Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-04-29
MEMPHIS.
It's Great Advantages as a Coma
merCIaI Center.
Character and Utility OF
the Surrounding Country.
The Attractions of Memphis as
"a Cotton Mart.
Report of a Committee 20 lhe
Chamber OF Commerce.

merce TO Wlicn was EeI8fred the Gu'y o
preparing an address to be forwarded t,
| the principal cities Of Europe, with
view of giving information in relation {,
the trade OF this city, the character ant
Utility Of the surrounding country, ant
especially setting forth her attractions a
a cotton market. The "pTOOfD OF tbs
document was received by US at too late
an hour on Tuesday night for insertion
in yesterdays Issue. We 0 present il
shorn of certain supeIfluilies in the way
# Introductory, etc:
In venturing to present to the com
merclal cities Of Europe the accompany
ing report OF the trade Of the city o
Memphis for the year 1878, this Cham
her would first invite attention to the
facts touching the position Of Memphis
and the resources OF the region immedl'
ateiy surrounding her. Such s1 exhibit
must be interesting, when it is remem'
bered thst less than fifty years ago the
country Immediately south of Memphis,
now known az North Mississippi, IS also
west Of US, in the State Of Arkansas, was
& wilderness, whose sole human occn'
pants were ladiRn sAyGges. These have
all been removed TO the far West" Gnd
their former hunting grounds are nov
among the most productive o and cot
ion districts in the world, and the abOdes
of civilization and refinement. The re
suit is q city whose growth from 1850 to
1860 c~utstrIPped that Of shy other city in
the American Union, BroeklSn, n. Y,
being second, and Chicago, ILL.,, being
third. The trade OF Memphis reaches in
some directions two and three hundred
Of miles into the interior, and is rapidly
growing but We especially invite at.en-
don to the statistics OF the country only
l25 miles around her, embracing eighteen
counties ia the State OF Tennessee, TWEEN
~ in Mississippi, and twenty in ArEEn-
sas. This area Of go miles in diameter,
is unusually well WstereG, traveTsed As
it is by the greatest OF all rivers, the Mis-
sissippi, ION whose banks u city Is To-
cated,) $3.50 the Tennessee, Arkansas and
White rivers, WITH their many nsviga-
bic tributaries, Offering several Thousand
miles OF steamboat navigation. It has
more than one thousand miles of rail-
ways in daily operation among which
are the " Memphis a9S Charleston" with
it's connections running East, giving us
uninterrupted daily communication
with Norfolk, Va, (said to be the finest
harbor in America,l and Charleston, S.
c., on the AtlanEB se9boaTd. The
A1cI1PuAo ohA AShASFAAAE3 AuLAlDS
northeasterly, making corrections with
all the cities Of the Northern and West
ern States, reaching NeW York, Boston
and PnilsdeIphis, Inside OF sixty hours.
The mississippi and Tennessee" run
ming South, with its connection, placing
US within twenty-f0Gr hours of the city
of New Orleans. The Memphis and
Little Rock" running West, through The
State Of Arkansas 70 It's capital, $50
miles this latter road ia inevitably det-
tined to be Continued TO, aud afford our
only reliable (lhe year sT0uHdl inland
connection with the Pacifi3 Ocean. We
have also in course OF construction two
other roads Z running suutheastaTly
through tie State Of Mississippi, into
the very heart OF the cotton region of
Alabama the other TunniGg almost due
north through the States OF Tennessee
and Kentucky, finding is terminus On
the OHIO river. We have still another
now in course OF location, rGaniUg s0lth
through the great cotton valley OF the
YaZ)C, thus giving Us already completed
four, and soon to be seven, great trunk
railways TadiEting from this city. We
have mails three grd fouc times per day,
from sll parts 0; the U3iOn, and hourly
Geographic cOmDnunlcstiOn with all the
large cities Of Europe sBd Americs.
No man living within this area Of 200
miles, is more than twenty-five miles
from a railrosd or naYigabIe stream,
and hence sll within it have ready and
easy access to Memphis as their market.
Memphis is situated near The thirty-ifth
parallel OF north latitude, and hence in
mediately at the head OF The great cot
ton growing belt, with easy access in
every direction to the fi3est cotton lands
in the world; st the ssme time she
stsnis in the very midst Of az fine 8
grain region as shy in America. The
census tables, which are prepared 1uder
the direction of Government off ,ers,
show that in 1860 this area of 125 miles
around Memphis contained 8 population
of $50, 600 souls. The counties embraced
within this circle produced $50 600 bales
OF cotton, of the crop of 1883, much over
oEe-slXth OF the largest crop eve grown
in ths South, and nearly 8 bale to every
inhabitsnt. Ia the same year, these
same counties produced one and q half
bushels Of wheat, four bushels CT sweet
potatoes, and forty bushels OF Indian
corn for every inhsb.tsnt, bssides 81
abundance OF Irish Potatoes, beans, peas,
onions, fruits, etc. At the same time
they had 1,5l2. 000 head Of swine, or two
to every iahabitant, 260. eco horses and
mules, or one TO every three and . half
inhabitants, $4,000 milch COWS. or one to
every ten persons, and $50, 600 sheep, or
one 10 every two and a half persons, be-
sides Il large proportion Of other horned
cattle.
For the growth Of luscious fruits, such
as peaches, apples, peaSpapes, figs,
melons, the whole region within this
radius is peculiarly adapted, as the lsti-
tude heretofore mentioned, will OF itself
indicate. These fruits sill Tipen from four
TO six weeks earlier thsn in what aFe
termed the North, Middle, Central and
Northwestern States, IS do also all the
cereals and horticultural productions ;
thus rendering thsir cultivation much
O profitable than the productions Of
8 higher latitude: being enabled TO reach
by our railway communications the
more deusely populated States aad cities
in twenty to sixty hours. Lands sre ex-
ceediugly cheap throughout ell this
region, the actual fee c0stiGg less per
acre than is snnusily paid Torrent il the
denssly populated portions of Europe.
Viewing this region in all i;s advan-
tsges, it may be justly REGARDED ss having
no equal in the Uaion, it, indeed, il has
in any part of the civilized world, Hsv-
ing said thus much OF the agricultural
and commercial facilities CT Memphis
and her Surroundings, we will direct at
tention to her peculiar advantages as q
cotton market. We have already sd-
verted 10 the fact, that anterior to the
great civil war, commencing in 1851.
that The +, gion of cour ty OF ghisi, by
the theory OF both nature and CONNER
cial economy should fed its metropolis
at Memphis, raised largely over one.
sixth Of the entire cotton crop OF the
Southern States. Il is true, that Of tkis
PRODUCTION we have never handled but
about one halt, resching in the season OF
Is59-60, 400, 900 bales. IL is Of the unto
ward causes conducting to such results
that we would now speak, and Of which
we should make strenuous eff Irts to dis.
encumber ourselves, and realize to our
selves that bright future which cur hon.
ored guest SO fully compreheDds as tIuly
belonging TO Us. Anterior to the sea.
son Of 1859 Memphis was ALMOST
wholly ~depenceat upon New Orleans
fot 9 mRket in which to dispose Of her
cott.n productions her only other being
found With the few cotton mills in the
valley Of the Ohio river; taking from
the seasons of 1872 20 1857 S. fine first