Newspaper Page Text
/
The
Colonist.
‘•5*
DEVOTED TO TSE IJVTEEESTS OF THE
WESTEK^ NORTH CAROIINA MANUFACTURING AND AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION.
VOLUME I.
NEW YORK CITY, AND WARM SPRINGS N 0., JANUARY 12. 1871.
The Colonist;
PUBLISHED UNDEK THE MANAGEMENT
of the
WESTBBN NOBTH CAISOLINA
MANUFACTUKING and AGRICtTGXTTRAIi
ASSOCIATION.
iasued for the present in New York, but will be
transferred for permanent location to
Warm Springs, N. C.
A limited number of advertisements will be taken.
THE
CO-OPERATIVE
Manufacturing
The Organization;
ITS PURPOSE AND WORKINGS.
Agricultural
ASSOCIATION.
SHARES
- - $110
As an Initiation Fee,
$5 is chars'ed for the first
SHARE,
And $1 per share for each
additional share.
Any person, of good moral cliaracter, may
become a member by the payment of the above
Initiation Fee, and may subscribe for any number
of Shares from ONE to FIVE! Every Mem
ber is entitled to ONE LOT for each paid-up
Share.
The size of these Lots will be governed by the
number of acres purchased by the Colony.
ALL LETTERS CONTAINING MONEY FOR
SHARES, OR MEMBEFSHIP, ARE IO BI
SENT TO
J. B. LYM>M, Trustee,
TRIBUNF buildings
LETTERS ASKH’^ INFORMATION SHOULD
.E SENT TO
T S. EliljIOTT, 314 Rowery,
, jMAN gives his personal receipt for
^ley, as soon as it is received; and a
cerU
of stock and a member’s book
There are but few so happily situated in their
birth-places as to work out their lives properly;
hence the many changes, and desire of change,
everywhere witnessed among men. In this coun
try, with its boundless area and diversity of ad
vantages, there is every facility of gratifying the
laudable desires of those who wish to possess a
better field for their labors, and live in a locality
better adapted to their constitutions.
Since the close of the war, the South has been
critically examined in all its parts, as a prospec
tive region for immigration. While the fertility of
the Gulf States, the Mississippi Valley, and the
boundless plains of Texas, and other States, have
interested capitalists almost exclusively, men
seeking an opening for their industries, skill, and
enterprise, have preferred to include healthful
ness and beauty of scenery, as indispensable ad
juncts to permanency of settlement.
During the past two years, especially, the moun
tainous parts of the South have been explored,
and their characteristics fully made known,
through books and other publications. Possess
ing every requisite for the manufacturer, artisan,
and mechanic, the miner, the hardy woodman, the
tiller of the soil, and the cattle raiser, this section
includes one of the most healthful climates in the
world, with bracing air, and a scenery grand be'
youd description, and abounding in streams whose
waters are clear and healthful, as well as power,
ful for working machinery to an unlimited extent.
Attracted by these main incitements, a number of
us (mostly citizens of New York), determined to
form a Colony, of which intelligence, morality,
and innocent enjoyments should be the leading
characteristics of its social organization. A spot
in the Blue Ridge has been selected. It has been
reported on by eminent and trustworthy eye-wit
nesses; wnose umteu testimony corroborates all
the general statements of its advantages to meet
the purposes of our undertaking. It is more
healthful, more grand and diversified, than our
mountainous New England; it is as healthful as
the coast of Florida, with air as pure and bracing
as any section of the country, and yet high up
above the malarian influences everywhere preva
lent h low grounds of equal fertility. Persons of
weak constitutions and debilitated bodies have
be<n looking longingly at these high lands, as a
pkee where they might find homes and secure re-
lose and recreation. A weakness of the chest,
and some spitting of blood, that seemed to de
mand a dryer and more balmy air, has of late giv
en intensity and earnestness to their inquiries.
We found by an examinatisn of figures, that few
parts of the world have a climate more exactly
fitted to the average constitution of men of Saxon
blood.
The region referred to is that elevated part of
North Carolina, near the line which divides it
from Tennessee. We learned, by correspondence,
of a number of tracts that were in some respects
adapted to the requirements of our Colony.
