;
but there is no objection to this water entering the canal as it is
salt. When the current prevails from the river, the same takes
place, and boats going to the north are obstructed, besides the
fresh water of the river will always tend to render that of the
canal more brackish. For which reasons I would prevent a current
from the river, at all times, especially in the last months of
summer, and any strong current from the Brunswick end.
I would recommend a sluice for supplying the canal, to
be constructed at the head of Gibson’s creek, near the road, which
will be about 4 miles from the south end, and 8 from the north, and
lead the drain of the swamp nearly all through the
Pg. 16
Six-mile creek. At Gibson’s creek is a
favorable point for forming it with gates that shall open when the
tide rises above the surface of the canal, and shut when the tides
fall below. The current may be here regulated at will, and it will
distribute itself in either direction much better than if admitted
at the end.
The depth of the lock must depend upon the height of the
tides. The ordinary reap[?] tides in Brunswick harbor are about 8
feet. During spring tides it rises probably 3 feet higher, and
falls feet 3 lower, making 14 feet, and adding 1 foot to the height
and 1 to the depth, makes 16 feet for the depth of the lock. At the
Altamaha the freshes rise 2 or 3 feet above the tide at Brunswick,
and the river falls in dry seasons about 6 feet below, which gives a
depth of 14 feet for the lock. The depth of the lock at the river
will be therefore 14 and at Brunswick 16 feet.
Estimate of Cost.
The 1st section is
1.1524 miles from D to V of 7 feet deep below the surface of the
marsh, which, on the dimensions and slopes before given, produces a
cross section of 318.5 square feet; and for a mile is =
318.5x5280/27=62655 cubic yards, at 15 cents per yard, makes $9,398
25, and per 1.1524 miles is = $10.-830 00.
The 2d section is from V to E 2.0833 miles. This
section may be carried along the creek, cutting off the angles and
straightening the bends, and making a towing path next the bluff,
and forming a dike on the sea side, as well as on the first section,
to defend the canal at all times against the tide. It will cost
probably $4000 a mile, and will be preferable on account of economy,
to the forming a canal along the line as surveyed—2.0833 miles at
$4000 a mile, is $8333,20.
The 3d section is 1.1941 miles from E to F with an
excavation 14 feet deep, and a two path 12 wide, and 4 feet deep at
15 cents the cubic yard, = $24,405 50,
and for 1.1941 miles is, - - - - - $29,142 36
a bridge at $500, - - - - - - - - - 500 00
$29,642 36
This survey was carried along the ground which appeared
Pg. 17
the lowest, but before it is adopted, I would
recommend a trial on the dotted line, as represented on the plan,
which will be shorter and make the navigation more direct and
convenient.
The 4th section from F to G is 2.0312 miles,
at an average depth of 12 feet, and with a path 12 wide and two deep
= 660x5280/27=129066 yds. At 15 cts., is $19359 90, and for 2.0312
miles,
$39,323
82
a bridge at
$800 800 00
$40, 123 82
The 5th section from G
to S through the swamps has the mean depth of 18 feet for 4.4165
miles, which =1116x5280/27=218,240 cubic yards, at 15 cents, is
$32,736 a mile, and 4.4165 miles, $144,578 54. A tow path to be 6
feet below the surface of the swamp, and 12 wide, is
12x6x5280/27=14080 yards, at 15 cents, is $2,112 a mile, and for
4.4165 miles, 9,327 64
two accomodation bridges on this section at $300 600 00
$154,506 18
The 6th section is
through the deep excavation from S to T, 1.4110 miles, and the
average depth is 28 feet = 2156x5280/27 = 421-618 yards, at 15 cents
a yard, = $63,242 per mile, and 1.4110
miles $89,234 46
a tow path 12 wide and 8 feet deep = 12x8x5280 = 18,773
cubic yards, at 15 cents a yard, is $2,815, and for 1.4110
miles, 3,971 96
two accommodation bridges at the roads at
$1000, 2,000 00
$95,206
42
The 7th section is from
the deep cut at T, across the swamp and rice field to the river
Altamaha at J, 0.5445 miles, and with an average depth of 7 feet =
318.5x2875/27 = 33,914 cubic yards, at 15 cents a yard, $5,087 14
The locks to be of brick or stone, but in that climate,
good, hard burned bricks are very well, and will make better work
than stone, as it is commonly laid. The best way of laying brick
for
Pg 18
this purpose is, in the chamber of the lock, to
build up from the bottom a pier of stone work every 10 or 12 feet,
rounded and projecting a little in front of the bricks, to protect
them from injury, and in the wing walls at both ends, to lay a
horizontal course about 2 or 3 feet above each other, to secure the
bricks from violence when the boats approach in either direction.
This process is often adopted in England and Holland where stones
are difficult to procure. The gate quoins and coping should also be
stone.
The four walls of the locks will be about 540 feet long,
on a mean height of 14 feet, and about 5 feet average thickness. A
thousand of bricks will lay 40 cubic feet, and 640x14x6/40 = 1343
thousand, which, at $15 a thousand, laid in cement, is $20,145 for
both locks. The mitre sills, coping and gate quoins to be of stone,
and the gates may be of iron, nearly or quite as cheap as of wood.
The floor to be of timber and plank, under the whole lock with sheet
piling, and with a reversed arch of two two [sic] courses of brick
in the chamber of each. These may all make $10,000, or 15,000 for
each.
Recapitulation.
The 1st Section 1.1524
miles, from D to V, $10,830 00
2d 2.0833 “
V to E, 8,333 20
3d 1.1941 “
E to F, 29,642 36
4th 2.0312 “
F to G, 40,123 82
5th 4.4165
“ G to S, 154,506 18
6th 1.4110
“ S to T, 95,206 42
7th 0.5445
“ T to J, 5,087 14
Two
locks, $15,000 $30,000 00
$373,729 12
Contingencies, 20 per cent., 74,745 82
12.8330
miles, $448,474 94
In the above estimate I have added
20 per cent. for contingencies, which is much more than is usually
allowed in such cases, but I have included nothing for Engineer’s
services. I have supposed the whole canal to have slopes of one
foot and a half base, to one rise, upon the condition that the
excavation was
Pg. 19
sand, and that it would not stand upon a less
slope. But in many parts the soil is compact clay, or hard earth,
that most of it will stand on a much less slope, and in others, the
banks may be laid with timber cut in the line of canal and hewed on
two sides, so as to make firm work with sufficient ties laying back
into the bank. A defence may thus be made 6 or 8 feet high, and
even higher on the side opposite the path, which will save a great
deal in excavation alone. Various expedients may thus be used to
lessen the cost.
Some indications of quick sand appear at the edge of the
upland by Messrs. Grants, and even in the margin of their
fields adjoining. It appears about level with the river, but how
deep is not yet ascertained. There is no difficulty in founding the
locks, and piling seems unnecessary.
With great respect,
your ob’t servant,
L. BALDWIN
TO THOMAS BUTLER KING, ESQ.,
Treasurer of the Brunswick Canal and Rail-Road Company, Georgia.
Pg. 20
RESOLVES
Authorizing the Governor to appoint three Commissioners from the
middle counties of the State, to examine the Port and Rail-road of
Brunswick, &c.
