THE PINEHURST OUTLOOK.
LETTER FROM F. A. O.
The holiday of Fehruary 22d w;i',
delightfully spent in ;i visit to Southern
Pines and Pinehurst, those oases in the
piney-woods sand hills of south-central
North Carolina ; a visit full of profit as
well. On the way to Southern Tines
from Haleigh there were many evidences
of the great revival of the lumber trade,
which a few years ago appeared to have
hopelessly declined. All timber that can
possibly be used is eagerly sought. All
is fish which comes to the lumberman's
net now. Great is the havoc in the
forests. Tramways ramify in all direc
tions like feelers reaching after timber
belts. Three destroyers are steadily at
work; t lie lumberman, the fire and the
hog. The former picks the best and
leaves the woods all a-scramble with the
tops of once stately pines ; the tire sweeps
along and leaves blackened ruins, the
ghastly blackness of charred timber and
stumps, while the hog, the true piney
woods rooter, performing well his part
in the great work of destruction, applies
himself to the task of rooting up the
little pines and eating the tap root,
which to his half-starved stomach, is a
choice morsel. Mile after mile the Sea
board Air Line whirls the traveler
through a county made half desolate by
these three agencies.
The Cumnock Mines are ne.irthe route,
and their output is now 145 tons a day,
taken by the Seaboard Air Line mainly.
The cotton mill is beginning to make its
appearance and by and by perhaps one
will be at nearly every station as on the
Xorth Carolina Kail road between Kaleigh
and Charlotte.
The Seaboard Air Line track-staighten-ing
has been completed and the sharp
curves taken out. Watched from the
rear platform of the train the work done
shows up well. J t .is all preparatory to
the running 'of the fast "Florida and
West India special" trains next season.
Southern Pines grows. It seems but a
little while since only a turpentine dis
tillery marked the place. In those days,
Aberdeen, now a lumber centre, was
merely a siding. First, the Prospect
House was built, at Southern Pines, then
came cottages and more hotels, culminat
ing in the Piney Woods Inn, and now
the place is known everywhere. Mr.
Mr. Charles St. John, who lately bought
the Inn, says he will this year increase
its size 50 per cent. He finds a steady
improvement in its clientage. There is
a sanitarium for white consumptives in
the town and several places there which
these unfortunates frequent. The negro
consumptives sanitarium is a mile from
the town and its three buildings make a
neat appearance. It is something entirely
new.
This whole sand hill country is but at
the beginning of its career as a health
resort. It takes capital and time to
develop, and if such a thing be possible,
to actually improve on nature herself.
Four years ago the writer made his first
visit to Pinehurst and to revisit it was
delightful indeed. Then Mr. .lames W.
Tufts, its owner, had proved such a won
der-worker that he was termed the
"Aladdin of the IMnes." He has all the
while kept up his wizard-work and Pine
hurst is a model.
The way there is like a sandy ocean,
on whose billows the electric car careers.
On its way it passes through the Van
Lindley peach orchard, yet the largest in
the state, though more than half shorn
of its glory. Sixty thousand trees glowed
the fatal blight of the Sin .lose scale.
Van Lindley applied the axe voluntarily
and leveled $GO,000 worth of trees. Now
it is said a discovery lias been made by
which he could have saved them. Forty
thousand trees remain, in the young
orchard. They are perhaps four and
one-half feet high and perfectly propor
tioned; the tops so trimmed as to be flat
and admit of the hand-picking of the
fruit. It is said the part from which the
opened that will indeed be a house
warming. A North Carolinian, Mr. Bain of
Greensboro, has the contract for doing
the work and there are 225 men employed.
It is odd, but true, that though there is
an endless supply of oak in this state,
that used comes from Atlanta, and that
while there is a vast supply of cypress
here, the cypress for the 1,100 doors was
sent from Florida to Boston, made up
there and then shipped to the hotel.
There are no sick people at Pinehurst,
trees were cut will be replanted in pear
trees.
The state horticultural experiment
farm adjoins that of Van Lindley, and on
it tests are in ale of the effect on sandy
soils of various fertilizers on various
crops.
