The Resources of North Carolina - Pages 59-90



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   FIRE-CLAY of the best quality for fire-brick or other uses, is found in 
the beds beneath all the coal seams, both in the Deep River and Dan River 
coal-fields.

   PORCELAIN CLAY is found in Montgomery and Chatham Counties; also in 
Cherokee and Macon Counties of the extreme southwest. It has been mined 
largely for transportation out of the State, to New York, and even to 
Europe, to be used in the manufacture of the fine kinds of porcelain ware. 
(Prof. Kerr, Report of 1866.)

   BITUMINOUS and OIL-BEARING SHALES exist in the vicinity of the coal-
beds. Prof. Emmons says, "From thirty to forty gallons of crude kerosene 
oil exist in every ton of these slates. They are from fifty to seventy 
feet thick, and it is proper to add that it is a better oil than that 
furnished from the coal."

   Professor Kerr, in 1866, gives the following list of metalliferous 
ores, and of earthy minerals and rocks of economical value, as being found 
in considerable quantities in the State:-- 

   "Under the first division occur gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, iron, 
and tungsten; and here, for convenience, may be added the diamond; and 
under the second may be mentioned as occurring in this State under such 
circumstances as render them economically valuable, coal, marl, limestone, 
marble, architectural granite, sandstone, porphyry, firestone, buhrstone, 
grindstone grit, whetstone slate, roofing slate, alum, and copperas 
slates, soapstone, serpentine, agalmatolite, a form of soapstone, 
procelain clay, fire-clay, graphite, or plumbago, garnet, barytes, 
manganese, oil slates, and chromate of iron."

Native Mineral Fertilizers; Marl, and Phosphates.

   We have not been able, with the space at command in this brief 
statement of the resources of the State, to give as much of detailed 
description of all these as we desired, and there still remain to be 
noticed the native mineral fertilizers; marl and phosphates.

   Marl is one of the leading elements of native wealth in the soils of 
the eastern part of the State, being, confined, of course, to the low 
country, the sand plains and swamp lands. It appears to be a continuation 
of the New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia marl beds, so far as the green 
sand marl is concerned; and the phosphate marls of Brunswick County are a 

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continuation of the rich phosphate beds found near Charleston. Prof. Kerr 
says:-- 

   "This valuable mineral is literally scattered over most of the sea-
coast counties of the State, and is found in every degree of purity and 
consolidation, from a mere aggregation of loose shells to the most compact 
limestone, suitable for building or for burning into lime. The famous 
bathstone of London is matched by some of these beds. The marl is 
generally found near the surface, and is easily accessible."

   Dr. Emmons and Mr. Ruffin have very thoroughly described the marl beds 
of the eastern counties in their reports on the Swamp Lands, and have 
pointed out the distinction between the more valuable classes, and some 
that appear to be deficient in potash, or to have an excess of injurious 
salts. Professor Emmons describes three classes of these marls, one, 
called stone marl, is composed of small shells cemented by silica. It is 
hard, making a good building stone, and even good millstones. The 
inclosure of the cemetery at Newbern is of this rock, and it has a fine 
appearance, giving evidence also of great durability. Professor Emmons 
claims that it is superior to granite for fine walls, and that, in house 
walls, it has the merit of being always dry. Another variety of this stone 
marl is a granular cream-colored rock, almost destitute of shells. It is 
soft when first cut from the quarry, but soon hardens. This is a good 
building stone, and in some places may be burnt into good lime, but 
generally it will not make strong lime. It is abundant in Wayne County, 
near Goldsboro. The stone marl first mentioned above, underlies Newbern 
and vicinity.

   Next is the green sand marl, similar to that of New Jersey. The best 
beds of this are at Black Rock, on the Cape Fear River, twenty-five miles 
above Wilmington. It extends across the State northeastward, at about the 
same distance from the sea, appearing at a great many points in the 
direction of Kinston, Tarboro, and other places in this range. In some 
places it is very good, but generally is not equal to the best of New 
Jersey green sand marls. Colonel Clark, three miles above Tarboro, has 
used this green sand marl with great success, as have many others.

   Again, a white shell marl is found, composed of light cream 

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colored grains, with fragments of shells, corals, &c. Much of this is 
soft, and easily shovelled from the beds. It often makes good lime by 
burning, and therefore answers a double purpose. There is a narrow belt of 
this marl only, stretching across several of the eastern counties, through 
Hanover, Onslow, Jones, and Craven Counties. It is found at Wilmington, 
and on the Neuse above Newbern. Mr. Wadsworth, of Craven County, certifies 
to the best results from its use, and it is evident that the abundance of 
lime it contains must render it very valuable in reclaiming worn-out 
lands. Lastly, there is a shell marl proper, composed very largely of 
undecomposed marine shells. This is less valuable than the preceding, yet 
when they are wanting, it will furnish lime cheaply, with some phosphates 
and potash. It is found in the same general localities, and is sometimes 
used direct, and in other cases burned into lime.

   With this vast store of marls of the three varieties underlying almost 
all the eastern counties, there should be no difficulty in keeping up the 
productiveness of the soil in that part of the State, and no difficulty in 
reclaiming such lands as have heretofore been exhausted. Though they lack 
the potash, or the amount of potash found in the green sand marls of New 
Jersey, they contain more lime, by a large proportion, and can be put to a 
greater variety of valuable uses.

   Extensive phosphate marl beds, composed chiefly of animal remains, have 
recently been found in South Carolina, and through two or three of the 
lower counties of North Carolina, which form a bed of bones and other 
remains similar in position to the marl beds, but vastly more rich in 
fertilizing elements. The phosphates, and particularly phosphate of lime, 
appear to be the leading mineral elements, and so far as they have been 
developed; they justify high expectations as to their value, in reclaiming 
the soils of both States. In fact, their wealth of fertilizing elements is 
so great as to repay shipping to distant points in other States. Three or 
four of the lower counties are known to contain these beds of animal 
remains, and further inquiry may show that they extend to Newbern, or 
beyond. Very high expectations are indulged as to their value, as they are 
now being opened in the vicinity 

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of Charleston, and from recent openings in Brunswick County, almost 
exactly the same formations are disclosed. Altogether, it does not appear 
that any part of this State is essentially deficient in the means of 
fertilizing and renewing soils, and particularly the eastern counties, 
with their marl and muck deposits, aided by the phosphate beds of animal 
remains, ought to be sustained in a high condition of agricultural 
prosperity.

Mineral Springs.

   The geological formations in North Carolina are highly favorable to the 
development of mineral springs, particularly in the central and western 
counties--and some form of such springs, including a fair representation 
of the red and white sulphur, the chalybeate and alum, and also of some 
one of the varieties of warm springs, will be found in almost every county.

   The most conspicuous of these springs that have attained celebrity, and 
have become resorts for visitors, are the Catawba White Sulphur, in the 
north part of Catawba County; Wilson's White and Red Sulphur Springs near 
Shelby, in Cleveland County, and the Piedmont Springs in Burke County, 
fifteen miles west of Morganton. These are east of the Blue Ridge: and 
west of it we have the celebrated warm springs Of the French Broad River, 
35 miles west of Asheville; the Deaver White Sulphur Springs, five miles 
only from Asheville, and the Million Springs, nine miles north of 
Asheville. There are other springs in the vicinity of Asheville, and also 
east of the Blue Ridge, but none so conspicuous as those mentioned above.

   In the eastern or northeastern part of the State the long-known Shocco 
Springs of Warren County are the most important. They are located nine 
miles from the Warrenton depot, of the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad. This 
was for many years the most fashionable resort in the south, and it still 
deserves attention. Jones' Spring is in the same vicinity, and Kittrell's 
Spring, in Granville County, is another reputed to be valuable for its 
waters. This last is but one mile from the railroad. All these are 
chalybeate waters, and though less 

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attractive now than the sulphur springs of the western part of the State, 
are highly valued by all who have used the waters for many forms of ill-
health requiring tonic treatment.