WHEREAS it is of the first importance to the people, that all the
commercial advantages of the State should be developed and brought
into action with agriculture;—And whereas, it has long been
represented that the port of Brunswick is calculated, by nature, to
promote the best interest of one-third of the population of
Georgia;—And whereas, for the purpose of procuring more official
data and information upon a subject of such (vital) importance,
for the use of the Legislature:
Be it resolved, That His
Excellency the Governor be, and he is hereby authorized and required
to appoint three fit and proper persons for the middle counties of
this State, whose duty shall be to go and examine the commercial
advantages of the port of Brunswick, and the Rail-road avenue to the
Altamaha, and report thereon, upon oath, whether or not it would be
advisable for the State to render any aid in opening Brunswick to
the interior; and that the Governor do communicate the said report
to the next Legislature, together with his views upon the subject.
Resolved further, That the aforesaid
Commissioners be allowed a reasonable compensation for their time
and expenses, for a trip to Brunswick and back, and that the
Governor pay the same out of the contingent fund.
Agreed to December 17th, 1832. ASBURY HULL,
Speaker.
In SENATE, concurred in, Dec. 20th, 1832.
THOMAS STOCKS, President.
Attest, I.L. HARRIS, Secretary.
Approved, Dec. 21st, 1832. WILSON LUMPKIN,
Governor.
Pg. 21
REPORT.
Of JOHN G. POLHILL, HUGH LAWSON, and MOSES FORT,
Commissioners appointed to examine the Port and Rail-road of
Brunswick, &c.
_____________
To
the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the State of
Georgia.
GENTLEMEN:—The Commissioners
appointed by his Excellency the Governor, in conformity with a
Resolution of your body of the 17th of December, “to go
and examine the commercial advantages of the Port of Brunswick and
the Rail-road avenue to the Altamaha, and report thereon upon oath,
whether or not it would be advisable for the State to render any aid
in opening Brunswick to the interior,” proceeded early in the month
of June last to execute the duties of their commission, and beg
leave to submit the following Report.
The town of Brunswick is situated on the north branch or
arm of Turtle river, near the centre of our sea coast, about eight
miles from St. Simons light house, just above the 31st
degree of north latitude, in the county of Glynn, about 13 miles
from St. Simons bar. The site of the town is a beautiful bluff of
close sand, the soil is perfectly dry an very eligible for a large
city, being elevated from 8 to 12 feet above high water, and
extending itself up and down the river for upwards of two miles,
affording a delightful situation for a town of the largest extent.
The beauty of its location—its splendid river, and circumjacent
islands, make it altogether the handsomest site we have seen on our
coast for the erection of a commercial emporium and naval depot.
Though this splendid sheet of water is called Turtle river, yet,
from its width, its great depth and its length, it may more properly
be called an inlet or arm of the sea, which extends about 20
Pg. 22
or 25 miles into the interior. The entrance
from the ocean is between St. Simons Island on the north, and Jekyl
Island on the south. This inlet between the islands is about a mile
in width. The bar over which ships enter it from the ocean, is
about five miles from the light-house on the south of St. Simons,
and is, from all that we can learn, the best and the safest on the
southern coast, with the exception perhaps of Norfolk in Virginia.
Besides having had access to the report of a survey made by Lieut,
Stockton, under the authority of the United States, we took
soundings ourselves under the pilotage of experienced men who had
been many years well acquainted with the coast, and especially with
St. Simons bar. The experienced officer who made the survey alluded
to, has set down the average depth of the bar at 16 feet at dead low
water, and ascertained the rise of the tide to be, on an average,
about 6 feet, giving 22 feet at high water; stating at the same time
that he was not satisfied that he had found the best water.
The object of Congress in ordering this survey having
been the establishment of a naval depot on Turtle river, it is to be
presumed that the officer made this report with a view to the strict
safety of our ships of war, and therefore preferred being rather
under than over the depth of water. We draw this conclusion from
the fact, that we found the sounding on the bar to be generally
about 18 feet at as near low water as we could judge; our shallowest
sounding was 17 feet, but we found more water on the same track. As
we found Stockton’s report very accurate in every respect,
and as he had spent some time in the survey, we conclude that the
water on the bar may be set down at from 16 to 17 feet at low water,
and 22 to 23 at high water—striking at a medium between his survey
and our soundings. The pilots and coasting captains on board the
vessel we employed in this service seemed to be of opinion that
there was still deeper water, as they stated that they would risk
their nautical skill and reputation, in undertaking to bring the
largest class of merchant ships, trading to the south, across this
bar at any time of tide. An experienced pilot, whose services we
had engaged, assured us that he had been intimately acquainted with
this bar for about twenty-three years, and that its breadth and
depth had not varied the least in that time. We judge the extent of
the bar, across it, to be about a quarter of a mile, and from half
to three quarters in
Pg. 23
width, between the north and the south
breakers, to be navigable for large vessels. One of the great
excellencies of the bar is, that ships can pass over it in a direct
course with a favorable wind, and if the wind should be ahead, she
has a plenty of room for beating up. Mr. King, the
intelligent and enlightened Senator of Glynn, who lives immediately
on St. Simons sound, assured us, that it was by no means a rare
occurrence for ships of heavy burden, entirely unacquainted with the
bar, and without a pilot, to put into the sound in stress of weather
for safety, and that this is done at night as well as in the day.
This we consider as the most conclusive evidence of the superior
excellence and perfect safety of this bar, and the protection
afforded to ships that run into the sound in bad weather. Of the
entire safety and excellence of this bar for the navigation of
ships, drawing from 20 to 21 feet of water, we can therefore speak
in terms of the highest approbation.
We account for the unvarying depth of this bar, from the
great weight and depth of water which at every ebb tide sets out of
Turtle river to the ocean. In coming in from sea, immediately after
crossing the bar, the soundings gave us from five to ten fathoms,
and this depth was retained with but little variation, till we
reached within half or three quarters of a mile of Brunswick. We
are informed by navigators, that the river continues unusually deep,
almost to its very source. From these facts, we conclude that the
bar will always retain its present depth, for there is no cause
visible to us, or to be drawn by inference from the character of the
river, to produce any variations in the tide or changes in the bar.
In the most of our other rivers which penetrate into the mountainous
country of the interior, the great inundations frequently happening
carry down immense quantities of sand and alluvial soil, which are
continually shifting the channel, and affecting the depth and
location of the navigable waters, where they empty into the ocean.
Hence it is, that there is so much danger, delay and expense
attending the ascent to our other sea ports. We think we may
confidently say, that the bountiful hand of nature has entirely
exempted the port of Brunswick and its noble stream, and will
continue in all future time to exempt them, from these difficulties
and obstructions to their navigation.
When you approach within half a mile of the town, there
is a
Pg. 24
small salt marsh island which divides the river
into the northern and eastern branches, the main channel running
southward of this island. Between Brandy Point on this island, and
Dennis’s Folly on the Brunswick shore, there is an inner bar,
upon which there is about twelve feet at low water, and, as the tide
rises then feet, it gives the same depth of water that we find on
the outer bar, with this advantage, that the bottom being soft mud
creates no damage to ships and may be very easily deepened if it
were necessary. But no such necessity exists, as any ship that
crosses the outer bar can run over this at high water, and find the
best anchorage near the bluff along the whole extent of the town, in
from twenty to forty feet water at the lowest time of
tide. This we ascertained from careful soundings at low water, and
after having finished the soundings for ourselves, ascertained that
Stockton’s report and diagrams confirmed our own survey.
