Newspapers / The Elkin Tribune (Elkin, … / April 1, 1914, edition 1 / Page 1
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INDUSTRIAL EDITION PROGRESS T 11 C FI If 1 II T D I R II N P '" I nt ELKIN I KI DU N E I™ NINETEEN FOURTEEN ELKIN, - N 0 R T H C A R 0 L FN A INDUSTRIALLY Elkin’s Manufactured Products Cover the Globe—Her Produce Market is the Largest in the State Elkin is destined to become the largest and best town in North Western North Carolina. With the many natural resources which are yielding so rapidly to the pro cess of development, with the op ening up of the section traversed by the Elkin & Alleghany Rail road and the abundance of raw material -thus brought within range of the factory, with the greatest market in the state for country produce, with the large and varied manufacturing indus tries and with the unified an ag- gressive disposition always in ev idence among the citizens of the town, Elkin's intended goal seems almost inevitable. Elkin is essentially a manufac turing town, all of the thirteen G#ge manufacturing plants, ex cept two, having been establish ed here within the past twenty years. At.present there is a sum of $650,000 invested in the manu facturing plants in the town and each year these plants do a vol ume of business amounting to $1,- 500,000. During the.year there are 2,500 car loads of manufactur ed goods shipped from Elkin to all -parts of ti?^ Ur^ed States, Can ada and Mexico, many of tlie’pro ducts reaching a number of for eign countries. Almost 500 labor ers are employed in the factories ire, receiving annuallly $150,000 in wages and salary. The Chat ham Manufacturing Co., Elkin s first manufacturing industry, has the largest woolen mill in the South for the manufacture >f blankets exclusively an^ -their fine ally in supplying this and sur- rounding towns and country with these products. The Elkin Veneer anally 300 car loads of veneer all over the Unitde States and Cana da, the bulk of this product going to New York, Pennsylvania and other Middle Atlantic States. Among the other plants that man ufacture and ship large quantities of Elkin products arc the follow ing: The Elkin Bottling Co., which has a capacity of 200 dozen bottles of Pepsi-Cola and fruit drinks a day; W. B. Mjnick & Bro., manufacturers of finished building material, kitchen cabi nets, tables, etc.: Elkin Buggy Co., manufacturers of high grade bug gies; J. W. Mathis, harness mak ing and repairing; a cotton mill established in 1847; and the Elkin Roller Mill s, which supply Elkin and the surrounding country with Diamond Dust flour and other grain products. Elkin has the distinction of be ing the largest country produce market in North Carolina, with chickens and eggs as the princi pal products. The Elkin and Al leghany Produce Co. and the Cash Wwlu.cc Co. buy and ship to nor thern markets mowe than 10,000 coops of chickens, and 8,6100 cases, , WHOLE ib^i^ij Elkin is one.of the most desira ble places in North Carolina in which to live. Any man, woman or child, whoenters the town and shows any inclination to join in the progress and spirit of the citizens, receives a hearty and encouraging welcome. Elkin is located in the south western corner of Surry county within half a mile of the Yadkin and Wilkes county lines. The Yadkin river bounds the south ern side of the town, while the Elkin creek runs through it. The elevation is 950 feet above sea- ELKIN EXTERNALLY ELKIN INTERNALLY dance. The three counties of Surry, Yadkin and Wilkes contain more than three-quarters of a million acres of land, half of which is MR. C. G. ARMFiELD MAYOR OF ELKIN Elkin is surrounded by one of the finest sections of country in the State. The fertile bottom lands along the Yadkin river and Elkin creek are admirably adapt ed to the growth of corn, while the uplands are very fertile, pro ducing tobacco, corn, wheat, oats, rye, potatoes almost three million eggs, annua?^ ly, making a daily average of a- bout 35 coops of chickens - and mon that 10,000 eggs. Hoping the season of six months be \ April 1 and Oct. 1, these Elkin Shoe Co., with a capacity^ AC? of 400 pairs of shoes a day, has the largest brogan shoe factory in the South and the famous “Elkin Shoes” are to be found on many thousand feet in half a dozen states. More than 50 per cent of the telegraph and telephone in sulator pins* and brackets used in the United States and a large per cent of those used in Canada and Mexico are manufactured here by the Elkin Machinery Co., which owns an automatic lathe, invented and patented by Ab Brown, a lo cal man. This machine, the only one of its kind in existence, has a capacity of 40,000 or about a car- load of brackets a day