Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1869-07-09
OUR FAYETTEVILLE LETTER.
Western Rallroad-The Deep River Section
Its Vast Mineral Deposits Min es In OPP
cratton-Hfgh Frefghts per Ra4tlroad-
Reform Needed.
FAYETTEVILLE, N. c.. July l, 1869.

FAYETTEVILLE, N. o.. July L, 1901.
Dear Journal II have just returned
from a visit to the little village of Egypt,
situated in Chatham county, and at the
terminus of the Western Railroad This
road is only forty-two miles long. running
from Fayetteville to Egypt, in the midst of
the Deep River coal regions, and, although
completed thus far prior to the war, has
been, even by name, but little known and
seldom heard of, until quite recently It
is q sleepy road and rams through a sleepy
country, and it has been seriously thought
by many, that it was som ewhere along this
line the the eyes of the commonwealth
first began to blink in those good old days
when, as report hath it, we fell into the
long and dEeamless Rip Van Wrinkle sleep.
This is the more surprising when it is taken
into consideration that this is one Of the
richest mineral countries in the world, and
essentially, new country, as but little of
its wealth has ever been developed only
enough, in fact, to erve as an index of the
rich ato res that lie hidden from sight in
the bowels Of the earth. You have often
heard of this mineral wealth, and, doubt
less. many huge stories, but hardly more
than the truth, as in two items, that of iron
and coal, Chatham aud Moore counties
are intellectually rich, The late war served
in g measure to develop some of this
wealth, but at its close all of the works
were abandoned, and there is now at Egypt
large quantities of coal lying there await
ing market. In the furnishing of these
two articles Of prime necessity, the Deep
River section rendered valuable and
material aid to our late Confed-
eracy, these products having been
distributed over every portion of the South
where there were arsenals and workshops.
Yet it is not in iron and coal alone that
the Deep River country is rich, but there
have been found other minerals IN great
plenty and of excellent quality. Cop
per is there in rich deposits, and sew
eral mines are now in successful operation,
nearly oil of which have passed into
the hands Of Northern capitalists. [ Wis
tied, few days since, the Clegg copper
mine, situated about four miles above Lock
vile, and now owned and being worked by
party of Northern gentlemen. Two
shafts have been sunk there, and over
thirty miners are employed in them. A
large amount of the rich ore has been
brought TO the surface, and the Company
estimate that they now have some $40, O0Oi
worth of it awaiting transportation. This |
mine has only been in successful operation |
for few months past, and such are some
Of the carly results.
The king OF all metals, gold, is also |
LII
known to be there. Soapstone, the al |
snow--is found in large quantities, and is |
constantly being shipped northward. You
will recollect that, previous to the war, |
scarcely cargo Of produce arrived at your
port from this point but embraced more
or less of this stone.
There are also almost incxhaustible sup |
plies of roofing slate, fire clay, milestone |
rock and fine building granite, which only |
need the hands of energy and capital 10 |
unearth from their native beds.
For long time past tho outlet Tor this |
rich section has been the little strip of |
railroad of which I have spoken. But
yet, this road has most awfully abused the
trust it assumed and has misled the peo-
pie with hopes that have never been full |
filled. 1t is good road, well constructed |
and supplied with fair amount of rolling
stock, but it seems to have been but very
poorly managed; SO much so, indeed, that
it has not yet proved of much benefit to
its stockholders or to the section of coun-
try through which it passes. Its tariffs of
freight have been so high that it has actu-
ally driven OFF, instead of attracting, GUS
tom, and has proven, altogether, anything
but blessing to its section. So far, in
deed, Is this true, that merchants In the
interior of Chatham county prefer to make
Raleigh their depot. instead of Egypt, |