From the fact that we crossed the outer bar thirteen
miles from town, and beat up against a very light breeze to
Brunswick in about three hours, we can state safely, that a vessel
may pass in or out, from the bar to the town, with the wind from any
direction, and with a fair good breeze, can reach the wharves, and
get to sea from them, in less than two hours. The width of the
river and the channel affords an opportunity for making long tacks,
which are very desirable in beating up or down a river or strait.
The vessel once in port, we consider her entirely sheltered from any
gale or storm, short of the most violent hurricane or tornado, such
as would be dangerous on land as well as on the water. The harbor
is completely land-locked by a beautiful crescent or
semicircle of islands stretching along the southern branch of the
river, and preventing the heavy swell of the ocean from affecting
the water in the harbor. In addition to this, an extensive salt
marsh stretches along to the east of Brunswick, which also acts as a
protection from heavy swells in the sound and the ocean. The course
of the river itself turning nearly south immediately around the
north point of Jekyl, with that island on the south and the
Brunswick promontory on the north, acts as a protection to the port;
the river making a sudden turn towards Brunswick at a point of high
ground known as Dennis’s Folly. All this will be more apparent to
your honorable body by a reference to a map of Brunswick, its port,
its environs, and the position and course of the rail-road, which we
have ordered
Pg. 25
to be carefully drafted, after a very correct
model, (with a few alterations indicated by us) by the county
surveyor, to be submitted as a part of this report.
In the southern and principal branch of the river is the
outer harbor. In this harbor, the whole navy of our country might
ride, with perfect safety, in seven fathoms water, and moor within a
mile of the town.
In regard to health, we consider Brunswick superior to
any sea port on the southern coast. Its high and dry bluff, the
total absence of lagunes, swamps of stagnant fresh water and rice
fields—its broad sheet of clear ocean water, almost as salt as the
sea, and its pure sea breeze setting in regularly from the ocean,
make it not only a delightful situation in summer, (as we
experienced it to be,) but give the strongest assurance of the
health and comfort of seamen and navigators, and of the inhabitants
of the town. We found wells of water as good as could be expected
in so low a latitude. Though not very cool, we believe it to be
pure, and that which we found in town was better than the wells in
the immediate vicinity. The extensive salt marshes are overflowed
at every tide with pure salt water, and are not considered at all
injurious to health. The sea breeze sweeps delightfully over them,
and we found some of the most healthy families in the vicinity
living immediately upon their edge.
Brunswick may be so protected by fortifications as to
become entirely inaccessible to any naval force that might attempt
to approach it. The inlet between St. Simons and Jekyl Island being
but a mile wide, might be defended by forts on both sides, so as to
cut off any naval armament that might attempt to enter it. Should
an enemy’s ship succed [sic] in passing this strait, there are other
points for defence, on Dennis’s Folly, and on Brandy Point—all well
calculated for the strongest and most effectual fortifications.
Whether, therefore, we regard the “commercial advantages of the port
of Brunswick,” in reference to the water on the bar and in the
river,—in reference to the short time in which a ship of large draft
may sail in or out of port, against or with the wind,—in reference
to the excellence of the anchorage in port, and her entire safety
from storms while there,—whether we view them in reference to the
health, convenience and beauty of locality; or in reference to their
capability of being made impregnable to
Pg. 26
an enemy—your Commissioners regard them as of a
very superior order; and with this opinion, formed from accurate
inspection and personal examination, we feel constrained to say,
that it is highly “advisable for the state to render aid in
opening Brunswick to the interior;” and this aid ought, for the
benefit of the state and its inhabitants, to be rendered
efficiently and promptly.
Of the ‘rail-road avenue to the Altamaha,” we can speak
in terms equally unequivocal and equally favorable. The distance of
this avenue is but eleven miles and a few chains from river to
river. From the Altamaha swamp to the bluff at Brunswick, its
location is as fine and beautiful for such an improvement as can be
found in any part of the Union. Its course is over a campaign
country, so level that its inequalities are scarcely perceptible to
the naked eye. It lies over a pine barren flat, of close, compact,
sandy foundation from river to river, and when once completed and
settled, the Commissioners are of opinion that it will be as firm
and hard, and as well adapted to rail-road operations, and as little
liable to injury from any causes as could be selected in the state.
There is but one curve in the whole route, and that very gradual, to
avoid the point of a bay swamp, which would have increased the labor
and expense to have run through it. From this curve, a shade tree
of ordinary height, on the bluff at Brunswick, is distinctly visible
to the naked eye, along the avenue, at the distance of eight miles
or upwards; and it will require but little additional labor and
skill to render the foundation, now almost completed, a dead level
the entire distance from the Altamaha to Brunswick. This foundation
has been thrown up by the superintendent, with becoming regard to
the public service, and in a style which does credit to his skill
and industry. As far as completed, it is a road of the first order
for horses and carriages, and is daily becoming firmer and better
from use. About the middle of June, when we examined it, the
foundation was thrown up about two thirds of the way, the avenue cut
the whole distance, and the superintendent expected to complete it
in two or three months. Nothing will then remain to be done, but to
prepare it for the reception of the rails. In the immediate
vicinity of the entire route, there is an abundance of the best
cypress and live oak for the wood work. The heaviest job in its
completion will be the junction of the rail-road with the Altamaha,
though this is by no means a serious one. It
Pg. 27
may be united either with Rail-road creek, or
with the river itself, or with Six-mile creek; the latter we think
the most eligible, as this creek is wide and deep enough for up
country boats, and enters the river in a deep bight, which renders
it very convenient for boats to enter. In either route, the
distance will be rather over half a mile, and may be either
excavated to the fine bluff by a canal and basin, or the road be
extended through the swamp, which is there a rice field in
cultivation. Before it enters the ocean, the Altamaha divides
itself into four branches; on the southern branch, which from
examination and information we found to be the deepest and best for
navigating boats, the rail-road will end.
As to the cost of this work, we have only such data as
will enable us to approximate a reasonable estimate. We have
addressed the Agent of the Charleston rail-road, for accurate
information from experience, but not having received an answer, we
deem it our duty not to delay our report, as these matters are
within the reach of every member of your body; and the distance is
so small as not to make the cost a matter of very great moment. We
understand that the first estimate of the Charleston rail-road was
$5,000 per mile, and that the actual cost has been found to fall
short of the estimate. As the location of the route for the
Brunswick rail-road is so favorable, and as the foundation will soon
be completed by the public hands, we should think it would be a safe
calculation to set down the utmost cost at $5,000 per mile,
including labor already bestowed by the hands, or that it could not
exceed from $50,000 to $70,000, including the cost of all the labor,
materials, engine, cars and warehouses. We think this a high limit
for the cost, but that it would be a trifling sum compared with the
immense advantages that would result to the state from the
completion of the work, even should the state assume the entire
expense; but this will not be necessary, as individuals have already
subscribed for stock.
