Reminiscences
Some Interesting Historical
f^cts Which Concern the
•Growth and Development of
This Section.
(Contributed by W. I. Brooks.)
K memory serves me right, the
first big project that came to this
section of North Carolina was the
building of the old Western Railroad
from Fayetteville to the coal fields,
now Cumnock. The work of build
ing this road was begun in 1858. I
was told that the grading was done
mostly by Irishmen with wheel-bar
rows. The building of culverts was
constructed by Jackson A. Kivette,
and were built of brownstone cut as
builders blocks.
There were five towns or depots be
tween Fayetteville and the coal fields:
Manchester, named from Manchester
Mills, England, from the fact that
the Murchison’s and Mr. McDarmid
operated a cotton fill there near the
depot; Spout Springs, named from a
spout of water from the side of the
railroad out near the depot; Rock
Branch, named from as tream that
contained lots of rock; Swanns Sta
t*in, named from the Swanns family
that lived near the place; Jonesboro,
named for Colonel L. C. Jones. The
•first depot agent, at Jonesboro was
N. R. Bryan, and son, R. Bryan. Mr.
Bryan and son and C. H. Russell, the
present depot agent, are the only rail
road agents that have ever served
here. Bryan and son for the West
ern -Railroad and-C. H. Russell, with a
service of 43 years for the C. F. & Y.
V., and A. C. L. Captain N. J. Rus
sell, father of C. H. Russell, was road
' master for the Western Railroad.
Prior to his raiiroadihg, Captain Rus
sell was captain of a boat between
Fayetteville and Wilmington. In the
year 1883 a new company was form
ed which took over the old road and
called the ifew names “Cape Fear &
Yadkin Valley. Major Tom Jones,
with convicts going east to Bennetts
ville, S. C., and Wilmington, N. C.;
Alloott, with a crew ‘west of Greens
boro and Mount Airy. In 1898 the
C. F. & Y. V. Railroad was sold at
public auction at the depot in Fay
etteville and was bid off by the A. C.
Iw Railroad Company. Soon after
wards the Southern took control from
the western and from Sanford, and I
Was told that the -final settlement be
tween the A. C. L. and the Southern
showed a difference of fifty cents in
favor of the A. C. L. in the division.
David Jones was the first engineer
that pulled a train over the western
road and James M. Marsh, the first
conductor.
The first mercantile firms started
in Jonesboro were N. R. Bryan & Son
and George S. Oole. Thomas & Rollins
' was the first postmaster in Jonesboro.
Other old mercantile firms were Me
Tver ®' PSlrymple, Campbell, Berry
man & Co., Watson & Godfrey. Mer
chants back in the sixties that
bought goods from Richmond and
Baltimore had them shipped by boat
to Wilmington,'then up the Cape
Fear river to Fayetteville; then over
the Western Railroad to Jonesboro,
and merchants at Carthage and other
places hauled them on wagons to
their destination. In connection with
the firm of N. R. Bryan & Son, they
operated a carriage and harness fac
tory for a good long while.
Fayetteville, named for General
LaFayette, who caused the U. iS. to
have to pay her debt to France in the
World War, was the center of trade
for a vast- territory prior to the West
em railroad construction and many
years after. Farmers from many
counties carried their produce to
Fayetteville by wagon. The tobacco
was rolled in hoghheads by horse
power. In about 1700 Fayetteville’s
first name was Campbell Town; three
or four families of Campbells came
oyer from Scotland and settled near
the river. About 1730 there was a
small settlement of immigrants locat
ed at what is known as Cross Creek,
about two miles out from the river.
In 1735 John Brooks and wife, Su
san, with six sons, came over from
England and settled at Cross Creek,
ajid the town was called Cross Creek.
This was the first of the Brooks
family to Settle in North Carolina of
which we have any record. One of
the voting precincts of Cumberland
county is called Cross Creek township
today; there is also Cross Creek
cemetery. Cross Creek got its name
by two creeks crossing each other like
Jiuuuc mgnways; it may Be that these
are the only two creeks in the world
that cross each other in this manner.
