Page Two
THE liI.OT
Friday, ‘June 24, 1927.
THE SANDHILLS
(Continued from page 1)
operators made anything out of it,
and this was true in spite of the fact
that manufacturing costs were also
low. The standard wage for labor
ers, log cutters, teamsters, mill
hands, was 60 cents a day plus a
weekly ration of four pounds of
Western side meat, a peck of corn
meal and a quart of molasses, while
skilled men, sawyers, mechanics,
etc., received an average wage of
$2 to $2.50. Each mill had its com
missary to furnish its own employes
with the necessities of life. With the
passing of the turpentine industry,
Manley became to wane, stores went
out of business and its population be
gan to move away. There was not
for the purpose of establishing a
winter resort in this, the northern
belt of the South, easy of access for
people from the East, so that their
winters might be spent away from
the rigors of New England clima e.
In his mind at that time it was to
be largely a cottage resort, supple
mented with small hotels for those
who did not care to keep house.
The one thing that office had was
cut over lands. The horses were
hitched to the buggy and the tour of
inspection beg’an. He was even in
that early period of the Sandhills
fighting clear of real estate dealers,
making it perfectly clear that he was
going to deal first hand or not at all.
We toured the section west of Aber
deen, driving over log roads, through
the woods, over the very tract now
Pinehiirst, Incorporated. Almost ex
actly where the Carolina hotel now
guests and distinguished men were
brc^ight to Pinehurst as lecturers.
In this connection, one of the most
LEONARD TUFTS,
The Head of Pinehurst and Its Va>-
rious Enterprises.
THE CAROLI NA HOTEL
Where James Tufts “Stu ck a Stick in the Ground.
amusing and entertaining perform
ances was pulled Oif, that ever took
place anywhere. One afternoon, I
had just come home from the ad
journment of Congress, I had a phone
call from Mr. Tlifts, asking me if I
would not on that night come to
Pinehui*st and introduce to the audi-
! ence Senatoi- Ben Tillman of South
the men who undertake the impossi
ble. Of course a great many things
could be brought from elsewhere and
kept in cold storage, but a dairy
herd seemed a necessity, as it was,
and to do this successfully feed must
be grown. Experimentation began,
and to the surprise of every body
feed crops were successfully gTOv/n.
at what cost in the* beginning only
Mr. Tufts can tell, but they grew
and the herd was established, and in
the years the problem was solved.
Pinehurst as a resort and its value
in the development of a section can
not be minimized, for it is the out
standing thing in the section, but the
contribution made by this organiza
tion in demonstrating the i^gricul-
tural possibilities of the section and
the development that has grown out
of it, has been by far the larger con
tribution of the two.
Large undertakings must be or
ganized. The selection of the right
man for the particular job is the
key to success; in this respect Mr.
Tufts has displayed genius. In the
development of Pinehurst outside the
hotels, Mr. John McQueen became
his right hand, his industry, his hard
“horse sense^’ translated into prac-
may add has contribu ed its share
of men in the building of the net
work of highways that has these re
cent years brought us to the atten
tion of the whole country. It all
started in the Sandhills, and at Pine
hurst.
a bank in the county in 1890, all the j stands, after a day of inspection, he | Carolina, who was ging to lecture,
banking business was done through ; gtuck a stick he had cut up in the
Raleigh or Fayetteville banks; cur- ^nd had been carrying most
rency to meet monthly pay rolls was I . , , , . j
■u U4. J! r> 1 • 1. u 1 rni- of the day, down m the sand with the
brought from the Raleigh banks. The j .
negro population outnumbered the | remark, “I think this is the place I
whites two to one. There was no | want.” It resulted in selling him
produce raised, and each incoming ! ^bout five thousand acres of land, the
train brought car loads of hay and
price being fixed at $1.00 per acre.
Of all the people in the United States
at that time there was possibly not
another with whom the people of the
North so violently disagreed as
“Pitchfork” Ben. Of course I agreed,
and reached the Carolina and the
Senator’s room, where I found him
donning his evening clothes for the
performance, I asked which of his
corn from the West to feed the thou- rediculous now, but then
Bands of mules of the lumbermen. ' ^ ^een ! lectures, (he had several) he was go-
With the accumulation of the laps of bought for the timber at prices rang- I to deliver. He began to discuss
the trees m the woods came the for- the matter with me, as to the advis-
est fires, burnmg each sprmg over i ability of this or another, and men-
wide areas of cut over lands, utterly | either by the seller j tioned of course his famous one on
destroying the young timber that
had been left and leaving in its wake
or by the buyer. The timber had been
! cut. Why wasn’t tljis a fair price ?
a barren waste; miles upon "jHes of ,
land all vegetation destroyed, with _
thousands of dead tree trunks weep- i. t u
^ 11 1 ^ ' him, though I am sure he never re-
ing over the destruction all about. A
more desolate scene cannot be imag
ined. Men began to talk of the fu
ture. Of what possible use was such
a country. The general thought was
that, with the passing of the timber,
the whole section would be deserted
by man. There was just one ray of
hope, and this came from the in
creasing number of people who came
to the section in search of climate
and restoration to health. Southern
Pines kept gaining, slowly it is true,
but gaining. The problem was,
what are these people going to find to
do. The public mind was specula
tive. No one supposed for an in
stant that there were any agricul
tural possibilities for a section of
sand hills and burned over forests.
