Part 8

Everything seems to be contributing to the building up of a great seaport city at Newport News, Va. The business over the fast freight line established by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis and Chesapeake & Ohio from the West to Newport News is being increased by grain shipments from along the Chicago & Northwestern. A through rate has been made on cereals for export to Liverpool, with the result that the new line is not only securing business from Missouri and Kansas and the country traversed by the “Big Four” system, but the territory in Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa for which the Northwestern is an outlet. As the latter has about 3500 miles of lines in these States, the great advantage of having the Northwestern as a feeder is apparent. The people who are forwarding the business have very thoroughly examined the facilities at Newport News and were so pleased with them and the way the business has been handled that they intend making more extensive exports by way of that port.

In this connection it is reported that the Vanderbilts have privately secured a larger interest in the Chesapeake & Ohio and in Big Four than they have ever held, and mean to control absolutely that line from Chicago to the seaboard, with the line of steamers from Newport News.

Southern Coal in Chicago.

President M. H. Smith, of the Louisville & Nashville, has arranged for a reduction of coal rates from Jellico, which will permit of the introduction of Jellico coal into Chicago and Illinois and Michigan points on the same basis as West Virginia coal. This will, it is reported, also include the Middlesborough district. The reduced rate will doubtless result in a great increase in the Western shipments of Kentucky coal, the superior quality of which has created for it a Western demand, despite high freights.

Opening Texas Coal Mines.

The extensive coal deposits near the Rio Grande, in Presidio county, Texas, it is stated, are to be opened and mined on an extensive scale by the San Carlos Coal Co., which controls 53,000 acres of land containing veins of semi-bituminous coal forty-one inches thick in some places. President S. A. Johnston, of the company, in a letter to the Manufacturers’ Record, says that his company has made a contract to sell at least 115,000 tons yearly to the Southern Pacific Railroad. The Northern office of the company is at Pittsburg, Pa.

Another Florida Canal.

Work is about to begin on a canal in Florida which will be of great importance to the lumbering and agricultural interests of the section through which it is to pass. It will extend from a point in Marion county, at the head of Ratcliff’s prairie to Mill Creek swamp. It will be eleven miles long and thirty feet wide at the bottom. The estimated cost of dredging the canal is $75,000. The object of the canal is to reclaim thousands of acres of submerged swamp lands, covered with rich muck from five to ten feet in depth, with a clay bottom, and to provide transportation for pine and cypress timber.

The syndicate interested has purchased 15,000 acres of land along its line. When the improvements are completed they expect to engage largely in the growing of rice and sugar-cane, and hold out inducements to settlers who desire to buy rich lands cheap. D. D. Rogers, at Ocala, is engineer. Among the capitalists interested is Christian Ax, of the firm of G. W. Gail & Ax, Baltimore.

Another Big Enterprise for Norfolk.

Following the announcement that the Chesapeake & Ohio is to enter Norfolk comes the statement that the United States Cotton Warehouse & Loan Co. has asked for legislative authority to build wharves, warehouses, elevators and other buildings; also to construct and operate a terminal railway not over five miles in length. It is also to conduct a general wharfage and warehouse business, with a capital of at least $50,000. The main office is to be in Norfolk or Portsmouth. The corporators are Edward A. Pierson, of New York; John H. Dingee, of Philadelphia; J. Andre Mottu, of Norfolk; J. R. McMurran, of St. Paul, Minn.; Heber Alter, of Philadelphia; James Y. Leigh, of Norfolk; S. Henry Norris, of Philadelphia; William Burrington, of Philadelphia; Herman Niemeyer, of Portsmouth; Fergus Reid, of Norfolk; C. W. Murdaugh, Marcellus Miller, of Berkley; Parke Poindexter, of Berkley; William Goddin, of Philadelphia; William Schmoele, Jr., of Portsmouth; John L. Vaughman, O. P. Heath, S. L. Burroughs and Walter S. Taylor. A number of well-known capitalists appear in the list, and the enterprise evidently means much for Norfolk and vicinity.

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The Florence Pump Co., of Florence, Ala., has made a contract with a Philadelphia firm to supply $40,000 worth of pumps.

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The water works plant at Yorkville, S. C., has been completed, tested and accepted by the town council. The plant consists of about three miles of mains, a stand pipe seventy feet high on a fifty-foot tower, 120 feet in all, with a capacity of 60,000 gallons. The water is forced into the stand pipe by a pump of 500,000 gallons capacity, and the stream which furnishes the water will furnish (estimated) 150,000 gallons a day. There are 800 feet of hose, and the total cost, including hose, was $16,800.

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The Shea Plating and Manufacturing Co., of Cleveland, Ohio, has entered into a contract to remove to Macon, Ga., and the work of transferring the plant has begun.