   The springs of the Catawba are well fitted up and much frequented as 
fashionable resorts. The Shelby, or Wilson's White and Red Sulphur, of 
Cleveland County, said to be the finest spring of its kind in the world, 
is easily reached by the new railroad from Charlotte by way of Lincolnton, 
which is now completed nearly to Shelby. It is also accessible from the 
south by way of Yorkville or Spartansburg, South Carolina. The Catawba 
White Sulphur in the north part of Catawba County, is near the railroad 
from Salisbury to Morganton. Both these are celebrated resorts, with white 
and red sulphur, and chalybeate waters in the immediate vicinity, and they 
are well filled up for the reception of visitors. There are also, near 
Shelby, the less known springs called McBrier's and Patterson's. These are 
all in no respect inferior to the best Virginia sulphur springs.

   The Piedmont Springs of Burke County are well worth visiting because of 
the various attractions of scenery, waterfalls, the celebrated Table Rock, 
&c. There, are also chalybeate springs in Stokes Count called "Piedmont 
Springs," which are much resorted to. They are near the celebrated Pilot 
Mountain.

   West of the Blue Ridge, near Asheville, are very attractive sulphur 
springs, much praised by Colton, in his "Mountain Scenery of North 
Carolina."The town of Asheville, and all in its vicinity, are highly 
eulogized by all who have written in regard to that part of the State; and 
particularly by Colton in the work above cited, and by Lanman, in his 
"Alleghany Mountains."At the Warm Springs, on the French Broad below 
Asheville, there are "more attractions to the seeker of pleasure, leaving 
out of view the invalid, than probably at any other watering place in the 
south,"--so writes one visitor in 1858. The temperature of the water 
varies from 98° to 102°, and a great variety of mineralized waters abound 
in springs of the vicinity. "The Warm Springs are annually visited by a 
large number of fashionable and health-seeking people from 

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all the Southern States. . . . As a resort they have no superior in any 
State."--(Colton.)

Watering-Places of the Atlantic Coast.

   We cannot leave the subject without referring to the several localities 
along the coast which have already been more or less occupied as watering-
places and summer resorts. At Smithville, the outlet of Cape Fear River, 
there is a fine beach on the broad salt water bay, and many historical as 
well as picturesque attractions are within easy reach. Masonboro Sound, on 
the coast in front of Wilmington, also has a fine beach; as have Middle 
Sound, and Wrightsville Sound, in the same vicinity.

   At Beaufort, the terminus of the railroad from Raleigh and Newbern, 
there are fine facilities for sea bathing, and the beach is much resorted 
to. Carolina City is a point on the beach south of Newbern.

   The peculiar lakes of the low country near the coast are places of 
winter resort, both for health and for sporting. Waccamaw Lake, at a point 
on the railroad thirty-four miles west of Wilmington, is visited by 
invalids in winter, and at Flemington Station there is a well-kept house 
for visitors. The severity of winter cold is greatly modified at these 
locations without the roughness of the open sea-shore. The finest of these 
lakes have a clear sand beach and perfectly pure waters, rendering them 
healthy and attractive as resorts, while they abound with vast numbers of 
wild fowl at that season. Waccamaw Lake, thirty miles from Wilmington, is 
eight or ten miles in length and six miles wide, nearly. Further north, 
between Beaufort and Newbern, there are three or four of these lakes, the 
largest being Catfish Lake and Great Lake. In Hyde County is the 
celebrated Matamuskeet Lake, the largest of all, and surrounded by much 
fine cultivation. Alligator Lake is in the same county, and on its 
northern border are Phelps and Pungo Lakes. Drummond Lake of the Dismal 
Swamp is just at the Virginia line.

   We shall refer to these lakes and the adjacent salt water sounds in 
some notices of the fisheries and fowl shooting, 

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which have become a regular and profitable business of the whole line of 
coast in North Carolina.

Mountain Scenery.

   The mountains of North Carolina have long been objects of attraction to 
scientific men in consequence of the interest felt in them as the highest 
elevations in the United States east of the Mississippi, and of the 
important bearing they have on various questions in physical science. They 
have been less known to tourists and pleasure seekers than they deserve to 
be, not only for the general attractions of mountain scenery, but for 
peculiar features that make them very conspicuous. They are the highest 
mountains of the whole Alleghany chain, the highest peak exceeding the 
height of Mount Washington about 700 feet; Clingman's peak being 6941 
feet, and Mount Washington 6226 feet high. Mount Mitchell, for some years 
supposed to be the highest peak, is 6732 feet. The Roan mountain is 6306 
feet, and the general average of the Roan and Yellow Mountains, in 
Mitchell County, is over 6000 feet. Southwest of these, in Hayward and 
Jackson counties, the Balsam Mountains are fully as high, the high chain 
of the Balsam averaging 6000 feet and the Richland Balsam being 6225 feet 
high. The researches of Prof. Mitchell, Prof. Guyot, and Senator Clingman 
have shown that there are more than twenty peaks rising much above 6000 
feet, and that the whole mass of these mountains far surpasses all others 
east of the Rocky Mountains in magnitude. They were from valleys or plains 
already more than 2000 feet above the sea, and constitute half a dozen 
distinct chains, most of which run from the Blue Ridge across the valleys 
to the Alleghany range, called the Iron or Great Smoky Range, which forms 
the western boundary of the State.

   All this region of lofty mountains is easily reached from Morganton, to 
which point the railroad is already built, and by Swananoa gap to 
Asheville. On the north of this gap are the lofty Black Mountains, with 
Mitchell's and Clingman's Peaks, and in the same line, further north, the 
Roan and Yellow Mountains are the great feature. These are in Mitchell 

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County. Southwest are the lofty Balsam Mountains, south of the French 
Broad and of the Big Pigeon River. These are difficult of access, yet 
almost as high as the Black Mountains north of Swananoa. Prof. Guyot 
recently describes some of these peaks, which are reached from 
Sevierville, Tennessee, through a "road gap" itself 5,271 feet above the 
sea. Near this gap is the Bull Head Mountain, or Triple Mountain, 6636 
feet high; and but a short distance from it, six miles southwestward of 
the gap, is "Smoky Dome,"or Clingman's Mountain, 6660 feet high. The 
chains and peaks of this vicinity are usually known as the Balsam 
Mountains, a distinction given because of the dense forests of balsam firs 
with which they are covered to their very summits.

   This peculiarity of the mountain summits is noticeable over all the 
high ranges. They are always clothed with forests, and several of the 
highest ranges have the dense black forest of balsam firs, so often 
referred to, and very rare, if not wholly unknown, in any other part of 
the world. They are therefore conspicuous and novel features of American 
scenery, which persons of leisure or research should not fail to see. 
Their surroundings are also particularly romantic and full of interest. 
The road by which they are approached passes Old Fort, a celebrated fort 
long before the Revolution, maintained as a protection against the 
Indians. It is in the upper valley of the Catawba, in McDowell County, a 
few miles from Swananoa Gap of the Blue Ridge. This mountain region may 
also be readily reached by way of the Tennessee Valley, and the railroads 
on that side, taking a good road up the valley of the French Broad River 
to Asheville.

   A pleasant book of reference to mountain scenery in this State will be 
found in Colton's "Scenery of the Mountains of Western North Carolina,
"which, although printed in 1859, is very fresh and applicable to the 
present state of things. The great attractions of the Pilot Mountain and 
its vicinity, and more particularly of the magnificent scenery of Burke 
and Caldwell Counties cast of the Blue Ridge, and Mitchell, Yancey, and 
Buncombe Counties, on the west, adjoining, would require much space to 
describe. The celebrated Falls of the Linville River, with the surrounding 

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cliffs and peaks, Table Rock, Hawksbill, and others, are unequalled for 
wild and picturesque grandeur. And north of Swananoa gap the whole lofty 
group of the Black Mountain peaks is close at hand, forming not only the 
highest mountains east of the Mississippi, but by far the most attractive 
as novelties to a visitor.

Linville Falls.

   Among the attractions of the State there should be noticed more at 
length some of the conspicuous falls of the mountain region, chief among 
which, probably, are the Linville Falls already mentioned. They are on the 
Linville River, as it leaves the mountains, twenty-eight miles from 
Morganton, and five miles from Childsville, near the, northwestern corner 
of Burke County. There are several broken cascades of various heights, 
ending in one of more than 100 feet perpendicular fall. The scenery in the 
vicinity is remarkable, the river being bordered for some distance by 
cliffs of enormous height, in some cases more than 1200 feet. Below the 
falls are various cliffs, named Table Rock, Hawksbill, Bynum's Bluff, 
Ginger-cake Rocks, Chimney Rocks, etc. Between Hawksbill and Table Rock 
the bed of the Linville River is 1200 feet in perpendicular descent below 
their summits. Colton, Lanman, and several other writers have eulogized 
the scenes of the vicinity of Linville Falls in the highest terms.