Another man, out of the section,
had a dream, and Mr. Lindley, nurs
eryman from Greensboro, bought
some land between Southern Pines
and the present location of Pinehurst,
the tract now known as Midland
farms, on the double road, and plant
ed out some two or three hundred
acres in peach trees; the soil and
climate seemed to suit them, and
they came in due course into bear
ing; one crop was marketed to the
satisfaction of the owner, and then
the trees were attacked with San
Jose scale. No one knew the rem
edy, the Government researches had
not been made at that time and, in
a little while there was a wilderness
of dead peach trees and, beqause of
inability to control disease, this or
chard was abandoned and the whole
scheme written down as a failure.
The sole reminder of this venture
now is the rows of pear trees along
the road, these were planted at the
time of the peach trees as a sort of
artistic border to the orchard.
. About this time, 1894 or 95 there
walked into our office at Aberdeen
one morning a gentleman from Bos
ton with a letter of introduction from
a Mr. Bruner, of the North Carolina
Agricultural Department, Mr. James
gretted the trade. Almost immediate
ly building operations were started,
and many of the smaller cottages
now in the center of Pinehurst were
constructed that summer and fall, he
having employed local contractors
and put them to work in considerable
force. The Holly Inn was also pro
jected and soon completed. As the
years from 1885 to 1895 had gone by
Southern Pines by the energy of Mr.
Patrick had become known in the
East, and new people were coming
there every day during the fall
months. The Aberdeen and West
End railroad leading out from Aber
deen on the Seaboard evidently did
not kindle in the mind of Mr. Tufts
at that time much hope as a means
of transporting his prospective
guests from the through train to his
resort; so he conceived and almost
immediately went to work upon the
construction of a trolley line from
Southern Pines to Pinehurst. This
line was located almost exactly along
the line of the double road connect
ing the two towns. He constructed
a steam power plant for the genera
tion of his power. Soon the cars
were in operation, meeting all the
through trains at Scftithem Pines
There was a good deal of rivalry,
and much talk about his right of way
to the station at Southern Pines. In
fact the sight of the trolley became
to some of the citizens of Southern
Pines like the waving of a red flfig
in the face of an enraged bull. But
people were coming to Pinehtirst, the
cottages were filled, others were built
and the hotel had a fair patronage.
Each winter the number grew, the
village expanded until about 1900
the Carolina was constructed and
opened. The building of a resort
town in a wilderness brought many
other problems. The people demand
ed something more than climate,
they must be amused and entertain
ed. The golf courses were projected
early in the game, and because play
was possible almost contin^uously
JOHN R. McQUEEN,
Leonard Tufts* “Right Hand.’
JAMES McN. JOHNSON,
First Druggist at Aberdeen.
W. Tufts. He asked a great many | during the winter months, when all
questions, some of which could not j courses north of it were closed, soon
be answered, and then unfolded to j made it evident that this would be
us his dream, and it seemed this
dream had been with him for some
time, and this was not his first at
tempt to interpret it. He was first
of all a business man who had been
sQcessful, and had reached the time
of life when he wanted to serve his
fellow man. He talked of purchas
ing large tracts «f the cut over lands
featured as an attraction. The re
sults have certainly justified the
projection along this line. In those
days, and particularly after the death
of Mr. James Tufts and the owner
ship and management had come to
Mr. Leonard Tufts, there was start
ed a course of lectures during the
season for the entertainment of the
Reconstruction in South Carolina. I
had never up to that time heard the
lecture but had heard enough about
it to know pretty clearly the line of
discussion, so in a spirit of fun I ad
vised him by all means to deliver
that one, telling him that his Yankee
audience needed above all things to
know the truth of that dark period
in Southern history. He was not
averse and very readily agreed to
do so. The hall was packed to ca
pacity. At this date, I remember
only two people in that aiudience,
Mr. Leonard Tufts and Mr. John W.
Graham, of Aberdeen.
I presented the Senator as a dis
tinguished teon of South Carolina,
and a distinguished member of the
United States Senate, rugged, hon
est, with an unusual capacity for
telling the truth on all occasions,
the bearer of a message that would
not only entertain them, but prob
ably change the opinions of some of
.hem. What others of that audience
may have felt I cannot of course
tell. I never heard a more graphic
story, more picturesquely told in all
my life. I never have seen an audi
ence more completely under th(p
sway of a speaker. During his re
cital of the details of the wrestling
of the government of South Caroli
na from the hands of the negroes,
and he spared no detail, making it
perfectly clear that he was not de
fending the action as being legal but
a necessity for the preservation of
a civilization. He told how the negro
was forcibly deprived of the fran
chise. Then pausing he dramatical
ly asked: “What would you have
done under like circumstances?” and
there was a perfect storm of ap
proval from that New England au
dience. At another place, and as I
recall, just at the close of his speech,
he paid the finest tribute to Abraham
Lincoln that I have ever heard fall
from mortal lips, when again of
coiurse he caught his audience in
wild approval. The whole scene was
tense, dramatic, and while I had,
more for the fun of the thing made
the suggestion as to his subject to
Senator Tillman, I have felt through
all the years that, by so doing, I
had made a real contribution to a
better understanding between a lim
ited number of people of the two
sections. After this diversion, among
the serious problems to the owner
ship and management was provision
for the guests other than to amuse
or entertain them. They must be
fed. No serious attempt at agricul
ture had been made, and the general
opinion being that it was impossible.