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Railroad communication and the building of ice factories on the west coast of Florida, have resulted in the building up of an important fishing industry, which is growing rapidly. St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Dunedin, Ozona, Sea Side and Tarpon Springs are the principal shipping points, and there was forwarded from these ports for 1893 a total of 7,901 barrels.

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The Fort Worth Gazette says of Terrell Texas: “Never before in the history of Terrell and vicinity has there been such demand for homes and tillable grounds. Many persons having large pastures are cutting them up in farms, at least a portion, and if the demand increases the large pastures will have to be given up to farming interests instead of grass pastures. Several thousand acres of new land will be put in cultivation this year in this county.”

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For several weeks Messrs. Rand, McNally & Co., printers and publishers, have had an agent in the South prospecting for the most suitable place, in point of business and situation, to establish a distributing house, their main houses being in New York and Chicago. Charlotte, N. C., has finally been fixed upon as the most desirable point.

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Newport News had the honor of constructing the first iron and steel merchant vessels built in the South, and the largest ever launched in the United States. El Cid, made famous by being turned into a warship for the Brazilian government, enjoys the distinction of having broken all records in the passage between New York and New Orleans. El Norte, El Rio, and El Sud are not far behind her. Following this distinction comes the docking for repairs of the big American liner New York, which was done February 19. The New York is the largest ship ever docked in America. No other yard on this side the Atlantic could do it. The Newport News dock has but one rival in point of size--the government dock, at Brooklyn--and it is doubtful if that is large enough to admit of her entrance. As soon as the big ship touched the dock a force of 1000 men was put to work upon her.

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A new manufacturing enterprise of some importance is about to be inaugurated at Bedford City, Va., by Mr. W. B. Dunn, who has organized the Bedford Manufacturing Co., with himself as secretary. The company’s purpose is to manufacture custom-made clothing to be sold at manufacturers’ prices, making a specialty of trousers, using the product of all leading Southern woolen mills, as well as other fine foreign and domestic goods. It is intended to appoint agents in all towns and cities in the South having 4000 inhabitants or more.

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The city hall at Richmond, Va., recently completed at a cost of $1,370,000, is one of the finest municipal buildings in the country.

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It is announced that the Boston capitalists who have decided to invest about $300,000 in an office-building in Atlanta, Ga., have secured a site and are to have plans prepared at once. Mr. H. M. Atkinson, who is their Atlanta representative, states that the building is to be fire-proof, ten stories high and will contain all the features of the modern structure for offices.

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Hon. Jonathan Norcross, of Atlanta, Ga., is having plans prepared for a five-story building for offices to cost several hundred thousand dollars.

GENERAL NOTES.

Small but Vigorous.

The Houston East & West Texas Railroad, running from Houston, Texas, to Shreveport, La., is not very much of a road as to mileage, but there is more hustle about it than most roads of ten times the length exhibit. With only 232 miles of road the company is doing more relatively towards the development of the country it traverses than almost any other road in the country. Recently a development department has been created and put in charge of General John M. Claiborne, an old newspaper man. Among other methods of building up the territory of the road, and besides the usual concessions to settlers in the way of passenger and freight rates, the company has offered to contribute to a common fund an amount equal to all that can be raised by the people of the counties through which the road passes, the money to be spent in getting in settlers. The road promises to locate at least one family for every two dollars the citizens of these counties will raise. The country through which this road passes includes some superb farm and garden lands, and large areas of original forest timber, pine and hard woods, and with the energy and push of the managers of the road it will not be long before immigrants will be pouring into their country.

The officers of the road are E. S. Jemison, president; M. G. Howe, vice-president; M. S. Meldrum, secretary and treasurer, and T. Cronin, superintendent, all of Houston.

Mr. A. A. Arthur and Middlesborough.

The people of Middlesborough, Ky., and Middlesborough property owners living elsewhere are making strenuous efforts to induce the Middlesborough Town Lands Co. to reappoint Mr. A. A. Arthur to the active management of the company’s affairs. Ever since the termination of Mr. Arthur’s management the town has been in a state of virtual stagnation, and it is believed that Mr. Arthur alone can rescue it from collapse and restore it to its former condition of growth and prosperity.

Several delegations of citizens and property owners have called on the company’s present commissioner at Middlesborough, Mr. Lionel H. Graham, of London, and urged him to bring about the appointment of Mr. Arthur. On February 17, a mass meeting was held, at which the following resolutions were adopted:

_Resolved_, By the people of Middlesborough in mass meeting assembled, that the opportunity presented by Mr. L. H. Graham, who is now in our midst as the representative of the stockholders of the Town Lands Co., seeking information and encouragement for the guidance of his associates, be seized, and that we, the citizens and property owners of Middlesborough, who have borne the brunt of all the troubles of past two and one-half years, and have witnessed and studied both administrations, and who have been with the stockholders in prosperity and adversity, respectfully but emphatically ask a return to the old original plan of administering the affairs of the Town Lands Co.

