The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1890-09-11
ROANOKE LANDS.
4 GREAT FACTOR IN THE
WEALTH OF THE
STATE.
THEIR VALUE UNTOLD, AS yIEwEI
BY \ WISE WESTERN NORTH
CAROLINIAN.
{ (Ashcvillc DemOcrat.)

before your readers in the West, and
everywhere else it is possible to
make impression, the claims of some
Of our Eastern brethren for aid; at
all events, for sympathy, IN their
efforts to restore to it's original pros
3uctivene5s and value large body
Of river lands, once of enormous
agricultural Importance; now, from
the decay and disappearance of the
works that once protected them, re-
turning only precarlous reward to in
vestment and industry.
refer to the lands along the low
er Roanoke river, the most extensive
and continuously fertile that border
any Of the rivers in this State; now,
by exposure to annual, or more fire.
quent, overflow, so uncertain in their
returns as to dishearten the most
san2uine hopes and discourage the
most indomitable energies once
protected aud secured by combined
local effort, now, with the destruction
Of the original labor system, unable
to oppose to the overwhelming forces
of nature the feeble resistance of
private, unassociated, unaided OPP
position to the constantly reCurrin 9
assaults Of the rising waters.
The Roanoke river is the largest
and longest river which has its
course almost wholly IN North Caro-
lima; the only one rising in she Blue
Ridge which reaches the Atlantic.
It's drainage within the State is about
1000 square miles. Ia its course it
gathers large body Of water fro n
its upper tributaries, the Dan, the
Staunton, Mayo, Smiths, HVco and
other rivers. These, in their upper
courses, are swift and broad streams,
in their swelIings from heavy rains
spreading themselves over b -oad low
grounds with diminished currents,
and subsidlng without serious injury
to the adj AGENT lands. These foods
bring down with them enormous
qualities Of alluvium, which is
swept onward over the rapids which
continue until the falls at Weldon
are passed; and then, as the cur
rent is retarded, 1t Is deposited, as it
has been, on either side, until on
either bank, down to the approach
of the river to its entrance into
Albemarle Sound, body Of land
has been created that is not surpass
1 ed by the fecundity OF the valley OF
the Nile or the exuberant richness
of the Mississippi bottoms.
= But below tbs falls at Weldon the
channel of the river is sensibly mar.
rowed, the waters are compressed
within more restricted compass, and
i the immense columns of flood tba,
) are pressed forward with impetuous
tumult from the country above, are
/ forced to find relief when so restrict
Z ed by invading the contiguous bot
toms. These bottoms early infam
l ed the ambition ana challenged the
, enterprise of agricultural venture.
y If they could he reclaimed, if they
could be protected, if the waters
could be repeIle1 in time of food
" tten no anticipation could be too ex
= travagant in the calculation of re
\ turns. And SO it proved in expert
- ence. In time, wealthy planters
with unlimited command Of slave
labor, obtained possession of th,
> river lands. They had no competi
tors for occupation, for wealth anC
~ labor conld alone conquer condition:
~ as they existed. The great planter
- Of Northampton and Bertie on tdt
north side of the river, of Halifa,
and Martin on the South, combined
their energies and their forces to re
pei the floods by the erection of sue
system Of levees as guard th
plantations along the lower Miss
issippi and with such success tina
> on no lands along the Atlantic slop
were such exuherant crops Of cor
and wheat produced. Cotton did no
enter largely into the agricultura
o. system, but the grains above name
& were produced so largely and wit
such rich returns as to bring a
annual fortune to the planter:
Harvests of 10000 bushels of whea
were not the infrequent reward c
each plantation; and corn was pro
duced in such quantities as to just
fy, III fact compel, the use by eac
le planter Of his own schooner, Ioade
d. at his own landing to transport hi
Y crop to the markets of Norfolk
Y. Baltimore or New York.