   As the road to Morganton is now so easy, that pleasant town can be made 
a point of departure to the Linville River, to Grandfather Mountain on the 
north; to North Cove, a remarkable place, a few miles directly west of 
Linville; and to the great peaks of the Black Mountains of Mitchell 
County, still but five or six miles farther directly west. This road is 
quite as short and easy as any other to those celebrated mountains.

   Mitchell Falls, located on the eastern slope of Blue Ridge, near the 
Hickory Nut Gap road, is one of the most beautifully picturesque scenes to 
be found on this continent. The water falls over a solid rock three 
hundred feet high; trickling down its sides, empties itself into three 
large pools, and 

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from thence down the mountain sides. The pools are clear as crystal; no 
bottom has ever been found to them.

   Of places of interest properly belonging in the description of mountain 
scenery, Flat Rock, in Hudson County, and south of Hickory Nut Gap, is a 
picturesque place; and on the east foot of the Blue Ridge, in the same 
vicinity, is an attractive place called Pleasant Gardens.

Rivers, Falls, and Water-Power.

   The rivers of North Carolina drain large areas in each case, the 
greater breadth of the country cast of the Blue Ridge giving them a long 
sweep from the mountain ranges in which they rise, before reaching the 
sea. The Roanoke drains, at its sources as the Dan, four or five counties 
in North Carolina, and as many in Virginia, before it finally leaves the 
State in Caswell County to make a long detour in Virginia, returning to 
North Carolina again above Weldon and Gaston. The Dan River alone is 
important, furnishing both water transportation and water power in Stokes 
and Rockingham Counties. Iron works, tobacco-manufacturing, and shipping, 
are the principal industries here, their general market being at Danville, 
just across the line of Virginia. At the junction of the Staunton River it 
becomes the Roanoke, which has shoals and rapids for some twenty miles of 
its course, affording abundant water power at Gaston and Weldon. Prof. 
Emmons says that "the falls of the Roanoke, at Weldon, furnish a large 
water power, in part occupied, but capable of moving a much greater amount 
of machinery." A canal around the falls connects the navigation of the 
upper part of the river. The fall at Weldon is fifteen feet, and at Gaston 
there are rapids which might be improved.

   On Tar River there are falls at Louisburg, Franklin County; at Taylor's 
Mills, south of Nashville, Nash County, and at Rocky Mount, where the 
Wilmington and Weldon Railroad crosses.

   The Neuse River is much larger, and rising in a Lilly country some 
eight or nine hundred feet above sea level, it furnished good water power 
as far up as in Person County, at Daniels' Mills; again at Manteo Mills, a 
few miles north of 

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Raleigh; at Neuse's Mills, six or seven miles east of Raleigh; at Watson's 
Mills, 20 miles southeast of Raleigh; and at Smithfield, a little farther 
down, and just below the point where the railroad from Goldsboro crosses.

   The Cape Fear River, with its two great branches, the Haw and Deep 
Rivers, affords very ample water power at various points. As low as 
Elizabethtown, in Bladen County, there is a slight fall of the Cape Fear; 
and at Smiley's Falls, in Harnet County, there is a fall of near 30 feet 
in three miles over the primitive rocks which mark the boundary of the low 
country. The Buckhorn Falls are 25 miles farther up the river, at the line 
of Chatham County. Here the river falls 14 feet in two rapids, affording 
ample power. A few miles farther up is Haywood, at the junction of the 
Deep and Haw Rivers. Taking the Haw first, we find it crowded with falls, 
there being 20 mill sites in a distance of 60 miles. Of the well-known 
mills on and near the Haw, there are Hadley's, Ruffin's, Holt's, Curtis's, 
and the High Falls Factory; all but the first named being in Alamance 
County. Emmons states that the lowest fall on the Haw, of ten feet in the 
two miles above its mouth at Haywood, has capacity to drive 25,000 
spindles, and that the power of the river, as a whole, is equal to 500,000 
spindles. It also runs through a rich country, "cotton and wheat are the 
staples of the lower half of its course, and tobacco of the upper."

   The Deep River branch is scarcely inferior to the Haw in water-power 
capacity. At Jones' Falls, just above Haywood, there is a fine water 
power, the fall being 24 feet in 3000, or little more than half a mile. 
This point is now called Lockville. For 20 miles or more beyond this 
point, through the Deep River coal-field, there is little or no fall; but 
above that there are five--Farr's Mills and Dixon's Mills in Moore County, 
and in Randolph County, Brown's, Moffit's, Tryon's, and many other mills, 
there being, in addition, six mills or mill sites at and near 
Franklinsville, in as many miles. Emmons declares that those six sites 
have a capacity to drive 85,000 spindles at the lowest stages of water. 
The Deep River district is rich in cotton and grain, and its upper part 
runs through the best mining districts of the State, the 

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group of gold, copper, and iron mines in Guilford County, south and west 
of Greensboro. Little River, a tributary of the Cape Fear, in Cumberland 
County, has sufficient fall at two or three places to afford mill sites, 
the most important being Elliott's Mills, ten or fifteen miles north of 
Fayetteville.

   The Yadkin is the next great river; below the North Carolina line it 
forms the great Pedee. The Yadkin sweeps almost all over the State, its 
upper waters running northeast for 50 miles in Caldwell and Wilkes; then 
east for 50 miles more through Wilkes and Yadkin Counties, to a point not 
20 miles from the Virginia line, called East Bend, where it turns suddenly 
south, to go through the State toward the sea. Its whole length in North 
Carolina Emmons gives as 350 miles. Cheraw, in South Carolina, is the head 
of steamboat navigation, but barges can be taken up as far as the Narrows 
in the northeast corner of Stanley County. From a point five miles above 
the Narrows it is practicable to make it navigable, for 150 miles to 
Wilkesboro, Wilkes County. There is little water power available below the 
rapids at the Narrows, but for ten or fifteen miles above this point there 
is the best opportunity to employ the great body of water. At 
Milledgeville, or Burredge Factory, there is a fall of 13 feet, and a 
rapid still above this having nearly the same fall. One mile below 
Milledgeville is another rapid having 13 feet fall, and yet another at the 
head of the Narrows (Emmons). At Trading Ford, nearly up to the railroad 
crossing to Salisbury, Emmons insists that there is a most valuable site 
for a manufacturing town. In the upper portions of the river there are 
many other natural sites for water power, and all the tributaries afford 
the usual local mill sites. The South Yadkin is the best of these, and is 
really a valuable manufacturing stream, having a fall of 22 feet at a 
locality highly favorable to erecting mills and factories. One is now 
erected at the junction of Rocky Creek, and a number of mills are found in 
the vicinity. The falls of the South Yadkin are five or six miles above 
its mouth, and about 10 miles north of Salisbury. Valuable beds of iron 
ore are in the vicinity, and it is also a rich agricultural region.

   The Catawba is, however, the most remarkable river for 

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the water power it affords, taken in connection with its tributaries, the 
Little Catawba, Broad River, and Green River, with Linville, and other of 
its upper branches. From Tuckasege Ford upward, the main river, for many 
miles, is a succession of rapids, available for power, the principal one 
being at the Horse Shoe Bend, in the northeastern part of Gaston County. A 
short distance below this bend, at Mountain Island, is a fall of 22 feet, 
affording a power already improved by the erection of a cotton factory. At 
the Horse Shoe Bend the fall is 32 feet, in a circuit which brings the two 
extremities of the bend within one mile of each other. Emmons states 
(Rept. of 1856) that the river is here 600 feet wide, and that a permanent 
mill race can be formed, 100 feet wide, 4 feet deep, and one mile long, by 
the construction of a wing dam in the main river. He further claims that 
this water power would be peculiarly favored as a manufacturing location, 
in consequence of its safety from freshets, its healthfulness and 
conveniences for the erection of buildings, and its accessibility to other 
points, and to materials for use of any works to be erected. It is claimed 
that the river above may easily be made navigable, and may be employed for 
the transportation of ores, raw cotton, or any required materials. In 
Emmons' Geological Report for 1856 will be found much more in explanation 
of the great advantages of this series of rapids at and below the Bend, 
the author of that report claiming that a great manufacturing city will 
ultimately be located there. At Sherrill's Ford of the Catawba, in Catawba 
County, there are other falls ample for use as water power; and still 
above, at frequent intervals to Morganton, there are many others. The 
railroad recently completed traverses the valley of the Catawba here for a 
long distance, affording convenient and cheap access to any point. And the 
Linville River, as its chief upper tributary, abounds in mill sites, as it 
descends, from the flanks of the Blue Ridge. The Little Catawba is much 
praised by Prof. Emmons and others, for its available water power, almost 
every part of it falling with so much rapidity as to afford a constant 
succession of mill sites. The most noted of these is the High Shoal of the 
Catawba, as it is called, where the river falls 23 feet over a bed of 
gneiss. 

