The Asheville citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1885-1889, 1886-08-19

usual supply OF paper for our
WEEKLY, and hence we could not
print our WEEKLY yesterday. We
have supplied our friends however,
with the daily, which we hope will
satisfy them in our difficulty.
A SOUTHERN RESORT.
Our readers, neither at home or
abroad, must become weary If we
persist in pressing On their attention
some Of the many expressions OF
the good will, admiration, or other-
wise drawn from the visitors to
Asheville. We assure them we are
exceedingly ne ratein the use Of
material we have at hand; for the
number of intelligent observers
drawn here is large, and the tempta-
ton to write and publish irresistible.
We are obliged to discriminate, not
against any one writer, but that all
sections may have the benefit of
their reflections.
We use the following from the
Philadelphia Times for several reas-
ons. One is that the presence of
the writer of this letter here empha-
sizes the fact that we have often sta
ted that Asheville is not as we'll
known abroad as our people hatter
themselves it is. The writer, gen.
tleman of distinguished social and
official position, in his search for
pleasant summer resort had not
once heard of this place, and learned
of it casually through the architect
of the Battery Park Hotel. The
gentleman is Mr.. Daniel I'M. Fox for
successive years Mayor of Philadel-
phia, one of the two Democrats who
haye occupied that position, since
the war, a man beloved, admired,
trusted, now holding an impor tant
position in the United States Mint,
with which institution he maintains
daily intercourse by telegraph.
Mr.. Fox has manifested such sim
cere pleasure, not only with this
country and climate, but with the
people, at his unaffectediy cordial
rection that we are sure it will graf
ify cur readers to have in his own
words, his expressions of his uiA1Hs
and feeIIngs
AsHEv1LLE, N. c., August 13.
This is truly the land Of the sky.
It does seem as if the line which
marks the distinction between
heaven and earth has disappeared.
The mountains bury their peaks in
the armament and the clouds res
pose in the valleys. Here, far from
the monotony of the fiat lands, ma
ture presents herself in ever-chang-
ing varieties. The atmospheric eff
fects will inger long in the memory.
AS watch them day in ard-out from
the broad and cool piazzas of the
Battery Park Hotel, old travellers as
sure me that they are not surpassed
by the boasted glories of the Ital-
ian skies.
Asheville is in the heart OF the
Black Mountains OF Western North
Carolina and until within a very
few years past, was comparatively
unknown, owing to lack of railroad
connections, but energy. enterprise
and local pride have opened it to
the country. Now it promises to
be one of the most prominent re-
sorts of the South. The Western
North Carolina Railroad has execu-
ted through these mountains diff
cult and elaborate problems of en-
gineering skill. The climbing of
the ascents from Old Fort to Swan
nanoa tunnel is accomplished by
the most startling features of tun-
mel, trestle and grade, the last va
rying from go to 115 feet per mile
amid a.region not SO wild and rugged
as the CatskiIls or the White Moun-
tains, but serene, restful and beau
tiful, clothed with verdure so pro-
life that flowers and vegetation
grow to the top Of every peak.
This belt of country stands alone
in point of climatic salubrity, as you
can very well realize upon consulting
Denison's Climatic Maps, made
for the United States Government,
Here it will be seen that in winter
especially there is but a single belt
of land west of 95 degrees of lopgi-
tude, which comes up to the stand
ard of moderate moisture, and this
belt, almost twenty-five miles wide
and one hundred and fifty miles
long, extends from Asheville north
east into Virginia.
In this delightful and progressive
little town, located upon a lovely
plateau between the Blue Ridge and
the Alleghenies,. is old Battery Por-
ter, so named during the war from
earthworks erected by the Confeder-
ates. Here in the midst of an en-
closure made by the Notifications il
located the Battery Park Hotel,
built by Colonel Frank Coke, oi
Philadelphia, kinsman of Senator
Eckley B. Coke and vice president oil
the w WesternN North Carolina Railroad
For miles In every direction from
Mount Mitchell to Caesars Head
| the hotel commands charming and
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