USA > North Carolina > Historical and descriptive review of North Carolina, volume 1 > Part 21
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WILKERSON, CHRISTIAN & CO.
SASH, DOOR AND BLIND FACTORY.
Among the important industries of Durham is her Lumber trade, which is exceeded by none other in usefulness. There are a few establishments who work in wood here, but none in such a flourishing condition as the Factory of Wilkerson, Christian & Co., man- ufacturers of Sash, Doors, Blinds, Mouldings, Window and Door Frames, Stairs, Newel Posts, Banisters, Stair Railing, and all articles made of wood, and by contractors and buil- ders constantly used, and all at most
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STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA.
reasonable rates. The mention of this estab- lishment in building circles carries with it a prestige and confidence seldom enjoyed by any firm, and that results from the energy, untiring industry, and well known persever- ance evinced by the members of this highly respectable firm, who commenced operations in this town in April 1884, with small capital, which has rapidly increased. The members of the firm being all skilled niechanics, under their superintendence tlie business has assumed large proportions. They have an engine of 45 horse power, and all the latest and best machinery for working in wood. They employ 20 men and supply this and adjoining States, enjoy facilities in the way of money supplies, and give general satisfac- tion. All the partners were raised in and about Durham, are highly respected and most reliable.
All kinds of lumber on hand aud for sale.
EUGENE MOREHEAD, BANKER.
The facilities of banking have always been the principal factor in the advancement of trade and commerce. It is, therefore, with much pleasure that we call attention to the banking establishment of Durham. that of Mr. Eugene Morehead, who is a son of Gov- ernor Morehead, one of North Carolina's most illustrious Chief Executives.
He was born in Greensboro, N. C. Septem- ber 12th, 1845. Was educated at Chappel Hill, where in 1868 he graduated with first honors. In 1874 he was united in marriage to Miss Lathrop, of Savannah, Ga., where he remained 4 years. In 1878 (October) he moved to Durham, taking charge of the United States Stamp Department. Commenc- ed banking operations at Durham in Decem- ber, 1878 He coutinued the banking busi- alone until January Ist, 1884, when Mr. Ger- rard S. Watts, of Baltimore, was admitted as a partner. This gentleman is now a retired partner, of large means, which he has used partially in the South with very profitable results.
Mr. Morehead is very much appreciated in the community holding many positious of importance. He is Chairman of the Board of Education; Director of the Durhamn Woolen Mills; also of the A. & N. C. and the C. F. &
Y. V. R. Rs .; Vice-President of the Durham Fertilizing Co .; President of the Watts' Coal, Coke and Iron Company, of Alabama, and Chairman of the County Commissioners of Durham. He is ever ready to advance the interests of the deserving poor who always have his sympathy.
CHAS. T. POSTLEY, WATCHMAKER AND JEWELER,
Among the skilled practical workers in watchmaking and jewelry, of this State, wc call the attention of the public to Mr. Chas. T. Postley, on Main street, Durham, N. C., who is worthy of special mention both on account of the class of goods kept in his store, and the care and promptness displayed in re- pairing all work submitted to him.
He cstablishad here in 1875. His store is haudsomely arranged and the goods nicely displayed in the various pretty show cases. He has a fine assortment of watches, includ- ing Elgin and Waltham movements. being unequalled in the market, and a specialty; all grades of diamonds and choice jewelry: various descriptions of clocks; silver and plated ware, &c. Those who have once traded here uever fail to return, where they soon learn that for quality and lowness of price, his goods are unequalled in this county.
C. C. YOUNGER, MATTRASS FACTORY.
We have pleasure in calling attentiou to a new industry in Durham, started by C. G. Younger, who makes mattresses to supply dealers at special prices, with those most useful articles. He also is occupied with up- holstering of all kinds, and repairs chairs, sofas, lounges, &c, making them as good as new. Wholesale list of prices can be had from him by application from dealers at his place on Main street, in this town. He turns out first class work, and is certain to give entire satisfaction. He devotes all his time to the business, which is increasing in such proportions that he will require larger premises shortly ; he also wishes to appoint agents over the State as soon as possible. He is industrious and doubtless will have his efforts crowned with success.
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STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA.
