The farmer and mechanic., 1915-04-13

river to New Orleans ana thence uy
steamer was 1-2 cents a pushel ~
1902, against Is 1-3 cents by way Oh
New York from St Louis to Liver
pool. OF late years the river from
St. Louis has not figured in the re-
ports. 1 have not looked to see what
is the trouble as it is not or conSe-
auence here. The point is that the
river gives an inside track. but that
it is not always used to It's limit
The Cape Fear folks have job on
their hands, but having accomplished
the serious task of securing the slack
watering of the river it would seem
that they will be equal to the other
job Of making use Of the improve
ment An illustration is another
North Carolina river, the Trent II IS
about as unpretentiOuS a prospect as
you would look for, but with little
help from the government in deep
ening and cleaning out here and there
| it manages to carry above quarter
of a million tons of freight in year.
| The Neuse is another river Of the
same sort, and it has record OF half
| a million tons or more. Neither OF
these streams opens out to a deep wa
ter port like Wilmington yet. al
though the work that is projected
pr omises to make all of Eastern
| North Carolina more important in
this respect. The rivers Of the United
States carry more traffic many times
than all that is carried to or from
this country by the sea. The lakes
carry many times the commerce Of
| the ocean as far as the United States
is concerned. The fact is that the
| rivers carry a large amount Of the
export and import trade as we'll as a
large share of the internal commerce.
The rivers are feeders OF the sea.
They are feeders of the railroads as
| Uo1l CY,nn1op1ontaru 0f rail.
roads
Debating a Big Question.
The Cape Fear country is debating
a big question, how to make the most
of the river Improvement that is now
becoming available. One of the evil
dent requirement is a much more nu-
merous population in all Of the valley
that the soil resources may offer the
river greatly increased amount Of
freight, and with this in view Fay
ettevi1le proposes to reach out for set
tiers that the lands may be titled and
the country advanced. The Cape Fear
country has a lot to offer to a new
, ccmer. It has lot to talk about tC
|. the world, but I doubt if it realizes
the possibilities that offer in the slack
, watered river. No other equal area
in North Carolina stands at such q
, vantage point, for no other equal area
in the State has such a possibility OF
: transportation reaching into the heart
Of a S milar agricultural region, an6
with land on each side Of the route
, of travel. The Cape Fear river is a:
good as four track railroad. for it:
: capacity for handling the freight an6
, passenger business can never be ex
hausted. And if never a ton of freigh
= should be moved on the improved riv
er it's usefulness will still be there
for it will hold the railroads in lin,
p for proper treatment as long as th
: river can be resorted to as an alterna
II tive. However, that is the farthes
q thing from the ideas Of the Fayette
= vile people. What they are after nov
q is a method Of using the stream tha
a IS about to be made navigable to tn
r. Wharves OF the city, and to use it the,
20 want to make it great artery of
;r commerce that shall arise from tn
- facilities it will afford the interior O
10 a greater North Carolina and of
,t commerce that is to come from tn
l. development Of the resources that ar
ir now in easy reach Of the channel a.
q the way from Fayetteville to tn
IN mouth of the stream
,s Fayetteville is aroused bv the in
J. COMPREHENSIVE chance that is at tn
is door, and the whole center of tn
50 State may as we'll be aroused. for
Il the people Of the Cape Fear yalle
70 once come to realize what the gov
eminent has done for them in maxim
te thelr river channel Of traffic, NOR
1g than the Cape Fear section will ente
Io | on a new life
lie ----
a COLORED PASTOR FIRED