The present name of Fayetteville
was not adopted until after the Rev
olutionary War, and named for Gener
al laFayette^'
In 1788 the Legislature of North
Carolina met in Fayetteville and in
the same year, in Fayetteville, North
Carolina, became a member of the
Union by ratifying the Federal Con
stitution. Before the Civil War the
United States built an arsenal for
the manufacture and repairing of
SUM for the United States. The
Confederates took it over, and when
Sherman and his army visited Fay
etteville, the superintendent and one
of his employees were last to leave
the building, and the superintendent
led the employes to the back door and
PSt the keys in his pocket. But Sher
man destroyed it by fire. According
to the Greensboro Daily News the
City of Greensboro is in possession of
the key, and a few years back the old
m|n who locked It was still living in
Guilford county. .The first water
works that Fayetteville had were
piped by bored logs from a spring on
Hay Mount down to the business sec
tion. Hydrants were of the same
fcoted log? sot upright at the corners
of the street around the old market
house and holes were bored in the side
of the log with a peg in it.
Before the Western Railroad was
built we had the stage road leading
from Raleigh by Holly Springs,
A vent’s Perry, Jonesboro, Gardner’s
Cross Roads, to Crathage. The old
road is still used fji many places to
day. After the Western Railroad
was built at Jonesboro the stage
made connection with the train at
Jonesboro. One of the drivers was'
Jim Hoover, who drove one set Of
black horses and one set of white!
horses; he carried a bugle along and
would blow it on its arrival and depar
ture. _ .___-1
Prior to the war with the states
one of the Gardners opened up a
business at what was later known as
Bryan s Cross Roads. During the
war and a little later, Bryan operat
ed a turpentine still in connection'
with the store. Henry Dennis own- 1
ed this farm and operated the store '
Some time after the war a man by
the name of Bunn, from New Jersey, ^
lived there, ilr. and Mrs. Bunn died i
and their graves are near the cross '
roads. William (Billie) Underwood,1
bought the farm about 1867 or 8,'
and raised a large family, Rev. G.
R. Underwood being one of his sons.
He bought it from Sheriff K. H. Wor
thy, who owned it at that time. The
old house that was built before the1
war was burned a few years ago. I
During Jessie I Bryant’s stay at the 1
Cross roads he built a race track'
between the store and his father’s, I
Winship Bryan, now Miss Elva Bry-j
an s place. Jesse L Bryan organized a
company of soldiers that were drilled '
by his brother, Capt. D. O. Bryan. I
In 1872 the Seaboard Air Line com
pleted its track from Raleigh to San- |
ford. There was one resident of
the city, Mrs. Martha Wicker; the
first depot agent was Mr. W. T. Tuck- 1
er; the first school teacher in .Sanford |
was Mrs. Tucker, the depot agent’s
wife. The first minister was Rev. ]
W. H. H. Lawhonj the first doctor
was Dr. Newby; the first iawer was
Aleaxander Mclver; the first mercan- j
tile firm was Wesley Dye, the oldest
firm there today is W, T. Buchanan;
the first postmaster was Thomas Rol- |
lins; the first brick building was
erected by Maor John W. Scott near
the Sanford Hotel; the second brick
building was McPherson & Weather
spoon; the third was the Underwood
building, and the fourth was the Page
Trust Company building. It will
take about a week to finish telling 1
about Sanford, so I will stop.
NORTH CAROUNA THE
TWELFTH STATE
North Carolina now ranks 12th in
population among all States in the
Union climbing over Wisconsin and
Georgia is the ten year period dur
ing which the State also made more
gain along many other lines than is
any other perood in its history.
A gain of 606,023 was made in pop
ulation during the past' decade, giv
ing the state a 23.9 per cent increase,
the fifth largest reported by any
state. Texas, California, Michigan
and Florida, toped the Tar Heel per
centage gain. The 1930 census fig
ures show a total population of 3,166,
146 for North Carolina as compared
with 2,569,123 in 1920.
Since 1920 $166,000,000 in round
figures has been spent of the State
wide highway system created in 1921
and the value of public school pro
perty has increased from $24,067,838
to $107,866,892. For operation and
outlay the sum of $12^14,000 was
spent ten years ago, as compared
with $35,656,000 during the session
of 1927 and 1928 the last school year
for which a detained total is available.
Moreover, the State’s increase in
populationwa s accompanied by a
substantial gain in State’s bank re
sources, which grew in ten year's
from $271,775,748 to $341,750,696.
The value of the state’s manufactur
ed products is now a approximately a
billion and a quarter annually, as
compared with $665,118,000 in 1921.