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   Attached to the water power is an extensive property known as the High 
Shoal property, which originally embraced ten square miles of land, with 
many gold, copper, and iron mines. Iron made here is of the best quality, 
and there are a number of cotton factories, woolen mills, and iron works 
along the river to a point above Lincolnton. To show how much the water 
power of the Catawba and its tributaries was developed in 1860, we cite 
from the census the number of cotton and woolen mills, iron works, and 
other power mills returned for six counties in which the river lies:--

                No.  Men.  Women.  Value of goods made.  
Cotton mills    11    92    279    $210,632  
Woolen mills     6    55     63     150,800  
Iron works      12    59             63,900  
Flouring mills  88    95            526,510  
Saw mills       19    26             28,550  

   Several of these establishments were large, ranking with factories of 
the larger class, and the facilities for establishing such factories are 
evidently ample. Prof. Emmons, in his report of 1856, says what is far 
more forcible in its application to the present state of affairs there:-- 

   "The climate of North Carolina is well adapted to the manufacture of 
cotton in all its branches. The cost of maintaining laborers is much less 
than in New England. Fuel is plenty, its growth rapid, and into whatever 
channel a manufacturing spirit may be turned, it has the most flattering 
prospects of success. It is not now, as in former years, when ways to 
market were unopened. Then the utmost that could be done was confined to 
the immediate section of country in which they were located. As it is, 
this home market will be retained, while the markets upon the sea-board 
may be competed for with every reason to expect success; for the interior 
of North Carolina can manufacture goods cheaper, by far, than New England 
or New York. Her natural advantages put her upon vantage ground, and it 
only requires enterprise, and the application of that capital which she 
now has invested out of her territory, to place her among the foremost of 
the manufacturing States."

   Quoting farther from that report, we find the following allusions. 
Impressed with the advantages offered to the investment of capital in 
bringing this cheap power, cheap labor, and cheap materials together, he 
says:-- 

   "When the whole field is brought in review, all must admit that this 
most important power is distributed over the midland counties in such a 
way as to give to each section a participation in all the advantages which 

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a power of that kind is capable of conferring. While the rivers and their 
tributaries water the soil and render it productive, they still furnish a 
surplus not only for the every-day wants of man to prepare his lumber and 
grind his grain for domestic consumption, but enough also for 
manufacturing the cotton and the ores for a home or a distant market. An 
inspection of a map of North Carolina shows a very advantageous 
distribution of the rivers. East of the Blue Ridge it is traversed 
obliquely by seven large rivers, all of which interlock with each other. 
Even the hilly and mountainous New England cannot claim a larger and more 
advantageous supply for the promotion of agriculture and the arts. New 
England has not suffered her advantages to go to waste. North Carolina has 
been too quiet and too indifferent to her advantages; but the time of her 
indifference is past."

   We may properly mention here some of the advantages which works driven 
by water-power would possess, in comparison with Massachusetts, and the 
greater part of New York. In North Carolina the whole year would be 
available for active business, and the winter, which so often obstructs, 
if it does not wholly stop work at the north, would be an uninterrupted 
season of activity. The rivers would be full, without being frozen, and 
the bracing temperature and longer daylight would make the management of a 
large factory much more successful at that season. Iron ores, which cannot 
be mined and hauled for six months in northern New York, can be handled in 
any way desired, probably, on every day of the winter; certainly there 
could be very few and slight interruptions of this season of activity. And 
in summer, the heat is little, if at all, greater than in New York or 
Pennsylvania. It is not probable that the season would ever be 
interrupted, or, at least, that these factories can be worked as nearly 
the entire year as in Pennsylvania and Maryland. Winter work in mines and 
iron works is particularly desirable, and greatly facilitates the business 
of a year in such establishments. There is no State where beds of magnetic 
iron ore are found of such magnitude, that admits winter work fully, New 
Jersey being the best, but yet having very severe winter weather.

Power Manufacturing in North Carolina.

   The extent of the manufacturing driven by power, and chiefly by 
waterpower, was very considerable in 1860, and we give the following 
results of the census of that year, to show 

Page 74

how much, under the state of things then prevailing, could be done. At 
present everything invites, not only to the renewal of all that has 
heretofore existed, but to an application of capital and skill to the 
improvement of the natural advantages. Power is cheap, first; and next, 
raw materials and labor are cheap--indeed, all these are available at half 
the aggregate cost of working a mill in New England, and, when put in 
motion, more can be done with them, in consequence of the favorable 
climate.

   It is impossible to say that all the classes of mills here named were 
driven by water power, without the use of steam. Probably quite a number 
had some proportion of steam-power, yet not to anything like the extent 
that would have been required in any northern State. In 1860, there were 
the following numbers of mills, persons employed, and aggregates of 
production in certain leading manufactures:--

                          Capital         Employed      Value of
                          Invested      Men    Women    Product
Cotton mills          39  $1,272,750    440    1315    $1,046,047  
Copper mines           2      80,000    210      10       105,000  
Flour mills          639   1,719,823    814       3     4,354,309  
Gold mines             9     224,200    396       6        97,199  
Iron works            25      55,500    129                99,656  
Saw & planing mills  335     780,420   1096      11     1,165,003  
Machinery, steam       6     455,846    142               116,050  
Woolen mills          28     242,000    137     140       331,133  
Paper mills            6     121,850     54      35       165,703  
Oil mills              7      11,400     10                18,000  
Rice mills            10      14,700     18      23        86,926  
TOTAL               1106  $4,978,489   3446    1543    $7,585,126  

   The number of these establishments is greater than the proper 
proportion for the capital invested, or value of product, and probably the 
present condition of the State represents the same disproportion in even a 
greater degree, The largest cotton factories are distributed through the 
following named counties: five in Alamance County, on the Haw River; one 
in Cabarrus County, on Rocky River; one in Caldwell, on Linville River; 
two in Catawba, on Catawba River; one in Cleveland, on the First Broad; 
one in Craven, on the 

Page 75

Neuse; seven in Cumberland, mostly at Fayetteville, on the Cape Fear, 
which employed 122 men and 367 women, representing an invested capital of 
$287,000; one in Edgecombe, on Tar River; Forsyth County has one large 
cotton factory, employing 54 persons, and one woolen factory, employing 55 
persons, both located at Salem; Gaston County has three cotton factories, 
on the Little Catawba, with a capital of $133,000, and employing 205 
persons; Iredell has two, employing 53 persons; Lincoln County one, with 
27 persons employed; Mecklenberg with one cotton mill, working 17 persons, 
and a woolen mill, working 85 persons; Orange County one, employing 50 
persons; Randolph County five, employing 223 persons, and making $149,486 
in value of goods; Rockingham County one, employing 105 persons; Richmond 
one, employing 41 persons; Surrey two, employing 49 persons.

General Development of Manufactures.

   What has already been done in manufactures in North Carolina is, at 
least, a reliable proof of what may be done; and we therefore cite some 
general facts from the Census of 1860, with the assurance that, in spite 
of the confusion and losses of the past few years in many of these 
classes, the present condition of affairs is an improvement on the figures 
here given. The truth is that, in many parts of the State, unusual natural 
facilities for manufacturing exist--cheap power, cheap materials, and 
cheap labor; and, under such circumstances, many works are started, which, 
to be successful in the degree understood to mean success in the Northern 
States, need the strong hands of capitalists, and the direction of skilful 
superintendents.