_Resolved_, That we know that all the great and valuable resources upon which the city was started still exist; we have seen railroads brought to us and great enterprises created in our midst. The necessities of a city have been established, all legitimate expenditures have been made and nothing now remains to be done to re-establish credit, activity and progress, but the appointment of a leader, a wise and liberal man, one of intelligence, wide experience, integrity and extended connections, one in whom we can place great confidence.

_Resolved_, That in Mr. A. A. Arthur, creator and projector of Middlesborough and all the adjacent territory, we find such a man. None other has so great an interest. We will stand by him and we believe and know that he alone can pull you, the stockholders, and us, the citizens, out of the abject state in which we now are.

_Resolved_, That we most heartily ask for and will most cordially approve the reappointment of Mr. A. A. Arthur to the active management of the Middlesborough Town Lands Co.; we believe that he can rescue this city from ruin, and the sooner the management is placed in his hands the sooner will confidence be restored and values be re-established.

_Resolved_, That the interests of the Town Lands Co. are alike the interests of the city and the citizens thereof; one cannot prosper without the other, hence the citizens and property owners are profoundly earnest in their desire to see Mr. Arthur restored to power, as they believe that his restoration will give new life not only to Middlesborough but to Southeastern Kentucky as well, and that we will enter upon a career of unexampled prosperity.

The Annual Fair at New Berne, N. C.

The annual fair of the East Carolina Industrial Association was held in New Berne on February 19th to 23d, inclusive, and was formally opened by Gov. Carr with a sterling address, in which he referred to the tidewater region as the garden spot of the continent, enumerating its resources and estimating their economic value, present and prospective. The exhibit, as a whole, was a surprise to home visitors as well as strangers, especially in marine, agricultural and mechanical products. Its mineral exhibit was remarkable in respect to native ores and precious stones. Thirty-one counties in the State are mining gold at a profit. Nuggets were shown which were valued at $52 and upwards. Eighty-five varieties of commercial woods were shown. There was a great variety of building stones. Tomato plants six inches high, garden peas three inches high, and strawberry blossoms were shown. The department of ladies’ work was superlative. Dairy products were meagre, only three samples of butter being shown. There was a great variety of feed in bales--native grasses, stock peas and corn fodder. Fine samples of wool and blankets were exhibited. The same blankets took a premium at Chicago. Some fine Southdown sheep from the Tucker farm near Raleigh were on view. There were some fine Jersey, Devon and Alderney cattle, and superior Berkshire and Red Jersey pigs and fat hogs, running up to 600 pounds in weight.

The fish and oyster exhibit, with the nets and apparatus, is always a prominent feature of the annual expositions, and was well sustained. Roe shad were remarkably fine.

There was an attractive exhibit of live and dead game and fur-bearing animals, and two curious hybrids between turkey, guinea fowl and Plymouth Rock hen. The floral exhibit was simply exquisite, and the colonial relics and old family plate and curios were very interesting. There was never such a poultry show seen on earth for quality and variety. At least two kinds were shown!

In the department of Women’s Work the productions of deft fingers were astonishing in all fabrics, laces, gold embroidery, feathers, flowers, etc., rivaling Japanese art, and causing Valenciennes to blush with jealousy. Altogether, there was a wonderful diversity of industrial products of which the old North State and all her sisters may be proud. New Berne herself has earned honors.

An Immigration Bill in the Maryland Legislature.

A bill is to be introduced in the legislature of Maryland, which is now in session, enlarging the powers of the chief of the bureau of industrial statistics so as to give him authority to provide for the settlement of immigrants in Maryland. The bill makes it the duty of the chief of the bureau to collect reliable information in every county of the State bearing upon the question of immigration, and authorizes him to appoint a local immigrant commissioner in each county. The local commissioners are to receive $2.50 a day for each day of actual service and personal expenses, the expenses are to be itemized and certified to before a justice of the peace, and $1.00 for each immigrant sixteen years of age and over settled by them in their respective counties. Their duties, under the direction of the chief of the bureau, are to procure the statistics and information necessary to properly set forth the facts, advantages and conditions of the counties, to perform such other duties appertaining to the work of the bureau as may be required and to procure options on farm lands at such prices and upon such terms as will be within the means of the immigrants desiring to locate upon them and to give them such assistance, care and information within their province as may be necessary.

The owners of lands upon which options have been thus secured shall upon the sale of the lands through the agency of the bureau, pay to the chief of the bureau a commission of 5 per cent. upon the gross amount of the sale, the sum thus obtained to be used in defraying the general expenses of the bureau and to be accounted for by the chief of the bureau in the itemized statement of receipts and expenditures which he is at present required by law to publish in his report and to make to the State comptroller.

