The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-11-16
b STATISTICS.


Facts Cleaned From the Annual Report of
heS States Csmmissioner Of Labor.
(special Correspondence.)
Raleigh, N. c.. November II.
The repor Of the commissioner Of
labor statistics gives some interesting
insights into various industries in
North Carolina. The chapter on cot
ton mills has already been reviewed.
That on wooden mills says that while
In 1870 there were 81 establishments en-
gagged in the manufacture Of wooden
fabrics, they operated only 2,S0S spin
dies, while now there are only Is. but
they have 234 looms and 5,O38 spindIes.
There are besides n wool carding
mills; making a total Of 36. These are
located In Is western and middle coun-
ties and one eastern county. -Four
make blankets.
The chapter on says this
mineral 10 found in considerable guam
titles in Burke, Catawba, Cleveland.
Castor, Lincoln, Mcdowell, Polk and
Rutherford. Its value consists in the
1ncandescent properties of the oxides
OF the rare earths 1t contains One of
these, thorium, is used in the manufac-
ture OF the Welsbach gas burner: an
other, oerium, by druggists. Monazite
mining IL quite new, and in several of
the above named counties become an
important industry, employing several
thousand persons But suddenly the
business ceased with startling abrupt
ness, this being due to the importa-
ton Of the monazite- bearing sand from
Brazil as ships ballast, at prices so
low that competition was impossible,
n hence there was immediate paral-
ysis Of the new industry. In 1887 the
price was as high as Is cents a pound,
while for inferior grades it was as
low as 3 cents. But owing to the de-
cline 1t ranged from 6 to 10 cents in
1S94-5 congress at it's last session,
through the efforts Of Senator Pritch-
ard, imposed a duty of s cents per
pound and it Is expected that as soon
as the large stock of Brazilian san
now in this country is exhausted there
will be a decided advance in prices and
a revival of work in the North Caro-
lima mines. In 1895 this state produced
SAC, S55 pounds, which sold for $50, 1913.
Kaolin is another product Of i'm
p%ortance. 1t is said to have been min
ed soon after the settlement Of this
state by the Cherokee Indians, carried
to the coast and shipped to Europe for
use in the manufacture of porcelain
and china. 1t is now mined on a con-
siderable scale in Jackson county, and
after washing and dying is shipped to
the Dotteries at Trenton, N. j., and
other points. Near Webster, in jack
son county, there is one vein which is
nearly 200 feet in thickness, and which
has been traced almost a mile. The
kaolin in this vein is mined from a
depth of from 6 to 12O feet.
There is q passing allusion to brick
and tile clays. At Grover, Cleveland
county, vitriied brick are being made
of clay taken from nearby beds.
A very interesting chapter is that OF
the lumber industry of eastern North
Carolina. The commissioner says that
while in 1880 the products of all the
lumber mills in the state amounted to
only 241, Sz2, 900 feet, and the value OF
all its wood products to only $2,672, 1876,
in the eastern counties alone in 1898
the increase was so great that in for
ty-two of them there were 322 mills,
with an output Of 452, $50, 900 feet, and a
capacity no less han GA, 000, 900 feet
annually. These mills sawed 1913, 00(
shingles, AZ Of the 1872 being exclusively
for shingles The value of the output
"a 81, SIS, zoo. The timber chiefly use6
for lumber was loblolly pine an6
long-leaf pine, and cypress and juni-
per (white eedar) for shingles. Some
ash and yellow poplar were cut. The
savannah and short-leaf pine are in
cluded under the name loblolly. Since
1898 the increase has been large and
steady, and h lumber industry nov
ranks ~ n OF the greatest in the
eastern counties. In order to show thu
number Of men employed, and the out.
put of the mills of different sizes, to.
gether with the principal kinds of tim
Der sawed, the labor bureau HAIRS Sc
lected Is mills. located in Is counties
with capacity ranging from 5000 t
10000 feet daily. The Is show an an
nual output Of 40, 075, 900 feet, of which
IA. $40, 0e0 were of pine, and employ LAT.
men.
Facts and figures as to the lumber in
dustry in the western part Of the stat'
are much more difficult to obtain. It i
not nearly 80 large as in the east but i
yet quite important. In round number
this industry in the section east o
Raleigh II said to represent something
like 81, oeo, ~.
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