The distance from the Altamaha to Brunswick, and vice
versa, may be peformed [sic] with ease by the engine and loaded cars
in one hour. By a proper construction of the ends of the route, a
boat load of cotton might be soon placed into the cars, and be taken
to Brunswick in one trip, while other cars might be ready to return
immediately with freight of merchandize for the boat. In this way
but little delay would be occasioned. We consider this
Pg. 28
process much cheaper and more expeditious than
loading a boat by drays from one of our warehouses at any distance
from the boat landing. As by the charter not more than
twenty-five per cent. can be demanded for any one year upon the
amount of capital invested, should the project succeed, the cost of
transportation would not probably exceed from 12 ½ to 25 cents per
bale upon cotton, and so in proportion for goods—for we believe that
ll the cotton-growing country in reach of the Oconee, Ocmulgee and
Altamaha, would go to Brunswick. We are therefore of opinion, that
the great advantages to be derived from this work, by the extensive
region of fertile territory, and the dense, industrious and growing
population that trade and will be induced to trade upon these
rivers, render it advisable for the state to give prompt and
efficient aid in completing this rail-road, so as to connect
Brunswick with the interior of the state.
Perhaps the letter of our duty is discharged in giving
these facts, and the opinions founded upon them. But we feel, in
common with our fellow-citizens, so strongly the great importance of
building upon our sea coast a commercial town, for the sale and
exportation of our products, and the importation of those supplies
of merchandize yearly consumed among us, and now essential to our
prosperity and comfort, that we believe a more extensive view of
this important subject to fall within the range of our official
functions. Indeed, we should consider our commission but half
accomplished, did we fail, at this momentous crisis of our
commercial relations, to spread before your body those powerful
considerations that form the very oasis of the opinions we have
already submitted. Our state is second to but one or two of her
sister states, in her internal wealth and resources. Possessing
almost every variety of soil and climate from the mountains to the
sea coast, with corresponding varieties of mineral, vegetable and
agricultural wealth, she may vie in these respects with the most
favored states, of the most highly favored nation upon earth. All
that our people have to do, to place us by the side of Ohio,
Pennsylvania and New York in internal improvements, is to arouse
from our torpor, and direct our energies aright. Your Commissioners
can say, upon the solemn appeal they have made, in submitting this
report, that they do not believe that there is in the United States,
so small a work of internal improvement as the contemplated
rail-road, fraught with consequences
Pg. 29
so important and so beneficial to the same
extent of country and the same amount of active and industrious
population.
The first and most important inquiry for the people of
Georgia is: Have we within our own State, an outlet for our
immensely valuable productions, and an inlet for the foreign
necessaries and luxuries of life, that may be made to vie with the
large sea ports in other States? that may enable us to command the
highest prices for the former, and obtain the
latter at the cheapest rate to the planter and the
farmer? Your Commissioners do not hesitate to answer this question
for the people of Georgia in the affirmative. In the town of
Brunswick, properly connected with the interior, we could have a
commercial emporium that might rival any on the Atlantic coast,
south of Baltimore. The only obstacle now existing to the connexion
of this noble port with the heart of Georgia, and with the great
wealth and the densest population of the State, is the narrow slip
of land, of little over eleven miles, between Turtle river
and the Altamaha; and this obstacle, we have already stated, can, in
our opinion, be overcome by the trifling sum of from $50,000 to
$70,000. But suppose it should cost $100,000, the expenditure is a
trifle in comparison with the immense advantages it would yield, not
only to the treasury of the State, but to the great body of the
people.
The next question is: How is the importance of
opening the Port of Brunswick, to be demonstrated? The answer
is ready, and the various considerations connected with it, of the
most momentous importance to the prosperity and independence of the
State. But look at the map of your State, and it will be seen by a
single glance of the eye, that our noble rivers the Oconee, the
Ocmulgee and the Altamaha, penetrate the very heart of the State
from the Ocean to the Mountains. On these rivers and their
tributaries, and within the range of their trade and influence, will
be seen nearly half the number of our counties, containing the
richest soil, and yielding the most extensive supplies of cotton,
corn, sugar, flour, rice, stock and lumber to be found in any equal
extent of the Southern States; containing the largest and most
growing population, with a rich and new country every day gaining in
resources. The trade that goes down these rivers would be derived
from an extent of country nearly three hundred miles in length, and
from fifty to one hundred miles in breadth. To all these people and
this extensive district, the benefits of Brunswick
Pg. 30
would be brought, should it be fostered as it
might be. That we have the facilities for the immediate creation of
such a market, yet that we have not such a market, must be
matter of the deepest regret and most humbling reflection to your
honorable body, and to our people at large. That the immense
product of our soil yearly descending our rivers, and transported in
wagons, should pass by the wharves of Darien and Savannah to go to
Charleston, in another State, at a heavy expense, and our supplies
returned by the same circuitous and expensive route, must be
humbling to the State pride and the patriotism of every true hearted
Georgian; while in the opinion of your Commissioners, the amount of
wealth that would be retained at home, would in one year compensate
us for the whole expense of setting this road in operation, and
opening the Port of Brunswick to the interior. Georgia at this
moment presents the spectacle of a robust man, rich in the vital
fluid, submitting to have the veins of both arms opened, and
bleeding to death; while, by the exertion of his own strength and
energy, he might save himself from destruction. Savannah we fear is
prostrated by the completion of the Charleston rail-road to
Augusta. Our produce already goes by her wharves, because the
farmer the merchant can get better bargains in a foreign market.
All the produce on that noble river, which goes to Augusta, is
eventually destined to Charleston. On the other side of our State,
the rich country along the Chattahoochee is draining its product
into Florida. While we are thus losing the advantages of our trade
on both sides of the State, the body of the State is
perishing, or finding a scanty subsistence abroad, for the want of
that commercial nourishment at home which the resources of the State
and the capital of wealthy individuals in it are amply sufficient to
supply. Under this state of things, for the want of our manly and
vigorous exertion, we shall soon become like North Carolina,
tributary to our sister states.
Our system of internal improvement has been radically
defective. Instead of directing our operations to one important
point on the sea coast, we have been working from village to
village, and carrying our improvements across the State; thus
giving facilities to the passage of our produce into other markets.
By some central operation, we should approximate the ship to the
plough, and bring the mountains to the ocean. We have the
Pg. 31
means of avoiding this suicidal policy, by a
very trifling improvement. The navigation of the three rivers
already mentioned, is open to the heart of the State, to
Hawkinsville, Milledgeville, and Macon; and these towns draw the
trade from near the mountains. Connect the navigation of these
rivers with Brunswick, where the ship can at all seasons approach,
and the merchant and planter of the interior can find a good market
for sale and purchase, and our failing commerce would in a great
measure revive and begin to flourish. It is by such means that
South Carolina has fostered Charleston, till having absorbed the
commerce of her whole State, she is now draining Georgia of hers.