   The following leading classes of manufactures were reported in 1860, 
excluding from the official table some thirty or forty small items.

Page 76

                                              Employed      Value
                           No.   Capital     Men   Women    of product
Agricultural implements    22    $76,250     100          $  86,155  
Boot and shoe making       62     68,000     167     9      150,955  
Brick-making               15     62 640     199     6       75,050  
Carriages                  92    441,469     656    10      589,839  
Cooperage                  49     42,951     125            126,120  
Copper mining               2     80,000     210    10      105,000  
Cotton manufactories       39  1,272,750     440  1315    1,046,047  
Fisheries, shad & herring  32     67,312     698   134      117,259  
Flour and meal            639  1,719,283     814     3    4,354,309  
Furniture                  40     50,170      84     3       72,409  
Gold mining                 9    224,200     396     6       97,199  
Hats, clothing, etc.       11      3,925      26             33,470  
Iron, pig, bar, & blooms   25    165,250     129             99,656  
Iron manufactories, other  63     84,950     174            120,410  
Leather, tanneries        171    348,959     363            413,364  
Liquors, distilleries      94     48,563     119            117,282  
Lumber, sawed and planed  335    780,420    1028  11      1,074,003  
Machinery, steam engines    6    455,846     142            116,150  
Oils, linseed and rosin     7     11,400      10             18,000  
Paper                       6    121,850      54  35        165,703  
Printing, newspaper & book 13     42,050      81             87,950  
Rice cleaning              10     14,700      18  23         86,926  
Saddlery and harness       44     49,629      98             99,593  
Sash, doors, and blinds     5     30,000      38  1          56,900  
Shingles                   17    196,960     281  13         97,010  
Ships and boats             3      6,900      26             10,100  
Staves, spokes, etc.        4      6,000      28             18,325  
Tar                        28      6,000      45             44,300  
Turpentine, crude        1065    939,448    2010  1         952,542  
Turpentine, distilled     461  1,113,778    1754  10      4,358,878  
Timber                     94     85,423     221            121,093  
Tin, copper, & sheet iron  15     56,870      44             60,374  
Tobacco, manufactured      97    646,730    1084  277     1,117,099  
Wagons and carts           48     42,900     144             82,650  
Woolen goods               28    242,900     137  140       331,133  
Totals
including smaller items  3689 $9,693,603  12,106  2111  $16,678,698  

   These are very creditable aggregates, and they show a large amount of 
manufacturing industry in the sea-board counties, where turpentine, 
lumber, shingles, rice, and other products of those counties abound. In 
these establishments steam power is much employed, and with the recent 
changes and improvements going on in those counties, a much larger amount 
of steam power will be employed. Fuel being cheap, and the transportation 
of steam machinery easy, a mill for cutting timber and lumber can be 
placed where the timber is most abundant, the finished products being then 
brought, by 

Page 77

water or rail, to the most convenient shipping point. Extensive 
manufactures of wooden wares, staves, etc. of the very valuable cedar, 
cypress, and pine of the coast counties, will inevitably spring up. These 
are already in progress near Wilmington, in the hands of the Green Swamp 
Lumber Company.

   TOBACCO MANUFACTURE.--In the interior two or three classes of hand-
labor factories have a fair degree of prominence, particularly tobacco 
factories, tanneries, and distilleries. Tobacco was manufactured in 1860 
to the value of $1,117,099; and, at the present time, while the quantity 
is less, probably, the increase in value renders the total as great as 
then. Tobacco is not so largely cultivated as it was formerly, yet in many 
counties, among which, in 1867, Franklin, Davis, and Person are named in 
the reports of the Agricultural Departments, tobacco is still a leading 
product. The manufacturing establishments existing in 1860 were 
principally in Rockingham, Granville, Stokes, Caswell, Davie, Surrey, and 
two or three other counties, showing that the chief business of the State 
in tobacco is in the counties near the border of Virginia. The Dan River 
Valley, and other tributaries of the Roanoke, appear to be the favorite 
localities for tobacco cultivation.

   TANNERIES are numerous and important as local manufactures, but none 
appear of magnitude sufficient to provide leather for export out of the 
State. They are quite equally distributed among the interior and western 
counties, oak bark being abundant and cheap. The addition of sumac, 
prepared from the native sumac of Virginia and all adjacent States, is now 
being made in nearly all the markets; and this would form a valuable 
resource for exportation, as well as for local use. In 1860 there were 171 
tanneries, producing leather to the value of $413,364.

   TURPENTINE MANUFACTURES, though found in many counties, are chiefly in 
Bladen, New Hanover, Cumberland, Craven, and Duplin Counties; in Now 
Hanover alone there were, in 1860, 332 establishments, for both crude and 
distilled, producing $897,887 in value. Four turpentine distilling 
establishments in this county made $716,600 in value. 

Page 78

The production centering about Wilmington, and in the counties above it on 
the Cape Fear River, is four-fifths of the entire product of the State. 
The greater facilities for transportation, and the standard market always 
existing at Wilmington, concur in bringing the business to this point.

   LUMBER AND SHINGLES.--In the recent improvements inaugurated in the 
timber-producing counties near the coast, the manufacture of lumber and 
shingles has been systematized and, in many cases, placed in the hands of 
energetic and successful companies. By the aid of a fair proportion of 
capital they are able to put a vigorous producing force at work, and to 
prepare, for northern and foreign markets, from $150,000 to $350,000 in 
value of shingles, lumber, and timber in a year for each company. The 
Green Swamp Company with its mills for cutting lumber and shingles at 
Bolton, on the railroad, 27 miles southwest of Wilmington, and H. B 
Short's undertaking at the head of Waccamaw Lake, are the most successful 
of these establishments, and an illustration of the facility with which 
associated capital can make the abundant raw material of those timber 
swamps profitable.

   It may be convenient here to refer to the price of freights of lumber 
from Wilmington to northern cities as compared with interior 
transportation from the Western States to the same markets. The cost per 
thousand feet of ordinary lumber, from Wilmington to New York or 
Philadelphia, varies from $7 to $9; while from any point on Lake Erie to 
New York or Philadelphia, the cost would be about $100 per car load, 
averaging 8000 feet each. Not only is the quality of lumber better suited 
to the general consumption of the seaboard markets, where the demand for 
resinous pine increases as its greater durability becomes more important, 
but the facility of production and shipment in large quantities increases 
rather than diminishes. The northern pine districts waste rapidly, and 
each year become more difficult of access, with increasing cost of 
transportation to all the markets.

Page 79

Cost of Labor.

   In connection with the manufacturing statements previously given should 
follow some account of the cost of labor, which is the chief power, after 
all, in manufacturing. We have previously said that in consequence of the 
peculiar circumstances which have kept the resources of the State dormant, 
the cost of labor was reduced to lower figures than in any other part of 
the United States. This condition is not one of such adversity to the 
people as might be supposed, in consequence of the cheapness of living. 
The abundance of everything necessary for the ordinary support of the 
people, the ease with which grains, fruits, and vegetables may be grown in 
any part of the State, enables the laboring population to live on very 
moderate wages. The ease with which a large laboring force can be put in 
motion with money, renders the field a most inviting one to a capitalist, 
whatever the business he may undertake, or the character of the natural 
resources proposed to be developed.

   The following table shows the prices of farm labor per month so 
recently as 1867, and this may be taken as a standard of comparison for 
all labor:--

Prices of farm labor per month, from the Agricultural Report for January, 
1867.
               By the year     By the year  By the season  By the season
               without board   with board   without board  with board  
Massachusetts     $38.94         $22.36        $41.61        $27.83  
Connecticut        34.25          21.54         39.66         28.30  
New York           29.57          19.32         34.88         24.26  
New Jersey         32.27          18.98         33.13         23.78  
Pennsylvania       29.91          18.84         34.10         22.87  
Maryland           20.36          12.76         23.83         15.58  
Virginia           14.82           9.36         17.21         12.09  
North Carolina     13.46           8.15         15.18         10.00  
Georgia            15.51           9.67         18.45         12.07  
Louisiana          20.50          12.42         22.25         18.34  
Tennessee          19.00          12.58         22.00         16.61  
Kentucky           20.23          13.65         23.80         17.06  
Ohio               28.46          18.96         32.45         23.15  
Illinois           28.54          18.72         33.09         23.30  
Wisconsin          30.84          19.87         35.65         24.60  
Iowa               28.34          18.87         33.24         23.82  
Kansas             31.03          19.81         36.40         25.46  
California         45.71          30.35         50.00         34.39  

Page 80

   The materials for the above statement were obtained with great labor 
and care by the Agricultural Department in 1866, and published at the 
beginning of 1867. It shows most conclusively the advantages under which 
enterprises involving the employment of labor can be entered upon in North 
Carolina, over any other State of the Union.

