New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-06-27
HOMES FOR THE UNEMPLOYED
NORTH CAROLTNA.

There is probably, no State East of the Rocky
Mountains of which the general public knows as lit
tie as North Carolina owing to the fact that its pop
ulatlon never have had either the money or the
energy sufficiently TO open up their country by rail-
roads. There are even now districts IN It's western
mountain counties almost totally unexplored by
outsiders, and where the habits and condition of
the people are removed from ours by a century of
stagnation. There has always been, too, vague
popular beliefs in the North that this State was poor
IN natural resources as in money Never was there
mere singular error. Mineralogist1 of late years
make pgrimages to her mountains as to q treasure
house Of riches and shrewd Northern capitalists,
since 1874 have been investing largely in her tim
Der and mineral lands and are waiting only for the
times to tighten to develop them.
North Carolina, like Virginia, lies in terraced
slopes from the highest ranges Of the Appalachian
chain TO the satmarshes of the seacOast and is also
like the neighboriug State, usually divided into
belts Of the same names-Tdewater, the Middle
Country. Piedmont, and the Blue Ridge We shall
consider each briefly in turn. In geology and pro-
auctions, the belts correspond with those in VIr-
ginis, the climate of North Carolina, however rang
ing about 100 higher at any given altitude.
1ideicatcT comprises the swamp lands (which in
olude sixteen counties beside the sand banks that
run along the entire coast and the cotton lands The
v,
trct; the soil, sand clay and humus, with fouuda-
tOn of shells and mari the products are rice cotton,
sweet potatoes, peanuts pine and cypress timber,
the souppernOng grape melons, and indeed all
kinds of market fruits, from apples and figs and
pOmegranates to berries. Deer and the smaller
game are found in abundance. The WATERS ~ in
Virginia are alive with fine fish, turrapin and turtle.
The cotton lands of Tidewater lie higher than the
swamp, and comprise twenty-One counties, the
yield Of cotton is reported as higher than in any OF
the other Atlantic States, averaging from three
quarters to one bale per acre. The whole OF Tide
water is malaral TO high degree. To purchaser
who has money thoroughly to drain aud fertlize 1t,
tire land offers an almost certain competency, but to
the poor man from the North, unaccimated and
knowing little Of the culture of rice and cotton il
would yield only certain disappointment and
disease The writer passes at once, therefore, to
the middle counties
Tie Middle CO,ades.-Tbey comprise thirty-one
counties being nearly One-thrd of the State and the
most cultivated and wealthy part Of it. In a state
meDt authorized by Governor Vance it Is alleged
that these counties produce One-thrd Of the corn
raised in the State, one-haf the Irish potatoes,
three-fOurths of the oats, and nearly. all of the
wheat and tobacco. The bottom lands along the
streams are Iich the ridges poor and sandy; there
is abundance of water-power, the streams are nu-
merous and strong, being drained usually by rapid
fall; bituminous cOa-beds are found on the Dan
and Deep Rivers; iron veins tspecular, blackboard,
hematite and maguetcl near the coal, and in Gull
ford, Randolph, Montgomery, ana running from
CASTOR to Surry. In Wake County the most impor-
tant beds in the world OF pumbaGo exist. The gold
district extends from the Blue Ridge down as far as
Guiford, Randolph and Moore. The United States
Assayer reports this district as embracing 5000
square miles, not including the placer mines in the
mountains. One mine has yielded S2,5OOOOO,
Others each over 81 100000. The Reed mine in
Cabarrus County, has yielded over dozen nuggets
from tive TO twenty-eight pounds in weight The
silver veins are parallel with the gold. Copper Is
found in Chatham, Guilford, Davidson, Rowan,
Cabarrus and Mecldenburg Countiesi diamonds
IN Lincoln and Rutherford
1t is to the two remaining sections Of North Caro-
Iina however that the writer would especially call
the attention Of poor men seeking for homes-yiz.,
Piedmont and the Blue Ridge.
PiednORl-'Ths section embraces nine counties
lying on the east side of the Blue Ridge. The soil
is rich the elevation sufficient 10 insure immunity
from malaria, and the land cheap. The farmer from
New-York would find the crops very much the same
as those to which be is accustomed, as the height
makes it too cold to raise cotton OF rice proitaby
Wheat corn, oats. tobacco, both kinds of potatoes,
flax rye the grasses and fruits Of our own latitude
are grown successfully.
The Blue Ridge.-0ne-third Of the land in this
State is yet uncleared, and the great body of this
forest lies in Piedmont and the Blue Ridge The
latter section comprises fifteen counties which, as
far as trade or business are concerned, almost
terra incognita to the outer world. The great APP
paIachian Range, which forms the rampant of the
eastern coast Of this continent rises in them to its
loftiest height more than thirty peaks beng over
600 feet. The Blue Ridge runs southwest in this
State for 400 miles, and parallel with 1t, distant
from fifteen to sxty-fve miles, lies the great Unaka
Range, forming the boundary between North Caro-
lima and Tennessee. The plateau between IL
crossed at right angles by other ranges-the Cowee,
Eantahela. Black. Balsam. etc The explorer
who ascends Mt. Mitchell, the highest point east
OF the Mississippi, looks over region unparalleled
In grandeur and beauty. There Is the vast primeyal
forest still tenanted by the bear and wolf; count
less lofty peaks rising from it, their heads wrapped
in clouds. rushing mountain streams. peaceful val
leys with the thin wisD of smoke drifting from some
lonely settlement General Clingman states that the
temperature in the Blue Ridge section never rises
in the hottest Summer weather over 800. The
Winters are so mild owing 10 the latitude that the
cattle can be left IN pasture through the whole year
The height dryness of the air. ana the vast forests
Of balsams and pine make the climate probably the
most healthy in this country. Sanitariums are al
ready established at several points in this region
under tho care Of Northern physicians 70 which
patients are sent for the Of consumption ague
etc or its mineral resources King wrote in 1874;
1.-THE undeveloped wealth Of this section cannot be
over-estimated. There are stores of gold, silver,
iron, copper, marble, which seem limitless" Col
onel Joseph Wilcox, an authority on this subject,
SAYS. "One of the most important minerals FOUND
here is corundum. Emery is an impure corundum
and the oriental ruby and sapphire pure iorms OF
this mineral. II has not been found III quantity