The Resources of North Carolina - Pages 91-116



Page 91

   A very complete record of thermometric and other observations was made 
at Chapel Hill by Professors Caldwell, Phillips, and others, beginning as 
early as 1820, but complete only from 1844. A series of 18 years was also 
observed at Smithville, Fort Johnson, from 1822 to 1845; and one of 5 
years at Beaufort, Fort Macon. These two points fix the climate of the 
southeastern coast counties quite definitely, and a long series of 
observations at Norfolk or Fortress Monroe shows nearly what the change is 
in the northeastern corner of the State. In the west there are few regular 
observations, and we must rely on comparisons, and the indications 
afforded by altitude, the growth of forests, and the practical experience 
of residents.

   Reviewing the State by these interesting tests of the practical sort, 
we find in the southeast many indications of a tropical character. The 
palmetto, generally thought to belong only to South Carolina, creeps along 
the coast at intervals as far as Cape Hatteras, showing the softening 
influences of the Gulf Stream. The live oak goes still farther; it covers 
Cape Hatteras, and is found in several localities about Norfolk. Figs and 
pomegranates here are large trees, and bear fruit largely in the open air 
in all the counties south of Hatteras; winter is lightly felt there; and 
in the swamps and on the banks vegetation is green throughout the year. 
Great numbers of cattle run and breed almost or quite wild there, some 
near the Virginia border being annually herded and branded, but never 
otherwise seen by their assumed owners. A breed of ponies on the banks 
also ranges uncared for during the winter months, subsisting on the grass 
of the savannas. Snow is rarely seen at Wilmington, and frost is equally 
rare. No ice forms on the waters, and potatoes, cabbages, lettuce, 
radishes, and many garden vegetables, are planted in December, to be used 
in February, March, and April.

   From Newbern northward the coast is cooler in winter, but no part of it 
is so cold as at Norfolk; yet the winter at Norfolk permits the live oak 
and the fig to grow, and gives only occasional snows or frost.

   In the interior, or approaching it from the coast, the sandy pine lands 
soon develop cooler winters, until, at Raleigh, a 

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new standard is established. Here garden vegetables, such as we have 
named, still grow in most winters unprotected: but there are occasional 
frosts and snows. Cabbage, lettuce, spinach, radishes, etc. grow best in 
winter. The fig has always one crop, and sometimes two, the peach blossoms 
the 1st of March, and ripens in June. Strawberries ripen early in May; 
peas are eatable early in May; potatoes at the same time; and the whole 
growth is a week earlier than Norfolk, two weeks earlier than Maryland, 
and three weeks earlier than southern New Jersey.

   At Greensboro and Salisbury one gradation later is found, the spring 
being about the same as at Norfolk, perhaps a little later. The average 
surface is about a thousand feet above the sea level, and the winters have 
frosts and snows of such severity as to preclude any growth of unprotected 
vegetation.

   In the mountain valleys and slopes, where the average elevation above 
the sea is from 1800 to 3500 feet, the standard of climate is nearly that 
of Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Harrisburg. Snow will sometimes remain for 
some days on the ground, and firm ice forms at intervals in the rivers. 
The winter begins with November, yet there is less continuous severity of 
winter weather, and cattle often need little winter feeding, if they have 
woodlands and open mountain sides to range over.

   The period exempt from night frosts is about from April 25th to October 
10th, on the average; the planting season for corn and like crops being 
April 15th to 20th. In some of the more elevated valleys frosts are later 
in spring and earlier in autumn, but there are no valleys in which corn 
will not grow well, and the variety of products is so great as to suggest 
an unusual mingling of climates. Sweet potatoes are, as we have mentioned 
in a previous part of this paper, a regular product of more than half the 
mountain counties. Hon. T. L. Clingman says:-- 

   "Horses and horned cattle are usually driven out into the mountains 
about the 1st of April, and are brought back in November. Within six weeks 
after they have thus been'put in the range,' they become exceedingly fat 
and sleek. There are, however, on the tops and along the sides 

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of the higher mountains, evergreen, or winter grasses, on which horses and 
horned cattle live well through the entire winter. Such animals are often 
foaled and reared there until fit for market, without ever seeing a 
cultivated plantation.". . . . . "All kinds of live stock can be raised 
(in these mountain counties) with facility. Sheep, in flocks of fifty or 
sixty, browse all the winter in good condition. I never saw larger sheep 
anywhere than some I observed in the Hamburg Valley of Jackson County, the 
owner of which told me that he had not, for twelve years past, fed his 
sheep beyond giving them salt to prevent their straying away."

   The summer of this mountain region is especially delightful, the air 
being pure, elastic, and free from the excessive heat and excessive 
saturation which are often found along the Atlantic coast, even as far 
north as New York. It is healthy and exhilarating, without being damp and 
chilly at frequent intervals, as is the case on elevated districts of New 
York and New England. It would be particularly desirable as a summer 
residence for invalids from pulmonary diseases. The winter as well as the 
summer climate at Asheville is claimed, by careful observers, to be as dry 
as that of Minnesota, and all the salubrity so justly claimed for this 
remote State may be realized to the resident of any seaboard State by 
taking up his residence in this upland valley of North Carolina.

   The following is a summary of thermometrical observations at several 
places in and near North Carolina, beginning at Richmond and Norfolk, at 
which last-named point the long series of years observed fixes the 
averages with great exactness. Most of the observations are from the 
authority above quoted; others from recent reports of the Agricultural 
Department:--

                Spring  Summer  Autumn  Winter  Year  Period obser'ed
Richmond, Va     55.7    75.4    56.3    37.2   56.2    4 yrs
Norfolk(1)       56.9    76.6    61.7    40.4   59.9   30 yrs
Gaston, N. C     55.6    76.2    57.6    39.7   57.3    3 yrs
Thornbury(2)     57.4    77.0    59.1    41.5   58.8    2 yrs
Scuppernong(3)   58.6    74.7    60.0    43.3   59.1    2 yrs
Hertford Co.(4)  56.9    76.5    58.4    42.3   58.5    3 yrs
University(5)    59.3    76.3    60.3    42.8   59.7   14 yrs
Goldsboro        57.1    78.0    60.9    44.0   60.0    2 yrs
Beaufort(6)      59.5    78.5    65.2    45.7   62.2    5 yrs
Smithville(7)    64.5    80.2    67.4    50.6   65.7   18 yrs
All Saints(8)    61.8    78.4    65.0    48.2   63.3    5 yrs
Charleston(9)    65.8    80.6    68.0    51.7   66.6   28 yrs
Camden, S.C.     63.0    78.4    62 9    46.6   62.7    5 yrs
Charlotte, N.C.  57.8    76.3    58.9    42.8   58.9    2 yrs
Asheville, N.C.  52.0    71.5    56.0    39.0   54.6    2 (parts of) yrs
Knoxville, Tenn  55.8    70.8    56.7    39.3   55.7    1 yr
Knoxville(10)    58.2    73.0    57.4    38.5   56.8    2 yrs nearly  
1. Fortress Monroe
2. Northampton Co.
3. Lake Phelps
4. Murfreesborough
5. Chapel Hill
6. Fort Macon
7. Fort Johnson
8. near Georget'n, S. C.
9. Fort Moultrie
10. (another series)

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   The last two of the stations entered here are too imperfect to be 
satisfactory, but they serve the purpose of partial comparison. It appears 
from these results that the climate of Richmond is not far from that of 
the valleys at Asheville and Knoxville; that of Asheville being cooler in 
summer, but warmer in winter. Smithville and Charleston are very much 
alike, both showing a marked contrast with places so far in the interior 
as Chapel Hill and Charlotte.