and Mr. Brown refused $26,000 for the pat ent. The Elkin Canning Co. dis tributes almost 200,000 gallons of blackberries during the summer of each year and gives employ ment to 1,500 to 2,000 people who can berries and other fruits and vegetables by contract. The Elk in Furniture Co. ships about 200 car loads of its bed room suits, chiffoniers, filing cases, etc., to northern, southern and Pacific coast states, as well as to Cana da and several foreign countries. The Eidson canning outfit, a local invention manufactured "by the Dixie Hardware and Manufactur ing Co., is now in use in 15,000 homes scattered over nine differ ent states and Eidson mail boxes cover the same territory. The Elkin Ice & Light Co., with its brick machine having a daily ca pacity of 25,000 brick and ten ton ice plant, does a volume of busi ness amounting to $100,000 annu- ^^■^Pu^ o ^ spring onfhsjm the spring, Dps ot liens, each coop £ about 60 pounds, are bog^ , Id shipped. Fc "Tuese poultry products, which are raised at practically no' expense, as there is very little scientific poultry raising in this •section, the farmers for a radius of ten or fifteen miles around re ceive almost $150,000 annually. The- chicken and egg business in Elkin has increased about 100 per cent within the past fivS years. In addition to the poultry pro ducts, these companies buy and ship about 750,000 pounds of fruit and 4,000 bushels of peach seed, annually, while the business in bees wax, roots and herbs, furs, green and dry hides and other country products is of no incon siderable amount. Two of the biggest wholesale grocery stores in North Carolina, the Atkinson Co. and Holcomb Bros. Co., are located in Elkin and in adjoining buildings. The two stores have a combind floor space of 22,000 square feet and have a volume of business amounting to about $300,000 annually. They carry a full line of groceries and do a large business in a side line of notions, covering rather thor oughly the counties of Alleghany, Ashe, Iredell, Surry, Wilkes and Yadkin with the goods handled through their stores. These two houses jointly own and conduct the Elkin & Alleghany Produce Co., the business of this company amounting to $150,000 a year. To provide a home market for HISTORICALLY Town of Elkin Was Incorporated 1889 — Her History is the History of Sound and Steady Growth (Continued on page 12) (Continued on page 12) ELKIN OFi, ICERS W HO 4 Standing: (left to righty—^ T TEgth. J. S. heimer, Commissioners. Sitting: q e ft to right); C. G. Armfield, Mayor: W. W. Harris, 'Constable. The country surrounding Elkin has gone through practically the same experience that has fallen to the lot of almost every section of the country since the first set tlers landed on the coast. Peace and quietness reigned except for the. murmur of the Yadkin river and the shouts of the peaceful In dians in pursuit of their game. This section was inhabited by Iro quois Indians at an early date and they have left their traces in the form of stone arrowheads, hatch ets, pestles and mortises. They gave the name to the Yadkin riv- which in their language means named Hanes. He, like Shores, had a forge in this neighborhood. He put in several dams across the Elkin creek, but had great trouble’ in getting one to withstand the floods. He made a final supreme effort in building a dam and defied all powers to move it. In less than twenty-four hours this Mam also had been carried away. Traces, may be seen of his mor tises and iron spikes in the rocks of the creek above the cotton mill pond. These men lived here between The name “Elkin’' was applied to the creek which through the town into the kin. Tradition tells us that ago elks wandered down first flows Yad- years from the at ilies each bors years i time within other of 1750 and 1820, three 1 re near two fam- miles of • neigh- and while Surry county con- the mountains and, when chased by hunters, would take to the creek and thus the trail would be lost. The disappointed comment would be “elk-in”. Whether these hunters were Indians or white settlers is a matter of spec ulation. Another version of the tradition is that a hunter shot an elk, which fell into the creek. The. hunter’s joyous shout was “elk-in”. Whether the despond ent remark-or the victorious shout has come down to us does not dif fer. It is sufficient to say that the voice still echoes and re-echos with ever increasing force the grooves of lime, and—• is not vet. tained all of what is now Alle ghany, Iredell, Stokes, Yadkin, and Wilkes counties. The county seat was then located about twelve miles west of Winston-Sa lem, near Bethania., Mr. Rich Gwyn, known as “Old Man Dickie” Gwyn, moved from