Early in the summer of this year we learned
of
The New Yobk Tbibunb Association,
which Hoeace Gkbbley is President, has con
sented to act as custodionS of all moneys sent to New
Torh,for the Colony, fot^the purchase of the prop
erty, and other expenses connected with the incep
tion of the enterprise.
With this organization, we go before the public
confidently. Any one see that in our code of
laws and in the man wifais the custodian of our
funds, we have taken ei jry precaution against a
one-man power on the i art of the officers, and
against any scheming oicjpeculation or misuse of
moneys. c i
DWIGHT Si ELLIOTT, Pkbs’t.,
For tie W. N. C. M. & A. Asso.
Selection of /the Property.
Co-OPBEATIVB Ha-LL, No. 214 Bowery,)
New York, Nov. 15, 1870. )'
Joseph B. Ltman, Es<i.
(Agricultural Editor of the New Yorh Tribune)
Deab Sie :
At a meeting of the p'estem North Carolina
Co-operative Manufacturjlig and Agricultural As
sociation, held at our HKl, on Saturday evening,
the 13th instant, it was vkted, as expressive of the
desire of the Association’that you be requested to
proceed immediately, or»t your earliest conve
nience, to the Warm Springs, in Madison County,
North Carolina, and th^e confer with James H.
Rumbough, Esq., the proprietor of the property,
as to the exact conditioii of the place ; its topog
raphy ; its phenomena ;jts attractions ; its extent;
itsbuild&gs; its value ; and the best terms on
which the whole of the property, as described by
Mr. Helper, in his several communications to us
on the subject, which we herewith hand you, can
be purchased.
For this purpose, the sum of $125, which you
will find inclosed, has been appropriated. We trust
that you maybe pleased to accept it, and that you
will soon favor us with, your good judgment, in
the form of a full report,'in reference to the Warm
Springs property ; the advantages it possesses in
its thermal waters ; its prospects for a railroad ; its
eligibility as a site new town : its water
power, arid otUer facilitss fo.v manufacturing ; and
its agricultural, horticultural, and pomological
resources and capaeities; also the mineral resour
ces, if any, of the county adjacent; and any other
information which you may deem of importance
to our contemplated Coony.
We would also thanl you for your opinion, and
foi other particulars, inrelation to any other prop
erty or properties in Western North Carolina,
which may come unier your observation, and
which, in your judgmeit, may fitly challenge the
attention of our Associarion.
Yours, very reipectfully,
DWIGHT a ELLIOTT, President.
C. W. C. Debhee, Sejretary.
Mr. Lyman’s Report.
V
be sent by the Secretary as soon as they
: made out.
Rev. De. Mason, Rector of Christ Church,
Raleigh, and formerly of New York, writing of
the region selected by the Western North Caro
lina Colony, says:
“ This is a most magnificent region. Of all
the mountain country of the United States, east
of the Rocky Mountains, the mountains of North
Carolina are the loftiest, and yet they are clothed
with verdure from top to bottom. In this part
of the State there is, perhaps, as excellent a graz
ing country as can be found in the United States;
may be in any part of the world. The soil, too, is
a wonderful producer of roots and tuberous
plants. I have heard of one thousand bushels of
common potatoes—Irish, as we call them, to dis
tinguish them from sweet potatoes—being pro
duced on an acre. This may be an exaggeration
or a myth, but all myths have some reality all,
exaggerations have some foundation.”
Mill P.roperty for Sale.
A Mill, Dwelling House, and three acres of
land, two miles from Seymour Depot, on the
Woodbury road, in the Naugatuck Valley, Conn.
Mill 28x60 feet, has machinery i|n good repair
for manufacturing woolen yarn ; good stream of
water that never fails, 80 feet fall ; dam in good
condition. To be sold cheap. For terms, &c., in
quire of A. W. MACDONALD, Je., & CO., No. 29
Beekman street. New York, or of the owner,
JAMES ORMSBEE, Seymour, Conn., on the
premises.
through Mr, Helper, that a valuable property on
the French Broad, eight miles from the Tennessee
line, could be obtained. We gleaned all the facts
with relation to it that were easily accessible, but
feeling the importance of a judgment on the sub
ject in which we might confide, Mr. Lyman of the
Texbune was employed to visit the region and
give the property a minute examination.