GOLDSBORO RICE MILLS. COLDSBORO, N. C.
MESSRS. J. STRAUSS & CO., PROPRIETORS.
The favorite place that rice, as an article of diet, has attained is in a measure largely due to the ability and increased enterprise of the rice millers in preparing the article for the market.
Mess. Strauss & Co. are amongst the most experienced rice millers in the South, and were many years engaged in the business in South Carolina. They built their present mill in 1882, and during the three seasons it has been running have had the mnost unlooked-for success in their enterprise ; they have letters to the effect that their product, in polish and color, is unsurpassed by any other.
The mill is a substantial 2-story brick building, 40x80 feet in dimensions, with a daily capacity of 100 barrels, which we need hardly say is tested to the utmost by its owners, who are kept in the season at work night and day filling the orders which pour rapidly in from all parts of the country between Maine and Georgia.
The mill is one of the largest in North Carolina in its turn out, is provided with the latest and most improved machinery, and is run by a 100 horse engine.
They manufacture an article freer from chaff and containing more pure rice than the average product of rice mills and their premises being located at the railroad centre-Goldsboro-they have the advantage of reaching Piedmont North Carolina at less rates than from any other point.
We here condense from Dr. Dabney's comprehensive and flattering letter to Mess. Strauss & Co., from the North Carolina Experiment Station at Raleigh, of date 28th March, 1885, in which he says in regard to the products of their mill, 'Rice Flour' or ' Meal ` is not properly appreciated as the following analysis will show in the
COMPARISON OF RICE FLOUR AND MILL FEED (FROM WHEAT).
R. F.
M. F.
Flesh formers or albumenoids. .
14.00
12 50
Fat ...
heat
13.49
3.46
Starch, etc formers
51.22
61.81
and that if it were properly known it would command an equal or greater price than ' mill feed ' or offal of wheat mills.
The German Agricultural Experiment Stations agreed, in valuing these things, that proteine and fat are of equal money value, and that this value is to that of starchy substances as 5 to 1. Assuming 5 cents a pound for proteine and 1 cent for starchy substances, and deducing to money from analysis of the following sub- stances, gives
Rice " Polish" " "Flour "
$1.87 per 100 pounds.
1.63
Bran of Western Wheat
1.34
Mixed Mill Feed.
1.41
66
On the superiority of Rice Flour over all other articles of diet, Dr. Parker, an eminent English authority, claims that it disappears faster from the stomach than
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA,
PLANING MILLE CASN& BEING FAGY
LEVYTYPE CO PHILA
GOLDSBORO' RICE AND PLANING MILLS, GOLDSBORO',?N. C.
MESSRS. J. STRAUSS & CO., PROPRIETORS.
145
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STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA.
any, and besides being the cheapest is also the best of farinaceous foods, not only in digestibility, but in food value, because it contains the largest proportion of flesh forming ingredients. "Holleth," in the Agricultural Gazette, an English publication of high standing, says: " That for making cows give plenty of milk he cannot find any article that equals ' Rice Meal."" Dr. Norman Tate, of Liverpool, also concur- ing in this view and from analysis shows that ' Rice Meal ' equals Indian meal in food value while it is only one-half the price. There is a great future however for Rice Meal ; it is already used by beef packers and the more experienced cattle raisers to a great extent, and as dairymen and farmers become more cognizant of its virtues they will not only appreciate the rice itself as an article of daily food, but in just the same ratio will use the products of rice for their cattle, hogs, and other stock We have never heard in the experience of many years, of hogs, which have been fed chiefly on rice meal, having had cholera.
GOLDSBORO PLANING MILL. COLDSBORO, N. C.
SASH, DOOR AND BLIND FACTORY. MESSRS. J. STRAUSS & CO., - PROPRIETORS.
BUILDERS AND CONTRACTORS.
This establishment, run in connection with their Rice Mill, Mess. Strauss & Co. started two years ago. It is likewise fitted up with most modern appliances ; the main building is 2-story, 40x60, with an extension 35x75 feet ; both substantial brick structures, and the dry house has a capacity for 50,000 feet of lumber.
