“ There are gold-mines near the city; and Spartanburg county produces large crops of cotton. Cotton mills are the basis of the city's prosperity, and it has also a large wholesale trade, iron-working establishments, and various manufactures. The value of its factory product was $2,127,702 in 1905, or 33.7% more than in 1900. Spartanburg was founded in 1787, and, although railway communication with Columbia and Charleston was opened in 1859, there was little growth until the establishment of the first cotton mill in the vicinity in 1880 ”