His commission and the report which he has
brought back are found in another column and
will show that we were not misinformed as to the
remarkable attractions and capabilities of the
Warm Spring property. We have decided to buy it.
It vrill be seen by a study of Mr. Lyman’s re
port that a large number of mechanics and skilled
workers can at once find employment. The re
pair and enlargement of the hotel will imply an
outlay of at least $5000. Its furniture and equip
ments, which we propose to make on the spot,
will cost several thousand more. Our plan is to
proceed at once to erect a saw mill, grist mill a
shop with all the machinery necessary for making
furniture, tools, and other articles of woodenware.
The organization on which we work is substan
tially as follows: The members of the Colony
have elected a President, a Vice President, Secre
tary, and Treasurer. Also three Trustees, three
Auditors, and a Board of Directors, twelve in
number. These, excepting the Auditors, compose
a Board of Management who discuss and pass up
on all matters relating to the interests of the Col
ony. All expenses are ordered by them and no
bill can be paid without their approval.
The duties of the Trustees are to advise the
purchase of property, the erection of buildings,
the purchase of machinery and supplies. No bill
can be paid unless endorsed by two of the Trus
tees.
To the Officers and Merrbers of the North Carolina
Co-operatm Association.
Gentlemen :—In obedience to the instructions
in the above Commissioi, I have to report that I
went to the Warm Springs property and exam
ined it minutely, making Ml notes of all its vari
ous attractions and capabilities. I then proceeded
up the French Broad river -,0 Asheville, and exam
ined a fine agricultural profeiriy on Elk Mountain,
five miles from that town, aid by inquiry informed
myself of various other tricts of land and mill
properties in the counties of Madison and Bun
combe.
I found railroad access as far as the mouth of
Wolf Creek, eight miles from the Springs. The
stage road connecting these points is in some
places quite steep, and in others rocky; but its
character is a matter of temporary importance,
for the road is graded for a part of the way up the
French Broad, and if work is actively renewed the
cars may be stopping at the depot, close by the
Springs, early next season. The moneys of the
road have been misapplied and squandered, but
enough has been rescued to buy the iron and com
plete the grading. The Warm Spring will be the
point at which the Tennessee and North Carolina
road connects with the Western North Carolina
road. There is a difference of two or three inches
in the gage of those roads, and this will require a
transfer of freight and loassengers, and tend to
make the station one of considerable importance.
The French Broad is a large stream, pouring
down as much water as the Delaware at Easton,
or the Connecticut at Brattleboro. The mountains
through which its pathway is cut rise in steeps,
and sometimes in precipices, from the water’s edge
to the height of five hundred, and, at points, a
thousand feet. But at this point they recede near
ly a mile from the stream, and leave on the left or
south bank a tract of excellent arable land. This
land is flat and alluvial for an extent of about fif
ty acres. This field is smooth, in good condition,
extending for nearly half a mile along the margin
of the stream. It is now in winter wheat, and is
likely to produce from 12 to 15 bushels per acre.
Just back of this bottom is a steep bank about
twenty feet high, and on reaching the top of it
you see a second bottom, or table, of about fifty
acres more, of land not so good as the first field,
bly situated for building sites. A stream that rises
in a spur of the Alleghenies, twenty or thirty
miles south of the Springs, and pours through a
wild and precipitous region, here empties itself
into the French Broad. Its name is Spring Creek,
and the waters of it are clear, cold, and abundant
all the year. It is now as low as at any time in
the year, and I judge that it would fill a race eight
orten feet wide, four feet deep, and give in the race
a velocity of four or five miles an hour. Its fall is
such that in several places a low dam and a race
of a quarter of a mile in length would afford a
head of from fifteen to twenty feet. A dam with a
race of this character is in the place, and a saw
and grist mill, which, by an outlay of, say, $200>
could be put in fair running order.
On the west, or Tennessee side of Spring Creek,
the land rolls more, but its quality is even better.
There are about twenty-five acres of bottom on the
creek, and a second bottom of thirty-five acres.
