1. William T. Thompson, Major Jones’s Sketches of Travel (Philadelphia, 1848), p. 37, cited in John Donald Wade, Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, A Study of the Development of Culture in the South (New York: Macmillan Company, 1924), p. 240.
2. Georgia Courier (Augusta), June 23, 1828, cited in Richard W. Griffin, "The Augusta (Georgia) Manufacturing Company in Peace, War, and Reconstruction, 1847-1877, "Business History Review 32 (Spring 1958): 60.
3. Ulrich B. Phillips, American Negro Slavery (New York, 1918), p. 212.
4. Eugene H. Hinton, A Historical Sketch of the Evolution of Trade and Transportation of Augusta, Georgia. Together with a Synopsis of the Rate Adjustment from the East. (Atlanta: The Southeastern Freight Association, 1912), copy at Richmond County Historical Society, Augusta College Library, Augusta, Georgia (hereafter cited as RCHS).
5. Wade, Longstreet, p. 240.
6. Daily Chronicle and Sentinel (Augusta, Georgia), March 1, 1845, p. 2, vol. 3 (2:3). (Hereafter cited as DC&S.)
7. Charles C. Jones and Salem Dutcher, Memorial History of Augusta, Georgia (Syracuse, New York: D. Mascon & Co., 1890), pp. 395-398.
8. Robert Manson Myers, The Children of Pride, A True Story of Georgia and the Civil War (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1972), pp. 1498-1500; Bryan M. Haltermann, "From Father to Son: Henry H. Cumming and Joseph B. Cumming of Augusta, Georgia," unpublished manuscript in the possession of the author, Augusta, Georgia.
9. William Phillips’s brief canal history in George White, Statistics of the State of Georgia (Savannah: W. Thorne Williams, 1849), pp. 503-5.
10. William Phillips, The Topography and Hydrography in the Vicinity of Augusta, Georgia and the History of the Currents of the Savannah River in Times of Freshets (Augusta: John M. Weigls & Co., 1892), p. 4, copy at RCHS.
11. Jones & Dutcher, History of Augusta, pp. 401, II, 30-40; White, Statistics of Georgia, p. 503; DC&S March 11, 1845, 2:4.
12. DC&S, February 8, 1845, 2:2.
13. City Council Minutes, May 8, 1841 to May 24, 1845, meeting March 1, 1845, Vault, Municipal Building, Augusta, Georgia; Dictionary of American Biography (New York, 1935), vol. IX, p. 486.
14. Patrick M. Malone, The Lowell Canal System (Lowell, Massachusetts: Lowell Museum, 1976), p. 6.
15. Williams Phillips, Special Report of the Engineer of the Augusta Canal to the Board of Managers on the Matter in Controversy between the Augusta Canal Co. and the Augusta Manufacturing Co. (Augusta, 1856), pp. 59-61.
16. Ibid.; the 13-foot fall was a conscious duplication of the "head" at Lowell.
17. The city ordinance and the canal company’s charter are published in Jones & Dutcher, History of Augusta, pp. 401-410
18. Acts of the State of Georgia 1845 (Columbus, Georgia, 1846) pp. 138-144; DC&S, December 13, 1845, 2:3.
19. Jones & Dutcher, History of Augusta, 412; The Georgia Reports (New York), V, 561-569.
20. DC&S, May 30, 1845, 2:3; June 11, 1845, 2:2; June 18, 1845, 2:3; July 17, 1845, 2:4-5; October 8, 1845, 2:2; Wade, Longstreet, p. 240.
21. City Council Minutes, May 8, 1841, to May 24, 1845, meeting March 15, 1845, Vault, Municipal Building, Augusta, Georgia.
22. DC&S, March 21, 1845, 2:1, citing Charleston Courier; DC&S, March 22, 1845, 2:3, citing Savannah Republican.
23. Canal Commissioners report published in DC&S, May 8, 1845, 2:3.
24. Ibid. James L. Coleman would later build the Granite Flour Mill, first one on the canal and still standing (1977). His brother-in-law, Judge Warren, operated the mill until 1863. See HAER, Augusta Canal Project, Report #2, the Enterprise Manufacturing Company.
