Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-02-08
91es- 3r,1hlirar 7narshauutI gnua, February 1906

area of PoWeshiek county. A writer
in one of the magazines, several years
ago described the estate in detail, and
then went on to say that after Mr..
Vanderbilt had expended millions on
these grounds, he found himself unable
to get water, so that he had abandoned
the enterprise, and had gone to Paris.
No bigger yarn was ever spun. 1t
sounds like 2oultney Bigelow and the
Panama canal Mr. Vanderbilt lives
on the estate. The Salamanca river
and the French Broad, q large. beau
tful river, run thru the estate and
| pure mountain water is carried from
Mount Busby to the chateau in pipes.
The whole thing is planned after the
great English country estates. Whether
it is good or bad for future generations
| we will not now discuss 1t is stately,
grand and beautiful beyond conception
| The station house at Biltmore. the
church, the row of stores, and the row
of cottages, are all English and is an
exact reproduction of one of Eng
lands villages. Rub your eyes and
| you can imagine yourself in Stratford
on Avon The chateau is fully three
miles from the station. 1t is reached
by a winding road made of crushed
stone. He has completed thirty-two
miles of this road That part of the
estate calico Bltmore contains about
| 5000 acres. All the rest is mountain
forest and game preserve. The farm
is woodland and open. and all the
woodland ard the grounds surrounding
the chateau are parked. This work was
all done under the supervision of the
late Frederick Law Olmstead. Mr..
| Nanderbit's tenants or rather his de-
pendents. for that must be his ultl-
mate aim live in very nice cottages
scattered over the 5000 acres, known
| as the farm.
He has q great vegetable garden
from which vegetables are sold to the
Asheville market He has saw mill,
where fuel for the estate is made.
He has what he terms the "Piggery.'
about a mile from the chateau. Here
they raise the thoroughbred Berkshire
The farm stock is all imported.
In another place we have Chicken
Town" where thousands and thous-
ands of fowls. chickens, ducks, geese
and turkeys, are raised. The kennels
are also here.
The Dairy Barns.
About two miles from the chateau
we find the barns for the farm horses,
the creamery, the great COW barns,
containing 200 head of pure blood Jer-
seys We happened there at milking
| time. The. mixers were all dressed in
white linen. All the pals had cloth
over the tops and the milk had to go
4
was weighed by the weigher and a
record kept. The calves each had a
box stall, deliberately built; in fact a
parlor. for the little fellows are all
aristocrat:s. The barns are all ce-
mented, behind the stanchlons are
CUTTERS which are flushed from time
to time by means of hose IN cons
along the sides of the barns. The an
imals were all bedded with shredded
fodder. oh, it's nice to be Wander
bilt COW.
On Pine Knob there is another fore
man and another dairy of about 100
Jerseys, and still another one in an
other direction.
!, Fillmore House is a chateau of the
French Renaissance, and one of the
most stately and beautiful mansions
in the world. 1t is 375 by $50 feet,
! and contains several hundred rooms.
| The esta.e also has vast green houses
and many acres in nursery, where the
| trees and plants are propogated to con-
tinue the vast forestry planting con-
tinually carried on. Millions of Rhod-
odendren and Laurel and all sorts of
rare trees and plants line the ave-
nues and extend up the slopes to
| meet the natural forests in the ridges.
| What 1 have said about Asheville
is not exaggerated, and as proof of
| this I will close my letter by calling
your attention to the fact that Mr..
Vanderbilt had millions to spend; he
had travelled all over England and
Europe; he had the world to choose
from, and yet he chose Asheville, be-
cause it, combined more of natures
! beauties and benefits than any other
spot he had found on the globe. Pasa-
dena, Call and Palm Beach. Fla. had
no charms for him equal to those of
the pine forest of North Carolina.