The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1896-01-08
Letter from AshvllIe, n. c.

Ashville is situated on a range of the
Blue Ridge Mountains, in the western
part of the State, and is the county seat
Jf Buncombe county. 1t is the only town
Of importance in range of seventeen
counties. It's altitude is about 1900 feet
and population about 1900, of which
pne-third are colored people. The re.
sources are agriculture aud numbering,
tobacco being the principal product.
Its principal revenue comes from health
seekers, as IL is one of the most mDor-
tant health resorts in the country. Its
location might be said TO be between the
North and South, for il is winter resort
for northern people and summer re-
sort Tor sontherners. From the railway
station TO Court House square is mile
and quarter, all up grade. The court
house, with small public park in front
Of il, is on q mound and is considered the
center of the city.
The streets are all up and down hill
and there are scarcely two that run par
allel or at right angles with one-anOther.
| A number of the streets are paved with
brick and the city h IS the advantage of a
| good system of electric street cars. Some
Of the business places look to be from
| fifty to one hundred years behind the
| times, but most of them are modern.
| There are five banks and there are sew
eral fine large hotels in and around the
city. The Battery Park house is the
| largest, having a capacity of about 500
| guests. This Is the hotel at which Geo.
| w. Vanderbilt stopped the ~inter he be-
| came infatuated with this climate and de-
rided to invest in the large amount OF
| real estate he now possesses in this State.
People say that winter happened to be
the finest the Oldest inhabitant had ex-
| perienced.
| LAUNDERING is carried on quite extern
| qiuaiu Tho TNrinainal tinhnr ia WallnyN
pine, white oak and poplar. All farm
| produce is cheap except potatoes. They
| sell at eighty cents per bushel now and
| apples as fine as / ever saw, sell ut forty
cents per bushel. All goods brought
| here by rail are high; the merchants
claim on account of freight rates being
h gh, there being only one road-The
| Southern.
| Business of all kinds seems to be good.
Real estate is a little higher than in towns
of like size in Pennsylvania and rents
| are about twenty-five percent more.
| Common labor, mostly colored, is from
ninety cents to one dollar per day.
| The Vanderbilt estate, or, properly
speaking, Baltimore, which is located
about five miles from here, is a thing of
no little importance to this part of the
| country. 1t is owned l am told by Geo
| w. Vanderbilt, who is but thirty-iour
wears old and unmarried. 1t comprises
| about 2S.000 acres Of land. He is just
completing a mansion which is said to
have cost Sl5, 100000 We had the pleas
ure of gazing on this mammoth but beau
tiful piece of masonery few days ago
and for our part we would not care tC
take il at that price. However, it is a
most magnificent structure. The whole
outside, including stables, is of sawed
| ~tone-brought from the State of Indiana
with elaborate and expensive carved
| trimmings. The inside of the stables are
furnished with enameled brick I'm orted
from England. AS for the inside finish
of the mansion proper we are not in d
position TO state for our observations
were from the outside only. The lawns
and hanging rardens are something won
derful. Their magnitude may be imag-
ned when we know that it took from
seven to eight hundred teams one year
"a prepare them and the sight tor the
mansion. When we stood and looked
over these expensive grounds, turned
and sized up the elaborate palace, with
its four hundred rooms and eighty-five
servants, and the stables with twenty
five or thirty head of the finest bloodec
stock and thought that all this was fol
the conf rt and pleasure of one man, we
wondered at the discrimination in the
distribution ofthe so-called world goods
Christmas in Ashville was cloudy, bu
almost as warm as summer day IL
Pennsylvania. 1t was observed the sam,
as the Fourth of July, except the PAL ade
in the morning. | think there were more
fireworks exploded than in northern
cities, according tn the size of the place
some OF the churches had Christmas fes.
tivities in the evening.
f. NJ. MORGAN.
AsHvILLE, n. c., Dec. q, 1895,