The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-09-26
MITCHELL COUNTY is
NO LONGER IN BACkWOODS.

MITCHELL COUNTY Is
NO y IN BACkWOODS.
Ii Has Bee Opened Up BY Railroads,
Is Sending Out Mica ard Clay,
Farming Is on the Up Grade. the
People Are of a High Type and
Progress Is the Watcfword i'm tho
Highlands-Miss Holman's Hospi-
tai.
(Archibald Johnson in Charity and
Children in Account OF Recent
Visit.)
Mitchell county is closer to heaven
than most Of the State. For all the
years it has been isolated from the
outer world by the 'Sentinels OF
every side, but the Clinchfeld Rail-
road has literally bored its way
through the hills and sent a stream
Of light and hope through the dark
ness.
Mitchell is no longer in the back
woods. 1t is on a great highway OF
trade and travel. The Clinchfield
road is nothe triumph Of engineer
ing, and the eighth wonder of the
world. It's trains plunge through
no less than seventeen tunnel be-
tween Altapass and Marion, a dis
lance by rail Of 80 miles, and, as tho
crow flies, of less thar 20 miles.
liz L ID PEI AhO * La
the South, the trains running as
smoothly and steadily as those OF
the Pennsylvania.
So far this railroad starts nowhere
and ends at the same place. 1t runs
from Spartanburg. S. c.. to Dante. Va,
but it will become a great trunk line
connecting Chicago with the Atlantic
coast. Mitchell is on the main line,
and it's resources are being rapidly
developed.
The two principal things that are
being exploited are mica and clay.
Mica mines and mills are chick as
hops and it has assumed immense
proportions. The other industry is
a peculiar kind of clay found here
and there throughout this section
that is valuable in the manufacture
of tableware, which, when 1t IS
burned and dried, assumes a form
of great durability and beautiful
remembered as a candidate for Gov
ernor several years ago. is making
a barrel of money shipping this clay
to potteries in the North.
Farming in Mitchell is on the up
grade in every sense Of the word.
To a loWlander it would seem inn
possible to employ any kind of an
a goat; but as a matter Of fact, the
farmers make fine crops and seem
to be in a happy frame of mind.
n people of Mitchell are Of a
high type. They are intensely loyal
to their section and to the State at
Saxon stock, h high mountain
wall which shut out so many good
things having kept out some bad
ones as Wei. There is no foreign
element, though with the coming
OF the railroad all that will be
changed.
We may add that while the Mitch
ell people are proud Of their sec
ton, they are exceedingly ~hospitable
to those who come to bring them
light and help from any source.
They do not shut themselves off.
like the Chinese. to their own estab-
nshed ways and customs, but well
come new ideas n suggestions from
the world beyond.
We had occasion last week to AXE
q look at the hospital which the ia
nous Miss Holman is running in
Mitchell county. 1t IS located at
A~ltapass. and is we'll fitted up with
all modern ~conveniences and COM
forts. The Northern dupes re-
sponded TO the call of this trained
nurse who has had training in more
ways than one. Instead Of being Z
hard worked missionary pouring out
her life in beautiful Christian serv-
ice in behal of the poor savages Of
the mountains. she is the proprietor
Of a handsome hospital. who spends
the summer under her own roof and
the winter in the Altapass Inn. a
handsome, high-pTiced hotel. Her
business. however. is not prosperous.
The aforesaid a OF Mitchell
county have dropped the missionary
like a hot brick and about the only
patients she blesses with her Christian
ministry is a railroad employee now
and then who gets crippled in the