   The isothermal charts of Blodget's Climatology show this contrast of 
the interior with the coast in a striking manner; the lines representing 
averages for each season and the year, curving sharply down or southward 
along the mountain plateau, and this more particularly in summer than at 
any other time.

   The quantity of rain falling is not excessive in any part of the State. 
At Gaston and Chapel Hill it is 42 inches in the year, and in the more 
elevated country westward somewhat less, or about 40 inches on the 
average. In the lower part of the State, toward the coast, it is more, or 
about 45 inches. There is less just at the sea line than there is 50 to 75 
miles inland. The few, and not entirely trustworthy observations we have, 
are the following:--

Average Quantities of Rain in Inches
                   Spring  Summer  Autumn  Winter  Year     Period
Norfolk, Va.        9.77   15.08   10.16   10.17   45.18   19 years
Gaston, N.C.       11.27   12.09    9.07   10.23   42.66    3 years
Chapel Hill, N.C.  10.03   10.28   10.69   10.10   41.11    4 years
Waccamaw, S.C.      7.33   13.45    9.09   11 02   40.90    5 years
Charleston, S.C.    9.89   17.45   10 06    7.52   44.92   12 years
Camden, S.C.       11.19   17.57    8.05   10.64   47.44    4 years
Knoxville, Tenn.    9.62   13.51    6.77   10.42   40.32    2 1/2 years

   There are no complete records for points in the interior, and west of 
North Carolina; but the partial observations made at a few points confirm 
the distribution before mentioned, and as shown in the shaded charts of 
Blodget's Climatology. There is more rain in the summer months in 
consequence of the greater quantity falling at one time, not because of 
the greater number of rains. Often three, four, or even six inches of 
water will fall in a single shower of summer.

   In conclusion, too much cannot be said in favor of the 

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general climate of North Carolina. In the east and south it is almost 
tropical, without the dangers of a tropical climate, and with a soft, 
delightful winter. In the central part of the State it is elastic and 
generally dry, precisely like the better parts of Pennsylvania in this 
respect, except in being warmer, and having an open winter, with only 
occasional frost or snow. In the west it is peculiarly fine, elastic, and 
dry; cool, without so much of clouds and rain as in the elevated districts 
of the Northern States; and in the interior valleys, as at Asheville, 
nothing can be more uniformly delightful, winter or summer.

   In a valuable article on the climate of North Carolina, by David 
Christy (published by the Nantehala Mining Company), a more complete 
statement of the advantages of the mountain climate of these counties is 
given than we have room for here. Its freedom from damp and mildew, its 
purity of air and elasticity peculiarly fit it for grapes and all the 
finer fruits. Not like the mountains of the Northern States, or of Europe, 
always covered with clouds and storms, these upland counties have the 
purity of mountain air, with the almost constant clear sky of the plains 
of other countries of the same latitudes.

   Some very beautiful spectacles of local cloud formation occur on the 
higher mountain peaks, all the peculiarities of such scenes as observed in 
Europe being here much more distinct and conspicuous; the clouds forming 
in rounded masses, often with lightning and heavy rain, instead of misty 
rain and diffused fog, as in colder latitudes. A vivid description of 
these scenes is given by Mr. Christy, in the paper above quoted.

Proportion of Improved and Unimproved Lands.

   North Carolina is one of the largest States; it is larger than New York 
or Pennsylvania; the first by 3000 square miles, and the second by 4000 
square miles. It is almost exactly as large as Alabama and Iowa, and is 
exceeded only by Georgia and Florida, of the older States of the South, 
but not by Virginia, since the division of that State. It embraces 50,701 
square miles of surface; and in 1860 reported 

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23,762,969 acres in farms, of which but 6,517,284 were improved, leaving 
17,245,685 acres unimproved. In Pennsylvania and New York, by the same 
census, these proportions were nearly reversed.

               Acres improved  Acres unimproved
North Carolina   6,517,284       17,245,685
New York        14,358,403        6,616,555
Pennsylvania    10,463,296        6,548,844

   By calculation, the number of square miles given above show that 8,687,
591 acres of surface reckoned as within the State, must be water or 
mountain, not included in the return of farms, nor of tracts owned by the 
State; or, at least, not being surveyed, and defined as so owned. Large 
tracts of the swamp lands belong to the Literature Fund, a trust created 
for the uses of various institutions of instruction. Nearly 2,000,000 of 
acres in the coast counties yet belong to the State, and large tracts in 
the mountain counties, amounting, in the aggregate, to much more. But the 
greater proportion of the unimproved lands are in tracts of various sizes 
owned by individuals.

   The large proportion of unimproved lands is a most important point in 
considering their available value to a purchaser, or the extent to which 
his application of capital and labor can advance their value above their 
cost. To buy lands already as high in price as they can be bought after 
much money and labor has been expended on them, is quite a different thing 
from buying where, by opening and rendering them accessible, their value 
can be largely increased above such first cost.

   We give a tabular statement, therefore, of the proportion of improved 
and unimproved land in the several natural divisions of the State: first, 
the coast counties and swamp lands; second, the pitch pine, region of 
sandy lands; and next, the great central area, with the mountain districts 
in conclusion. 

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                   ACRES
COUNTIES     IMPROVED  UNIMPROVED
Currituck     36,561     68,292
Camden        62,382     54,374
Pasquotank    53,674     40,258
Perquimans    52,182     67,852
Gates         72,678     83,673
Chowan        41,330     72,607
Hertford      73,270    133,652
Bertie       117,806    225,640
Washington    23,626     74,810
Tyrrel        21,370     63,633
Beaufort      32,026    226,721
Hyde          31,988     90,576
Pitt         106,164    233,444
Craven        63,345    299,145
Jones         55,110    124,787
Carteret      10,388     51,055
Onslow        63,783    233,680
Duplin       106,176    339,987
New Hanover   52,925    395,624
Bladen        55,274    459,362
Columbus      35,364    322,702
Brunswick     21,511    303,553
TOTAL      1,138,933  3,965,427

   Thus the area unimproved in the coast counties alone is nearly 4,000,
000 of acres, and nearly three and a half times the amount improved. The 
counties on the Albemarle Sound make the best return, and many tracts in 
them are richly productive since they were drained and brought under 
skilful cultivation. But all the coast and swamp lands south of Albemarle 
show a large excess of unoccupied lands, amounting in New Hanover, Bladen, 
Columbus, and Brunswick, to nearly ten times the area of lands improved. 
In these four counties there are 1,481,441 acres unimproved, to 165,070 
acres improved.

