Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-08-05
MEMPHIS.
Her Rise, Progress and Prosperity
since 1921.

Cen pillow. in the outset Of the
eminently practical speech ne 9e-
livered on Tuesday night before nv
meeting of citizens to conslder I'M
subject of Chinese immigration, thus
sketched the rise, progress n pTU5-
perity of Memphis, from 81. Iie
saws that In that year he Vlslteu IiIs
place when the only town noIlceaDlc
was a few scattered frame houses on
the bluff. lust below themoutho OF w oI
river. TWAS then known as the Chick
ssaw Bluffs. Twas a boy, fifteen years
old. lied my fathers pack mule While
he worked as a surveyor, engaged
in entering lands in West TenneS-
see. / again visited this place in 1888:
The town had quadrupled its size and
| Dopulation in those twelve years; but
II was vet a comparativelysmal town,
with no indication Of its subsequent
/ ranid growth and development. FROM
| that period to 1910, its growth was
| steady and rapid in trade and pOpuia-
| ton. The country around memphis
and throughout West Tennessee wa
settling m with an industrious anu
| enterprising population and
| bOat trade on the river gave the young
CITY the appearance of activity ana
fntIrp nrOmise as q commercial mart
Cotton had become an important artl-
ole of agricultural production through
ont thp interior, and here ana there
fine rich aIluvial delta Of your great
river was being settled up, ana II
LONELY swamps, as these bottom lands
we're called. were enlivened by tne
noise of the pioneers AK. To the de
yeIonment OF the growth and culture
of cotton in the interior oI I'm LII
assaa North Mississippi ana those
rich alluvial river lands, may De Harry
attributed the growth OF memphis a.
a city. BY the year 1851, the traNeIel
approaching Memphis, or leaving tnt
CITY by almost any OF It's nuherou;
dirt roads, in the fall season. WoulG
mass Ormeet perhapsa thousand loaded
Wapons-th0se coming in, bringing
; cotton to market; those going out
loaded with the various articles enter
ing into the supply department OF TN
PLANTERS for an area of a hall clrcl'
2 whose diameter was n hundred
. miles. About this time the planl
| roads-the first expedient to fetch an'
r carry trade to and from Memphis
cave wav to the railroad system, IN
first effort to construct which ha'
nroyed a failure, in the old Lagrang
J, Railroad. From 1910 to the presen
time / have passed through ana Wis
4 tied this city many times a yeal
IN had myself become a cotton planter
! and for the greater part OF n las
thirty yea l had purchased most
= nv supplies here. Between the year
1850 and 1860, there were a million
: acres of land, with its heavy forests
cane and thick underground, reduce
To cuItivatiOn-eottOn being the grea
- sfapje product, all else being SUI
' sidiary TO if, During this same te
wears the population of this city neari
~6uadrupled itself; its growth IN trad
and commerce, and in tasteful res
dences and magnificent blocks OF stoT
; houses. surpassed any city IN tn
: Southwest. In 1860, its pOpulatlo
was a fixed and dOmiciled aggregate
of Northern, Southern ana lorslg
born people, all intently engaged !
the race of industry, energy anu Il
terprise. Memphis had projected an
nearly built her railroads, nlFergll
F., from her as a common center, IN Il
most every direction, and these wei
. laden with the products OF the nc
interior cotton lands, while a hundre
# steamers brought in their cargoes
cotton. and freighted back all that u
a planters wanted to add 10 the cOmlo-
a of their slaves, whose labor was bullS
5Afrg No the South, enriching the Norti
: and aiding to the comfort and WealI
# of the word Had nothing oceurre
! 10 mar this picture Of wealth an
,r promise, as it existed IL 1850, n MI
% sissippi Valley would now 44Ee pee
N the wealthiest and most proe4cIl'
Il region of the world and with the +
!. cefut annually by Memphis OF a mi
;. ion of bales Of cotton, and the Fatnr
!, of the annual value Of the vast veal,
n which was pouring into her lap, s.
would, by this time, have become q
"a FORTH city-ertainly the tifth-ih q
" Union.