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Modoc, SC
1946 Statistics: C&WC Station #28, 16 car siding, 64 car passing track, 28.5 miles from Augusta and 104.8 miles from Spartanburg.
About 1875, the US Government had just ended a protracted war with the Modoc tribe of the US Northwest. In 1873, the Modoc subchief Captain Jack shot Gen. Edward Richard Sprigg Canby, who'd been sent to broker a deal to get the warring members of the tribe out of California, where they'd been hiding, and back to the Klamath Reservation in Oregon. Thus the army went after Captain Jack (again), but the Modoc were tired and many surrendered. On June 1, 1873, Captain Jack was captured. He and three of his warriors, Boston Charley, Black Jim, and John Schonchin, were hanged on Oct. 3, 1873. During the fighting the Modoc had scalped a number of men who'd been working on laying a rail line.
About the same time (1875), the town of Bountwell, SC was established on the site of the current town of Modoc. When the train depot was built in Bountwell in 1882, the name of the town was changed to Modoc, in honor of a station of the same name on the much-beleaguered line in the US Northwest. It is believed that renaming Bountwell to Modoc was intended as a snub to the tribe.
The following map pinpoints Modoc in South Carolina some 30 miles northwest of Augusta, Ga.
The C&WC depot was located on the north side of Modoc as noted in the following 1932 map of Modoc. The freight and passenger depot was a combined structure measuring about 30 feet wide and about 55 feet long. A cotton platform was attached to the north side of the depot and it measured about 30 feet wide and about 40 feet long.
The topological map that follows shows the position of the depot, on the north side of town.
Modoc of today (2006) is shown in the next photo. The approximate position of the depot is outlined. The camera is looking south. Note the old ACL concrete whistle post.
The last photo show Modoc in 2006 from the south, looking north. The "x" marks the depot position in the distance. Modoc is used by CSX for train meets and maintains a long passing siding as can be seen in the photo.
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