With the cheapest lumber, direct from the virgin forests of North Carolina, with machinery the most comprehensive, latest and most improved for the purpose, they can turn out their products, sash, doors and blinds, mouldings of all kinds and everything that enters into the building of a house, at lower figures than have ever been reached in this section o' the country. As to quality and finish of work, they compete succesfully with western and northern manufacturers. With their usual vim and enterprise they have built up a large trade in this line. The new stores with pressed and fancy brick fronts that they have erected in Goldsboro are the finest work ever put up in this town and are unsurpassed by any similar structures in the State.
The planing mill and sash and door factory are presided over by W. H. Kessler, an experienced architect and builder from Baltimore, and Mr. B. S. Beal of our State, who has been long noted for his skilful work. George W. Bucher, of Balti- more, also an expert architect and builder, has charge of whatever buildings the firm contracts for in this city or elsewhere. They have lately obtained the services of a skilled German wood turner direct from the European workshop.
They have also a tin roofing department, so that they can make a " turnkey job " of a house when required. They carry a stock of some half a million feet of hard and native lumber; they employ the year around about 75 competent hands.
Their premises are most conveniently located on the city limits between the tracks of three railroads, which carry the goods from their door North, East, South and West. They have an office with telephone connection to the mill in Goldsboro, this being the only instrument of the kind in use here.
FAYETTEVILLE, N. C.
-
MARKET HOUSE.
It has long been the custom of the average American citizen to berate age. Old and old- fashioned are in his vocabulary terms, when applied to things that are, synonmous with use- less. Happily however, this effect without a cause, this accepted belief without a studious foundation, is rapidly becoming itself, to use its own phrase, to be considered old fashioned.
To-day to be admitted within the sacred pale of learning. enlightenment and fashion, one must be versed in the ancient and antique. To be classed among the elite of our State or country one must at least find jurgling in his veins, one drop of an anti-revolutionary ancestor. "Of one of the old families of Virginia." "a lincal descendant of a Stuyvesant, or a Van Twiller," is a titled passport into the courts of the world.
Age, or what is the same thing-experience-is now recognized as the most potent factor in the lives equally of nations and of men. When a nation, a party, or a man becomes over confident, to which unfortunate state he is invariably lifted up by his own ability, or the flattery of others, and forgets the teachings delineated in the lives and histories of individu- als, creeds and empires that are no more, neglecting to take warning by what has gone before, what he may consider, because it is old, it is useless, from that point the downfall takes its commencement.
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TOWN OF FAYETTEVILLE.
Greeley's famous advice 'Go West young man,' no longer carries weight for it has been since amply demonstrated that there are better things for the young man to do than go West. Come South ! men of capital and energy, not to amass fortunes in a week or an hour, but to develope the solid resources of this old Southern country on which nature has bestowed her every blessing, and derive from your investments sure, yet handsome profits. But we will not tire our reader by wandering into generalities ; we introduced to him age and of that we shall speak.
The town of Fayetteville, whose geographical position will be seen by glancing at our frontispiece or map of the State, is an old town. Not old in the sense of ' old-time,' but old in experience, capacity and prestige. It was one the first points settled in North Carolina. New Berne and Beaufort being but 5 and 6 years older. When the voyagers had safely en- camped themselves on the mainland they sailed south on a voyage of discovery and entered the Cape Fear river, up which they navigated their little barks till they were stopped by the shallowness of the water. Herc, at the head of navigation, they naturally founded a village, which for many years was the principal shipping and distributing point of a large section of country, and is to-day the most favored spot in that particular. This village is 120 miles from the ocean. It was the most natural thing in the world for these early navigators to fix the site of Fayetteville at the head of navigation. There was nothing artificial about it, no vast expenditure of capital or loss of life was needed to make this a growing centre of trade. no armed force was required to keep the surrounding tribes at a safe distance. The Indians were only too glad to find a ready market for their produce, their fruits, their cereals, their tobacco, their fish. They traded with the whites and mingled with them for their mutual benefit. The town grew naturally, and it was not long before Fayetteville or Campbeltown, as it was then called, numbered its population including the Red Skins, by the thousands. It became the great receiver of all produce of the country extending over the mountains to the Ohio and Mississippi, and correspondingly the distributor of the merchandise and m. nu- factures of foreign countries landed on these shores, over the same territory.