Let us learn a lesson from her example. From seventy to eighty
thousand bales of cotton annually descend the Altamaha, besides
other productions. These will increase as our fertile lands are
opened, and our population becomes more numerous; and our cotton,
corn, wheat, lumber, bacon, and stock of various kinds, will seek
the best and nearest market on our coast, if such an one is to be
found. In return for these products, very extensive supplies are,
and will continue to be brought up these rivers. The greater part
of these products are now sent to Charleston and New York, and our
goods purchased in the same markets. The advantages of all these
transactions might, in the opinion of the Commissioners, be saved to
Georgia, by a sea port of our own—and we are confident that
Brunswick holds out the strongest inducements for such a saving of
our resources. Our capital might be kept at home—our merchants
might annually save large amounts of freights, commissions,
exchanges, insurance, storage, travelling [sic] expenses, and
time—a very important item in the account current of every man
of business. The merchants being enabled to save this expenditure,
could afford to give better prices for produce, and sell their goods
at cheaper rates, and on more accommodating terms; while the farmer
and planter would be the great gainers in the end. It would keep
wealth at home, diffuse its comforts more generally, and increase
the revenues of our treasury. The merchant could obtain supplies of
articles just when there is a demand for them, and know when he
could calculate on receiving them. He could bring his goods into
market much sooner after he had made his purchase, and of course be
sooner able to pay for them, and better able to afford accommodation
to
Pg. 32
his customers. The price of our lands would be
increased, and all our productions find a more ready market.
Such are the facilities and advantages that might, in
the opinion of the Commissioners, be afforded to the people of
Georgia, by opening the Port of Brunswick to the interior, by
connecting it with the Altamaha. This would in time, induce further
and more extensive improvements. Trade might, in time be brough
from the isthmus of Florida, from Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio—for
the northern roads and canals are chained by the ice in winter, and
the dangers of navigating the Gulf of Mexico, render an eligible and
accessible port on the Atlantic, far preferable to any on the
southern coast of Florida. There is no reason why goods should not
be bought as cheap at Brunswick, and produce command as high a price
as at Charleston or New Orleans. The ship can as readily come to
Brunswick from Liverpool, Bordeaux, and the East and West Indies, as
to New York and Charleston. Why should the freight be higher, or
the goods dearer? There would be no delay in running in, and
putting out to sea, and no heavy river charges, and no loss of time
to increase the price of merchandize, sold by the importer and the
wholesale dealer.
Open the Port of Brunswick to the interior, and the
enterprize of seamen will soon bring the ships there: and your
cotton, your grain, your sugar, and every other article of home
production will go there, and the merchant of large capital will
soon find it to his interest to invest it in Brunswick. The
commerce of these rivers, and the trade of the whole interior of
Georgia, belong, by nature, to some sea-port on our coast.
Let the most eligible, and the best be selected. Let no sectional
jealousy impede the enterpize. Such a sea-port, we think, Brunswick
might be made, being decidedly of opinion, that it affords
advantages for a large commercial city, if not superior, at lest
equal, in every respect, to any on the southern Atlantic
coast of the United States, and decidedly superior to any in
Georgia.
Georgia has not a moment to lose in redeeming her own
commercial character—in saving to her treasury—to her merchants—to
the whole agricultural, professional, and mechanical industry of the
State, the great blessings to be derived from her ample resources.
Patriotism, state pride, pecuniary interest, all demand,
Pg. 33
that the great wealth of one of the finest
portions of the world, should be so marshaled as to increase our own
domestic prosperity and happiness, by cultivating the means which
the bountiful hand of indulgent Providence has placed so entirely
within our reach and under our control.
All which is respectfully submitted by the
Commissioners.
JOHN G. POLHILL,
HUGH LAWSON,
MOSES FORT.
___________________________
GEORGIA, BALDWIN COUNTY.
From the facts and considerations
stated in the foregoing Report together with the information derived
from sources the most authentic, within their reach, John G.
Polhill, Hugh Lawson, and Moses Fort, on oath say,
that they are decidedly of opinion, that it is advisable for the
State of Georgia to render immediate aid in opening the Port of
Brunswick to the interior of the State.
JOHN G. POLHILL,
HUGH LAWSON,
MOSES FORT.
Sworn, affirmed to, and
subscribed before me, this 18th July, 1833. B.P.
STUBBS, J.P.
Pg. 34
AN
ACT
To amend and consolidate the Acts granting chartered rights and
privileges to William B. Davis, Urbanus Dart and their
associates, to establish a Company to construct a Canal or
Rail-road, or both, from the Altamaha to Turtle river, in Glynn
county, or to Brunswick, passed 20th December, 1826, and
the 14th of December, 1830.
_____________
Be it enacted by the Senate and
House of Representatives of the State of Georgia in General Assembly
met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That
Thomas Butler King, Stephen C. King and William W.
Hazard, and their associates and successors, be, and they are
hereby incorporated, with vested powers, rights and privileges as a
body politic, by the name and style of the “Brunswick Canal and
Rail-road Company.”
SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That is shall
and may be lawful for the said company to create a stock to the
amount of two hundred thousand dollars, to be increased, if
necessary, one third, for the purpose of carrying the said cnal and
rail-road into full effect; that is to say, they are authorized and
empowered to cause books of subscription to be opened at such places
and in such manner as they may deem most conducive to the obtainment
of the stock required.
SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the
capital stock of the said company shall consist of two thousand
shares, of one hundred dollars each,—but the number of shares may be
increased one third; and that upon subscribing to the aforesaid
stock the subscribers shall pay the sum of five dollars upon each
share.
SECT. 4. And be it further enacted, That all
amounts paid in by the stockholders shall be deposited in one of the
incorporated banks in the city of Savannah; and before the State or
the officers of the Central Bank of Georgia shall pay any amount on
the stock authorized to be subscribed for by any existing law of
Pg. 35
this State, or any law which may hereafter be
passed, the certificate of the cashier of the bank in which the same
may be deposited shall be produced to them, that the same amount on
each share has been paid and deposited in said bank by the
individual stockholders as is demanded of the State or Central Bank.
SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the
individual property of the said company shall stand pledged to the
State for the amount which shall be subscribed and paid in by the
State, (should the State authorize any subscription,) and that all
amounts subscribed and paid in by the State and said stockholders
shall be applied to the objects contemplated by this act:
Provided, that nothing in this section shall be so construed as
to hold the individual property of any stockholder or director
liable for the application of any part of said fund which was or may
be paid in at a time that he was not a stockholder or director.
SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the said
company, by the name and style aforesaid, shall be capable in law as
a body politic, and as such may sue and be sued, answer and be
answered unto, defend and be defended, in all courts of the State of
Georgia, or any place whatsoever, having competent jurisdiction over
any matter, dispute or transaction touching the business affairs or
well being of the said company; and that the stockholders may
appoint or elect five members annually, who shall constitute and
form a Board under the name and style of the “President and
Directors of the Brunswick Canal and Rail-road Company,” who shall
be competent to make all necessary by-laws, rules and regulations
they may deem most conducive to the good order, faith and harmonious
government of the said company; Provided, such by-laws, rules
and regulations be not repugnant to the Constitution and laws of
this State or of the United States.
SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the
aforesaid company shall be allowed seven years, from and after the
twentieth day of December, eighteen hundred and thirty-seven, in
addition to the time allowed by the above last recited act, to
complete their canal or rail-road, or both; and the said company
shall be entitled, and they are hereby empowered, to demand and
collect, by way of freight or toll, on all goods, wares, merchandize
and productions of the country, or upon all rafts of lumber, logs or
ranging timber, steam or other boats, and cars or vehicles of any
description, conveyed through said canal, or over and upon said
Pg. 36
rail-road, such rates of toll or freight as the
Board of Directors of the said company may find necessary to adopt
from time to time in their regulations of toll: Provided,
that during any twelve months together the net amount shall not
exceed twenty-five per cent. per annum upon the aggregate amount of
money they shall have actually expended in making, constructing and
keeping in good repair the said canal or rail-road, or both; to
ascertain which, the aforesaid Board shall cause two accurate sets
of books to be kept, one for the canal, and the other for the
rail-road, showing the amount of stock paid in for each, and also
all the expenditures and cost of each, together with all the repairs
and income of tolls and freight of each; which books shall always be
liable to the inspection of a committee appointed by the
Legislature, to the end that the said company shall not abuse the
remunerating privilege of this act.
SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That the
Board of Directors of the aforesaid company shall have power to
select and take, or receive as donation, such strip or strips of
land from the Altamaha to Turtle river, or their branches, and of
such width and shape as they may deem necessary for the
construction, accommodation, and protection of their canal or
rail-road, or both; and in case of disagreement between the owner or
owners and the Board of Directors of the aforesaid company, in
regard to the damages or price of the necessary strip or strips of
land required for the purposes aforesaid, it may and shall be lawful
for the company to appoint two competent and disinterested
freeholders, and the owner or owners of such land shall appoint two
competent and disinterested freeholders, all of whom shall be sworn
by a magistrate, or one of the Justices of the Inferior Court, to do
equal justice between the parties; and they shall then proceed upon
the premises as a committee of arbitration and appraisement; and
they shall make their award of valuation of damages in writing, to
be approved and signed by them, or a majority of them, which amount
the said company shall pay unto the owner or owners of such strip or
strips of land in lawful money, and the fee simple right thereof
shall vest in the said company forever; and the award shall be
recorded in the office of the clerk of the Superior and Inferior
Courts of Glynn county, in the same manner as deeds.
In case the committee aforesaid cannot agree upon the
amount
Pg. 37
of damage and valuation, they shall choose a
fifth man, who shall be sworn as aforesaid, and be added to said
committee; and in case either party be dissatisfied with the award
of said committee of arbitration, they shall have the right of
appeal to a special jury, to be tried at the term of the Superior
Court of Glynn county next thereafter held in said county; and the
decision, in which way soever finally thus made by the said jury,
shall vest in the Brunswick Canal and Rail-road Company the
fee-simple of the strip or strips of land in question; and in the
other party of judgment for the value thereof thus ascertained and
determined.
SEC. 9 And be it further enacted, That no canal
or rail-road shall be permitted hereafter to be cut or constructed
between the Altamaha and Turtle rivers, or their branches, and
Brunswick, within twenty miles of the route or routes the aforesaid
company may select, without their consent.
SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That the
said company shall build good substantial bridges across their canal
or rail-road wherever they may cross a public road or way; and the
stock of the aforesaid company shall be exempt from all taxes,
duties, and impositions whatever, unless it be such a tax and no
more as is now imposed on bank stock in this State.
SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That no
stockholder of the said company shall be eligible as a director
unless he shall hold at least ten shares of the stock in his own
right, or as administrator, executor, or guardian; the Board shall
be competent at all times to call an extra meeting of the
stockholders, when by them deemed necessary; and the Directors shall
choose one of their own body as President, who, together with the
Director, shall be entitled to and receive such compensation for
their services as may be allowed by the owners and lawful
representatives of a majority of shares of the capital stock for the
institution, to be determined by ballot or otherwise at the annual
regular meeting of the stockholders; and in all cases they
stockholders shall be allowed to vote either in person or by proxy
—that is to say, any stockholder who may be absent at any meeting as
aforesaid may authorize, by power of attorney under seal, any other
person to vote for him, her or them.
SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That the
number of votes of each stockholder, administrator, executor, or
guardian shall be according to the number of shares he, she, or they
shall
Pg. 38
hold—that is to say, each share to be entitled
to one vote. The Board to be competent to appoint and fix the
salaries of a Secretary and Treasurer, and as many clerks, agents,
engineers, and laborers as they may deem necessary and expedient to
dispatch the business of the said company.
SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That the
Board of Directors shall have power to call in such ratio, from time
to time, of the subscription of stock upon the books of said
company, by way of instalments, as they may deem necessary for the
prompt progress and execution of the work; first giving notice to
the stockholders respectively sixty days previous to the time
required for the payment of such instalment; and in case any
stockholder should refuse to pay his, her, or their instalments,
when called on in manner aforesaid, it shall be lawful for the Board
to declare such shares of stock forfeited to the use and benefit of
the company; but the defaulting party shall have the right of appeal
to the stockholders at their next regular meeting thereafter, and by
the consent of the owners and representatives of two-thirds of the
capital stock of the institution the previous instalments which may
have been paid upon the shares so forfeited may be refunded, and the
said shares offered by the Board for resubscription, as if the same
had never been subscribed for.
SEC. 14. And be it further enacted, That if any
person or persons shall wilfully and maliciously damage, injure or
obstruct, or in any manner destroy, or shall wilfully or maliciously
cause, or aid and assist, or counsel or advise, any other person or
persons to destroy, or in any manner to hurt, damage, injure or
obstruct the aforesaid canal or rail-road, or any bridge or other
appurtenance connected therewith, or any vehicle, edifice, right or
privilege granted by this act, and constructed for use under the
authority thereof, such person or persons so offending shall be
liable to be indicted, and, on conviction thereof, shall be
imprisoned at hard labor in thepenitentiary, at the discretion of
the court, not less than four years, and shall be further liable to
pay all damage and expenses of rebuilding or repairing the same, the
one-half of which shall be paid by the company to the informer.
SEC. 15. And be it further enacted, That the
shares of stock of the aforesaid Brunswick Canal and Rail-road
Company shall be taken, considered and held in law as real estate,
and may
Pg. 39
be sold and transferred upon the books of the
company by scrip, or assigned and bequeathed by the proprietors
thereof as such.
SEC. 16. And be it further enacted, That any
subscriber of stock in the aforesaid company shall have the right to
subscribe for shares in the rail-road or the canal separately and
distinctly, or conjointly in both, as he, she or they may choose at
the time of subscribing; and their certificates and scrips of stock
shall be issued and entered upon the books of the company, and kept
accordingly; and the dividends shall be declared by the Board of
Directors upon the nett income of the rail-road and the canal also
separately and distinctly from the two sets of books, as directed by
the fifth section of this act.
SEC. 17. And be it further enacted, That, with
the consent and petition of the grantees, William B. Davis,
Urbanus Dart, and their associates, the two recited acts in
the preamble of this act be, and the same are hereby repealed.
THOMAS GLASCOCK, Speaker of the House
of Representatives.
JACOB WOOD, President of the Senate.
ASSENTED TO, 20TH DEC., 1834.
WILSON LUMPKIN, Governor.
Pg. 40
AN
ACT
To
aid and assist the opening the Port of Brunswick to the central and
interior of Georgia.