25. Canal Commissioners reports published in DC&S, May 8, 1845, 2:3; July 12, 1845, 2:4; Augusta 6, 1845, 2:4-5. Local tradition claims that Irish laborers built the canal, but contemporary evidence reveals black slaves as the major labor force. Though not searched strenuously for, the following ad may be typical: "To Canal Contractors…Three prime fellows, 19, 24, and 30 years of age, for sale for whom a credit until the 1st of January next will be given to an approved purchaser." DC&S, September 26, 1845, 3:3. Also see DC&S, October 22, 1845, 2:4.
26. DC&S, November 4, 1845, 2:3; November 24, 1846, 2:3; February 11, 1847, 2:3. The best physical description of the canal appeared in the DC&S, November 12, 1846, 2:3-4: "The dam is 1238 feet in length, composed of cribs made of square timbers, filled with loose stones, with a paving on top. Below the dam is a guard wall 16 feet high, in which is inserted an entrance lock, with a chamber, 11 by 79 feet in the clear, all in good rubble work laid in hydraulic cement. This guard wall is pierced at bottom by 6 sluices, each 6 feet wide by 7 feet high, furnished with wooden draw gates, to be wrought with iron screws. [See HAER drawing, Augusta Canal, 1846 Headgates and Lock. Observation shows 7 sluices, not 6, and the iron screw gearing was replaced in 1855 with rack-an-pinion. An exact duplicate of the 1846 headgates was built at Graniteville, South Carolina, in 1847 for the Graniteville Mill and still (1977) stands, complete with screw or worm gearing.]
"Below the lock, the canal commences, having uniform sections 20 feet wide at the bottom and side slopes 2 to 1; the depth of the water to be at least 5 feet; the longitudal slope or inclination is at the rate of 1/100 of a foot to 100 feet. The banks, which are at no place to be less than 8 feet high, are here high enough to exclude all freshets…
"About half a mile below the guard-wall and lock, is Red’s Creek. Over this creek the canal is carried on an aqueduct, 90 feet between the abutments, with 14 openings each 16 feet wide for the passage of the creek.
"[Next the Canal] reached Rock Creek, which passes through an excellent culvert, 14 feet wide, near the entrance to the river.
"Then, near the river…it passes through high ground, where an excavation of 16 to 18 feet was required, at two points, before reaching Warren’s spring branch, which it passes over a culvert 8 feet wide. From this spring branch it passes over very favorable ground to Rea’s [Rae’s] Creek, over which it is carried in an aqueduct having stone piers and stone abutments, but a wooden super-structure, 187-1/2 feet long between the abutments, divided into 5 spans of 33-1/3 feet each, the creek being 25 feet below the bottom line of the canal. In the wooden superstructure of this aqueduct are 5 sluices, with drawgates for the discharge of the water of the canal. The average width of the aqueducts at Red’s Creek and at Rea’s (Rae’s) Creek is 34-1/2 feet. [See HAER drawing, August Canal, Rae’s Creek Aqueduct]…
"This entire length of this the first level, or main canal, to the basin is 36,400 feet, or within 560 feet of 7 miles. The fall in this distance is 3-64/100 feet."
27. G. R. Baldwin’s report is published in Phillips, Special Report of the Engineer, 59-62.
28. DC&S, November 5, 1846, 2:2.
29. Griffin, "Augusta Manufacturing Company," 61; DC&S, March 2, 1847, 2:3; June 16, 1847, 2:5. The company received the first water contract April 26, 1847. See Phillips, Special Report of the Engineer, 3, 58. In his article, Dr. Griffin complains of the disappearance of the manufacturing company’s records. They are in the vault of the Graniteville Company, Graniteville, South Carolina.
30. "Record of Reports and Other Matters Appertaining to the Augusta Canal," Book I, pp. 293-294, Vault, Municipal Building, Augusta, Georgia. (Hereafter cited as Canal Record Book.) A list of companies using canal water and their machinery can be constructed partially from William Phillips’s reports in these record books:
(Listed in order of water contracts)
1847 - Augusta Mfg. Co. Mill #1 - 160 hp - Two 11' overshot wheels and
one Journal Turbine
1847 - Augusta Mfg. Co. Mill #2 - 190 hp - Two Rich Wheels
1847 - Granite Mill - flour - 32 hp - Three Hotchkiss American Turbines
1847 - Granite Mill - saw - 7 hp
1847 - Cunningham Flour Mill - 56 hp
1850 - Augusta Machine Works
1853 - T.J. Cheely Grain &
Cotton Gin
Source: Canal Record Book II, p. 66 rpt. for June 27, 1854; p. 72 rpt. for July 17, 1854. For a complete description and debate upon the efficiency of the Augusta Mfg. Co.’s power station, see Phillips, Special Report of the Engineer, passim, especially pp. 18-20.
31. Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, D.C.), May 14, 1850, cited in Griffin, "Augusta Manufacturing Company," 63.
32. Canal Record Book I, p. 167 rpt. for February 27, 1849, p. 229 rpt. for June 26, 1850; Phillips, Topography and Hydrography, pp. 20-21.
33. Canal Record Book I, pp. 146-149, p. 191 rpt. for April 24, 1850, p. 230 rpt. for August 28, 1850, p. 264 rpt. for September 24, 1851, p. 281 rpt. for march 21, 1852, p. 283 rpt. for April 28, 1852; Canal Record Book II, p. 1 rpt. for September 29, 1852, p. 89 rpt. for December 23, 1854. Also see HAER drawing, Augusta Canal, Rae’s Creek aqueduct.
34. Canal Record Book II, p. 269, rpt. for February 5, 1857.
35. Canal Record Book I, p. 24 rpt. for May 28, 1851, p. 261 rpt. for July 30, 1851, p. 278 rpt. for March 31, 1852, p. 286 rpt. for June 30, 1852.
36. Phillips, Special Report of the Engineer, 73.
37. Ibid., passim.
38. Canal Record Book II, p. 107 rpt. for May 14, 1855, p. 301 rpt. for October 1, 1857. When contracting for slave labor, Phillips stipulated, "it is understood when hiring laborers that their owners fit them in everything except tools and that they are not to be paid for time lost by sickness or bad weather." Canal Record Book II, p. 136 rtp. for December 31, 1855.
39. Jones & Dutcher, History of Augusta, II, 3.
40. Canal Record Book II, p. 316 rpt. for April 1, 1858, p. 333 rpt. for January 6, 1859.
41. Florence Fleming Corley, Confederate City, Augusta, Georgia, 1860-1865 (Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 1960), p. 46.
42. Ibid.
43. Jones & Dutcher, History of Augusta, 413; DC&S, February 21, 1869, 3:3; May 9, 1869, 2:1; July 10, 1869, 1:5-7; January 16, 1869, 3:2.
44. Undated newspaper clippings in the possession of George Sibley, Augusta, Georgia; City Council Minutes, December 5, 1872, December 4, 1873, Vault, Municipal Building, Augusta, Georgia.
45. Jones & Dutcher, History of Augusta, 414.
46. DC&S, April 21, 1871, 2:2; June 27, 1871, 3:2; October 31, 1871, 3:2-4; May 29, 1872, 3:2-3; November 15, 1873, 2:21, 4:1. On labor see March 31, 1872, 3:1; July 18, 1872, 3:1; August 17, 1872; quote from November 15, 1872, 4:1.
47. DC&S, November 15, 1873, 4:1; City Council Minutes, December 1874, Vault, Municipal Building, Augusta, Georgia. A list of canal water power users prepared in July 1875 included:
Augusta Factory 1000 hp Russell & Simmons Factory 90 hp Southern Cross Factory 25 hp Gray’s Cotton Factory * 80 hp (* proposed mill to use old Augusta Machine Works Bldg.) Granite Mill 125 hp Augusta (Cunningham) Mill 127 hp Excelsior Flour Mill 80 hp Paragon Flour Mill 100 hp Miller’s (T. J. Cheely) Mill 75 hp Schley’s Mill 100 hp Dixon Fertilizer Co. 25 hp American Foundry 10 hp Tobacco Factory 15 hp City Water Works 50 hp Source: Bryon Holly (Holley), The Enlarged Augusta Canal, Augusta, Georgia (New York: Corlies, Macy & Co., 1875), p. 2, copy at University of Georgia, Athens.
48. DC&S, May 20, 1875, 4:1; Jones and Dutcher, History of Augusta, 414; City Council Minutes, November 1, 1875, Vault, Municipal Building, Augusta, Georgia.