It thus waxed in breadth and stature till the Revolution. In that struggle Campbeltown and Cumberland county unfortunately took the loosing side. The county at an carly date re- ceived a large influx, and indeed may be considered to have been settled by the Scottish Higliland Clans, who it is well known were staunch believers in the "divine right" of Kings. They formed the strongest body of the community. which consequently arrayed itself on the side of the Tories. For this reason principally, did the commerce of Campbeltown, or as it was called after the Revolution, Cross Creek, languish and was considerably replaced, especi- ally in the Western portion of the State, by that of Charlotte.
The name Cross Creek, which was no doubt given to the town to obliterate everything associated with Toryism, is derived from a strange coincidence which occurs, or rather did occur up to a few years ago here. Two streams actually crossed one another at right angles in the town and so distinct were their relative currents that a log thrown into one of them above the crossing would by no manner of means change its course and float into the opposing stream, but would continue steadily on its course, as if it had been a wagon on dry land. Though this phenomenon no longer exists, after an examination of the locality the writer is of the opinion that the present formation of the land conveys the impression that the body of water of the one stream ran over the top of the waters of the other.
The advantageous position that Cross Creek held did more for her commerce than political prejudice could do against it, besides which the men and the descendants of the men who liad taken sides with the King in 1776 were in 1812 among the first to respond to their coun- try's call to arms. The town rapidly recovered its former commercial importance, and up to the civil war was the most important inland city in North Carolina. It had not only a large arsenal which in time of peace gave employment to upwards of 800 workmen, but it was the seat of large manufacturing interests : three large cotton factories, carriages and wagons, and wood working establishments of all kinds, saw, grist and flour mills, boat building, cotton gins, tool and machine shops were here in full blast. Fayetteville was the principal market of the world for turpentine spirits, and rosin, and one-half the cotton crop of North Carolina passed through the hands of her commission merchants. The five years war made, however,
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STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA.
a melancholy change. The town was sometime headquarters of the Union soldiers at whose hands it suffered severely. Not only was the United States Arsenal, which was then of course in Confederate hands raised to the ground, not one stone being left upon another, but every manufacturing establishment and a large part of the business portion of the town suffered a like fate. Her wealthier men found themselves without a remnant of their former fortunes left, and many of her younger men disdaining to live under the surveyance of a class of poli- tical upstarts, who, cnured to poverty in their own country. suddenly found themselves, by the fortunes of war, possessed of-to them -extreme wealth and power, sought refuge in the distant States and territories of the West. Things became more or less demoralized, business remained at a stand-still and a depletion in population both white and colored began to take płacc.
There were some older men, however, who still bravely hung to the old bark and by means of careful attention in utilizing every opportunity, managed to make her ride the storm. Their praiseworthy efforts were assisted by the enormous demand for spirits of turpen- tine and its companion, rosin, the inflated priccs consequent thereof; a similarly high price ob- tained for raw cotton further brought back a great deal of courage to the agricultural classes of the surrounding country.
After the war too Fayetteville found she had not reckoned sufficiently on the importance and power of the "iron horse." Relying on her water transportation she pooh-poohed the rail- road building craze of the decade commencing about 1845, and while she was expending con- siderable capital in extending her plank roads in all directions, rival cities were building rail- roads all around her. Since of late years railroad freights have been so much reduced, com- peting successfully at all points with water freights, Fayetteville has felt her disadvantage. As soon as she could spare it then she invested capital in railroads. Two years ago one was opened putting into her hands almost all the trade of Moore, Harnett and a large portion of that of Chatham and Randolph counties. This gave her a connection at Greensboro with the great North and South air line. To everyone who has since revisited the town this line's beneficiary effects are apparent. The completion on the road from Wilson, N. C., to Florence, S. C., through Fayetteville will not only give her control of the trade of the various counties be- tween Wilson and Florence but it will make her a station on the Atlantic Coast Line, the favorite route between the North and South. The road already runs cars daily to Bennetts- ville, S. C., connecting with the Carolina Central for Charlotte and Wilmington at Shoe Heel. With these two railroads complete, Fayetteville will again take ber place as the most impor- tant inland town of North Carolina.