The trolley car ride to Pinehurst is a
delight, and this is made complete when
thecar slips through Mr. Tufts woven
as those with lung trouble are barred.
Upon Mr. Charles D. Benbow falls the
sad task of telling such people that they
are unwelcome. Pinehurst is a resort
for the well, the pleasure-seekers, and is
kept inviolate.
All the Pinehurst world plays golf.
The links are among the very finest in
the country. Nature provided only the
sand and the roll of the land. Mr. Tufts
2- S'2 -v'A
1
t 4
wire fence and into a "Piney Paradise."
There is a day's sight-seeing. The Holly
Inn is more than doubled in capacity;
there are two smaller hotels, half a score
of flats or apartment houses and 76 cot
tages, all models within and without.
And biggest and most beautiful of all is
the new hotel, with the proud name of
Carolina, with its 325 rooms, its porches
10 feet wide and five-eights of a mile
around; its 108 private baths; its quarter
sawed oak finishing on the first floor
which alone cost $18,000 ; its 1,100 doors ;
its 5,000 electric light, etc. When it is
did the rest. The Xorth Carolinian, as a
rule, laughs at golf. To him it is a fad,
perhaps more of an one than lawn ten
nis or that by-gone game croquet. But
anyway he laughs. Hut to the golfer,
and to the Northerner (his or her name is
legion) it is the only game. The links
have 18 holes, and it is four miles around.
It is considered good form to go around
twice a day. The 18 holes have been
made in 81 strokes by a professional, 87
by an amateur.
Mr. Tufts is a delightful companion,
lie is a multi-millionaire, but has given
"OTTON
Culture"
is the name
of a valu
able illustrat
ed pamphlet
4 4
OTf which should
be in the hands
of every planter who
aises Cotton. The
book is sent Free.
Send name and address to
GERMAN KALI WORKS,
A3 Nassau St., New York.
mm
many people a great deal of pleasure.
He intends to keep up that sort of work.
He has from time to time fancied that
Pinehurst was completed, but takes a
fresh hold and the development is steady.
People by the doen are turned away
daily. He will open a wing of the big
hotel to give room for some.
His experiments of getting a turf on
the unlovely ground are quite successful,
as the Village Green and the links show.
So are his experiments in the planting of
baby pines. A few years ago these were
in a sort of incubator. Now they are
coining along bravely.
Mr. Tufts has the "world in a ring
fence." He is a benefactor, since he
makes a great many blades of grass
grow where none ever grew before. He
tells me it was Mr. T. K. Brunei", secre
tary to the board of agriculture, who
induced him to come to this state and to
choose Pinehurst. He has a warm spot
in his kindly heart for Mr. Hruner.
A trip to Pinehurst will be a revelation
to almost any native. Good ideas are to
be ga the red there; of home-building and
keeping, of that cleanliness and neatness
which are declared to be akin to godli
ness, and a visitor once will certainly
repeat that experience. F. A. O. in
Charlotte Observer.
Snmlay iv'iiin Concert.
The regular Sunday evening concert
last Sunday was one of the most enjoy
able of the season. The numbers on th''
program were chosen with excellent
taste and all were beautifully rendered,
the violin solo by Miss Carpenter and th'
cornet solo by Mr. Barker being especially
pleasing. The balmy atmosphere tempted
a large portion of the audience to reman
on the piazza, where they could enjoy
the cooling breezes and still hear th'
music as well as those inside. The pro
gram was as follows :
March From "The Singing Girl" Herbert
Overture "Stradella" Flotow
Adagio From the "Sonata Pathetique"
Hecthovu
Selection "Stabat Mater" Rossini
Cornet Solo "Recitativo, Arietta, Etc."
Wndswor h
Claude Tiarker.
Moreen u Characteristic "The Butterily"
Theo. Bemlix
Violin Solo jSSS" Victor Ilerbcv
Miss Carpenter.
Finale "Caprice Galicienne" Lange
Hymn "God be with you," by the audience.