   In the next district, the pine lands, the following are the 
proportions:-- 

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                    ACRES
             IMPROVED  UNIMPROVED
Northampton  127,775    170,292
Halifax      147,615    248,825
Edgecombe    134,758    174,632
Martin        56,072    178,507
Nash          81,045    204,093
Wilson        61,366    115,544
Greene        63,667     87,603
Wake         183,947    368,014
Johnston     109,740    224,820
Wayne        108,882    190,646
Lenoir       111,183    161,476
Sampson      118,636    345,597
Cumberland    54,446    404,884
Robeson      106,139    464,904
Harvelt       46,667    241,403
TOTAL      1,511,938  3,581,245

   The proportion here is a little more than two-thirds unimproved, though 
we have some uplands in the counties named, it being impossible to 
separate the parts of counties. Parts of Wake, Halifax, Northampton, and 
two or three other counties, are not of the sandy pine land region; and, 
again, a good share of some of the counties of the first table were pine 
lands.

   The main part of the State west of these pine lands cannot be 
separately classified, though some parts are really mountainous. Leaving 
one tier of counties east of the Blue Ridge to be classed with the 
mountain counties beyond it, we bring the rest into an aggregate:-- 

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                  ACRES
           IMPROVED   UNIMPROVED
Warren      122,072    225,183
Franklin    118,968    180,816
Granville   197,489    243,713
Person      101,736    118,662
Orange      101,354    246,040
Caswell     168,878     90,244
Alamance    110,655    109,538
Chatham     154,505    340,092
Moore        65,165    375,148
Richmond     82,443    352,243
Montgomery   56,178    204,513
Randolph    131,486    288,995
Guilford    195,713    180,824
Rockingham  111,783    190,692
Stokes       46,042    182,748
Forsythe     72,509    132,212
Davidson    121,017    198,726
Stanley      58,932    172,140
Anson       103,391    210,366
Union        66,372    236,900
Cabarrus     83,105    124,471
Rowan       135,102    197,715
Davie        59,974     93,004
Yadkin       61,254    138,519
Iredell      96,078    226,573
Catawba      67,833    153,782
Lincoln      43,567    139,350
Gaston       52,824    167,382
Mecklenberg  95,938    181,562
TOTAL     2,882,563  5,702,133

   Caswell, Person, Alamance, and Guilford show the largest proportions of 
improved, the first having two-thirds improved, and the others about half. 
The average is one-third improved. Moore, Richmond, Montgomery, and Union, 
in the southern part of the State, show less than one-fifth of the surface 
improved.

   In the remaining counties east of the mountains the proportion improved 
is much less than in this central belt:-- 

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                  ACRES
           IMPROVED   UNIMPROVED
Surry       58,090     254,240
Wilkes      78,009     270,009
Alexander   38,847     103,707
Caldwell    41,107     139,808
Burke       33,253     126,986
Cleveland   79,001     172,426
McDowell    28,878     115,565
Rutherford  58,178     149,242
Polk        20,328      70,966
TOTAL      430,791   1,402,949

   But little more than one-fifth of the surface is improved, but a share 
is so rough and mountainous as to preclude cultivation. It is valuable for 
timber and mining, however.

   The counties west of the Blue Ridge have been increased in number by 
division since 1860, but we can only cite them as then divided:--

                ACRES
         IMPROVED   UNIMPROVED
Ashe      54,804     186,483
Watauga   25,085     141,743
Yancey    46,135     265,675
Madison   32,592     174,760
Buncombe  72,755     281,200
Henderson 43,479     150,519
Haywood   33,686     308,067
Jackson   86,145     320,038
Macon     32,609     303,946
Cherokee  44,981     374,319
TOTAL    472,271   2,506,750

   The counties of Mitchell, Transylvania, and Clay have been formed by 
division of the above--Mitchell between Watauga and Yancey, and the others 
on the southern border, from Jackson and Cherokee. In these mountain 
counties one-sixth only of the surface was improved in 1860.

Review of the Agricultural Resources of the State.

   Having gone over a number of the leading classes of material resources 
of the State in distinct descriptions, we may add something here of a 
general character, to refresh the attention of those who may read what we 
have written, and to enable us to add a review of the agriculture of the 
State 

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in 1867 as prepared by the Agricultural Department from the letters and 
correspondents in North Carolina.

   In the agriculture, lumber-producing, mining, manufacturing, and almost 
every other pursuit, the point that arrests attention first is the 
readiness with which great natural advantages can be made available where 
capital and energy are applied. The whole surface is wonderfully rich in 
capacity for diversified agriculture--from the surpassingly fertile 
drained lands of the coast counties, to the mountain valleys of the west, 
there is nothing to equal the range of production. Cotton and rice; winter-
grown vegetables; market garden produce; figs, grapes, and the most 
delicate orchard fruits of the north; grains of every kind, from rice to 
buckwheat; cattle and sheep raising in natural ranges almost oblivious of 
winter--all these are offered in a locality only twenty-four hours by rail 
and thirty-six by water from New York or Philadelphia. And these lands, 
with the cost of the labor to work them, represent but half the capital 
required for lands in Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, or even Kentucky.

   Transportation, as we have shown, represents only about three-fourths 
of the cost of transportation from other pro districts equally distant, 
and on the seaboard, railroad monopoly can never encumber it with 
excessive prices. The twenty ports of North Carolina are always open to 
the fleet of cheap carrying vessels seeking business in the coasting 
trade, and no combination has ever been thought of by which the natural 
freedom of sea navigation could be bound, up in oppressive exactions.

   The following agricultural review of the State in 1867 is valuable as 
an independent and impartial statement derived from original sources 
within the State; but it must be borne in mind that it is simply a reflex 
of the feelings and views of the correspondents or the Department for that 
year. Then cotton was low in price, and those who had grown it 
anticipating good prices were severely disappointed. Now it is worth one-
half more than then, and what is said of cotton growing is therefore to be 
taken with these allowances. And a like caution is to be observed in 
regard to other remarks on crops and production.

Page 102

Agricultural Review of North Carolina in 1867.

   The Department of Agriculture in 1867 issued a circular of inquiries to 
as many persons as could readily be reached, soliciting answers to the 
following inquiries:-- 

1. What is the average percentage of increase (or decrease if cases of 
decrease exist) in the price of farm lands in your county since 1860? 
2. What is the average value of wild or unimproved tracts of land; and 
what is the character, quality, and capabilities of such land? 
3. What marked or peculiar resources have you in soil, timber, or 
minerals; and what is the state of their development, or inducement for 
attempted development? 
4. What crops, if any, are made a specialty in your county; and what facts 
illustrating their culture, quantity, and the profit derived? 
5. What kinds of wheat are cultivated, and which of them are preferred; 
and why? What is the time for drilling and sowing? for harvesting? and 
what is the amount unit mode of culture? What proportion is drilled? 
6. What grasses are natural to your pastures? How many months can farm 
animals feed exclusively in pastures? What would be a fair estimate, per 
head, of the cost of a season's pasturage of an average herd of cattle? 
7. What are the capabilities of your county for fruit? What fruits are 
best adapted to your soil and climate? Give some facts concerning yield 
and profit.

