Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1858-09-01
State Resources.

Ao'SioPiheut VI tne resources Oh
Carolina for the last ten wears. NAV ,
well excite the greatest wonder and cause J
joy to all her true sons. But the
end is not yet. 1t is but the beginning of
our hopes-the mere dawning of a day that
will grow brighter and brighter for ages to
I
Nature never seems to have designed us
for a commercial people. yet the mere remov-
al OF the surface of things, from her interior
wealth, has given an impulse to commerce
which we yet hope to see grow and flourish
far beyond what our fathers ever dreamed of
We expect to see the day when the waters of
Cape Fear, of Beaufort Harbor, and the wa
tiers passing out of the sand-ribbed outlet at
Ocracoke, will be covered with ships we'll
freighted for the markets of the world. When
we shall be no longer mere tributaries toswell
the riches and pride of more favored ports of
our own wide coast, but when we shall be-
come competitors of those ports for the worlds
trade, and we shall have sea-ports of our own,
vieing in energy, enterprise and wealth, with
the commercial emporiums of our great coun-
try.
Our people are necessarily an agricultural
people. We would not have it otherwise
In this department of enterprise more than
any other, we see the greatest improvement.
Our worn lands are being reclaimed and en-
riched in many portions of the State-our
swamps are being cleared up-a new system
of farming is being introduced, and all classes
of society seem to turn to agriculture as the
great source of wealth, and as the most desi
rable vocation to engage in. But a title O
the agricultural resources of the State hav,
not been yet developed. There is absolutel,
no necessity for a removal to the South O
West, to find rich and productive lands. TIL
same industry, economy and business tact
required to amass fortunes in the West, vii
bring them earlier and more certain in Mort
Carolina Many of our best lands have neve
been subdued by the axe and the plow.-
Mines of vast wealth are yet to be opened b
bringing %unoccupied lands into cultivation
oh0 oN Aoioo, ndSlS0 OJ OuI idtilcTS, d1OT
the most remuneration to those who will rer
ovate and restore them. The State need
more f~armers-more industrious, intelliger
farmers to make her what she ought to b
And if we could see our towns disgorged
their idle, thriftless population and turned
the cultivation of the soil, we would see IL
dawning of a brighter day. Almost ever
town in the State, could we'll spare one-thir
of their population to be added to the tile
of the soil. Ard what a change would con
over those towns, if it were so, and how muC
greater the change in the condition of lar.
numbers who lounge on the streets or sper
time, money, health and responsibility in Il
miserable grog-shops which infest our tow
and villages?
But North Carolina is destined to be
great mining State. Gold, p iron, co
&c, lie in vast quantities in the bowels of
5 soil. The amount of wealth, which the
{ minerals, under a wise and judicious syste
of mining. would bring to the State, is inc
culable. There are coal and iron enough
the Deep River country alone, to make MOI
Carolina what New York or Pennsylvania
If so, what must she become, when all
!. coal, gold, iron and copper mines are oper
and thrown into the markets of the worl
But North Carolina is capable of afford
the richest results to manufacturing and I
: chanical enterprise. Her streams afford
for our CO. Co. - IL -
of the world, and her forests and fields
employ and remunerate the mechanical 81
and energy of a thousand fold more than
= has.
Such IS a mere outline-a bird's-eye vi
. of the vast resources of North Carolina. A
what has or will continue most efectually
: develope these resources? Are we not
! debted mainly to the system of internal
:, provements now in progress il the State
A heavy debt has been incurred it is tr
= and demagogues are Selling upon the
creased taxes growing out of it, to alarm
people and force themselves into position
But we ask will the people stop in this 6
:. rious enterprise until It'll accomplished? :
Rail Roads, if they nave increased the ia,
have quadrupled the value of property,
: given a life and an energy to our pee
which they never had before. We had r:
" or have the taxes and the debt, with the
:" roads, a hundred fold, than goon ploddin,
!. before-a one-horse concern-without tn
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