Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1890-03-06
Resources OF the South.
Correspondence Camp News, Phila-
dolphia, Pa,

WALhALEA, ,. u, February TO-
1t is a matter of no little wonder to
me why more Northern capital is
not placed in tho markets of the
South for speculation. Alabama has
made wonderful progress in the last
few years, and all because q fow
capitalists found out what the South
ern people have known for years
that coal and iron is sccrcted there
in great abundance. Birmingham
is magnificent city, with grand
future before her, with tho great
manufacturing interests that are
being developed by Northern capt
tai. What is true of Alabama is
true of the Piedmont belt, running
through North and South Carolina
Let me give you some idea Of the
resources of Oconee county, South
Carolina, that the majority of your
readers never heard of.
There is enough iron in the Blue
Ridge mountains to supply hundreds
OF iron foundcrics, and magnetic iron
is found in several localities. Gold
abounds, and it is the opinion of
men who have paid the subject deep
attention that, with the modern
facilities of gold mining, it could be
made to pay. Corundum, one of.
the hardest metallic substances
known, rs we'll as black lead, marble,
slate, kaolin, fcllspar and lime, the
latter in great abundance and of
superior quality, are to be found.
Here then is field for operations on
a grand scale, as the iron alone
would yield a big return. Granite
quares are found also, that could
be purchased at great bargain.
Water power is almost always found
in mountainous regions, and this is
no exception to the rule. When
you consider that four-ffths of this
country is virgin forest, you can
gain an idea of what land can be
bought for. Aero after acre of the
finest timber land can be bought Tor
from $1.50 to $500 per acre, and
for this alone there is fortune for
somebody. 1t is tougher and of
closer texture than that grown in
cold regions, and hence moro valua-
bic. There arc ten varieties of oak,
three of ash, two of locust, two Of
hickory, sycamore, wild cherry,
gum, dogwood, black and sweet bass,
beech, birch, yellow, white, and
pitch pine, chestnut, cucumber, elm,
hemlock, spruce, maple, linn and
poplar. Ii these forests alone this
country has a vast wealth. Not
furniture manufactory nor a wooden
ware factory exists, and the farmers
send off to distance for their bar
rels and casks, and this in spite of
the fact that several distilcrics arc
in flourishing condition in the
county.
If all these favorable conditions
exist, why don't the Southerners
themselves develop them, is most
common inquiry to make. Well,
there are a number of reasons. Be-
fore the war the Southerncr was a
planter and his wealth consisted of
slaves. After tho war the country
was paralyzed, and as they recovered
they thought they could do nothing
but raise cotton. Cereals were only
side issue, and now that a South
ICarolinian has proved to the world,
by raising the prize acre Of corn, in
competition with the entire Union,
that this favored climate has won
derful resources for cereals, it is to
be hoped that more attention will be
paid to rotation of crops, and a
speciality of something besides cot
ton attempted. The West with its
billiards., and its corn selling for
fifteen or twenty-five cents bushcl,
can never compete with South Caro-
lima with it's mild weather the year
round, and corn "orth from fifty TO
scvcnty-five cents bushcl, if once
they awake to the fact at the South.
The prevalent idea at the North is
that it is impossible to exist here in
the summer months, when the fact
of the matter is, the summer nights
arc much more cndurablc than at the
North. I was here all through Sep
tcmbcr, and it was warm month,
yet there was not night that cover
ing was not acceptable and needed
after retiring. The sun is hot, and
no mistake, but it is a dry heat and
not the moist, stickey heat that is so
unbcarablc. The thermometer
,.or ro1 a, roonh,, <,,o I,,,I,nl