   A condensed summary of all the answers received from each State was 
published in the Monthly Agricultural Reports for the early months of 
1868, and that for North Carolina in the February number of those reports. 
The following is this summary:--

   1. Reports from forty-one counties represent a very general decrease in 
values of real estate (from 1860). Madison and McDowell Counties report no 
decrease from prices of 1860, while the latter shows an actual increase on 
those of 1866. Onslow reports no decrease on well improved farms, but all 
others estimate a decline varying from five to seventy-five per cent., and 
even more, especially at forced sales. As a general rule, small and 
improved farms have decreased less than large and neglected ones. The 
general average may be fairly rated at fifty per cent. The causes are 
variously stated, as war, change in system of labor, scarcity of money, 
unsettled state of public affairs, and the unrest of doubts in regard to 
the future.

   2. Wild or unimproved lands are reported in three general classes: 
first, lands exhausted, abandoned, and grown up to bushes; second, virgin 
uplands, generally well timbered; and third, low or swamp lands, pocosin, 
often well timbered. The first, once fertile, can be restored in time, and 
by good management; the second requires only clearing and tillage; and the 
third needs drainage in addition. The second and third can be had at price 
varying from fifty cents to ten dollars per acre; the first at even lower 
rates. Pitch and turpentine lands abound in Duplin, Lincoln, Cabarrus, 
Hertford, Sampson, Onslow, and Moore Counties; and can be had at from two 
dollars to five dollars, according to quality and facilities for working 
and marketing.

   "Pocosin," or swamp lands are reported in quantities in Duplin, Onslow, 

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and a few other counties; in the latter one body of "white oak pocosin," 
of sixty thousand acres, extending into several adjacent counties, and 
other tracts nearly as large, requiring combined capital to drain. Another 
writer says of these that "the prices are from two dollars to three 
dollars per acre and clearing and draining will cost as much more. They 
are among the most fertile lands when brought into cultivation."The 
principal portion of these lands belongs to the Literary Board of North 
Carolina. Wilkes County reports ridge or rolling lands with branch (or 
river) bottoms: 100 acre farms, one-fourth cleared, with cabin, running 
water, plenty of wood, at two dollars per acre; mountain lands well 
wooded, generally fertile, and water power too abundant to be appreciated, 
at one dollar per acre. Camden County (N. E. extremity of State), virgin 
forest lands five dollars, and virgin swamp one dollar per acre; Jackson 
County mountain lands, rich and loose in quality, much of it stony, 
average fifty cents per acre; Caldwell County, all timbered, and water 
power abundant, level lands one dollar, and mountain fifty cents per acre; 
Bertie County (head of Albemarle Sound) is three-fourths timbered, uplands 
formerly held at five dollars, bottom lands higher in price.

   Lands generally of good quality and capable of high improvement exist 
in Duplin, Bertie, Halifax, Hertford, Onslow, Wilkes, Wilson, Macon, and 
Davie Counties, all offered low; the greater part of these are suitable 
for cereals and vegetables, fruits of various kinds, some for cotton and 
tobacco, and a small part for rice.

   3. Among the resources that could easily be made available and 
profitable in prosperous times, and with a few facilities in marketing, 
are yellow and pitch pine in abundance, formerly profitable for turpentine 
and lumber, in Duplin, Onslow, Wake, and other counties; timber of various 
kinds suitable for building, furniture, &c., in Bertie, Anson, Hertford, 
Onslow, Sampson, Iredell, Madison Henderson, Montgomery, Moore, Stokes, 
and Burke Counties; and agricultural resources in marketable products, 
with a good system of farming, in all except, perhaps, Northampton and 
Cumberland. Besides these, iron is manufactured in Chatham, Lincoln, and 
Gaston Counties, and found in Randolph, Mecklenburg, Alleghany, Madison, 
Moore, Davie, and Guilford Counties. Gold, silver, and copper are found in 
Davidson; gold in Stanley, Randolph, Cabarrus (the centre of the gold 
region), Lincoln, Anson, Mecklenburg, (which is rich also in zinc, 
sulphur, copperas, and blue vitriol,) Iredell, Rowan, Franklin. Gaston, 
Caldwell, Moore, McDowell, Rutherford, Guilford. and Burke; copper in 
Iredell, Rowan, Alleghany, Jackson and Guilford; bituminous coal in 
Chatham and Moore, and plumbago in Wake. In most of the counties, however, 
railroad or other facilities for marketing will be required to make these 
resources profitable, and at present, even in the best locations, capital, 
skill, and enterprise are needed.

   4. Cotton has heretofore been a principal, and in many cases the only 
crop in Duplin, Bertie, Northampton, Halifax, Anson, Cabarrus, 
Mecklenburg, Franklin, Wilson, and Wake Counties: but the disturbances in 
labor and fall in price have rendered it precarious, if not utterly 
unprofitable.(*)

   Wheat is a principal and generally profitable crop in Cabarrus, 
Mecklenburg, Randolph, Camden, Polk, Gaston, Caldwell, Moore, Guilford, 
and Burke; and corn in Duplin, Randolph,

(* This was written in 1867, when cotton was low: now good prices are 
received, and the cotton crop is highly profitable. It must be observed 
that this summary is made up from letters of planters written at that 
time.)

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Halifax, Onslow, Sampson, Camden, Polk, Gaston, Henderson, Caldwell, 
Moore, McDowell, Wake, Rutherford, Guilford, and Burke. Tobacco is made a 
specialty in Franklin, Davie, and Person, and ground peas (or nuts) in 
Onslow. In nearly all the counties farming is reported at a low state in 
management and profits. Corn is the staple for bread in many counties. 
Halifax reports the yield on best lands--cotton four hundred to five 
hundred pounds lint; corn on uplands twenty to thirty, and on lowlands 
thirty to fifty bushels: but on common lands throughout the State the 
average is one hundred to three hundred pounds lint; twelve to twenty 
bushels of corn, five to ten bushels of wheat. Onslow reports ground nuts 
fifty to ninety bushels per acre, at $2 25 to $2.50 per bushel; and sweet 
potatoes fifty to sixty bushels, at $4 to $10 per barrel. Sampson reports 
that before the war, at its county fairs, prizes were awarded for one 
hundred bushels of corn and thirty bushels of wheat to the acre.