Wilkes county to Jonesville abor^ the year 1817. He lived in house where Thompson’s store now located and sold goods in t building just across the stre He was postmaster at Jonesv in 1829 and several years bef and after. While there he bou f 400 acres of land, includ present I. L. Shugar^ ing f^ -^ Mile gi. H i o F CS V mouth lee Buggies, F & op establish who at Lune lived betweer RE HUSTLERS. Atkinson, E. G-. Click. C. N. Boden- J. F. Hendren, Clerk and Treasurer: THE PEOPLE OF EXKIN DO THINGS Elkin Found That She Needed a Better School Building. The plans have been drawn, the contract let and the foundation started for a modern $25,000 brick school building. An election was held on March 20; 914, to vote bonds for building. Not a Single Vote Was Cast Against These Bonds Elkin Found That She Needed Water Works. The water mains have laid, the standpipe erected and the filter plant is being installed. An election held on Jan. 10, 1914, to-vote 33.000 in bonds for water works. Not a Single Vote Was Cast Against These Bonds tills been was Elkin Found That She Needed a Sewerage System. Sewer pipes are already laid practically all over the town. An election was held on Jan. 10, 1914, to vote on . 7,000 in bonds for sewerage purposes* Not a Single Vote Was Cast Against These Bonds Elkin Found That She Needed a Better Lighting Plant. The citizens of the town, formed the Carter Falls Power Qo., and. in connection with the town, will con struct a dam and install a 150 horse-power dynamo to furnish light, and power. Elkin Found That She Needed Larger Hotel Facilities. By Jan. 1, a $20,000 brick hotel containing thirty-four rooms and all modern conveniences will be opened. Elkin Found That She Needed a Home Market for Tobacco. Two large and commodious tobacco warehouses will open this fall with the tobacco season. Jissen an' J ™ y Io _ ^cession for the iur- nace, The rough brick used in the furnace, and lumps of slack, may still be seen on the west edge of the cotton mill pond, a few yards above the dam, although a part of it is covered by the ponded wa ter. He secured this grant about the middle of the eighteenth cen tury and lived here and worked his forge for about twenty years. Resenting the crowding by a settlement in the Brick House neighborhood, eight miles from here in Yadkin county, he, like Daniel Boone, who has also rov ed these valleys, looked for more elbowroom in the Cody Creek neighborhood. The next record is of a grant of 360 acres of land on top of the Brushy Mountain, four miles south of Elkin, to Win. Sparks, Jr. The grant was made by Gover nor Martin on the 24th day of October, 1782. Evidently there was some trouble later over the title of this land, for on Jan. 17, 1862, Rufus H. Page, then Secre tary of State, made a copy of the grant and certified, that-it was on file in his office. This certificate with a copy of the grant, is among the old papers of Mr. T. L. Gwyn. The second settler on this side of the Yadkin, so far as can be as certained, was Matt. Hughes, who came into possession of the land between the Blue Ridge Moun tains and the Yadkin river. Hughes was followed by a man Gwyn avenue and Mr. Rich Chat ham's place. Mr. Gwyn lived at Jonesville for about twenty-two years. All of his children, except Mr. T. L. Gwyn, were born there. Mr. Gwyn moved to; Elkin about 1840 and built a house on the Parks place, where Senator Franklin's house now stands. He left his store in Jonesville to his sons, James and Richard Gwyn, buf James died in 1849 and Rich ard then moved to Elkin. Mr. T. L. Gwyn was born in 1842 and it appears that Mr. Gwyn retired from active iness duties a few years Rich bus- —later, leaving his work to his sons, but keeping a general supervision. Rev. Janies Minish, the first Methodist minister in this section, and his wife, known as “Granny Polly”, with their five children, moved to Elkin in 1845 and occu pied a house standing near- the C. H. Billings house. At that time Elkin consisted of a blacksmith shop, a grist mill, a sash saw mill, a small house just above where tiie cotton mill tank now stands and, on the opposite side of the creek, lived Mr. Gwyn with his faniily and slaves. Messrs. Richard Gwyn, James Gwyn, R. R. Gwyn, Litle Hicker son and Columbus Franklin^ or ganized the Elkin Manufacturing Co. in 1847 and built the old cot ton mill as it stands today on the east side of the creek, Win. Gor don of Dobson superintending the construction of the building. Mr. (Continued on page 12) (Continued on page 12) > zw^mM^ W**
The Elkin Tribune (Elkin, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
April 1, 1914, edition 1
1
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