The chief of the bureau is authorized to visit such States and countries as in his judgment may be necessary, or to send an authorized agent, for the purpose of securing immigrants, having special regard to the character and responsibility of the immigrants. He is to adopt such means of advertising the State’s advantages as may commend themselves to his judgment, including such maps, charts, &c., as may be best calculated to illustrate the geographical, geological, topographical and physical features of the State, and to make contracts with railroads, steamship and other transportation companies and the masters of sailing vessels to secure a low rate of transportation for immigrants and to make the necessary arrangements for their temporary reception and accommodation upon their arrival until they can be located.

The bill provides the sum of $10,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, in addition to the present annual appropriation of the bureau to carry out the provisions of the law.

Packing-Houses in the South.

The people of the South have so long been accustomed to buying their meat from Northern and Western markets that the suggestion of packing-houses in the Southern cities is full of novelty and surprise. Packing-houses distributed over the Southern territory would be the incentive for farmers to raise more hogs and cattle and a better quality, and thus create a source of revenue now practically closed to them.

Are not our people convinced of the folly of selling their marketable live stock to drovers and buying their meat, thus paying the cost of transportation both ways, besides the profit each handler obtains?

Pork and beef raised on our own farms and cured in our own packing-houses would keep at home the large sums of money sent off annually for the meat supply of the people.

The grocerymen of Jackson purchase every year about $100,000 worth of meat and lard for consumers in this immediate section, and it is easily seen that a packing-house in Jackson would be a profitable industry. It would furnish a home market for hog and cattle-raisers, and stimulate the production of the best qualities. Every step in this direction is an important gain, and the subject deserves the earnest attention of our live and progressive citizens.--The Whig, Jackson, Tenn.

Sponge Fishing in Florida.

The vessels that are used in the business are chiefly schooner-rigged and vary in size from five to twenty-five tons burden. They carry crews ranging from five in number to fifteen for the largest vessels, nine men to the boat being the average number. The odd man in each case is the cook, who remains aboard to provide for the inner wants of the crew (generally amazingly large) and sails the craft while the balance are off in the small boats called dingeys in search of sponge. Each vessel is provided with poles of various lengths, from fifteen to fifty feet, to be used according to the depth of water in which they are working, which have attached to them three pronged hooks shaped like the teeth of a garden rake, somewhat heavier, with which the sponge are detached from the objects to which they are adhered and drawn into the dingey.

Two men are necessary to operate a dingey, one, the “hooker,” using the pole and the sculler keeping the boat in motion, following the directions of the hooker, where he leans over the side looking through an ordinary wooden bucket with a glass sealed in its bottom for the sponge, which, when discovered, is secured with the hooks.

The fisherman are most all former inhabitants of the islands; many of them have lived in the Bahamas, and there are about equal numbers of white men and negroes.

They are designated “Conchs” by the people living upon the mainland, from their making use of that shell animal for edible purposes when living upon their native islands.

A trip is of eight to ten weeks’ duration, unless it is mutually agreed by the owner and the crew that it shall end sooner, and a “broken” trip is one which does not pay expenses incurred, and does not happen often, except during a period of disaster like that just passed through.

When the trip is finished the catches are carried to market where the purchaser bids upon them at a certain price per bunch or for the lot, having previously estimate from his thorough knowledge of the goods their value in pounds.

Before sending them to the various markets they are first trimmed neatly and cleaned of all rock and shell, and then packed in bales of convenient sizes in a compress which reduces them to small bulk and renders them easily handled.

Owing to the scarcity of the supply the demand is at present very great, and excellent prices are obtained.

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The Newnan (Ga.) Cotton Mill (6300 spindles) will put on a night force to operate its mill, so that it can catch up with the orders with which it is now overrun.

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Mr. L. C. Porter, proprietor of the Windsor hotel of Minneapolis, Minnesota, has decided to remove with his family to Wilmington, N. C. He has been in North Carolina since the 28th of December.

“I want to get away from the cold, long winters of the Northwest,” he said, “and I came here to prospect. I have been traveling North, East, South and West, and my observation is that you have the finest climate I have ever seen. If you hadn’t this advantage in climate and your fine opportunities for investment along with it, you wouldn’t catch me settling here.”

It is said that Mr. Porter has in hand a plan to establish a colony of Scandinavians in Eastern North Carolina. He expects to settle from fifty to 100 thrifty families somewhere near Wilmington. For twenty years he has been engaged in fostering colonies on the new lands of Wisconsin and Michigan.

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A Young Men’s Business Association is to be organized at Knoxville, Tenn.

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Savannah is getting up a commercial club.

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