   5. Drilling in grain crops is not practised in the State, except a few 
experiments in two counties; and the general amount of wheat is sowed at 
the rate of one bushel to the acre, and lightly ploughed or harrowed in. 
The seed wheats preferred are the earliest and hardiest procurable, and 
are as follows: Purple straw (called a white wheat, while others speak of 
"rare ripe"as a synonym, and call it a red wheat, thus causing doubt and 
confusion) is preferred in Duplin, Davidson, Randolph, Chatham, Halifax, 
Franklin, and Montgomery; Mediterranean in Randolph and Stokes; white 
Baltimore (pronounced very good, but rather uncertain) in Stanley, Rowan, 
and Rutherford; blue stem in Wilkes, Franklin, Polk, Alleghany, and Burke; 
Walker in Madison, Alleghany, Jackson, and Macon; Johnson white in 
Halifax; Orleans white in Anson; early white and "Ruffin"in Camden; red 
May in Mecklenburg; and Clingman in Henderson. It is noteworthy that the 
early Tappahannock, distributed by this department, is superseding all or 
nearly all these varieties as fast as it becomes known, and is now 
preferred in Lincoln, Anson, Mecklenburg, Wilkes, Polk, Caldwell, Davie, 
Person, Watauga, and Burke, for its early ripening, freedom from disease, 
and insects, good yield, and hardiness. Sowing is done from early in 
September to January, but generally in October and November. Harvesting is 
generally in June, sometimes extending into July. In one wheat-growing 
county the cradle is spoken of as lately superseding the reap hook 
(sickle).

   6. Crab, wire, and sedge-grasses are the most common natives. Herds, 
meadows blue, timothy, and water grasses, and the clovers are more or less 
common in most counties. Lespedeza (wild clover) in Lincoln County is 
rooting out the segge and crab-grass. But few regular pastures or meadows 
are made. Most stock is turned into forest and mountain ranges in the 
spring, and remain there until after harvest, when it is put into the 
fields. On some of those ranges cattle grow fat. Regular pasturing costs 
from one dollar to two dollars per month; in ranges, the expense of 
occasional attendance and salt is from one dollar to four dollars the 
season, which lasts from six to eight months, and winter foddering from 
three to four and a half months. Little or no stock is raised in Bertie, 
Northampton, Anson, and Stokes Counties.

   7. The long seasons mature northern winter apples too early for good 
keeping, but the fine Virginia and native winter varieties keep well. Only 
small quantities of fruits are raised in Northampton, Anson, Camden, 
Gaston, Moore, and Cumberland; but if there was a demand, nearly all would 
be found well adapted to fruit raising. The other counties are well suited 
to this culture, and 

Page 105

fruits of all kinds (except tropical) are easily cultivated and produce 
abundantly. In some counties the apple, in others the pear, and in yet 
others the peach are never failing. In many the native grapes, especially 
the Scuppernong, produce abundantly, and are free from mildew and rot. In 
Wilson the Scuppernong yields from 20 to 25 barrels of juice per acre. In 
Chatham apples are profitable. In Polk one hundred apple-trees yield one 
hundred gallons of brandy. In Alleghany apple-trees average ten bushels 
each, at a profit of twenty cents per bushel. In Davie an acre of apple 
orchard is worth from $100 to $150 annually. In Onslow fruit raising is 
profitable and orchards on the increase. Wilkes is claimed to be the best 
county in the State for good apples and cherries. In Guilford orchards of 
good apples, peaches, and cherries are profitable, and in several others 
fruit raising could be, if facilities for marketing were afforded and 
proper attention given to the business. In Stanley pear blight is 
prevented by a free application of putrid urine to the roots at the 
beginning of winter, and stone fruit trees protected from the borer by 
applying the same remedy before and while the insect is at work.

Availability of the Coal of Deep River.

   In our previous statements less than justice has been done to the value 
of the coal of Deep River, and particularly to its availability, both as 
regards facility of mining, and as regards the easy means of getting it to 
tide-water. This coal has a wide range of uses, being the best and most 
compact of bituminous coals. All such coals are in demand all along the 
seaboard, since none of this class is found in the great anthracite region 
of Pennsylvania, and the bituminous coals of Western Pennsylvania are 
practically almost as remote as the Nova Scotia coal. If it can be mined 
freely on the Deep River, therefore, and can be carried at a low cost to 
the shipping point at Wilmington, there is every encouragement to develop 
it.

   On this point the following letter is so pertinent and explicit, that, 
although written some years since, we confidently rely on its conclusions, 
and commend them to the attraction of far-seeing business men and 
capitalists:--

Extracts from a Letter of Wm. McClane, Engineer, on the Coal of Deep River 
Basin.

TO CHARLES ILLIUS, ESQ.--
DEAR SIR:

   You ask me for my impartial opinion as to the capabilities of your coal-
mines on Deep River, N. C., to supply the Atlantic cities with a superior 
and cheap gas coal, sufficient for all their consumption, and also for the 

Page 106

supply of the steamers now dependent on the depots at Kingston, Jamaica, 
for their necessary fuel: and you further ask me for details as to its 
cost at tide water . . . . . I must commence by stating that accident, and 
then curiosity, led me to examine your coal-fields before I was acquainted 
with you. As you are aware, I have had a long practical experience, on a 
large scale, in the coal-fields of Pennsylvania: a contract for 
engineering carried me to Washington D. C. Subsequently I was called to 
Raleigh, N. C. There I became acquainted with Professors Johnson and 
Emmons, State Geologists, and by them my curiosity was awakened to 
traverse the coal-fields on Deep River, at that time undefined and but 
little known. I was confirmed in my opinion by Messrs. Johnson and Emmons 
of a large deposit of the richest gas and steam coal on the river 
intersecting these coalfields; which, by the aid of mere flatboats, could 
be placed at tide-water at a nominal cost, and sufficient for all the 
wants of the Atlantic cities . . . . . .

   As the best coal is always found in the basin of the coal-field, or at 
the greatest distance from the surface, and surmising from calculation 
that the depth of the first coal seam of importance would be found at 
about 350 feet, I commenced boring, about six months ago, on your estate, 
called Egypt, and at 361 feet I have penetrated a five-foot vein of 
bituminous coal unincumbered with slate, easily mined and superior to any 
in Great Britain, and I am corroborated by Prof. Emmons in this opinion, 
that at about 40 feet below this vein lies another, fully 10 feet thick. 
Thus, Prof. Emmons gives the quantity of coal to the acre to be 29,400 
tons, and as your properties lie in this basin, of which Egypt alone 
contains 3000 acres, underlaid with this coal, valued at tide-water at 
five dollars per ton, the intrinsic value of your property is easily 
estimated. Professors Johnson and Jackson, who have several times explored 
the whole region, certify to the quantity and quality of this coil for 
gas, steam, and house purposes.

