The farmer and mechanic., 1915-10-19

name of Rocky Mount, and a town
started to grow about the station.
Rocky Mount has therefore grown at
this distance from the rocky mount on
which the community started, and the
Rocky Mount that was the incipient
town has practically disappeared be-
fore the new Rocky Mount which has
no more rock and no more mount
than the heart of a vast prairie. And
that is how Rocky Mount got its name,
and how it has moved away from
where it was raised, and how it is that
Rocky Mount where it started is no
more and that the old rock has it's
| one lonely house as a memorial.
With the natural and acquired GU
| rioSity of the newspaper man I could
not let Rocky Mount rest until I had
followed out this queer bit Of it's mi
gratory story, and that having been
accomplished another matter dis
| grow the way it does. I put that
question to Lieutenant Governor e. L.
Daughtridge. and he surprised me
when he said:
Greatest As Farm Center.
eft is a great farm center"
| Are the farms Of more importance
than the railroad ?" I asked and he
said, Eyes. l figure the railroad con-
tributes probably about twenty per
cent to the prosperity of this COM
munity, and the farm and the factory
do the rest, but principally the farm
l find on inquiry that Rocky Mount
is great market for farm stuff Of
all kinds. From five to five and a
half million dollars worth of farm
stuff was sold in this market last
year." said the governor. You can
figure out for yourself what that
means. Rocky Mount is a great to-
| no VIZ ot yaf F0,
) bright leaf it is probably exceeded by
only one other in the world. The
sales Of leaf tobacco last year proba bly,
exceeded three andSa half million dol
lars on this market. Then from 10,-
O0C to 1900 bales Of cotton are mar
keted in Rocky Mount in a season,
which adds a lot more to the income
t of the community, and as a lot of
] this is worked up into a finished pro-
t duct at the mills it brings more than
2 the price for raw cotton.
Other farm products are brought to
Rocky Mount for sale and Shipment
: and with the farm stuff comes a big
!. lumber product, for a vast amount OF
l timber is still coming to the saw mil
!, in this part Of the State. While I was
prowling around looking into the his
!. tory Of Rocky Mount I fell in with q
!. saw mill presided over by w. L
Groom and the stuff they make there
. was another matter of interast Like
= most modern things the mill is {
a specially mill. One thing that wa
~ conspicuous was the hard wood floor
: ing cut from the native trees. An
"a other thing is stock for mantels ant
~ tables, and another instructive sigh
r is the way every little thing is Gu
% into some merchantable product. TIL
h slab wood cut from the logs. goes t
o cut Off saws and is cut into firewood
ia and these cool days it is sold 70
,e money enough to bring more prof
to the mill than the average saw mil
rnade from every thing twenty o
j. thirty years ago. You talk about tn
n packing house where everything abou
p a hog is used but the sQueal In on
at Of the modern North Carolina sa,
I'd mills the squeal would be used if
at had to be sold to the phonograph fac
Of tories to put the squeaky little ton
or in the scueaky machine. The on1
X, thing l can see about these saw mil
k that seems to me to be wasted is ths
I'd dolorous wall Of the whistle abo,
ne five o'clock in the morning when tn
Of engineer seems to have more steal
ee than he needs. and with a grievant
ed against all the world, he pulls th
il throttle open and turns it loose
ke worry an inoffensive people for te
" miles in every direction. I would lii
ID. to see the inventor of the steam whi
re tie just long enough to ask him or
ID, questiOn-why he did it.
ke A Railroad Town.
I'M Rocky Mount is a railroad town
lte a considerable extent as it is the Jun
n ton Of the main line Of the Goa
SO Line with the important branches tn
rst go off to the east and here are sho
IN and roundhouses. 1t is a mill TOW
ne OF consequences but it is primarily
10 farm town. Probably it's railroad il
om very much and &C . foc+or,, 49, =
will continue to become of more II
ON portance because of its desirable loo
far ton and railroad and farm conve
on fences to handle products and fe
yer people. Yet as a farm town it's t
for ture seems to be most promising, b
int cause it is located in a favored ia
on. territory. Sights like a field With I