However, the men who succeed are
tical ideas, did many things that had
not before been done in the Sand
hills. He it was I imagine who found
Gordon Cameron and Isham Sledge
and Harrison Stutts, while Mr. Leon
ard Tufts must have discovered Pete
Pender, who has become the Pine
hurst builder.
HARRISON STUTTS,
Manager of the Pinehurst Ware
houses, the Biggest Thing of Its
Kind Between Richmond and At
lanta, and Distributors of the
American Soda Fountains.
Another significant discovery was
made at Pinehurst that was the be
ginning of a development along an
other line that rapidly attracted the
attention of the whole State to Moore
county. For many years, many of
us had been here teaming over the
sand trails carrying half a load and
with endless annoyance without any
of us having discovered that, at prac
tically every hill top nature had mix
ed the sand and clay in exactly the
right proportions for the building of
roads The first sand-clay roads were
built at Pinehurst, and Mr. Tufts
was the pioneer in the construction
of these roads leading away from
the town, and of course back to it.
He built first, with such local aid as
he could secure, the road from Pine
hurst to Asheboro. This was the be
ginning of Route No. 70 of the pres
ent highway system. Soon these
roads were being built all over Moore
corunty and we waked up to find that
we had attained fame on account of
our good roads. No county in the
State had more advocates of a State
road system, and many of its citi
zens made large contribution in the
formation of the public sentiment in
favor of roads, and with modesty we
With most of the timber cut, the
mill and turpentine business vhat
had for two decades given employ
ment to capital and labor gone, eith
er something rmist be developed or
the territory depopulated. The Pine
hurst agricultural experiments en
couraged some to begin the gro\dng
of general crops of cotton, com, etc.
But the then population were not
farmers. In the mean time the Ag
ricultural Department at Washing
ton because of the devastation
wrought by the San Jose scale had
put their experts to work that a
remedy might be found and as these
experiments progressed the minds
of some reverted to the Lindley ex
periment at the Midland farms in
the cultivation of Peach trees. The
remedy was found by which the scale
could be controlled and a few ad
venturous spirits began to put out
peach trees. That they would grow
in this soil and prod^ca a very high
quality of fruit had already peJen
demonstrated. Among thbs/B> mak
ing the venture possibly the boldest
and most confident was Mr. Henry
Clark who had con e to the section
in the early eighties representing a
Boston Naval Stores firm, had
bought rosin and spirits of turpen
tine as long as the industry lasted,
was perfectly familiar with all the
conditions that existed in the sec
tion, had planted a small orchard
near Aberdeen in which he had prov
en every phase of the culture, ex
cept the control of the scale. He or
ganized a company and planted two
hundred acres of peaches just across
the western Moore county line in
Montgomery county, selecting this
locality because it was in the sand
belt, had the proper elevation and
other natural advantages as he then
understood them. His fai'^h demon-
started by so large a venture encour
aged others to plant small orchards.
The results were all they had hoped,
even more. The trees grew to per
fection, the government formula con
trolled the scale; the devastation
wrought by this disease in other
peach belts of the South had left a
scarcity of the luscious fruit on the
BION H. BUTLER,
Who Mr. Page says has advertised
us by the use of “his fertile and
wise pen, more widely and wisely
than has been done by every other
organized effort.”’
market so that, the first crops from
orchards commanded prices that
menat a large profit on the invest
ment made, with the result that
everybody began to figure out how
(Please tom to page 3>
Friday,
ABER
(Coi^
ial for
Moore <
of its o
bacco ti
this typ
to satis:
of cigar
tobacco
The si
turned j
bacco tl
farmers
territory
ed by tl
tivated,
made in
is expec
a still b
ture of
steadily
mocrIi
(Con
gram foi
requires
ture dur
large am
this nitr(
ed above
form of 1
is no be
A soil fil
ing mois
best yiel
amounts
In the!
records \|
and lab<
crop. E|
off in thq
accounts
bushels
The lo
tions wil
am confic
farmers <
interesteq
Grow 1]
it to hoj
paid aboi
fed to tl
Has a
sold out
plenty oi
Barley a
Barley
ty as on
hay forn
the farm
Vass, a
imately t
a fractio
was well
Vetch cc
this yeai
acres. I
WMre H
suits wit
that he
much as
less than!
time, to
Union col
out in til
very go<
on a sai
on rathei
that thei
planted
The com!
grade of
in a goo
the plact
this yeai
en out tl
stand,
able cro|
oats are I
oats unll
vorable
a half Cl
of Barlel
monstral
value thl
I r