The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-05-21
Getting to Be an Import
ant Railroad Centre.
MOVES IN EDUCATION
The Industrial and Manufacturing Ex'
pansion of Dover Has Made 1t
.0ne Of the Most Important
Points On the "MuIlet" Rail
road.
road.
Editorial Correspondence

Editorial Correspondence
Dover, N. c., May 19.-Fifteen
years ago deer ranged where now
stands the town of Dover, and a dozen
years ago there were not q dozen
houses in the place. Today Dover
is the residence place of about one
thousand people. 1t has several manu-
featuring plants representing invest
ments amounting to nearly a million
dollars. Two railroads afford it the
best of transportation facilities and
score of prosperous stores draw trade
from three counties. A fourishing
school and the spires of churches at
of business the finer side of life is
not neglected. The streets are light
ed by electricity, many of the resi-
dences are supplied with waterworks,
and communication among the in
habitants of the town and with the
outside world is facilitated by local
ana long distance telephones.
The story of Dover is the story of
factories, for the most potent element
in its wonderful development has been
the establishment there of manufac-
turing industries. giving employment
to large number of men. In this
respect Dover is worthy of study by
every community in North Carolina,
possessing natural advantages not to
be found in other parts of the coun-
try.
Until the early COS Dover was only
n flag stop on the Atlantic and North
Carolina Railroad with no regular
agent. the place being marked by
small shanty used as a freight depot
and two or three cabins. 1t is doubt
ed if 4 dozen passengers got off and
on the train at this point during the
month Then, the Goldsboro Lumber
Company, which was organized in
Goldsboro in 1883, moved to Dover
and started up there q mill. At first
il was a circular mill with a capacity
of about $4,000 feet per day, but as
timber was abundant in that imme-
diate section and demand for the out
put was constantly increasing, and at
good prices, the mill began to run
night and day with an output of from
5000 to 5000 feet every "a hours.
Still the business of the company
grew and ten years later a band mill
was put in-with two Thanksgiving
the mill a capacity of from 65, 900 to
$4,000 feet per day. This meant a
constant increase in the demand for
lumber and a consequent constant
growth i'm the population of the town.
The Goldsboro Lumber Company's
plant is not only the largest single
lumber mill in Eastern North Caro-
lima, with the greatest cutting capac-
ity, but outside CT the Blades Lumber
Company (Which owns many mills in
Eastern North Carolina) it is the lar
gest holder of timber property in this
State. It has now bought and al
ready paid for sufficient standing tim
Der to run it's mills fifteen years. OF
course. from time to time the COM
pany is adding largely to it's timber
holdings. This insures the perma-
nency of an industry of this kind to
growth and prosperity. It's invest
ments in and around Dover amount to
nearly $500, 900. In this amount is in
Guided its mill plant at Dover, its
timber holdings and its railroad the
Dover and South Bound Railroad,
which runs from Dover to Richards
in Onslow county, distance of TWEEN
ty-five miles
The Dover and South Bound Rail-
road. like most of the other enter
prises at Dover had a very humble
beginning. 1t was started as a tram
road for the transportation OF logs
of the Goldsboro Lumber Company's
plant. From a tram-road it pro
crossed to an elementary sort of rail- |
road with light iron rail. Now, how |
ever, it is a standard railroad, we'll
graded and we'll constructed, with |
trains running on regular schedules |
and furnishing all the necessary trans
portation facilities for the country
through which it is built. 1t is the |
purpose of the Goldsboro Lumber
Company, which owns this road, to
further extend it from time to time |
The extension will probably be in |
the direction of Swansboro, where it |
will strike deep water. In fact, the
work of construction is now in pro-