Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-09-13
From the Raleigh Sentinel.
WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA.
LENoIR, CALDWELL COUNTY,
September, 1867.

IENoIR, CALDWELL COUNTY,
September, 1867
MEssRs. EDITORS In these days when !
the public press is teeming with graphic
and glowing inducements, inviting imml- |
grafton, energy, capital and enterprise to
the lately acquired Russian possessions,
the Brazilian empire or the Territories of
the far West, it has occurred to NE that the
resources and attractions of our own West !
ern North Carolina, if properly and truth
fully set FORTH would possibly show to the
world around US, that mere, almost at orr
very doors, there are ample and inviting
fields for the employment of capital, the
exercise of energy and enterprise. and the
prospective development of a great cOun-
try-a country that, In attractions and re-
sources, will compare with any portion of
this continent, and which, instead Of being
surrounded or peOpled with outside barba-
rians or mongrel races, is sparcely over
spread by stail, hospitable, honest citi
zenship, lacking only If energy and the
elements of progress, which their natural
difficulties and isolation from the great
avenues of travel and commerce may we'll
account for.
If you will allow me space, I propose, in
as brief IL manner as | can, to set forth
some Of these resources and attractions
and thus demonstrate that many OF the
very identical Inducements and incentives
held up to provoke emigration to other
nations, as we'll as to our far Western Ter
ritories, are to be found closer to home,
and that they will be found not only equal,
but in many features pre-emlnently supe-
rior, to any foreign or far Oft portion OF the
country. [ am prompted to this work, not
only by State pride and affection, but from
IL 4
that the resources and attractions Of our
own State should be properly studied, APP
preoiated and improved, before our citizens
are lured off to invest capital and exhaust
enterprise in foreign parts
Western North Carolina cOmmends itself
to the world around us, for the following,
| among other, reasons
First, on account Of orr climate:
A residence and extensive practice of
medicine for period of Is years. in this
region Of country, has left no doubt on my
mind us to the salubrity, purity and 1nvIg-
| Grating nature of our atmosphere-there
always being such an equilibrium preserved
| between its thermometrical and barometrl-
| cal condition, as that invahds-more espe-
cially those with pulmonary diseases-were
neither FRUSTRATED on the one hand by heat
nor their diseases aggravated and their
lives endangered by dampness ; while pu-
| trid malarias and poisonous miasms, as q
local engine of death, have no existence
| here. have not hesitated to recommend
our climate as admirably adapted to the
cure and comfort of all invalids, or persons,
the victims of miasmatic pulmonary or
blood disease.
i Second. Western North Carolina com
mends herself on account of her "Produc-
| ton"
t. of
clover and grass, we will vie with all other
portions of the country Of the same soil
and latitude while in the production Of
tobacco, our country stands pre- eminent,
not so much on account of the quantity as
of the quality When carefully cultivated
and properly managed afterwards, our to-
bacco will rank in any market as supe'.tne:
Again, Western North Carolina will yield
, to no other part of this continent IN the
production of fruit. Our apples, peaches.
cherries and plums will hold their own with
any other part of the country in regard tc
quantity and perfection; while they carry
with them a luciousness peculiar to the
fruits of this mountain latitude, which, L
J at all equalled, is certainly no surpassed by
| fruits subjected to much more elaborate
and careful cuhiUdtion.
Between the top of the Blue Ridge ant
> the valleys of the Yadkin and CataWba
. there is a plateau of undulating table land
where the Isabella and Catawba grape ma
: lures in great perfection and profusion.--
It needs nothing but enterprise and eXper1
: ment to determine whether or not th1
plateau of land will not produce the crap
q in as great perfection as it does the fruits
Lying as it does, a5ore the frost line, Their
i would be the assurance of never fall1n!
= crop, and thus might become vast win
J. producing country.
Sd. We notice the Soil:
9 Of this we have every variety and grade
=, from the rich alluvial of the low-lands t.
the dark vegetable compost deposited o.
r the mountain tops-thus admitting benz
+. tempered by fertilizers to any degre
required 10y the kind of crop to render
It most productive. But it is the price OF GU
e soil, especially these agricultural and crap
|. | and fruit lands, that, together with incl
r. intrinsic value, commends them to the nc
" tice of the world One gentleman has jus
d completed survey of twenty farms, lal
J. out and arranged with special view {
O making ample, convenient and tasteful
a homesteads-no one of which is more tina
IS three miles from our village. Several c
?. these join our village suburbs and are ut
4 der the shadow of our Female College,
Upon more than half of these plots OF Ian
+. there are excellent native springs OF waGel
d The whole range, u will be seen, Is III th
hi reach of our village churches, colleges an
n schools.
The price of these lands is nearly nom
s nal. considering their advantages aud facl
tiles. have no hesitation In saying ths
ID one thousand such farms as are herein dt
t. scribed could be procured IN this count