The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1890-06-15

have Land sale and presto. an adj
dition to the urban wealth of the State
is materialized.
Within two hundred miles of Chat
tanooga over fifty towns. established
and visionary, are now having booms
What wonderful things these boomS
are The Kansas boomer is nothing
to the Tennessee, Georgia and Ala
bama gentleman of the same ilk. The
man who used to sit on the top rail OF
the fence whittlinga stick and drown
ing bugs in the road with tobacco
Juice, now haunts the hotels, figures
on town lots and dreams of millions.
The man who comes from the East
with his pockets jingling with gold.
meets trader us shrewd as himself
A Georgia cracker. who has aban-
doned his goober peas for town lot
booms can see dollar Us far OIL rs the
! keenest-eyed Connecticut trader, anu
he will sell the stranger town lot OF
the wooden nutmeg variety with as
little compunction as Baxter street
roper-in would give you Il bad fit.
| But it is not my purpose TO talk
about the wonderful change that has
come over the South. nor is it at all
necessary to refer to the advantages
this section possesses over the Older
and more settled portions Of the
country. Eloquent orators and YER
satile writers have done that.
The material development OF the
South is an assured result. With what
| p mill itnrrnvp and fh.. nor
manency of the improvements we will
see. Just now it is interesting to
look at the methods employed 10
build up the South.
Thoughtful observers, who are now
watching the lightning like transfor-
nations. are in doubt. Conservatives
deplore the excitement and the TIM
orous are in dread. Political econo-
mi5ts look wise, vent abstract and alb
struse opinions, inflated with the
pomposity of the booms they discuss,
and the question remains unanswered
The only individual who Slories In it
all is the boomer, the optimistic Coz
onel Sellers, who gloats over the mi
race in the Southern sky and counts
his future millions. That there are
millions here, in these hills and val
leys. no one denies. No richer coun,
try is on the face of the earth, and
ere long it will be producing Its
wealth.
The people in the East have heard
and read of the booms down here, but
the faintest conception Of the reality
cannot be obtained by hearsay nor by
reading. One has to see it, to feel it
to be carried along with the rush and
swirl.
Within three weeks there have
been founded three towns in thi:
vicinity and two more are to be
launched upon the sea of speculation
this week. Little hamlets that have
existed for years in slumberous soil
itude have had and are having awak,
eninrs of whirlwipd velocity. Bras:
bands blow, streamers fly and mer
and women whoop it up The cotton
crop. the corn crop, the potato patch
yes and the moonshine still are laiC
by. -.
1t is all iron, it is all coal and it il
ali town lots. Iron and coal IS every
where about and where there is irof
and coal the idea seems to be tina
there must be towns. So towns arr
being founded to suit. These. towns
are not inhabited yet, but they vii
be by and by. Soon the valleys o
the South will be dotted with towns
rs numerous as the stars i'll the end
less hollow of the empyrean.
So the boomers say, and so the Col
onel Sellerses believe.
r
Millions of Eastern and European
capital have been invested in this sec
ton since the Birmingham fever CAV
an impetus to the development Of TIN
mineral section. Most of those invest