Back of it is a field that has been plowed for an
extent of about fifty acres, and beyond, on the
west end of the property, is a pasture, or old field,
of about thirt.v acres. In short, of valley land,
arable and excellent for any purpose, I find about
one hundred and twenty-five acres. Back of this,
and running up on the flanks of the mountain,
and including some steep banks, of little value
except for pasture, and some stony and some cool
and springy land, but not unfit for cultivation, I
find about one hundred and twenty-five acres, or
two hundred and fifty acres of surface that can be
cut into gardens and building lots. Back of this
the mountains are steep, but worth something for
the firewood that grows on their sides, and which
could easily be rolled down.
The whole area of the Spring’s tract is some
what over six hundred acres. Over about fifty
acres there is a good timber growth of white pine,
hemlock, oak, beech, and poplar. Much of the
timber can be rolled into Spring Creek, and float
ed to the mill through the race. South of the
Spring’s tract, but separated from it by a narrow
strip belonging to J. J. Gudger, is the Cauebrake
farm. It lies on both sides of Spring Creek, and
includes about two hundred acres of arable land,
of which thirty or forty acres are quite strong
and productive. A large boundary of wild land
is connected with it, embracing some five hundred
acres. Some of the timber is rather easy of ac
cess, and some is on the sides of steep mountains,
covered with loose rock, and too remote from the
stream to admit of floating. I went up one deep
glen, or gorge, on this land, and saw very large
hemlocks, poplars, oaks, and beeches, in great
number, some white pines, and some hickory and
ash, but not a great deal.
Going up Spring Creek, beginning, say, three
miles from the Spring, I find a great wilderness.
For five miles there is no habitation, and only a
wild mountain bridle-path. This great forest is
full of game, so much so that a ham of venison
can generally he bought at the Spring for fifty
cents. Spring Creek runs directly through it, and
in many places—I judge from the face of the coun-
hundreds of pines and hemlocks can be cut
on the rocky sides of the steep mountains, rolled
down to the water, and taken out in a flood. Such
I find the Warm Springs and its connected tracts
as a farming and lumbering property.
but suitable for potatoes, oats, clover, and admira-
A8 A POPTJLAE EBSORT.
The chief value of this estate consists in a re
markable spring on the margin of the river, and
a large hotel near by. The spring boils up con
stautly, and in great quantities, from unknown
depths in the earth, and the temperature of the
water is almost exactly that of the human blood
and body. As a warm bath it is wonderful, and
hardly equalled in the country.
A wall of brick, laid in cement, has been built
around the spring. It is about 10x20, and divided
by a wooden wall into two pools, one for male and
one for female bathers. The depth is about four
and a half feet, and the bottom is clean and grav
elly. The flow of hot water is quite large. I
judge it would, if all saved, fill a hogshead in ten
minutes. Besides its warmth, this water has min
eral properties of considerable value. It contains
magnesia and sodium, and has been found helpful
as a beverage for those whose digestion is bad.
The hotel building, which stands a few yards
from the spring, is built of brick, is very substan
tial, and in good repair. The main, or two-story
part, is over two hundred feet long, and the con
tinuation, one story high, is over two hundred feet
long. There are two L’s, one containing the
kitchen and dining-room of the main part, and
another set of rear rooms on the continuation.
Though connected, the one-story group of build
ings can be used separately from the two-story or
main structure. I hear that four hundred persons
have been entertained here before the war. The
rooms are too large, and much space is given to
halls and entries that are of little use. By raising
the roof of the two-story part, or rather turning it
into a mansard, and dividing the interior different
ly, an outlay of, say $5000, would give this hotel
a capacity for five hundred guests.
The Warm Springs are nearly two thousand
feet above the level of the sea. High mountains
enclose them on all sides, save the gorge through
which the river has forced its pathway. It is un
common to see ice over two inches thick, and the
nights of July and August are so cool that one or
two blankets are required for comfortable sleep.
The water is all in rapid flow. The air is ren
dered pure and fragrant by the pine and hemlock
forests that line the mountain sides.
You perceive that I am describing the choice situ
ation in America, and one of the most favorable
on the face of the earth for chest diseases of all
sorts. I saw a number of persoHS'Who had suffered
from bleeding from the lungs, and they have gained
strength faster, and been more exempt from pain
and coughing, in this climate, than in any other.
