The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1908-06-25
Our Chief Seaport City.
Its Past, Present
and Future-Business and
Commerce Such as to Com
mand the Attention of the
World The Proposed 30
Foot Channel to the Sea.

World The Proposed 80
Foot Channel to the Sea.
Every loyal North Carolinian has
cause to be proud of Wilmington,
the States chief seaport city. I'm
portant as its shipping interests are
they ought to be many times greater,
and with the proposed 30-foot chan
nel to the sea an accomplished fact
which we hope to see in the not re-
mote future-the staid, solid old city
Of the Cape Fear will come into it's
very own. In this connection we
have pleasure in reprinting the fol
lowing from the Wilmington Star of
the 14th:
Wilmington good friend, Wade H.
Harris, editor of the Charlotte Chron-
icle came down last week to attend
the meeting of the Cotton Manufactu-
rers' Association. He has sent his
paper a long editorial write-up of his
visit to Wilmington and the seashore,
saying many things about our city
which will be both interesting and
pleasing to our people. We give be-
low several paragraphs from his ar
ticle:
"The company that operates the
street car lines in Wilmington is
planning some large things in the
way of city development by electrici-
ty. The company recently negotiated
Il loan of 80. 100000 from the Carne-
gle Trust Company for the compile
ton of the power plant at Bluitt's
Falls and the development of it's plans
in Wilmington. Our Wilmington
friends come within so miles of Char
lotte for their electricity, Bluitt's
Falls, on the Yadkin, being almost
as close to this city as the Whitney
Company's plant in Stanley. The
transmission line to Wilmington will
be 13O miles in length. 1t will run
through a great manufacturing
country, for the Carolina Central be-
tween Rockingham and Wilmington
is fairly dotted with mills and facto-
ries, and will have a profitable mar
ket for all the electricity the plant
can develop. The completion OF the
Bluitt's Falls power plant will give
renewed impetus to the manufactu-
ring interests along the line, and it
will play an important part in the
development of Wilmington, indus
trially, commercially and every other
way. That city will be given an
abundant supply OF electricity at
cheap rates and those who live in a
city thus fortunately y supplied, know
what that means.
Wilmington continues to make
steady strides. The business of its
port has-been growing at remarka-
ble rate and there is an air of pros
perity that cannot fail to be observed
by the visitor. A few years ago Will
mington walked up and shook herself
and the result is now easy to see.
The banking business of the city was
never so prosperous and in wholesale
and retail circles there is observable
the animation that goes with a con-
dition of thrift and progress. The
day of tagging. business in Whining
ton is gone for good. 1t has been
creeping up gradually in the list OF
ports and now its commerce is such
as to command the attention Of the
commercial world. In cotton ex-
ports it will soon rise to the level of
the largest on the Atlantic seaboard
wilmington is in deadly earnest
about securing a 3O-fOot channel to
the sea-sO much in earnest, in fact,
that the effort is not going to be
abandoned until the channel is dug.
Ordinarily dredging is slow and ex-
pensive, and sometimes Ineffective
work. This will not be the case with
the Cape Fear, as the Chronicle has eX-
planned To secure this 3O-foOt chan
mel the dredging will not have to be
continuous. In some places no
! dredging at all will be needed and in
Others it will be light, SO that the
Cape Fear contract will be inexpett-
sive, as dredging goes. Once the
channel is secured, it will need no
| further attention, for, since the clos
ing of New Inlet, there is a current in
the Cape Fear that will keep the bed
| of the channel secured out and will
gradually deepen it, as i'll the case OF
the channel in Charleston harbor.
All these facts are being impressed
upon the mind of Congress. The Will
mington project ought to have, and
probably will have, precedence over
| the inland waterway, for it will be
laying the foundation for that larger
if not more important work. Nature
meant the Cape Fear between Viii
mington and the sea to have a 30
foot roadway for ships of commerce,
but evidently dropped that Job to
look after one elsewhere and forgot
to get back to it. The time is now
at hand when man must rectify this
oversight-and he is going to do it.
When people from a distance, who
visit our city only occasionally, are
so impressed with the progress now
being made, and with the prospects
for such great advancement III the
future, it is proof positive that there
is q great future in store for this OLD
city, and when they express their
opinions i'll such encouraging terms
as the above it should be an incen-
tive to our people to increase their
exertions to hasten the time OF full
fulfllment of the predictions.
Mrs. S. Joyce, Claremont, n. H., writes:
About a year ago l bought two bottles OF
Foley's Kidney Remedy. 1t cured me OF a Sc
we're case of kidney trouble OF several years