The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1895-10-08
EXPOSITION.
The "Chicago of the South"--:The Gov
ernmen Exhibit to Excel That at
Chicago--BuiIding and Exhibit
of the Southern Railway.

eminent Exhibit to Exec That at
Chicago--Building and Exhibit
of the Southern Railway.
! CORRESPONDENCE of the Progressive Farmer.
The most important event Of the cur
rent year to this country, and especially
to the South, and still more especially
to the city of Atlanta and the State of
Georgia, is the Cotton States and In
ternational Exposition which was
formally opened at Atlanta, Ga on
the 18Th day of September and will
close on the S1st day of D 9cember.
That a Southern city of about 40, 900
| population should have the enterprise
and pubic spirit, no to say the temer-
ity, to undertake, almost single handed,
an enterprise SO wide in it's scope, SO
mammoth in it's proportions and re,
curing such an outlay of money as to
richly entitle it to the designation of
international" in the face of a uni
versal commercial depression and
financial panic, and that Atlanta, Ga.
which was left but little more than a
HO@P Va ASAO dAN Su4Ou4OCE4IR EuluSs
with its population of 10, 900 scattered
and homeless by Sherman's army,
when it took up it's famous March to
the Sea-" should be that city, it is not
surprising that the first suggestions of
such an enterprise we're received with
general mjsgiving and that even the
Southern States and cities counselled
against it, aud were slow to come to
the assistance of a sister city in an I'M
dertakIng which at such a time was re-
garded as hazardous in the extreme
and too mammoth to promise even a
measurable degree of accomplishment.
A visit to Piedmont Park, however,
about two miles north of the enter of
Atlanta, will diepel every doubt of the
realiz alton of a degree of success sur,
passi0g the most sanguine expectations
IF the projectors of the Cotton States
and international Exposition.
Fir m the roof garden of the new and
modern "Aragon Hotel" which. occu-
pies the highest hill in this hill city, a
magnificent panoramic view Of the
city and its surroundings is afforded.
All around you, spread owe hills and
valleys, just sufficiently pronounced to
afford pleasing variety to the topog
raphy, is the compact, we'll built,
hus5ling Chicago of the South, Gate
City OF the South, Atlanta, with it's
wealth Of we'll paved streets and ave
nues, laid out apparently regardless of
rule or plan, which join the m acadam
lied roads that lead through the pic
tureeque suburbs to the rich farming
lands beyond.
There is an appearance of solidity,
grandeur and beauty in her public
buildings, her hundred churches, her
seminaries, colleges. numerous public
school houses, her Henry Grady Hos
pital, her stores and private houses,
suggestive Of abundant building mate
rial near by, and looking away to the
east, fourteen miles across the foothills,
the famous Stone Mountain looms up,
a solid mountain of granite, where i'm
mense quarries r operated now, but
where, thirty years ago, grim visaged
var held sway and thousands were
! slain, and their blood trickled over the
rugged, granite sides of Stone Noun
tain.
In looking ove these lovely hills and
valleys, clad in the gladness of South
ern verdure and yielding abundantly
to the hand Of the happy husbandman,
it Is difficult to realize that 1T was ever
the thehter of war, aud that the soil
was literally soaked with fraternal
blood.
In such an undertaking the question
OF transportation is one of natural
prominence, and every person in any
wise interested in this exposition, every
person proposing to become an exhib-
itor or a visitor has doubtless pro
pounded the inquiry, whether the
Southern railroads are equal to the
emergency of handling the enormous
travel and traffic to and from Att anita
during the period of the exposition.
This question of course has long since
been answered to their satisfaction by
the Committee on transportation of
the Atlanta Fair; but for the benefit of
many who acquired their knowledge
of the railroads of the South during a
period Of ten or fifteen years succeed
ing the close of the war, perhaps it
will be we'll to say that no comparison
can bs we'll drawn between the miser-
able apologies for railroads in the
South during that period, with the
! really snlendid roadbeds and equip