Patients of this class need comforts and refine*
ments which the country until recently has been,
unable to afford them. Many cannot endure a
jolting ride Over mountain roads. But as soon as
diversified industries are commenced, and a vivid
life begins at certain manufacturing centers, there
must be a great influx j of persons of delicate lungs
and ailing throats. Those who have money will
come as hoarders, and there will be some class of
work for those who have their bread to earn.
I have no doubt that persons can he found who
will rent the hotel of you for a sum greater than
the interest on the whole property, and for a colo
ny movement the place has remarkable advan
tages at the outset. Thus: Suppose two hun
dred persons, chosen from the most useful trades,
unite to buy and improve this property. They
can go at once, and find a great building in which
they can live, large rooms in which to hold meet
ings, and all the appointments necessary for keep
ing a co-operative boarding-house of the best
class. Their first industry will be to remodel the
main building, fit up another double tier of rooms,
paper, paint, and decorate. Another set of work
ers put up a saw mill, circular saws, gig saws, and
make 200 or 300 bedsteads, washstands, and bu
reaus for the hotel. For industrious women
there will he abundance of work. Wool can be
bought for half the price of hair, and it makes a
better bed. There will be needed from 200 to 500
wool mj,ttresses, sheets, pillow-slips, and towels,
to correspond. Many hundred yards of carpeting
must be sewed and fitted. This industry can be
.'so adjusted as to be ended by the first of June,
when visitors may be expected. By that time,
other houses can be go far completed as to afford
comfort for the summer. The opening of a large,
freshly fitted up and commodious hotel, in a man.
ufacturing village, will he the best possijble ad
vertisement of the attractions of the place, and
the excellence of the articles made there.
A little work and four or five hundred feet of
iron-pipe, will bring from the side of the moun
tain, seventy feet above the hotel, a rill of ice-cold
water, that bursts from the rocks in a dell over
grown with ivy. This can be conducted to th#
hot spring, and so blended with the water of high
temperature as to permit a hath nf any range of
mercury, from lOO" down to 45°. Under the ad
vice of a skilled physician, this unlimited supply
of the finest water, of all temperatures, would
make a water-cure establishment superior to any
on the continent, and at a cost so trifling that the
baths might be made free to all boarders at tUe
hotel.
Besides the main spring, of which I have spok-
en, there are many others just below and on the
margin of the river. It will require digging, or
the driving of a tube, and cemented walls, to keep
the hot water from the water of the river, which
runs close by. There is a class of maladies for
which this hot mineral water is the most ap
proved. Persons suffering from these cutaneous
complaints could remain at another hospital, bmlt
for them over these lower springs. For well per
sons, who want wild scenery, mountain air, climb
ing, sport, and adventure, this situation is remark
ably attractive. There are fish to be caught, deer
to be shot, lonely and distant peaks to be scaled.
A landscape painter cannot miss of, the pictur
esque on all sides of him, and there is no end of
the health and joy of mountain exploration.
It is because of these remarkable groups of fa
cilities and attractions that I have advised you to
buy the Warm Springs property. Properly man
aged I believe as a watering place it can be made
to bring you an income of $10,000 a-year. When
you have done all that well can be, to make the
place beautiful, comfortable, and famous, you will
be able to sell the hotel property for, I dare to say,
twice what you gave for the whole estate. Yet
the cost of all these improvements may not be
more than from $10,000 to $15,000. If the prop
erty is divided into lots of an acre each, that will
give you 200 or 250 lots, and I advise that you seU
to the original members each alternate lot and
thus let the rise in the value of the reserved spaces
inure to the benefit of the colony.
In another paper I will report on the Elk Moun
tain property. At present your enterprise is to
find about 200 skilled workers who will go to the
Warm Springs, and make the place as beautiful
and as prosperous as the God of nature no doubt
intended it should be made.
Very respectfully yours,
JOSEPH B. LYMAN.
Tribune Rooms, )
Dec. 2, 1870. f
To those who, in the spring of tills year, ex
pressed a wish to move to North Carolina, I would
say, that the Colony going out from this city from
their rooms at 214 Bowery, of which Dwight S-
Elhott is President, are about to buy a beautiful
situation on the French Broad River, and create a
manufacturing town. They are eminently wor
thy of the confidence of the community.
JOSEPH B. LYMAN