The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1903-09-02
VERSATILE NORTH CAROLINA.
She Will Show a Unique Hunters
Lodge, a Tree 500 Years Old,
Diamonds and Precious
Stones.

| UEanl0n1S anl TFeCtOuS
Stones.
A hunters lodge, aboInding with
trophies of the chase, standing where
( the product of forest and stream meet,
will be one Of North Carollnas attrac-
tive features in that States exhibit
in the Palace Of Forestry, Fish and
Game at the Jniversal Exposition of
1904, at St. Louis. There will be
other exhibits, equally valuable, in
the Agriculture, Horticulture, Mines
and Manufactures departments, but
no one will appeal to all clases more
than the hunters lodge and its SCR
roundings
The hunters lodge will be typical
structure standing In the center OF
large parallelogram prominently
situated in the Forestry Palace. On
the one side will be the forestry fea-
lures, and on the other will be the
natural history display, the lodge being
On neutral ground, and partak1ng of
all the characteristic of both. North
Carolina timbers wik be used IN the
construction of the lodge. The floors
Will be covered with rugs made from
the skins of animals slain in the North
Carolina forests and mountains. The
walls will be decorated with mounted
specimens Of all the wild animals and
birds that are to befound in the State,
whose extreme length is 503L miles,
and whose greatest breadth is lS71a
miles, extending from the Atlantic
ocean west to the Smoky mountains
that separate it from Tennessee. The
streams of the mountain, forest and
ocean all contribute fish from their
waters TO enrich the exhibit. They
are beautifully mounted and used for
decorative purposes, and appear as
natural as when they. were in their
element.
In { great hollow tree in front of
the Lodge, the visitor may takeSa peep
and see the den Of an opossum with
the dam surrounded by her young.
The taxidermist has faithfully treated
his subject, and it is difficult to con-
ceive that the animals, in their various
attitudes are not really alive.
The wall and ceilings are decorated
with the weapons used in the chase,
and the tackle used for catching fish.
The bows and arrows used by the In
dians before the advent of the white
men with his more deadly rife and
shot gun, are artistiealy grouped with
the arms used by modern hunters. Sus-
peaded from the high ceiling are the
seines and other apparatus, while on
the walls are rods and fishing outfits
Of all periods. In the center of the
lodge is desk and chairs, and eozy
corners abound in all parts.
When Columbus discovered America
IN 1892, there stood in mountain
gorge in Cherokee County. North
Carolina, tulip poplar tree that was
then 400 years old. For four more
centuries it grew and fourished, and
was recently felled in order that it
might enter into an exhibit for the
Wosld's Fair at st. Louis. The great
tree was thirteen feet in diameter at
the base when it was cut. The gorge
in which it grew was SO inaccessible,
being forty miles from a railroad, that
it vas imprac5icabla to obtain Sec
ton near the base. Forty feet up,
where the tree was little more than
six feet in diameter, a disk was cut.
This has been polished, and will oc-
cnpy place in front of the hunters
lodge. On the polished disk has been
engrayen the important historical
events of the Old North State from
the time that Sir Walter Raleigh,
the gallant cavalier from Queen Eliz-
abeth's court, took possession Of the
land in his soyereign's name on July
1854, through the colonial days,
during the revolution and up to the pre-
sent time. Another section Of the
wonderful old tree will stand like a
monument in the forestry exhibit. It
is ten feet. high. a portion has been
dressed, polished and vanished, while.
the lower portion is covered with the
bark. Other trees are shown In equal
" attractive and in different forms.
North Carolina, occupying COM
mon ground between the tropical
growth of tine South and the hardy
products Of the northern attitudes, pro-
duces crops of almost endless varieties.
In the eastern part of the State the
soil is mostly of alluvial formation,
and Gotten. corn, tobacco, peanuts
and potatoes are leading products.
;SGCuS lIUiGS auO pears, Sluc1l1 tiu4to
and garden products yield abundantly..
Toward the mountain region of the
west, corn, wheat, rye, oats hay,
apples, sorghum and buckwheat are
always profitable crops. All of these
will be drawn upon to make complete
exhibit fer the agriculture and horti-
culture departments. But it is IN the
tobacco exhibit that North Carolina
will take an especially commanding
part in the great universal exhibit of
tobacco, arranged for the Palace Of
Agriculture by Chief Taylor and Su-
perintendent of Special Exhibits
Thomas Il Bruner, who is a native
North Carolinian, and for sixteen
years Secretary of the State Board Of
Agriculture. With her annual pro-
duction of l27, ,ooo,c00 pounds of to-
bacco, she is easily the second State
in the Union in tue quantity produced,
and in quality no State is her superior.
North Carolina will also make a
commanding display in the Palace of
Mines and Metallurgy Mr.. j. A.
Holmes the Chief of tho Depa rtrnent