The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1884-08-02
DOWN THE CAPE FEAR.
PRIMITIVE NAVIGATION---R
BARRELS AND DARkENS.
The Scenery. the Products. the Sights
and the Pleasures of a Voyage from
Fayetteville TO w iIminston.
!SI,ectal Corre.laor.eIe.nce ~ e C7.ro..icle.

Special Correspondence Of TIE c7sroufcle.
On THE CAPE FEAR. July 29-I wonder
if | showed especial ignorance when
thought tnar the Cumberland section was
flat. At any rate. was very wrong. II
Is a rolling country. full of clear streams
and al -l-4dlng IN water power, On Lit
tie Rive alone, near Fayetteville, there
are sites for a dozen factories. There are
five factories in Fayetteville now running,
and room for dozen. The sandhill
country" as il is called, will often bring
twenty-five TO forty five bushels Of corn
to the acre, and can be bought in any
quantity on easy terms from about two 10
three dollars an acre. one tract of eight
hundred acres was offered by Maj Huskc
for $500. Nothing can prevent immigra-
ton to State where such land can be
bought at such prices. except lack of proper
statement of the fact to the purchasers of
land. | myself saw corn growing on sand
hill land which would crop forty five bush
els. BY the way, | saw a tea bush grow
ing in the field without cultivation from
which tea lad been made for years. Sea
voyages spoil tea. Why could we not
raise our own, and thus have better tea
than we can buy? Drying the leaves is
tedious process, but no more than the
curing of tobacco, and the plalti. will
grow dS FtdUlIN aS corn.
In Fayetteville there is a spring, where
of whoever drinks will always desire to
come back to Fayetteville. But what is
the use Of that Any one who visits
Fayetteville will want to go back without
drinking of the spring. Who can help it,
where the country is healthy and beauti-
full, the land fertile and the society pro-
verbal for its graceful and cordial hospi
tality? There is not fairer site to be
found than the old arsenal grounds, lying
as they do on hill which overlooks the
town and the river, the cape Fear winding
away in the distance, its bankss clothed
in perennial verdure, and the. e.hOuses peep
ing from the elms, naples and magnolias,
with which the town is filled.
Leaving Fayetteville, with regret, I
started down the Cape Fear on one of the
river steamers-a stern wheeler, fiat-bot-
toned, drawing but two feet of water,
without guards, and filled to the upper
deck in front with pine wood. The boiler
is in the bows. and altogether it is a curl
Ous-loOking affair. At intervals along the
bank were piles of rosin barrels, with per
haps shanty in sight, and as Josh Bill
lings says, perhaps not" When we
made landing the boat came up to the
bank stern foremost, and the negro deck
hands swarmed up the bluff to roll down
the barrels. There were no facilities
whatever for loading. They just brought
the barrels down the most convenient
gully to the water, hauling and twisting,
occasionally slipping and mixing up ne
gro and barrel, and finally coming down
with a rush that sent the whole business
on board in a heap. Occasionally we
passed a group of sun-burnt, barefooted
children, sitting on a stump or a wood
pile, clothed in one garment-dirty and
happy. The river was as smooth as a
mill pond, and reflected every detail Of
the banks. When q flock of snOW-white
cranes flew down the river in front of Us,
it was hard to distinguish the shadow from
the birds. | had no idea of the beauty of
the river-but it is beautiful
AS night came on the negroes began to
sing their queer, melancholy chants-the
only sound in the quiet twilight
when we stopped to take our wood, their
half naked figures, working in the red
glare of the Iightwood torch, looked in
describably wild and picturesque.
The river banks are bold, and covered
with trees from Fayetteville to Whining
ton l counted thirteen different kinds
of wood in the days trip. And under the
trees grows a fine grass: mixed with
reeds, which furnishes food in summer
| and winter to the cattle of the country,
Yet with all this grazing the people of the
State complain of the scarcity and poor
| quality of beef.
To illustrate the fertility of the soil,
| there is grape vine on the Cape Fear
| with stem thirteen inches in diameter,
| and fifty feet clear to the first branch of
| the tree on which it grows. Can any one
tell how it reached that branch? The
land in this section is so rich that it will
not bring the maximum crop of corn.
The farmers have to plant far apart on
account of the luXuriance of the foliage,
and cannot make as much corn as if the
corn was smaller and closer together.
About three miles from the river is a
remarkable chain of lakes-Black Lake
has black water, Singletary Lake is muddy,
and the water of White Lake is like crys-
tai They do not connect, but lie within
few hundred yards of each other.
White Lake has no outlet above ground,
but empties into the Cape Fear by an un-
derground channel, forming on the banks
of the river hundreds Of springs. How
many people of the State have visited
these lakes
A Need of Life Devotion.
To THE CHRONICLE Il look upon
methods and books as of comparatively