Millions of dollars have been spent
in the enlargement of the State’s in
stitutions for higher learning and for
the expansion of its charitable and
eleemosynary institutions.
With the, good roads have come
more consolidated schools due to the
elimination of distance between
points heretofore separated by inade
quate highways or no highways at all.
During the past school year more
than 150,000 children daily were
transported to and from rural
schools. I
SPECIAL
LOW FARES
SANFORD
— TO—
Old Point, Va.iCd_$6,50
Portsmouth, Va.__ .....__ $6.60
Va. Beach, Va. ...... .: L.—..$7.00
Richmond, Va. .....$6.50
And Return
VRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 19?0.
limited August 13th.
Additional Selling data
SEPTEMBER 12th..
vim uremt a ciamette
jMilder, yes—but something more.
Chesterfield offers richness, aroma, satisfying
flavor. |§j
BETTER TASTE—that’s the answer; and
that’s what smokers get in Chesterfield in full
est measure—the flavor and aroma of mellow
tobaccos, fcractly blended and cross-blended.
Better taste, and milder too!
© IMP. Liggxtt a Mim Tobacco Co.
I Favorite Recipes
of a Famous Chef
As Told to Anne Baker
i By FREDERIC FRANCOIS
1 GUILLOT
Chef, Hotel Astor, New York City
j Mr. Guillot here presents two
recipes for dishes which con
siders especially delicious and ap
propriate for the family table.
Aspic Salad —
} Peal one large
4 cucumber and
chop fine. Sea
don with salt
and pepper
and let stand
for one - half
hour in four
| tablespoons
p warm vinegar.
spoons lemon
juice and one
t hir d cup
Chef Guillot
sugar to one-fourth cup boiling
water. Mix with liquid drained
from cucumbers. Add two table
spoons gelatine that have been ^
soaked for five minutes in one
half cup cold water. Add few
drops green vegetable coloring.
Cool and strain through cheese
cloth over cucumber. Place in
well-chilled mold. Keep in re
frigerator until firm. Garnish
with small balls of cream cheese.
Serve on lettuce with French
dressing.
Baked Tomatoes—Peal and
cut in thick slices six firm, ripe
tomatoes. Line bottom of cas
serole with, layer of tomatoes.
Sprinkle with Balt and popper.
Hub together four tablespoons
butter, one teaspoon sugar, one
cup bread crumbs. Spread the
. mixture thickly over tomatoes.
Add second layer of tomatoes.
Dot with butter, sprinkle with
salt, pepper and dry bread
crumbs, and bake for twenty
! minutes.
DOCTORS SAID I HAD HIGH
BLOOD PRESSURE AND
Speagolax Medicine Co., 7
Durham, N. C.
Dear Sirs:— - ^
Since getting two bottles of SPEA
GOLAX medicine I have taken one
and a half. It has helped me so
ranch. Doctor says that f have high
blood pleasure, stomach trouble and
rheumatism. Your medicine has help
ed me so much.
STOMACH TROUBLE
tOOFING
“A Roof for Every Building ’
Notice the roofs tne
buildings are using
"VTOTICE the kind of roofing used on
J. v the buildings going up in you®
community. You’ll t* surprised how
rcany me being covered with Carey
Roofing — the important buildings and
the inexpensive, temporary buildings
alike. There is a Carey Roofing for every
ty^ of building — for your building —
and it is most economical as well as
most serviceable.
There is a reason for the popularity of
Carey Rooflng. The reason is superiority
—fiomavesyviewiwiiit.
Lee
Co,
«- “THE WINCHESTER STORE."
SANFORD, N. C.
“TO SAVE YOUR COTTON—Poison the Boll W««vil NOW I
BLACK FLAG
Flies — Mosquitoes
Roaches—Bedbugs
Ants, Moths, Fleas.
© 19JO, b.F. CO.
KILLS QUICKER
ALWAYS COSTS LESS
•Among the leaders in our line for Over a Quarter of a Century*
Special Prices on Asphalt Strip Shingles
KING MANUFACTURING COMPANY,
ROOFING AND SHEET METAL CONTRACTORS,
SANFORD, N. C.
Clearance Sale
Closes Saturday, August 2nd.
REAL VALUES in every De
partment.
Williams - Belk Co.,
STEELE! STREET, - SANFORD^N. C*