____________
WHEREAS, It is due to the people of
the middle and western counties of this State, that the Legislature
should grant equal aid and encouragement to their agricultural and
commercial prosperity—
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the State of Georgia, in General assembly met,
and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the
President of the Central Bank be, and he is hereby authorized and
required immediately after the passage of this act, to subscribe, in
the name of the said Central Bank, on account and for the benefit of
the State, for five hundred shares, at one hundred dollars each, of
the capital stock of the Brunswick Canal and Rail-road Company.
SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the
President and Directors of the Central Bank be, and they are hereby
authorized and required to pay the instalments on the aforesaid five
hundred shares of stock, out of any moneys in the said bank on the
part of the State, as they may be called for on the part of the
individual stockholders of the aforesaid Canal and rail-road
Company,—all laws or parts of laws in relation to the said Central
Bank to the contrary notwithstanding: Provided, that the
Commissioners or Board of Directors of the said Canal and Rail-road
Company shall exhibit a certificate that the individual
stockholders, on their part, shall have first paid their instalments
when called for, agreeable to the terms of the act of incorporation.
SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That John
Rawles and H.H. Tarver be, and they are hereby appointed
Directors, and empowered to represent the above interest of the
State at the
Pg. 41
Board of Directors of the aforesaid company,
and to hold their office for three years from and after the passage
of this act; and that thereafter two Directors shall be elected
annually by the General Assembly, in joint ballot, to represent the
State as aforesaid.
THOMAS GLASCOCK, Speaker of the House
of Representatives.
JACOB WOOD, President of the Senate.
ASSENTED TO, 20TH DEC., 1834.
WILSON LUMPKIN, Governor.
Pg. 42
NAVY
YARD SOUTH OF CHESAPEAKE BAY.
LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY TRANSMITTING
A
copy of the Report of the Commisioners charged with the examination
of Harbors south of Chesapeake Bay, with a view to the establishment
of a Navy Yard.
NAVY DEPARTMENT, FEBRUARY 1, 1837.
SIR:—In compliance with a Resolution of the House of
Representatives of the 28th ultimo, I have the honor to
transmit, herewith, a copy of the Report of the Commissioners
charged with the examination of Ports and Harbors south of the
Chesapeake Bay, with a view to their comparative advantages for the
establishment of a Navy Yard.
I am, with great respect, your obedient servant,
M. DICKERSON, Secretary of the Navy.
To the Honorable the SPEAKER of the House of
Representatives.
________________
The undersigned Commissioners under a Resolution of the Senate of
the United States, “To survey and examine Ports south of the
Chesapeake, with a view to their comparative facilities and
advantages for the establishment of a Navy Yard,” have the honor to
report:
That they have given to the subject
all the reflection which its national importance demands; have
personally inspected the several ports whose draught of water gave
claim to public attention; and have maturely weighed their relative
pretensions to the favorable consideration of the Government.
The undersigned arriving at a preference for a
particular port, have discarded all prejudice of a local or
sectional nature and have solely been influenced by a strict regard
of the public good. As a basis for their decision, they have looked
for fundamental principles, and have been guided by the great
desiderata in a naval
Pg. 43
establishment on shore. They may be classed
under the following heads, and obtain value in the order in which
they stand, viz:
1. Sufficient depth of water to permit free access, at
any state of tide, for the heaviest class of ships of war.
2. Defence by land and by water.
3. Resources and supplies of every kind for the speedy
equipment of fleets.
4. Salubrity at every season of the year.
5. Ample supply of fresh water.
6. Facility of wharfing and docking.
As no port south of the Chesapeake possesses all these
advantages, (and, indeed, there is but one in the whole Union which
does possess them,) it has become the duty of the undersigned, by
the resolution of the Senate, to designate that one which seemed to
them to have the greater number of approximating qualifications.
Charleston, S.C.
The port of Charleston, being the
first in magnitude and also first in the order of inspection,
claimed their primary attention. This harbor has been repeatedly
surveyed, and recently by competent officers of the United States
army. The chart projected by them has been tested by the
undersigned, and the result proved its essential accuracy; from
which, together with a naval survey in 1825, and valuable
information obtained from experienced pilots and other sources, it
would seem to be established that the mouth of the harbor is the
main obstacle to its present usefulness as a naval station; for,
being deficient in depth of water, no vessels larger than sloops of
war can pass, and they only at high tides, and with a smooth sea.
This bar, which is of sand, forms an almost continuous
chain of breakers running nearly parallel with the coast, for nine
or ten miles. The tides and freshets of the river have broken
through this barrier, and four channels have been formed for the
discharge of the waters. Three of them are now incapable of being
navigated by large vessels, and the fourth, the main channel, is
liable to great changes, from heavy gales. Within twenty years it
has been entirely removed from its former site. It is displaced by
more than half a mile; and where formerly passed in security ships
of 17 and 18 feet draught of water, now rolls a dangerous breaker.
The undersigned, in contemplating the possible obliteration of the
present ship channel by the deposite of some future gale, do not
regard it as a lasting injury to the port; for they believe that a
new, more convenient, and, perhaps, deeper channel may be effected,
by obstructions in the tide-way, which shall guide to a given point
on the bar the vast and swift column of water composing its freshets
and ebb. Such is observed to
Pg. 44
be the action presented by the fortification
now being erected in the river, which has already, though very
incomplete and not very extensive, caused in the opinion of pilots,
the overfall of the channel to be considerably deepened. The effect
of so much power, directed on such an easily moved substance of this
bar, when aided by dredging machines, cannot be questioned. The
noble harbor within, sufficient in every respect to accommodate a
large fleet and of the heaviest draught, the great seat of Southern
wealth and Southern commerce, all seem to bespeak for it a generous
expenditure of the national treasure. But these speculations,
whether true or otherwise, belong to the engineer, whose knowledge
of currents and their effects will have due weight in such a
contingency. Charleston is now considered accessible with a draught
of 17 ½ feet, but with the aid of steam, a good tide, and smooth
water, a ship drawing 18 ½ feet may be safely conducted. The
average rise of the tide is 6 feet, which is increased or diminished
by the violence and duration of the seaward or landward winds, and
this rise and exterior influence is applicable to all the harbors of
the Carolinas and Georgia. There can be no difficulty in obtaining
eligible sites for a navy yard, whenever it may be resolved to
establish one in Charleston.
Beaufort, S.C.
This harbor was surveyed by
Lieutenant Stockton in 1828. His report has been tested by
soundings and observation, and its general correctness ascertained.
The arm of the sea which enters between Hunting and Hilton’s islands
is known as Port Royal sound. It is sufficiently deep and capacious
to accommodate the largest fleets, but, like all the ports south of
the Chesapeake, labors under the disadvantages of having a bar
placed at its entrance. From the bar to Beaufort the distance is
about 18 miles. A better position for a navy yard can be found in
the vicinity of Beaufort than at the town. The bar has an average
depth of 17 feet, which permits, with a full tide, the passage of a
frigate. Beaufort is placed in the line of internal navigation
between Charleston and Savannah, and hence, if blockaded by an enemy
by sea, has a safe and speedy transport of supplies. The absence of
a fresh water river and marshes seems to assure as great a degree of
health as in any of the Southern harbors.