   . . . . . The openings (of the mines) will not exceed one thousand feet 
from your wharves on the river; and I estimate the cost of sinking a shaft 
at Egypt, with the necessary engines, capable of supplying any required 
quantity of coal, not exceeding one ton per minute, at $85,000 to $40,000. 
The motive power required to carry this coal to tide-water at Wilmington 
or Smithville is very trifling. A proper steam tug, 80 feet long and 100 
horse-power, will take six flat boats, of 120 tons each, four miles an 
hour. The distance to Wilmington is 160 miles, and allowing one week for 
each trip of 720 tons, we shall get a supply of about 35,000 tons to tide-
water for an outlay in motive power, of about $18,000, or about fifty 
cents per ton. As there is no railroad required, and the moving is done 
entirely by water navigation, the quantity will only be limited by the 
number of steam tugs and flatboats employed. Compare this with the 
millions necessarily expended before coal could be brought to tidewater 
from Pennsylvania and Maryland, and which absorbs almost all the value of 
the coal at market. The further expense of taking these 720 tons per week 
is the wages of the men, and their keep during this time, about $88 in 
all, or 13 cents per ton. To this add 2.5 cents per ton toll, and five 
cents handling into vessel, making 43 cents per ton at Wilmington.

   The cost of running a ton of coal can be contracted for, deliverable 
into boats, at 60 cents per ton; to which add 43 cents, as above, for cost 
of transportation, and the whole actual cost of a ton of coal on board of 
a ship at 

Page 107

Wilmington, or Smithville, will amount, say, to $1.03. Of course there 
will be plenty of back freight offering, sufficient at least to pay for 
contingencies; but putting this aside, and estimating the cost at two 
dollars per ton on board at Wilmington, it will still be cheap enough to 
supply our want of coal at a price to defy competition from any quarter.

   Your best depot will be at Smithville, situated at the outlet of Cape 
Fear River, directly on the ocean, but protected by Smith's Island, 
forming a secure harbor. Vessels drawing 18 feet of water can enter at all 
times, and this port lying directly in the track of the steamers plying to 
the South, can enable them to complete their supplies of coal at a great 
saving of price, and in a port of the United States, instead of at 
Kingston, Jamaica, as at present.

   Your coal depot will thus be, on an average, only a couple of days' 
sail from Charleston, Savannah, Havana and Kingston, Jamaica, all of which 
places are now dependent for their supplies of coal on Great Britain, 
three thousand miles distant. It will be also of easy access to Baltimore, 
Philadelphia, Newark, and Boston . . . . . .

   Besides coal we have an abundance of the best ingredients for making 
either the finest castings, or iron suited for car-wheels; for, having our 
refuse coal, iron ores and flux altogether, pig iron can be made equally 
cheap, say $12 or $14 per ton.

   For this there is a ready market, as North Carolina has been dependent 
on Pennsylvania for all her pig metal, at a cost of $40 to $60 per ton, 
including transportation, and according to quality . . . . . .

Very faithfully and truly, yours,
WILLIAM McCLANE,
Chief Engineer.


Sentiments of the People.

   There has been much misapprehension at the North as to the sentiments 
of the people of North Carolina toward citizens from other States who come 
to establish themselves in business among them. Whatever may at any time 
have been the case in other parts of the South, in North Carolina there 
has never been any great degree of bitterness resulting from the 
convulsions of the past few years. The great majority originally Union 
men, and adhering to the last practicable moment to the Union cause, the 
people of this State have accepted the results of the war in good faith, 
and have endeavored to adapt themselves to the changed condition of labor 
as promptly as was possible. It is their wish to forget the differences 
for which they were not originally responsible, and to enter on a new 
career of business activity, in which not only will the losses of that 
time be restored, but a wider and more enduring basis will be laid for 
their further prosperity in the future.

Page 108

   It has sometimes been remarked, that the earlier undertaking of 
Northern men in mining and other enterprises in the South were not kindly 
received, and that losses resulted which need not have occurred had the 
people been entirely friendly. No doubt, there is some ground for this 
impression as to some portions of the South, though we believe very little 
in North Carolina. In 1865, it was too early to expect entire quiet, and a 
cordial acceptance of results so painful to many in the South, and it was 
not wise to assume that for which no reasonable ground existed. But the 
conditions in 1869 are greatly changed. The people of both North and South 
have learned to discriminate, and to separate the irresponsible persons 
among each who are always foremost in creating differences. Earnest 
business men, and responsible citizens of the North, will be welcomed in 
North Carolina with peculiar cordiality, and will be aided in every proper 
enterprise by the best wishes and most active exertions of all with whom 
they come in contact.

   For this assurance there are ample evidences and abundant instances 
within our personal knowledge. The day of mere adventurers has gone by, 
and whatever was done immediately after the war, there are now none of 
that objectionable class travelling or going there. Skilful mechanics 
seeking employment are not adventurers, nor are plain people who wish to 
apply their energies to new fields even without capital. The class who 
wander about to prey upon and deceive any part of the Southern people, and 
particularly those who went there to foist themselves into position by 
pretended special friendship for the newly-emancipated colored men, very 
naturally encountered suspicion and hostility. Still worse, they, in an 
equally natural manner, drew down on many deserving men from the North the 
odium which was due themselves only. It is true, that there should have 
been more discrimination, but it would have been surprising if there had 
been an absolutely correct course under circumstances so well calculated 
to confound meritorious people with those who have no merit.

   But all this is of the past. There is no longer in existence the sore 
and sensitive public feeling which remained after the 

Page 109

close of the war. All visitors to North Carolina are emphatic in their 
testimony to the frank and generous spirit with which they are met by all 
classes. There is no difficulty in engaging colored laborers in the 
eastern counties, and in procuring any number of workmen required in the 
greatest enterprises. In the central and western part of the State labor 
is even cheaper, and great numbers, who cheaply subsist themselves by 
small farming, are ready to take hold, at very moderate wages, of any new 
work started up among them.

   These white people of the western counties bear a most enviable 
reputation for sobriety and good character generally. They are 
particularly ready to engage in anything that will bring money into their 
country--very moderate wages in money go far with them in practical 
results. There is no more effective place to wield ready capital in 
cutting timber, in opening mines, in farming on a large scale, or in any 
conceivable pursuit. We trust that not two years more will pass without 
this dormant human power being brought into requisition, and with it, the 
vast water power of the great interior rivers to which we have before 
referred.

   In a spirit of wise liberality, several of the railroads have arranged 
to reduce freights and cost of travel by about one half, to all actual 
purchasers of property who proceed at once to occupy and improve what they 
purchase. We have before us the "Proceedings of a Convention of the 
Presidents, Superintendents, and other Officials of Southern Railways, for 
the promotion of Immigration to the South, held at Atlanta, Georgia, 
January 4, 1869." At this convention all the leading roads of the Southern 
States were represented, and although, no absolute rule of a general 
character could be adopted, the understanding was, that each road would, 
for itself, make directly favorable terms for immigrants and business 
enterprises in the district traversed by its line. Among the proceedings 
was a resolution reducing the freight on bone-dust, guano, and all 
manufactured fertilizers, to one and one-fourth cents per ton per mile for 
all distances; a very important item to the agriculturists of all parts of 
the South. The tone of their recommendations in regard to ordinary 
freights and fares, was that, as we have said, each 

Page 110

road should endeavor to aid actual enterprises by giving them the 
advantage of half freights and half fares for all that lay along the line 
of, or whose business naturally came upon any road. As the proper 
discriminations and distinctions in such cases can be known only to the 
managers of each road for all that would relate to its own business, the 
adjustment was, by common consent, left to each to make for itself. We are 
assured that there is great readiness to show liberality in this way, 
particularly on the railroads in North Carolina, and we urge, both on the 
roads to give, and on business men to ask and improve the opportunities so 
afforded.

