The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1883-11-17
OUR MOUNTAIN CITY.
THE RAPIDITY OF THE GROWTH
OF THE CITY OF ASHE|ILLE.
Destined to be a Great Centre of Trade
well as one of the most Famous Re-
sorts in the South.

as well as one of the most Famous Re.
sorts in the South.
Special Correspondence Of the Chr0nicie.
AsHEvILLE. November BIN the ra-
pidty of it growth. Asheville is far ahead
Of any other place in the state. Within
the last year itS stOre-rOOm capacity has
been doubled. Since the middle OF June
there have been erected seventeen hand
some brick stores and all commanded high
rent from the day they are completed
Large tobacco factories. city residences
and buildings of every kind are going up
with equal rapidity. The number Of in
habtants to-day is between 4, 200 and 5000.
Our people are so unaccustomed to growth
Of this kind that it is no wonder that they
cease to look for the cause and say that the
hand Of magic has touched the Queen
City Of the Mountains" But perhaps we
can see the causes which ma ke it not only
reasonable but necessary that Asheville
has grown, and will continue to grow, with
even Increasing rapidlty.
In the first place it has for its support an
extensive and productive district, States
vile and Knoxville being the nearest COM
peting towns. 1t is only within the last
few years that the resources Of Western
North Carolina are becoming known and
the transmOntane country is now de-
veloping faster by far than any other sec
ton Of the State. 1t is not adapted to our
ante belum civilization nor to the mode OF
agriculture now prevalent in the eastern
portion of the state, but the very country
for an industrious and thrifty people.
This fact is we'll known and settlers from
all parts of the world are finding homes IN
her rich mountain coves or on the banks OF
her mountain streams, which all wind
through green fields equal in fertility to
the most favored portions OF the earth.
The neat cottage Of the glen marks the
home not of pride and luxurious wealth
but Of contentment and plenty.
That country has always been most
prosperous and as a general thing nearer
free from crime and Ignorance in which
the people are the owners Of the land that
they cultivate and upon which they live.
This is one reason why New England has
been more prosperous than the South:
why a new country is more prosperous
than an old one; why Ireland to-day in
the midst of plenty is famished with
hunger Western North Carolina is so
dive rsified by streams and mountains that
the great plantation which is sill so detrl-
mental to many portions OF the South is a
physical impossibility. Every man can sit
under his own vine and fig tree and gather
his wheat into his own garner. People
generally when they think Of the noun
tain region of North Carolina imagine a
rugged and unfruitful desert. They should
come and see that the land even on the
mountain sides is wonderfully fertile. On
the summit of the great Bald Mountain
where not a tree is to be found there is a
natural and luXuriant growth OF the finest
hay covering thousands Of acres, and on
the lofty sides of Mt. Mitchell large bal
sans from one to one and a half feet in
diameter grow thick that it is almost
impossible in some places to walk through
them. In our own State there is coun-
try that will yet equal in beauty and cul-
ture the great valley of Virginia.
H,,, 1s,,o =,
especially adapted to the growth of fine
tobacco the most profitable product of our
country. Ten years ago its culture was
almost unknown to the mountain people
now the value Of the tobacco crop OF Mad
isOn and BuncOmbe is more than 81 ,OOC, 900
and its culture is becoming more general
every year. Having for its support such
cOuntry-new, vigorous, healthy, full OF
resources vet undeveloped, no
reason why Asheville should not be one Of
the foremost cities of the State. 1t is so
situated that it must always be the metro
polls of Western North Carolina. Stand
ing in the center Of the rich valley of the
French Broad at a point near which sew
eral streams flow into that river, all cut
ting gaps through the mountains, it can be
easily approached from all directions, is
necessarily the gate city of the west and
was necessarily before railroads were built
the centre of trade and transportation OF
this region.
Asheville as manufacturing place and
as a tobacco market is still in its infancy
though greatly increasing, especially in
the latter enterprise. If toh.cco and to-
bacco alone has made II nderson and
Durham what they are, why could not the
same staple in a section equally, if not
better adapted to its cultivation, add to
Asheville a prosperity equal to theirs?
AS a resort both for health and pleasure,
for the surprising beauty and grandeur OF
her scenery, ,Ashevile is celebrated through
out the Union. Thousands Of wealthy
strangers visit the city year after year and
she derives no small revenue from her
summer patronage.
| However numerous her natural advant-
ages, they would be of no avail unless
utilized by an enterprising people. The
reply of the old Spartan to the Athenian
that the breasts of her young men were
the walls of Lacedemon is still true.
Asheville always has had an active and
public spirited citizenship. The time is
not far distant when in the valley of
Tochnoster there will stand a aqueenly city,
in country magnificent in resources, in a
1 land sublimely beautiful. l.. {.
Ty,o W;ISon Mirror >, OutdOno