The Trade of Wilmington.

   As the chief market town of the coast, and point of export for the 
peculiar products of the State, Wilmington is a place of especial 
interest. The following statement of its trade is from the Wilmington 
Price Current sheet, for January, 1869. Its trade in lumber is nearly half 
to foreign ports, and of spirits of turpentine about one-third goes to 
foreign ports direct; but nearly all other articles come coastwise to 
northern ports.

Statement of the principal articles of Produce exported from the port of 
Wilmington, N. C., for the year ending 31st December, 1868 as compiled 
from the reports of the Daily Journal, and compared with the exports of 
same articles for Years 1866-67.

ARTICLES SENT COASTWISE
                       New York    Boston     Philada.   Baltimore
Spirits Turp. bbls.     36,646      7,931      6,762      8,907
Crude Turp . bbls.      10,279      6,141      1,605        742
Rosin, bbls            313,430     34,370     34,067     49,336
Tar bbls.               18,794     13,156      3,326      5,904
Pitch bbls.              2,425      2,065        242        760
Cotton, bales           22,006      1,199      2,281      6,091
Cotton Yarn, bales         128                     2          1
Cotton Sheeting, bales     519                     3         11
Peanuts, bushels        80,867      5,313      3,856      1,837
Rough Rice, bushels      3,409     12,420      1,563         55
Lumber, P. P. feet   2,011,059  2,204,780  4,287,937  2,328,328
Timber P. P. feet       16,680
Shingles                84,983             2,898,151     17,500
Staves, Cypress        993,131      5,500    130,264
Staves, Oak             16,050

Page 81

ARTICLES SENT      Ports in    Ports in     Total      Total       Total
COASTWISE          Virginia   New England   1868       1867        1866
Spirits Turp. bbls.                         60,246     54,904      49,078  
Crude Turp. bbls.     301                   19,068     17,417      28,973  
Rosin, bbls.       14,737                  445,940    360,922     325,233  
Tar bbls.                        109        41,283     27,258      36,984  
Pitch bbls.            30         70         5,592      4,863       2,875  
Cotton, bales         251                   31,828     21,026      24,492  
Cotton Yarn, bales     74                      225        153       1,115  
Cotton Sheet'g bales    1                      534        443         493  
Peanuts, bushels      797                   92,670     73,494      26,133  
Rough Rice                                  18,447    
Lumber, P.P. feet 118,589  2,623,059    13,874,751 13,314,520  10,264,809  
Timber                        12,719        29,399    199,199     277,834  
Shingles                      50,000     3,050,634  1,635,534     756,286  
Staves, Cypress       500  1,127,395                  194,131     293,327
Staves, Oak        10,050                             185,649      25,300  

   To Charleston 1000 bushels rough rice; and to Galveston 100,000 feet of 
lumber, in addition to the detailed list.


ARTICLES SENT         British  St. John's   West    Rio de   Amsterdam
TO FOREIGN            ports    N. B.        Indies  Janeiro
COUNTRIES
Spirits Turp. bbls    34,397      25         48                 202
Crude Turp. bbls       3,275
Rosin, bbls           14,879     250         45       218      1781
Tar, bbls                260      20        180
Pitch bbls                        50         25
Cotton, bales
Cotton Yarn, bales
Cotton Sheeting, bales
Peanuts, bushels                  35
Rough Rice bushels
Lumber, P. P. feet            43,000  4,956,209   250,662
Timber P. P. feet             18,000
Shingles                                932,272
Staves, Cypress                           5,000
Staves, Oak


                                       COASTWISE  COASTWISE  COASTWISE
ARTICLES                                  AND        AND        AND
SENT TO                                 FOREIGN    FOREIGN    FOREIGN
FOREIGN       Total   Total    Total     Grand      Grand      Grand
COUNTRIES     1868    1867     1866    Total '68  Total '67  Total '66
Spirits Turp  34,672  34,670   7,929    94,918     89,574     57,007
Crude Turp     3,275   4,464   1,150    22,343     21,881     30,123
Rosin, bbls   17,173  30,218  18,218   463,113    391,140    343,451
Tar bbls         460     135     746    41,743     27,393     37,730
Pitch bbls        75      70     251     5,667      4,933      3,126
Cotton, bales            863     162    31,828     21,889     24,654
Cotton Yarn*                               225        153      1,115
Cotton Sheet'g*                            534        443        493
Peanuts, bushels  35              22    92,705     73,494     26,155
Rough Rice                              18,447   
Lumber, P.P. feet (1)    (2)     (3)       (4)        (5)        (6) 
Timber P.P. feet  (7)                   47,399    199,199    277,834
Shingles          (8)    (9)    (10)      (11)       (12)       (13)
Staves, Cypress  (14)                     (15)    194,131    293,327
Staves, Oak          166,649  50,913    10,050    352,298     76,213
* bales
(1) 5,249,871
(2) 5,419,942
(3) 12,106,267
(4) 19,194,662
(5) 18,734,462
(6) 22,371,076
(7) 18,000
(8) 932,272
(9) 2,191,760
(10) 2,241,200
(11) 3,982,906
(12) 3,827,294
(13) 2,997,486
(14) 5,000
(15) 1,134,395

Page 82

Railroads and Internal Communication.

   The railroad system of North Carolina is now very well advanced toward 
completeness, and it is actively being pushed in the most necessary 
localities during the current year, 1869. From the north two, or rather 
three, great roads enter the State from Virginia; first, the Seaboard and 
Roanoke, from Norfolk to Weldon; next the Petersburg and Roanoke, 
connecting Richmond with Wilmington, by way of Weldon and Goldsboro, and 
with Raleigh, by way of Gaston. Next is the Richmond and Danville, now 
extended from the Dan River Valley to Greensboro and Salisbury. The whole 
central part of the State is penetrated by these roads and their branches, 
giving an outlet for any kind of freights direct to Norfolk, City Point, 
or Richmond.

   On the seaboard, the first railroad south of Norfolk is the new 
"Atlantic and North Carolina"road, connecting Beaufort and Newbern with 
Goldsboro and Raleigh, where it connects with road from Raleigh to 
Greensboro and Salisbury. This is an important opening of the Neuse River 
district.

   But the chief system of diverging roads from the seaboard is at 
Wilmington, where the Wilmington and Weldon, leading to Goldsboro, due 
north, is the first; the Wilmington, Charlotte, and Rutherford road, 
leading north of west to Lumberton and Rockingham, and then west to 
Charlotteville, next; and the Wilmington and Manchester, finally, which 
leads due west to the State line, and then southwest to Manchester and 
Columbia, in South Carolina. The Wilmington, Charlotte, and Rutherford 
road is a new one; it is now built complete to the crossing of the Yadkin 
(or Great Pedee), near Wadesboro, a distance of 120 miles from Wilmington. 
Forty-three miles beyond this point have been completed, west of 
Charlotte, leaving but 110 miles of unfinished road. The State has 
recently appropriated $4,000,000 for the building of this road, and it 
will be pushed forward as rapidly as possible. This State appropriation 
furnishes ample means to finish it. Ultimately, it will connect with the 
Tennessee system of roads, and form one of the great trunk routes between 
the east and west.

Page 83

   Another important new road is the Chatham, which begins at the North 
Carolina Central, near Raleigh, and runs southward through the Deep River 
coal district, through Montgomery County, and by way of Wadesboro to 
Cheraw, South Carolina, where it connects with the Northeastern Railroad, 
to complete what is known as the old metropolitan route. The work of 
construction is going on rapidly.

   The Greensboro and Salem is another new road, extending some thirty 
miles northwest from the former place, into a new and rich country.

   The Western Railroad, from Fayetteville, by way of the coal fields oil 
Deep River, toward Salisbury, to connect with the western extension of the 
N. C. R. R., is also in progress, about 40 miles being already completed.