   A year of liberality to an enterprise for the establishment of a mill 
or manufactory, or for the opening of a mine, might turn the scale with a 
doubting purchaser, and might make a purchaser, who would only purchase to 
hold without improving, without the offer of some such facilities, decide 
on putting a considerable sum of active capital into use at once. The 
result would be a permanent benefit to all concerned, while, if left 
embarrassed by difficulties of access, there would be little or nothing 
done, and no public good realized. We therefore say to both parties, that 
their highest interest lies in liberality--in liberal offers or facilities 
by those who have the control of railroads, and in liberal investments by 
those who control now, or who hereafter purchase these dormant properties 
in lumber tracts, water power, coal and other mines, and even the farming 
lands.

   As some guide to the railroads themselves, as well as a proof or the 
general character of the movement to aid immigrants and business men 
establishing themselves in the South, we give the following list or Roads, 
Presidents, and Superintendents participating in the proceeding, or 
replying favorably to the circular of invitation:-- 

Col. E. Hulbert, Superintendent of Western and Atlantic Railroad. 
M. J. Wicks, President Memphis and Charleston Railroad. 
S. K. Johnson, Assistant Superintendent Georgia Railroad. 
E. B. Walker, Master of Transportation Western and Atlantic Railroad. 

Page 111

R. C. Jackson, Superintendent of East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad. 
Horace P. Clark, General Freight Agent of Macon and Western Railroad. 
D. H. Cram, Superintendent of Montgomery and West Point Railroad. 
L. P. Grant, Superintendent of Atlanta and West Point Railroad. 
Col. F. M. White, President of Mississippi and Tennessee Railroad. 
C. L. Fitch, General Freight and Passenger Agent of Mobile and Ohio 
Railroad. 
Hermann Bokum, Commissioner of Immigration for Tennessee. 
T. S. Williams, General Superintendent of New Orleans, Jackson, and Great 
Northern Railroad. 
William S. Holt, President of Southwestern Railroad. 
A. J. White, President of Macon and Western Railroad. 
T. L. Montgomery, Secretary of Montgomery and Eufaula Railroad. 
Thos. Dodamead, Superintendent of Richmond and Danville Railroad. 
E. F. Rawworth, Superintendent of Vicksburg and Meridian Railroad. 
Charles Ellis, President of Richmond and Petersburg Railroad. 
R. Walker, Superintendent of Pensacola and Georgia Railroad. 
W. S. Cothran, President of Rome Railroad. 
Thomas B. Jeter, President of Spartanburg and Union Railroad. 
J. W. Gloss, President of Nashville and Decatur Railroad. 
J. C. Courtney, Superintendent of Southern Express Co. 
Frank Schaller, State Agent of Immigration for Virginia. 
J. P. Fresemins, Rome, Ga. 
D. M. Hood, Rome, Ga. 
J. A. Billups, Madison, Ga. 
Gen. W. T. Wofford, Cartersville, Ga. 
Col. Sam. Tate, President of Mississippi Central Railroad. 

Page 112

C. W. Anderson, General Freight Agent of Nashville and Chattanooga, and 
Nashville and Northwestern Railroad. 
J. M. Selkirk, General Agent of Central Railroad (of Ga.). 
G. Jordan, Superintendent of Montgomery and Mobile Railroad. 
Maj. Campbell Wallace, Selma and Meridian Railroad, Ga.

   The following report of the committee appointed to prepare business for 
the Convention, expresses their wishes and feelings so clearly that we 
transcribe it here:--

   "The committee appointed to prepare business for the Convention, 
reported as follows:--

   Mr. Chairman: Your committee, in considering the subject referred to 
them, beg leave to state, that fully appreciating its importance in 
reference to the interests of the railways of the South, as well as the 
general interests of our people, would have preferred more time for the 
consideration of the duty assigned them, but have agreed to submit the 
following recommendations for your consideration and action.

   "It is a fact well known to this Convention, that the rate of passenger 
fare on Southern railways is much higher than on those of the Northern and 
Western States, and that in addition to this they have a reduced rate for 
immigrants, and special trains for their accommodation.

   "The great importance of this traffic to them, not only as a source of 
revenue, but as the most direct means of increasing their general 
business, by rapidly settling up the lands of the far West, as well as 
those contiguous to their own lines, thereby securing a permanent 
business, is well understood by them, and no effort spared to secure this 
end.

   "Special agents of the different nationalities, thoroughly competent 
and trustworthy, are employed, whose duty it is to look after the foreign 
immigrant upon his landing on our shores, and direct his movements over 
the particular line which the agent may represent.

   "Railways in the far West are projected and built upon the single idea 
of the enhancement of the value of lands contiguous thereto, by the flood 
of immigration thus skilfully directed by them to their doors. We should 
profit by their example.

   "There is evidently a strong disposition on the part of Northern 
capitalists to invest in the rich mineral hands of the South, in 
manufactures, and other enterprises. We should encourage this disposition 
by all the legitimate means in our power.

   "No richer field for the various enterprises indicated, can be named 
than that of the South. With the immense fields of coal, iron, copper, and 
marble comparatively undeveloped, her immense water power yet unimproved, 
with her cotton fields in sight of the grain and cattle region, find her 
genial climate, all combined, makes the South the most inviting field for 
capital, enterprise, and immigration now unimproved.

   "It should be our duty to ourselves, as well as those whose interests 
we represent, to bring these facts to the attention of the capitalists, 
the manufacturers, 

Page 113

and the agriculturalists of the Northern States, as well as the foreign 
immigrant, that at least a portion of this capital, immigration, and 
wealth of labor, may be drawn to our section.

   "To accomplish this we must publish to the world our extraordinary and 
really wonderful advantages, and the cordial welcome that the South offers 
to the Northern citizen and foreign immigrant. The mere publication of 
facts will not, however, accomplish this end.

   "The capitalist cannot be expected to venture upon an investment until 
he has first seen in person that our representations are true.

   "The manufacturer will not invest his capital with us, building up 
towns and cities, until be has verified our statements by personal 
observation; nor will the farmer purchase our lands until he has first 
examined their productiveness. Neither will the foreign immigrant come 
among us until we have convinced him of the many advantages we offer him, 
following up that information by tendering him the aid and assistance so 
freely offered by the enterprise of the North and West."

   The action of this Convention resulted in the issue of the following 
important circular, and although, by its terms, it is limited to July 1, 
1869, it is understood that it will be continued at least for some months, 
if not a year later:--

Circular to Parties desiring to procure Certificates to the South.

   Parties expecting to procure Certificates will be required to conform 
to the following instructions to Agents:--

   The object of the Convention held in Atlanta, Ga., Jan. 4, 1869, as set 
forth in the resolutions and unanimously adopted, is to induce travel 
south for the purpose of investigating the extraordinary opportunities now 
offered for profitable investment in that Section.

