The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1899-05-11
Eastern North Carolina.
A SECTION RICH IN NATURAL RE.
SOURCES.
Comparatively Unknown as to the
Extent of Its Seacoast. the Wealth
of Its Water Products, the Fertility
of its Soil, the Value of its Tlmbers
and the Possibilities of Its Future.
(New Bern JOurnal.)

ana the POSSIBILITIES OF Its Future.
(New Bern JOurnal.)
Probably there is no section of the
South which is SO little known or un-
derstood as Eastern North Carolina
From Brunswick county on the
South to Currituck county on the
North, there is sea coast of over
four hundred miles and between
these two counties there is vast
field open for new enterprises.
How many people, comparatively,
know that Eastern North Carolina
possesses at the port Of Wilmington
a great deep water harbor for vessels
drawing "a feet can cross the bar,
and inside at Southport there is an
anchorage of three miles long and
of mile in width, perfectly land
locked, with a water depth of from 25
to 60 feet, while up the Cape Fear
river to Wilmington, 80 miles. there
is water depth of 81 feet for vessels?
The counties of Onslow, Jones,
Craven, Pamlico, Carteret, Dare.
Hyde, Lenoir, Pitt and Beaufort, are
known as the Pamlico section, and of
| these New Bern is the central point
as from this city the counties named
can be most easily reached by rail or
boat. The Importance of New Bern
can be seen from the quantity and
variety of it's shi pments; cotton,
shingles, lumber, cotton seed oil and
meal, canned goods-chiefly oysters,
furniture, woods, potatoes, fresh and
salted fish, vegetables, spring market
truck and melons. Not less than
eighty varieties of salt water and
fresh water fish have been seenDat
New Bern, all taken from neighbor-
ing waters, and this product of the
sea has been supplemented by nine
teen varieties of oysters, besides an
assortment of clans, crabs, escallops,
mussels, terrapins. More than
seventy-five thousand packages of
fish, packed in ice go out from New
Bern and Morehead City every year
and the shipments of truck during
the season from New Bern amount in
value anywhere from two hundred
and fifty thousand to one half million
dollars.
The lumber and the timber in
terests in this section can be ap-
preciated when it is said that within
sight of New Bern there are over
fifteen saw mills running, whose joint
output of dressed and undressed lum-
ber will reach in the neighborhood OF
one hundred million feet a year. In
addition to these saw mills, within a
,L ls,%a <>th
whose annual shipment must reach
twenty five million feet. OF the
varieties of furniture and economic
woods there are not less than eighty
varieties to be found.
There is no part of the Atlantic
Coast where cereals, grasses, vege'
tables, fruits. melons, and root crops
can be more easily and abundantly
raised than in the Pamlico section
Soils are of great diversity, and O
every degree of fertility from the
black muck of the drained swamp tC
the white sands of the beach dunes
Fruit culture is becoming lucra
tive industry of the Palmico section
because fruits, grapes, berries ant
vegetables mature earlier in Eastern
North Carolina than they do in Ne"
Jersey and Delaware. Already i'm
portant fruit orchards and farms will
standard seedlings and cuttings ar
in operation in Onslow and Cartere
| counties, with many smaller enter
3 prises scattered throughout the sec
tion.
Tobacco growing within the las
r year or two has made many gains
The farmers find this crop to be
most profitable one. In Onslow
Jones, Craven and Pamlico, land tina
has formerly been planted in cotto
} is now being put into tobacco. Th
soil in these counties has bee
. found to produce special kind
} tobacco, of the bright yellow or lemo
wrapper variety. AS an instance c
? the profit in growing tobacco. Ian
t which could not be sold at $500 pc
' acre, in it's first tobacco year. pre-
r duced crop which sold at 5000 a
! acre, and land of better soil has pro
7 duced tobacco valued at from 5000 t
$4OO an acre.
The natural facilities for cattl
raising in the Pamlico section ar
now being largely taken advantag
of. A mild climate, exemption fror
q serious insect pests, nutritious forag
in great variety. and proximity
L market. Grazing lands are cheap, an
fences can be furnished at small cos
Cattle raising has already grown ;
: such an extent that the local market
are supplied with beef, while whol
: train loads of beef cattle have bee
y shipped to Northern markets.
Eastern North Carolina is d
lightful section for the tourist
visit, not only in winter, but also
n summer. In winter its temperatuI
. is mild, and snow md ice are rar
). In summer it's sea coast resorts ne;
Wilmington, Morehead City, Ma:
Head are thronged with visitors fro
2 this and adjacent States. In wint'
the sportsman finds in Eastern Mort
Carolina a paradise. Bear. dee
foxes and birds will keep him o
4 cupied; while in fishing from Il
| fresh water streams to the de-
water off the coast there is no lin
v to these sports.
o Eastern North Carolina offers :
e /. immense field and profitable oil
5 for men with money and energy.
e the many square miles Of wat
It which bound it there is hidd
l. wealth, which needs only the effo
d to be made salabie, and bring rich l
IS turns to those who seek it. L
le lands of Eastern North Carolina of
d | opportunities for every kind of indr
e trial work. The mild weather en-
Of bles the farmer to work twelve mont
in the year. 1t reduces his fuel b
to an inconsiderable item. 1t dc
te away with the necessity of hea
IS o}ot h;pr and many dRher expens