Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-07-12
From the Philadelphia Inquirer.
North CarcliRa--Judge kclley's Tour.

| sylvanfans Seeking the Auriferous De-
observation-disclosures Hard NVori
with their Improved Neutrality-suspicious.,
! Profits of Gold Mining-A Fine Field for
Northern Capital ana Inlustry-Its Re-
| sources to be Developers under the Ne "
| Dispensation, &c.
| CITY OF CHARLOTTE, MeckIenburg county,
! North Carolina, June %, 1867.
| Recently, Judge Kelley and party, after
leaving Montgomery, Alabama, arrived at
this fourishing city, and in company with
". T. Lyons, Esq, correspondent Of the
New York Herald. and an experienced
Cornish miner, visited several of the gold
mines of this vicinity, worked by Penusyl-
vanians
4 company, styled the Pennsylvania md
North Carolina Gold Mining Company, has
recently purchased about 800 acres of gold
land, six miles west of this city, for which
! they paid $50 900 in gold coin, and have
erected a ten-staInp mill, which will be
worked by 6O-horse power engine. When
the arrangements are fully completed, it
will be capable of crushing ten ton of ore
per day. Tie length of vein upon this
tract is very great, and their enterprise and
industry will be richly rewarded; the work
ing results OF these ores show about $65 per
ton, although assays have been made as
high as $3.50 per ton. The superintendent
told us that the land for agricultural pur
poses alone is fully worth the money paid
for it, without taking into consideration
the mineral deposits beneath the surface.
The fertility of the sol. is abundantly
shown by the growing crops of wheat. oats
and corn, which were waving luxuriantly
on every side, and gave the plantation the
appearance Of well-to-do Pennsylvania
homestead, and everything betokened in
dustry, energy and thrift.
Some idea of gold mining and the profits
may be formed when it is stated that the
ten-stamp mill will crush ten tons of ore
daily, working both day and night, which,
at So per ton, will yield $3.50 per day.
And to work the machinery, including
mining, hoisting and pumping, requires
twenty men besides the superintendent
LabOrers are plenty at one dollar per day,
and estimating the whole expenses, inclu-
ding amalgamatiOn, at $500 per day (which
is a very liberal estimate, there will be left
Il net profit of $3.50 per day, or $122, 900 per
annum. The cost of Il ten-stamp mill, with
engines, boilers, and all necessary applian-
ces, is about $4,000,
The fertility OF the soil, and the case of
cultivation, producing all the crops which
can be grown il Pennsylvania, including
cotton, which is grown i'll large quantities.
Before the war about $500, 900 was paid for
cotton alone, per annum, raised i'll this and
the adjoining county, and sod in Char
lotte.
Fruit of all kinds grow exceedingly we'll;
apples, peaches, pears, and more particu-
larly the grape, grow vigorous y, especially
the Citawba, which derives its name from
the river which drains this whole section
of country, and forms the boundary line
between this State and South Carolina,
twelve miles distant.
The climate is delightful, there being
scarcely day in the winter when man
cannot work IN the open ali in his shirt
sleeves without discomfort. Yet with all
these immense natural advantages, for want
of energy the people are generally poor
and without capital. They are anxious to
sell their lands to Northern men, who will
bring their capital and energy among them
and assist in Developing the rich resources
which the present owners have not the abil-
ity to do. Some Of them possess from 5000
to 90 600 acres, which can be bought from
s. to SO per acre
Last summer, from q small town in this
section OF the State, company of North
ern men tried the experiment of drying
blackberries, with which the State is over
grown, and they employed all the idle wo-
men and children, black and white in pick
ing them and astonishing as it may seem,
they shipped to Boston and New York
alone, over $50, GOO worth of berries, and
this coming season, with the facilities for
drying, &C., they expect to send North
$3.50, 900 worth, which they can readily do,
and find good market fol them at fair
prices. Last year, in Boston, they brought
% cents per quart wholesale ; the actual
cost being 5 cents, including picking, dry
ing, and shrinka 8, making it a profitable
business.
At the present time q company of Ger
mans, from Rhine, are selecting lands for
on the Catawba river, and pro-
nounce them fully equal in richness to those
of their native country, including a much
milder climate. Miles Of the native Cataw
ba, Lincoln, Scuppemong and Muscatine
grapes can be seen growing IN their native |
state upon the banks of this beautiful river
where, with industry and proper cliItiva- !
ton, it would become one of the first wine |
growing regions Of the world.
Tt is also trrll,7 the land of flowers, for the |
most exquisite and beautiful ''waste their
sweetness on the desert air, growing spon-
and in rank profusion ; and SO
3hiftless are the people, that scarcely one
IN a hundred ever think of keeping bee |
hive, where SO much food could he obtained |
Oy IneS6 Industrious 11tL1e insects.
The water power Of this State is unsur
passed, and affords every facility for extern |
sive manufactures. But with a few eXcap |
ions, all these natural advantages are
wasted. The cotton and wool here grown, |
IS sent North or to England, to be manu- |
'actured into fabricks, and then sold to tlie |
people here, with all the additional expen-
3es added for freight and commissions, &c. |
But now better and brighter future |
opens to this neglected region, and in a
few years Yankee enterprise and Yankee |
capital will revoiutionize everything, and |
make the Old North State one of the rich
EST, most prosperous and populous States of
he Union.
A short distance west of the Pennsylva-
MA and Gold Mining Company's land, is
another. composed of Philadelphians en-
.irely, who have secured about ?, 600 acres
If most valuable territory under the man
egement of Mr.. Joseph Middleton. The |
and is we'll selected, buth for its mineral |
deposits and agricultural purposes.
They are also erecting large gold mill, |
10 by 90 feet, where they intend running
Doth Chill mills and stamps. Twelve gold |
veins have been deyelODed, and are now