   The western extension of the N. C. R. R. is making rapid progress; it 
has already reached Morganton, and it will be completed to Old Fort, at 
the eastern foot of Swananoa Gap, by the end of August. It is then to go 
through Swananoa Gap to Asheville, and from Asheville, southwestward, 
through Haywood, Jackson, Macon, and Cherokee Counties, to Ducktown, 
Tennessee. A branch of this road will run from Asheville down the valley 
of the French Broad River to Paint Rock, on the Tennessee line. Work is 
now going on near Old Fort, at the eastern foot of the Blue Ridge.

   The following is a list of the railroads of the State now completed and 
in operation:--

   1. The Seaboard and Roanoke, 80 miles in length, from Norfolk to 
Weldon, 20 miles within the State, and 60 miles in Virginia.

   2. The Petersburg Railroad, a Virginia road entering the State by two 
branches, one to Weldon, about ten miles within the State, and another to 
Gaston, of 5 or 6 miles only within the State, and connecting each of 
these points with Richmond, through Petersburg.

   3. The Wilmington and Weldon, 162 miles in length from Wilmington, in 
nearly a direct line north to Weldon, through Goldsboro.

   4. The Raleigh and Gaston, 85 miles to Gaston, and 97 miles 

Page 84

to Weldon, connecting at each of these points with the Virginia roads 
above named.

   5. The Atlantic and North Carolina, from Goldsboro to Morehead City, 95 
miles, the most important part of which is from Goldsboro to Newbern, 60 
miles, and from Newbern to the coast near Beaufort, 35 miles; the whole 
distance from Beaufort or Morehead City to Goldsboro being 95 miles, and 
to Raleigh 143 miles.

   6. The North Carolina Railway, a curved line, the whole length of which 
from Goldsboro to Charlotte is 223 miles, and from Raleigh to Charlotte 
175 miles. Its principal sections are from Goldsboro to Raleigh 48 miles 
(northwest); from Raleigh to Greensboro 83 miles, northwest for half the 
distance, and west for the remainder; from Greensboro to Salisbury 50 
miles southwest, and from Salisbury to Charlotte, 43 miles south-
southwest, at which point it connects with the Charlotte and South 
Carolina Railroad.

   7. The Charlotte and South Carolina, just named, extends from Charlotte 
109 miles southwest to Columbia, 20 miles of which is in North Carolina.

   8. The Western North Carolina, an extension of the North Carolina 81 
miles from Salisbury to Morganton, with 35 miles farther nearly or quite 
complete to Old Fort, the completed length being 115 miles from Salisbury.

   9. The Wilmington and Manchester, from Wilmington west to Fair Bluff, 
63 miles within the State, and 117 miles farther to Kingsville, South 
Carolina.

   10. The Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford, now completed to 
Wadesboro, 120 miles from Wilmington. The western division is also built 
from Charlotte 43 miles to a point beyond Lincolnton.

   11. The Richmond, Danville and Piedmont, from Richmond to Danville, 141 
miles in Virginia, and from Danville to Greensboro 48 miles in North 
Carolina; the whole distance from Richmond to Greensboro being 189 miles, 
and to Raleigh 272 miles.

   This last is a convenient line for the transportation of various 
products of the rich country about Dan River, and the mining products of 
the vicinity of Greensboro. Tobacco, 

Page 85

oak-bark, copper ore, and like products go to Richmond, and are shipped by 
steamer to northern cities.

   Cotton generally centres at Wilmington, a great deal coming from South 
Carolina and Georgia over the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad. Some 
cotton of North Carolina goes to Norfolk, but the greater share to 
Wilmington. Lumber and naval stores are gathered largely at Newbern, as 
well as at Wilmington, but shorter roads, better water transportation, and 
steadier markets, combine to gather much more than half the exportable 
products of the State at Wilmington.

   A number of railroads, in addition to these, have been authorized by 
the legislature, or less definitely projected recently, two or three of 
which diverge from Fayetteville, oil the Cape Fear. One is proposed about 
40 miles nearly due south to Lumberton; another more nearly southwest to 
Manchester, S. C.; and another northwest to Greensboro. This last is 
already built up to the coal mines of Deep River. In the western part of 
the State the road from Morganton through Swananoa Gap is in progress 
beyond the Blue Ridge, one branch leading from Asheville down the French 
Broad, the direction being northwest; and the other passing westward 
through Waynesville to the valley of the Tennessee River, and due west 
along that valley into the State of Tennessee. A branch of this leaves the 
Tuckasage Valley, in Jackson County, to go southwest through Valleytown 
and Notteley to Ducktown, in Tennessee, there connecting with the 
Chattanooga Railroad.

   The Rabun Gap Railroad also comes up from the south in Macon County, to 
go westward out of the State in the Nantehala and Tennessee River Valleys. 
The Chatham Railroad has been referred to above; also the Greensboro and 
Salem.

   Several plank roads are also either built or projected in the eastern 
part of the State, mainly diverging from Fayetteville; one northeast to 
Goldsboro; another north to Raleigh; another west to the Yadkin, in 
Richmond County; and another northwestward to Carthage, Ashboro, and 
Salem, in Forsyth County.

   While all these roads and improvements cannot be expected 

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at once to attain completion, the fact that they are projected is a good 
indication of the spirit of enterprise now awakened.

Freights and Sea Transportation.

   North Carolina must, to a considerable extent, rely on sea 
transportation to the best markets, which are undoubtedly in the seaboard 
cities of the North. The question of cost of freight is important, 
therefore, and it is a fair comparison to show whether freights are 
cheaper to those cities by sea from Wilmington, than by rail from 
Cleveland. We have already referred to the cost of transporting lumber by 
these two routes, the difference being two dollars per thousand feet in 
favor of Wilmington.

   Prof. Maury has recently calculated, in his first report on the 
"Physical Survey of Virginia,"a very valuable table of average rates of 
transportation by sea, canal, and railway, which shows the facility with 
which coastwise freights may be delivered in all the northern markets from 
Wilmington, Newbern, or Norfolk; and because of this facility and 
cheapness even the bulky products of eastern North Carolina compete 
successfully with anything of their class wherever produced. Lumber and 
shingles, as well as naval stores and cotton, are carried cheaper to New 
York than they can be from any interior spot of production whatever.

Average Rate, of Freight, in mills, per ton, per mile, by different 
carriers.
By sea, long voyage ........... 1 1/2 mills per ton, per mile.
Coastwise ..................... 4 8/10 mills per ton, per mile
River, barges ................. 4 mills per ton, per mile.
Eric Canal, including tolls ... 9 6/10 mills per ton, per mile.
Canals generally .............. 13 7/10 mills per ton, per mile.
Railroads ..................... 30 (3 cts.) mills per ton, per mile.

   These are Prof. Maury's figures, and we would estimate a lower average 
for coastwise freights, making them not above 3 mills per ton per mile, or 
one-tenth the cost of railway freights at 3 cents per ton per mile. The 
sailing distance from Wilmington to New York may be estimated at 750 to 
800 miles at the most, and the freights as equal, on an average, to the 
cost for 150 to 200 miles by rail.

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   It is not easy to cite any regular rates of freights in this coastwise 
trade, or in the large foreign trade of the port of Wilmington. By 
reference to the table of the trade of Wilmington, before given, it will 
be seen that a great many cargoes of lumber go every year to West Indian 
ports, and that naval stores and cotton freight a number of vessels to 
London, Liverpool, and continental ports. All these are known to be as 
cheaply shipped as from any other port, and the easiest and safest 
employment for sailing vessels of the entire coast being found in this 
trade, there are always vessels offering.

   By railroad, also, the shipment of produce to Norfolk is easy and 
cheap. In 1868 the Wilmington and Weldon Road took over 12,000 barrels of 
early fruits and vegetables, mostly to Norfolk; and the whole line of 
seaboard counties, as well as those farther inland, traversed by this 
road, will furnish a large amount of such freight for sending northward 
from Wilmington, Newbern, and Norfolk.