It will be seen by our attentive reader that Fayetteville will owe her future importance, no less than her past pre-eminence, to her position on a stream on whose bosom large steamers can reach her from the sea. In fact her water transportation is to her all important and neces- sary. Without it she is placed on a par, and indeed, at a disadvantage compared with her rivals, with it she as a trading centre, has virtually no competitor in a territory that can sup- port a city equal to Atlanta in population.
The greatest commercial cities of the world have been, perhaps, without exception. located on water. We will not dwell on Babylon, Alexandria and Venice as examples, but pass on to our own country, with whose cities we are more familiar. New York taps the graneries of the boundless West on the one hand through the Erie Canal, and on the other receives the ships of all nations in a harbor where could float the merchant navy of the world. Norfolk owes her growth to much the same reason, to her being the focus of hundreds of miles of creeks and canals by which barges reach almost any point in the whole surrounding country, to her position at the mouth of the Chesapeake, to which she adds a harbor which can be taken by a ship in any wind, which is virtually land-locked, to whose quays there would be no limit in extension. Virginia has good reason to claim the possession of the finest harbor in the world, it certainly is not equalled on the North Amercan Continent. Further, Phila- adelphia is at the head of water navigation, Baltimore likewise. St. Louis, Cincinnati, Louis- ville, New Orleans, were the Mississippi to be diverted from its course, would be no more. The Garden City herself owes her proud position largely to her fine water front. Pass an ocean steamer through the Welland Canal and you make Chicago the commercial metropolis of the world.
150
TOWN OF FAYETTEVILLE.
We have taken those instances just to show the importance of water as a way of convey- ance. Of course it must be assisted by other means the principal among which is the railroad. This, fortunately, Fayetteville is putting out in every direction.
Now, to come more directly to the point, I will show where in railroad transportation she has the advantage of any would-be competitor. As the wealthy grow wealthier, and the poor poorer, the rich tend more and more to become monopolists and everyone has witnessed with his own eyes the alternate bankruptcy and prosperity of railroads whose freight and pas- senger rates have been run down or up to suit the caprice of those who had the power to do so. All the railroads leading to almost any inland point in our country could be bought by a few skilled wreckers with plenty of money at their command. But where that point happens to be reachable by a navigable waterway the railroads are brought into healthy competition with water freights. It would be next to impossible to buy the waterway afforded by the Cape Fear River because that is the property of the public, of the State. Consequently rail- roads running to and from Fayetteville will forever have to compete with transportation by water. It is, truly, in some cases, as where speed is required, a poor means of conveyance, but even then it forms a sufficient regulator on the prices to be paid for quick transporta- tion.
The citizens of Fayetteville have not been bchind hand in appreciating this fact and have spent much money in the two railroad enterprises already spoken of. The benefits of the one which have already given the place a tremendous boom are but small compared to the advan- tages that will be derived from the other. expected to be open within two years. It is being pushed forward at a rapid rate and what is more its bed and track will be one of the best in the country, forming a link in the main line between New York and New Orleans.
Hoping the forgoing may amply show Fayetteville's favored location for receiving and dis- tributing freight from and to all points on this continent, as well as to the ports of foreign countries, which-cheap freight-indeed. forms the foundation upon which commercial im- portance must be built up, we will pass on to describe gencrally herself and her people and further on we sketch her principal men and business concerns.
In points of beauty the town is unsurpassed. Its four main streets run at right angles and find a focus in the market square in the centre of which stands the old market house or town hall. This market house of which we give an accompanying representation, is, outside of the structures erected by the disciples of Loyola along the Rio Grande and the Santa Fe, one of the most truly un-American building put up by the white man on this continent. Lafayette when he visited the town in his tour of the country in whose fortune he had nearly fifty years before formed such a conspicuous figure, caused a painting to be taken by one of his company of this old market house, which painting to-day is to be seen in one of the European galleries and is, we believe, considered one of the artist's most admired productions. The town, in honor of the distinguished Marquis' visit, changed its name from Cross Creek to that of Fay- etteville. The lower part of the building on the level of the street is used for the ordinary marketing purposes, while the upper part is set aside for the meeting of municipal and county boards. From the top of the tower a large bell rings at stated intervals, at sunrise and sunset and at other hours of the day.
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