The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1888-02-02
The Foundations Of Decatur Laid
Wisely and Well.
The Large City Projected at the Start
Rapidly Assuming Proportions.

revealed to him that the sceptre of
in dustrial supremacy was about to
depart from New England forever
and would be swayed by southern
hands.
Already had the transition be-
gun but it was doubtful where the
sceptre would be planted. Bir-
and Chattanooga and An
niston and Sheffield and Nashville
and Atlanta where in the lists for
it and the issue was IN doubt.
A point was needed possessing
all the advantages of each of these
cities, and Maj. Gordon's prophetic
Judgment selected Decatur. Imme-
diately the world saw 1t. He had
only to reveal his scheme and CAPT
tai and men rushed to his assis-
lance, and the work began. Here
was found concentrated all the ele-
ments of metropolitan supremacy.
(a) Perfect railroad connections
in competition.
~ River transportation.
(c) Centrally located with respect
to iron and coal.
Id Central headquarters of a
magnificent agricultural scope.
(e) Natural trade center for q
hundred miles.
ID Centrally situated as a sup
ply point for wholesale distribution
of manufactured products.
(g) Natural converge of southern
railroad system, resultant.
These primal facts were the ba-
sis rpon which the scheme. was
originated. How exactly and rap
idly they are working out the re-
suits predicted is known Of all men
and constitutes one of the latter
day seven wonders. Starting upon
this, $500 acres of land in body,
exclusive of old Decatur and of an
other large body which lies contig-
uous, were bought and laid out in
lots and streets, and the work OF
sewering, grading, curbing, piking,
excavanng, building, begun and
proceeded with rush unpreeedentz.
ed in the south, and in one short
year cotton fields are transformed
into pcpulsr thoroughfares.
This is just the beginning of
the city, howeyer. Gordon and
Bond, Roquemore and their asso-
ciates did not start out to build a
large town nor a small city. 25,-
900 people will not cover the ground
they have laid out. In one year
they haye accumulated manufac-
turing plants that will pecessitate
the existence of at least $4,000 peo-
pie there, but this is only the be-
ginning. The city already laid out
covers at least 10000 acres, all told,
AM. they have wisely arranged SO
that there shall be no limit TO its
expansion.
Did the reader eyer think of it in
this light: Some OF the shrewdest
men in this country, north and
south, have bet hundreds of thou
sands of dollars on Decatur being q
metropolis; large number ofthe
largest and richest manufacturing
corporations in the world have bet
millions on Decatur being a metrop-
oils; the largest and richest car
building establishments in the coun-
try have bet millions on Decatur
being a metropolis; hundred and
hundreds OF the shrewdest and
smartest capitalists and specula
tors and builders and business men
in the union are betting thousands
of dollars every day that Decatur
will be metropolis. They bet On
Decatur when they stick their mon
ey there.
Geo. M.Pullman, the great palace
car builder, the most conspicuously
successful man in the northwest,
bets his millions on Decatur and
and stakes his fortunes there in his
announced determination to build
his shops there.
The L. & n. R. R. Co. in loca-
ting their southern shops there bet
100000 on Decatur. This week
they announce themselves ready to
employ 500 men in their new shops
just building small town added
IN one day.
A northwestern man bet big
sum on Decatur last week in max
ing a contract to build 70 resi-
deHces at once.
tbs cotton compress company
bet $4,000 that Decatur would be
a cotton center by building a COM
press with capacity of IS bales an
hour.
The Decatur Land Go. itself bet
$4,000 that Decatur would be a
metropolis by taking every cent of
the income from sales and spending
it on the streets and sewers, etc.
The hundreds of pushing, rush
ing, headlong, daring men, who are
wading through the red mud down
there day and night and spending
their money and their time and
their energies, have bet their all
that Decatur will be a metropolis.
The judgment of the world is that
Decatur is to be metropolis. No
man who goes there and sees the
great rushing course of events that
are sweeping her rapidly on to-
wards this result dares to dispute
the logic of all these facts.
There are enough men aud
enough money there now to make
city and every day adds more.
They cannot afford to let it go back
even if it were possible. But il
cannot go back. Its foundation s
are laid both sure and steadfast.
Nothing short of some such sweep
ing obliteration as that which bu-
ried Pompii, OFT the tabled plague
that decimated the City of Kor, can
check Decatur's progress.
Founded upon such bases, backed
by such an accumulation of energy
and brains and money, shs reaches
after the Sceptre of Industrial Su
pyemacy Her talisman is Diversified
Manufactures. Heie will assemble
all manner of tradesmen and work
ingmen and factorymen, each pro-
dueipg his own separate material
each using the material of his
neighbor, each the others patron
and consumer, and thus the crude
material passes from stage to stage
until it is worked to the finest pos