The Covington leader. (Covington, Tenn.) 18??-current, 1917-03-08
THE OLD NORTH STATE
Col. w. 4. Owen Tells Representative
Of The Leader What a Upton
County Man Sees Passing Through
North Carolina.

There are a great many people in
Upton county who are directly inter-
ested in the state of North Carolina
by ties of blood. thought it well that
some Of the readers Of your paper
might be interested in a review OF a
weeks visit to the Old North State.
North Carolina and Tennessee are so
closely allied in manners and customs,
history and people, that they are
practically one from the Atlantic
ocean across the Blue Ridge and Cum
berland mountains to the waters of
the Mississippi. Tennessee is but a
branch from the Carolina tree. The
greatest factor now in the upbuilding
in the state of North Carolina is the
Southern railroad. This great sys-
TEN of railroads lost millions of dol
lars during the floods of last spring
in that state, but good is coming out
Of the loss that the railroad suffered.
It was decided to double its tracks
from Charlotte to Atlanta, distance
of about 375 miles, and today this
road is being Strengthened, graded,
and millions Of dollars being spent in
the reconstruction of this branch Of
the road; thousands Of men and teams
are now employed in this work.
North Carolina is not unlike Ten
nessee in having several metropolitan
cities, but it has a great number of
cities from 20 to 40 thousand inhab-
itants. All Of these towns and cities
will tdmit that Charlotte is the larg-
est City, but when you try to find out
which is the second city in size you
have problem that is hard to solve,
and no admissions are made, but many
claims are made for this honor. Win
ston-Salem, Salisbury, Wilmington,
Raleigh and Asheville all claim to be
second in size. Possibly others make
the same claim.
North Carolinians claim to be the
first to repudiate the celebrated stamp
tax, prior to the Revolutionary war,
and were the first to assert their in
dependence against King George and
place one Of his tax collectors in dur
ance vile.
/ will simply mention some Of the
cities visited, and every city through
its citizens extended to me the kindest
and most generous hospitality, The
people there did not seem to be too
busy to greet the stranger with a
smile of welcome, and at his depart
ure express his desire to see the
stranger again.
Salisbury
The county seat of Rowan county.
Rowan county was established in 1853
and extended as far west as the Mis-
sissippi river taking in all of the
western part Of North Carolina and
Tennessee and any territory that the
United States owned extending to the.
southern and western seas; so we
have at one time been part of Row
an county.
Salisbury is an old town in years
but new in progress, push and pros
perity. 1t was named for a small
town about 10 miles from London;
and its first inhabitants were gen.
eral mixture of Scotch-Irish and
Dutch, who either immigrated from
the old country, trying to throw off
the yoke of oppression, or had lived
for some years in Pennsylvania and
Virginia and had pushed further to-
ward the west. From this town you
are shown the spot where Daniel
Boone loaded his wagon and made his
start toward the great hunting
grounds of Kentucky. You are, also,
shown the spot where Andrew Jack
son studied law, and Andrew, after
being admitted to the bar, was not
pleased with the small circuit that
covered several counties, there being
too many lawyers, that he said to the
judge on the bench that he thought
there were entirely too many lawyers
in Salisbury, and old Judge Mccoy
spoke and said: candy | notice that
the lawyers are getting "leetle"
thick around the court house and /
would advise you to move to the
luther" end of the county,, and
Andy moved to Jonesboro, Tenn,
which was considered the other end
of the county, and later to Nashville.
George Washington while president
of the United States was a visitor to
Salisbury.
The shops OF the Southern railroad
are located in the suburbs of Sails
bury, being called Spencer in honor
of former president and master
builder of that railroad system. The
pay roll of the Southern railroad at
these shops amounts to something
more than 100000 per month. The
Goth of the month is pay day and
that happened to be the day that the
writer was in Salisbury. and he no.
ticed that all the stores kept open
until 1880 p. m. to accommodate the
working men who received tier pay
on the 10th, and also to participate in
the money that was being spent by
the thousands of employees Of the
Southern railroad. Salisbury has Just
finished a new courthouse that is
modern IN every respect and the citi-
zens acted wisely in not demolishing
the old courthouse, but turned it into
community building and public
library, the upper story is used as an
auditorium for public gatherings, and
the offices down stairs have been fitted
up as rest rooms, play rooms for the
children, public library and committee
rooms. Salisbury has a number of
fine schools, but one with the greatest
future in my judgment is the school
conducted by the Presbyterian denom-
nation, headed by DR.. Byron Clark,
pastor of the First Presbyterian
church Of Salisbury. This school is
training young girls in the arts and
sciences, crafts and domestic science,
and has about 800 enrolled. MANY |