49. Jones and Dutcher, History of Augusta, 415; quote from "The Great South," Scribner’s Monthly 8 (Augusta 1874): 26; Thomas P. Jones, A Manual of Georgia for the Use of Immigrants and Capitalists (n.d.), p. 31; Thomas P. Jones, Handbook of the State of Georgia (Atlanta, 1876), pp. 177-178; J. T. Derry, Georgia: A Guide to its Cities, Towns Scenery, and Resources (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1878), p. 58; see HAER, Augusta Canal Project, Report #9, the Globe (Blanche) Mill.
50. See HAER, Augusta Canal Project, Reports #2, 3, 4, 13, for the Enterprise, Sibley, King, and Russell & Simmons Mills.
51. See HAER, Augusta Canal Project, Reports #5, 6, 8, 10, 15, 16, for the Augusta Water Works, Sutherland Mill, Paragon Mill, Lombard Iron Works, Shamrock Mill, and Augusta Railway Company.
52. Chronicle and Constitutionalist (Augusta), October 9, 1887, 1:3. This is a "Trade Issue" of the Chronicle and is thus quite detailed in its descriptions of local industries, as well as including line drawings of the mills.
53. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, August 14, 1880, p. 404; Harper’s Weekly, February 26, 1887, p. 150; quote from O. B. Stevens and R. F. Wright, Georgia: Historical and Industrial (Atlanta: The Department of Agriculture, 1901).
54. Hinton, "Trade and Transportation of Augusta," p. 24; Mayor’s Message and Official Reports of the Department of the City of Augusta with Report of Board of Health for the Year 1903 (Augusta: Richards & Shaver, 1904), p. 44. (Hereafter cited as Augusta Yearbook.) By 1892 the following companies used canal water power:
First Level City Water Works 400 hp Warwick (Shamrock) Mill 112 hp Algernon (Russell & Simmons) Mill 217 hp Sibley 1,365 hp John P. King Mill 1,836 hp Enterprise Mill 1,259 hp Augusta Factory 1,084 hp Augusta Flour Mill (Cunningham Mill) 110 hp Dartmouth Spinning Co. 250 hp Thomson-Houston Electric Co. 650 hp Augusta Ply Co. 500 hp First Level Total 7,783 hp
Second Level Globe Mill 166 hp Augusta Oil Co. (Paragon Mill) 78 hp Polar Ice Co. 224 hp Excelsior Mill 284 hp C. F. Lombard (American Foundry) 28 hp Crescent Mill (T. J. Cheely) 172 hp Schley Mill 63 hp Augusta Lumber Co. (Augusta Machine Works) 100 G. R. Lombard & Co. 39 hp Second Level Total 1,154 hp
Combined Total 8,937 hp Source: Augusta Yearbook for 1892.
55. DC&S, April 4, 1872, 3:1; May 19, 1872, 3:3; May 23, 1872, 3:5; Ellis Merton Coulter, Old Petersburg and the Broad River Valley of Georgia, Their Rise and Decline (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1965), p. 63. From 1848 to 1855, 20,000 bales of cotton annually came to Augusta via the canal, Canal Record Book II, p. 126, Vault, Municipal Building, Augusta, Georgia.
56. For an extensive account of Augusta During the Progressive Era, see Richard Henry Lee German, "The Queen City of the Savannah: Augusta, Georgia, During the Urban Progressive Era, 1890-1917" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Florida, 1971); Augusta Yearbook for 1906, p. 59, for 1912 p. 23, for 1914 p. 14.
57. Augusta Yearbook for 1909 p. 40, for 1914 p. 14, for 1929 p. 53, for 1930 p. 81, for 1936 p. 70, for 1939 p. 71.
58. "Report on Augusta Canal Project, The City Engineering Department Job Number 69-037," October 1970, copy at Office of the City Engineer, Municipal Building, Augusta, Georgia. They list the following canal water users for 1969:
Enterprise Mill 1,906.4 hp Sibley Mill 3,832 hp King Mill 3,300 hp *Blanche Mill 444 hp *Georgia Power Co. (Augusta Ply Co.) 1,765.8 hp *Not using waterpower in 1977.