Savannah, Georgia.
The bar at the north of the
Savannah river is the deepest and most accessible of any on the
Southern coast. The average depth is 19 feet at low water; and
hence, with a full tide, a frigate
Pg. 45
may pass in safety. But although thus favored
at the entrance, these advantages are soon lost in ascending the
river. The first point of effectual defence, salubrity, and
locality of a navy yard, is Cockspur island, situated within five
miles of the bar, and two miles within the river; but a frigate
cannot reach this point, by reason of an extensive sand-bank half a
mile below it, on which but 14 feet, at low water, can be obtained.
In ascending still farther up, the shoals are frequent, and of less
draught of water; and the river at first brackish, becomes fresh;
and hence, in so low a latitude, and surrounded by marshes, is
unhealthy in summer.
Darien, Georgia.
Merchant ships of heavy burden can
enter the port of Darien; but it is unsuitable to naval purposes, by
reason of its unfavorable locality, being surrounded by swamps and
morasses and on account of its being placed on a fresh water river,
which, in so low a latitude, must cause unhealthiness. The port of
Darien can have no greater pretension than the ingress of a sloop of
war; and, hence, cannot compete with the deeper harbor in the same
State.
Brunswick, Georgia.
The waters forming the port of
Brunswick are generally designated as Turtle river; but properly
speaking, it is an arm of the sea, which, entering between the
islands of Jekyl and St. Simon’s, flows into the interior for
upwards of 20 miles, forming a wide, deep and swift column. As no
fresh water river empties into this basin, it is always salt, free
from freshets, and alluvial deposites; and hence, from an early
period of time, no change whatever has been perceptible in the
soundings or general character of the port. From the large islands
of St. Simon’s and Jekyl, (which are distant from each other about
one mile,) and running seaward for about six miles, are found
jutting two extensive sand-pits. At low water portions of them are
laid bare; and unless the sea is unusually smooth, they form, in
nearly their whole extent, lines of continuous breakers. Between
these lines of surf lies the channel, which in 3-4ths of a mile wide
in the spit-heads, and which enlarges to a mile soon after
entering. Between the spit-heads we found 22 feet at low water.
Proceeding towards the land, by traversing the whole breadth of the
channel, the soundings gradually shoaled to 18 feet, which is the
least draught of water found in the channel-way. About one mile
within the spit-heads, is the “middle ground,” which is a bank of
sand resting on the southern or Jekyl spit, and jutting
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into the channel-way some 200 fathoms; but
leaving a sufficiently wide 18 feet passage towards the St. Simon’s
or northern spit, for a large ship even with an adverse wind; the
middle ground has but 14 feet at low water. Entering still further
up, the soundings gradually grow deeper, so that when between the
islands it has obtained a depth of 12 fathoms. The vessel is now in
safety. On the right of St. Simon’s sound, which, together with
similar water courses still further north, affords a safe internal
navigation to steamboats and craft to Savannah and Charleston. To
the left is the arm of the sea, (called the Turtle river,) from
which, by Jekyl and Cumberland sounds, is a southern internal
navigation as far as St. Mary’s. The course from sea to the mouth
of the harbor is nearly west north-west, keeping the northern
breakers on board; the channel then runs south and south-westerly,
and, making a short turn to the north-west, we arrive at the town of
Brunswick—insignificant at present, but destined, we believe,
through her rail-road and canal, to future importance. A shoal of
soft mud, close to and below the town, on which but 12 feet can be
found at low water, seems to indicate some other point in the harbor
as a more suitable position for a navy yard. We believe Bythe’s
[sic] island, on the opposite shore, to be the most eligible. It
contains some hundred acres, covered with timber, and every way
convenient for wharves, docks, &c., and for a nursery of the live
oak; it is distant from Brunswick two miles, and has bold water to
within a few fathoms of the shore. There is no doubt that the port
may be strongly fortified. The islands of St. Simon’s and Jekyl
present suitable positions for extensive works; and a sand shoal two
miles within and in the centre of the river (dry at low water,)
affords a third basis for powerful defence, and steam batteries will
complete the whole. The average rise of the tide is six feet, which
gives, at high water, on the bar, 24 feet; sufficient for a
frigate. It is deemed healthy; and the absence of a fresh water
river, or fresh water swamps, seem to justify the opinion.
St. Mary’s, Georgia.
The harbor of St. Mary’s, on the
south frontier of Georgia, has a bar very similar to that of
Charleston in its general features and depth of water; it is subject
to the same vicissitudes from great gales. In 20 years the ship
channel has been forced to the southward; and the site of the
passage, where formerly passed the largest sloop of war in the navy,
is now filled up to eight feet. Under the most favorable
circumstances of wind and tide, the present ship channel may be
stated at 14 feet at low water; the average rise of the tide is six
feet. The localities are unfavorable for the establishment of a
navy yard; and, regarding
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the harbor in every light, we feel compelled to
express an opinion adversely of St. Mary’s as a port suitable for
naval purposes.
Key West, and the Tortugas.
Circumstances beyond our control,
and known to the Department, have prevented an extension of our
survey to Key West and the Tortugas; but our knowledge of those
places, obtained in the course of service, justifies us in
pronouncing an opinion adverse to them for the establishment of a
navy yard.
Key West is but a small island, distant from the main;
and the Tortugas, a cluster of islands still smaller. The one can
have but limited resources; the other, none whatever, not even fresh
water. Being islands and incapable of succor in the presence
of a superior force, they must eventually fall, when cut off from
supplies. The more valuable either might become by the
establishment of a navy yard, the more it would invite attack from a
powerful enemy. Their position is no doubt commanding, but we deem
them not worthy of greater value, when fortified than to
afford a rendezvous to our cruizers, and to give shelter and
protection to them when pressed by a pursuing enemy.
The Comparison.
The undersigned, in obedience to a
Resolution of the Senate, have arrived at the point where they are
directed to report on “the comparative advantages and facilities of
ports south of the Chesapeake, for the establishment of a navy
yard.” Depth of water and easy access being objects of the first
consideration, they are of opinion that the ports of Charleston,
Darien, and St. Mary’s, being deficient in depth of water to permit
the entrance of a larger ship than a sloop of war, are unfit to
compete with the frigate harbors of Beaufort, Savannah and
Brunswick.
The preference is narrowed down to one of these; and
having duly weighed their relative pretensions, we have no
hesitation in preferring Brunswick. Beaufort must yield to her in
the essential points of depth of water, easy access, and capability
of defence. Savannah must give way, for her easier access and
greater depth of water on the bar cannot be carried up the river to
a site safe from the sea and an enemy, and applicable to the
establishment of a navy yard.
If a frigate could but reach Cockspur island, the
opinion expressed in favor of Brunswick might be recalled.
Brunswick is the most southern frigate harbor on the Atlantic
seaboard. Placed near the great outlet of the commerce of
the West Indies
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and Gulf of Mexico, her position in a state of
maritime warfare would be invaluable, since the navigating interests
of an enemy must pass by her door. All which is respectfully
submitted.
M.T. WOOLSEY,
ALEXR. CLAXTON,
E.R. SHUBRICK.
December 20, 1836. |