   It is not contemplated to SELL the excursion ticket or certificate to 
parties applying for the same, but simply to issue them when satisfied 
that the party will in good faith comply with the object sought to be 
attained by the Convention, viz.:--

   That of examination for the purpose of investment.

   The presentation of the certificate at the ticket offices of either of 
the roads named as agreeing to the rates, will entitle the holder to 
purchase tickets at two (2) cents per mile.

   Conductors will also recognize the certificate, and pass the party 
holding the same at the stipulated price per mile.

   The certificates will be issued under the following rules:--

1. When a party is personally known to you, and upon being satisfied that 
his object is in accordance with the purpose of the Convention, you will 
issue the certificate. 
2. When the applicant is unknown to you, you will require him to produce 
at least one respectable citizen, who will vouch for the party desiring to 
avail himself of the privilege of the certificate. 
3. When the party making application is unknown to you, and himself 
unacquainted with persons of respectability who can vouch for him, you 
will then permit him to make affidavit as to his purpose, setting forth in 
the same that his intentions are in accordance with that set forth in the 
resolutions of the Convention. State the facts in the blank space in the 
certificate, and issue the same to the applicant. File the Affidavits. 
4. After inserting the name of the applicant in the certificate, state 
upon 

Page 114

what ground the same is issued, also the name of the party or parties who 
may vouch for him. Stamp each certificate with your official stamp. 

5. Use every precaution within your power to prevent fraud being practised 
upon you, and through you upon the roads.

Respectfully,
E. HULBERT,
Chairman Standing Committee.

   After the Agent is satisfied you intend to use the certificate for the 
purpose for which it was issued, you will be presented with one which 
gives you the names of the Roads and Hotels in the South who have agreed 
to the reduction.

The Changed System of Labor.

   Up to a recent period, and to some extent during the year 1867, there 
remained some soreness on the part of employers, and some carelessness of 
consequences on the part of the freedmen, which interfered with the 
regularity of their work in all the counties where dependence must be had 
upon them, But a year later there was a great improvement, and now, in 
1869, the now order of things is as fully established as could at any time 
be expected. There is practically no difficulty in engaging permanent 
labor in any part of the State. All who live by labor find the necessity 
to seek employment quite pressing enough to insure the acceptance of 
reasonable wages, by whomsoever offered.

   In the eastern and southern counties generally, the colored population 
is nearly equal to the white, in but very few counties being in excess. In 
some twenty-five counties, including Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Caswell, 
Chowan, Craven, Cumberland, Duplin, Edgecombe, Franklin, Gates, Granville, 
Green, Halifax, Hertford, Jones, Lenoir, Nash, New Hanover, Northampton, 
Pasquotank, Perquimans, Person, Pitt, Richmond, Sampson, Warren, and Wake, 
the average is very nearly the same of colored and whites. There are no 
counties in which a mass of colored people are found to the exclusion of 
whites; Halifax, with 10,821 colored and 5765 white, and Warren, with 4923 
white, to 10,803 colored, being the extremest cases. And probably the 
state of things in 1860, from the census of which we take these figures, 
represents a larger number of colored than would now be found.

   In the central counties the colored population in 1860 numbered from 
one-third to one-fourth of the number of white; while in the mountain 
counties the number of colored was, and is very small.

Page 115

          Whites  Colored
Ashe       7,423    533
Alleghany  3,351    239
Watauga    4,772    185
Yancey     8,226    429
Buncombe  10,610  2,044
Madison    5,678    230
Haywood    5,474    327
Henderson  8,981  1,467
Jackson    5,241    274
Macon      5,370    634
Cherokee   8,609    557

   Several counties east of the Blue Ridge have also very few colored; 
particularly Alexander, Surry, Wilkes, Catawba, Polk, &c.

   In the entire State there were, in 1860, 631,100 whites to 361,512 
colored. We can only estimate that there is at least a greater number of 
whites, in proportion, in 1869.

   It is noticeable that fewer conflicts have taken place in North 
Carolina in the course of the recent delicate and difficult process of 
harmonizing life-long differences with a new order of things than in any 
other State of the South. This fortunate result has been due to the sound 
judgment, and resolute good faith with which the responsible white 
citizens have met the emergency. They deserve the good opinion of citizens 
of other States, and they will always be found to understand and 
appreciate a public duty. We can, therefore, confidently say to 
capitalists and business men who go among these people to purchase and 
improve any properties, that they will be met with warm and cordial 
friendship; and will find every facility placed within their reach that 
the country can supply. Whatever class constitutes the laboring force of 
the district, fair wages will promptly put it in motion. Trained miners, 
iron-workers, and manufacturers of every class abound in the mining and 
manufacturing counties. In the planting counties the original laboring 
people remain, and are ready to supply every call for cotton or rice 
planting. In the pine lands and the cypress lumbering districts, there are 
thousands of laborers there, mostly colored, who have spent their lives in 
these pursuits, and who are acclimated as well as habituated and skilled 
in the requisite degree.

Page 116

Adjacent States.

   In what we have here written we have confined ourselves to North 
Carolina, but much that has been said would apply to the adjacent parts of 
South Carolina particularly, and in some degree to Virginia and Tennessee. 
It is clearly easier to enter or leave the central and upper portions of 
South Carolina by way of Wilmington than in any other way, or by any other 
route. The short Wilmington and Manchester Railroad goes to the heart of 
the State, and at least a large area along the northeastern border of 
South Carolina finds a more natural and easy market at Wilmington than 
anywhere else. In the table previously given, showing the trade of 
Wilmington, the quantities are so large as to imply a considerable receipt 
over this Wilmington and Manchester Road from adjacent parts of South 
Carolina. Some of the items were:--

Cotton                 in 1868 31,828 bales
Cotton Yarns & Cloths  in 1868 759 bales
Rough Rice             in 1868 18,447 bushels
Rosin                  in 1868 463,113 barrels
Spirits of turpentine  in 1868 94,918 barrels
Crude turpentine       in 1868 22,343 barrels
Lumber                 in 1868 19,194,662 square feet
Timber                 in 1868 47,399 cubic feet
Shingle                in 1868 3,983 M.
Staves                 in 1868 1,145 M.
Tar and Pitch          in 1868 47,410 barrels

   Interested as we are in the general development of the resources of 
this part of the South, we chose North Carolina, and its commercial 
representative, Wilmington, as centres and points of readiest access. 
Through them we believe that many other districts can be easily reached, 
and particularly to see South Carolina favorably is best accomplished by 
way of Wilmington or Charlotte, North Carolina.

   In Virginia the whole border from Norfolk westward to the Mountains is 
a continuation of the lands we have described in North Carolina, namely, 
the swamp and drained lands of the coast, a sandy tract next, but inferior 
to the magnificent North Carolina pine forest; fine tobacco lands along 
the Roanoke to Danville, at which point a natural centre for tobacco 
production exists, with a standard market.