Fisheries and Fowl Shooting of the Coast

   The fisheries of the coast of North Carolina make a very important 
element of the productions of the State. In Ruffin's "Sketches of Lower 
North Carolina," a very clear description of the Sound Fisheries is to be 
found, which we here transcribe:-- 

   "The fisheries on the large rivers, by seines drawn to the shores, have 
long been in operation; but it has been but recently, compared to the 
others, that fisheries were first tried in the broad waters of the sounds. 
Though it was previously supposed that the great expense of such fisheries 
could not be repaid, and that in so broad a channel but few of the fish 
could be reached from the shore; yet, on trial, the Sound fisheries were 
found to be the most productive and profitable. Since that time, however, 
so many fisheries have been established that the products and profits of 
each one have, in later years, been greatly diminished.

   "The land and shore at Stevenson's Point, the extremity of Durant's 
Neck (on the north shore of Albemarle Sound in Perquimans County), was the 
property of J. T. Granbery and P. Nixon, and the first Sound fishery was 
established there and conducted by them. Albemarle Sound is there supposed 
to be nine or ten miles across, and in the edge of this broad space the 
seine is hauled. I will describe the manner of conducting this fishery, 
which does not differ materially from most others since established on the 
shore of the Sound. The extremities of the sweeps of the different 
fisheries almost touch each other, and they extend, with but few 

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intervals, to the Chowan River. The labors, and other facts of these 
fisheries may well astonish those who were before uninformed as to the 
magnitude of the operations.

   "The seines used in the different fisheries vary in length from 2200 to 
2700 yards, and are 18 feet deep, as fished. They are laid out about a 
mile and a quarter from the shore, and, of course, the hauling-ropes, from 
both ends to reach the shore, must be together more than two and a half 
miles long. A seine is carried out by two large boats, each managed by 
twelve able hands (in some cases ten suffice), and is laid out, beginning 
at the middle, straight and nearly parallel with the shore; the boats from 
each end of the seine then row to the shore, letting the attached hauling-
ropes run out from the boats. The shore ends of the ropes are then 
attached to large capstans, each turned by six horses. Except two men 
required at each capstan, one to drive the horses, and the other to watch 
and direct the passage of the rope around the shaft, all the other men 
attached to the seine are discharged, to rest, eat, or sleep, as they may 
choose, until the ends of the seine reach the shore . . . . .

   "The fishing labors are carried on without cessation through the twenty-
four hours, except when suspended because of storms; therefore the hands 
like sailors at sea, work and rest, not by day and by night, but by 
shorter watches. Besides the fishermen, or boats' crews, there are fifteen 
other men employed on shore, and forty women and boys, to trim, salt, and 
pack the herrings caught. The particular large draughts of herrings, as 
well as the whole number caught by each seine in a season, have greatly 
diminished as the seines have increased in number. The seine at 
Stevenson's Point once brought in and landed 220,000 herrings at one haul. 
On the rare occasions of such enormous draughts of fish, and at other 
times when the cleaning and salting cannot proceed fast enough to save the 
fish if all were landed at once, and also in warm weather, the ends of the 
seine are hauled gradually, and a smaller seine is hauled within the 
inclosed space, so as to land the fish no faster than they are needed, or 
than is safe. In this way one draught of the seine has in some cases been 
more than twenty-four hours in being landed.

   "The first outfit of one of these seines, and the expenses of the first 
season, amount to from $12,000 to $15,000. Afterwards the expenses for a 
season are much less . . . . .

   "Considering that all these herrings are fish of passage, and enter 
every spring from the ocean, it is astonishing that such multitudes should 
enter through the very narrow and shallow inlets through the sand reef. 
Besides the main and direct profit of these fisheries, there is another 
which is not availed of to one-tenth of the extent that might be done. 
This is the use, as manure, of the immense amount of animal matter in the 
trimming or garbage of the herrings, and other salable fish; and also of 
other fish, for which there is no demand for curing, and which sometimes 
rot and go to waste by hundreds of bushels."

   Mr. Ruffin advises various modes of saving and using this fish waste, 
which is now only used at the nearest localities, 

Page 89

and generally by burying a fish or a handful of fragments under each hill 
or spot where corn is planted. This is the common way all along the coast, 
in various localities of Long Island Sound and of the New England coast. A 
better way is to prepare a compost with any ordinary earth, and 
particularly with vegetable matter, and a share of lime or of shells. 
Ruffin suggests the use of shell marl, or of any marl containing carbonate 
of lime. It is clear that many modes of making this fish waste available 
in fertilizing soils might be resorted to, and in this way a great 
addition to the value of the fisheries would be made.

   The North Carolina herring fishery is a very important one, as Mr. 
Ruffin's statement shows. We have greatly condensed what he says in the 
report above cited, and we refer the more critical reader to that report 
itself for much valuable information.

Duck Shooting on the Sound.

   Mr. Ruffin proceeds, in the same report, to give a very interesting 
account of this new branch of industry, as he calls it, and we cannot do 
better than to copy a part of it:-- 

   "In Princess Anne and Currituck Counties the killing of wild waterfowl 
is a branch of industry of considerable importance for its amount of 
profit. Its extent is scarcely known by any person out of this region. For 
myself I had never heard of it as a regular business pursued for profit, 
and was much impressed with the novelty, as with the singular features of 
the pursuit . . . . . Since the closing of the former deep and wide 
Currituck Inlet, the strip of ocean sand beach or reef has been unbroken 
from the northern extremity in Princess Anne, bordering on the Chesapeake 
Bay for some 55 miles to the southern end of Currituck County. The narrow 
waters, or sounds, inclosed between the reef and the mainland, is, in 
Virginia, not usually more than two miles wide. In North Carolina it 
widens into Currituck Sound, and is between five and ten miles wide, 
having within it several inhabited islands. All these sound waters are 
shallow, and, for the much larger extent, less than ten feet deep--a large 
proportion near the shores under six feet deep. Since the complete closing 
of Currituck Inlet in 1828, the water has become fresh, and changes have 
been gradually effected in most of the productions; one of the most 
important was in affording new and remarkable attractions to wild fowl of 
passage. Three or more different kinds of fresh-water grasses soon began 
to grow at the bottom of all the shallower waters, and even up to nine 
feet deep. . . . . These different grasses now cover the whole bottom, 
within the limits of depth named. The seeds of some of these plants mature 
in 

Page 90

May, but it is not until autumn that the various kinds of water fowl, 
passing from their far northern summer retreats, are attracted to this 
place by the great abundance of their preferred food.

   "There are ducks of various kinds, of which the canvas-back is the most 
esteemed. There are also wild geese and swans. Altogether they congregate 
in numbers exceeding all conception of any person who had not been 
informed. The shooting season continues through the winter. From 
description I cannot imagine any other sport, of field or flood, that can 
be more likely to gratify a hardy sportsman, unless the certain and great 
success is such as, by its certainty, to take away much of the pleasure of 
such amusements. The returns in game killed and secured, through any 
certain time, to a skilful, patient, and enduring gunner, are as sure as 
the profits of any ordinary labor of agriculture or trade, and far larger 
for the capital employed.

   "Decoy ducks and geese are used to attract the flying flocks of wild 
ones. In most cases the decoys are made of wood, painted to resemble the 
designed originals. In other cases the decoys are living geese or ducks of 
wild kinds tamed or confined; and these are tied by one foot so as to swim 
at the place where it is designed that the flocks shall settle in the 
water. A small and natural-looking blind or screen made of a few bushes 
with rushes, dry water grass, etc., is constructed within gunshot of the 
decoys, behind which the gunner places himself, to await the arrival of 
the'raft'of wild ducks. They are often so numerous as entirely to cover 
acres of the surface of the water, so that the observer from the beach 
would see only ducks, and no water between them."

   The same authority mentions a case in which thirty gunners were 
employed by one proprietor, for the entire winter. These were paid a 
definite sum for each fowl shot, and were served with ammunition by the 
proprietor. In one winter this proprietor consumed one ton of gunpowder 
and four tons of shot, with 46,000 percussion caps. This business is 
pursued in the same manner along a line of coast 150 miles in length.

The Climate of North Carolina.

   In some references made at the outset of this paper to the climate of 
this State, it was said that the climate represented, in a very remarkable 
degree, the entire range from almost tropical characteristics to the 
temperate and moderate summers of the best part of the Northern States. To 
show how fully this statement is borne out by the facts, we copy here a 
number of records of observation made of temperature and the quantity of 
rain, taken chiefly from Blodget's Climatology of the United States.