Vol XIV Xo. 18.
The Tarborough Press,
I BY GF.OHGE HOWARD,
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"Vx
FOR THE TARBORO PRESS.
THE
'HUCKLEBERRY GALS" FOR ME,
f BOYS.
The busy season's over and gone
-So, now i'!l go to spinning rhymes;
liut, Conetoe trade is coming on,
And then we'll have most lively times.
f 'Conetee gals" will soon be seen
With baskets full of "huckleberries;"
And if the frost don't kill, I ween,
They'll "tote" us plenty plums and cherries.
J ".Merchants" prepare yourselves with snuff,
Manufactur'd by Lorrillard;
f And "bacco" too for them to puff,
'And barter cheap and don't be hard.
It fills my soul with joy enough,
To see those "gals" come in my shop;
I I'm sure" to sell an ounce of snull
They never come without their mop.
"Please let me take a leetle dip,
, To see if it's salt, or fresh, or good;"
from off the box the lid I slip
And in they souse, their sticks of wood.
; Oh! how I love those "gals," Oh! dear,
Tht ir presence cheers up all around us;
lilt II laicwrn uiuiico suru u iui
They leave us wretched as they found us.
If twasn't for the d d "musketes,"
That doth infest their native bogs,
They "railey" would be charming "creetcrs,"
Altlio' they dwell among the frogs
These insects it is clear as day,
Have suck'd the claret from their faces;
Have vilely stole the rose away,
And therefore robb'd them of the graces.
But "howsomever," I've a notion
To take one "av urn" better for "worser,"
And train her to the "wild goose motion"
And soon she'll be a lady "rusher."
MIKE FINK,
letter
From th? Secretary of War, transmuting
Use r r - rt of a Survey of the Channel in
C ore bound, North Carolina.
Department of War, March 14, 1838.
Sir: I transmit a report from the offi
cer in charge of the bureau of Topograph!
cal Engineers, in renlv to vour letter ol
the 24ih February.
From this it appears that the channel
over the bar in Core sound, as proposed
by the existing act of Congress, to be fifty
y ards wide and seven feet deep, will pro
bably cost eighty thousand dollars; and
that one of the same depth, but two hun
dred and' fifty yards .w ide, which would
constitute a beating channel, and be adapt
ed to meet a presumed and great increase
of commerce in that direction, would pro
bably cost about three hundred thousand
dollars.
As improvements of this kind are some,
what experimental; and aslhesmaller han
nel is adequate to the present commerce,
and sufficiently large to prove both the
practicability and durability of the plan, I
feel disposed to recommend that our efforts
shuuld be confined, in the first instance,
to a channel of the dimensions already pre
scribed by law.
Very respectfully,
Your most obedient servant,
J. K. POINSETT.
Hon. 0. Shepard,
House of Representatives.
Burhap of Topographical Engineers.
Washington, March 10, 183b.
Sir : In reference to the letter of the
24th ultimo, from the honorable Mr. Shep
ard .nul others. I have to report, that the
survey having been committed to Lieuten
ant Colonel Kearney, he has been called
upon for information, and I have the lion
or of submitlincr to vour consideration the
following copy of his remarks :
?,As stated in the letter addressed to the
Secretary of War by Messrs. Shepard,
Stanly, and other members of Congress
from North Carolina, I think most lavora
b!y of the importance of Core sound to
flnt Ct nnrl t r I tl A TTlllfpH StlPS and
m clearly of opinion that its channel
ought to be improved, and to an extent
'eyond that contemplated by the act to
which those gentlemen refer in their let
ter of the 24lh of February.
"The coast between Beaufort, North
Carolina, and the Chesapeake bay, for a
length of 220 or 230 miles, is nearly, and
in a few years will be quite, destitute of in
lets capable of admitting even the smaller
class of coasters. The closing of those
which formerly existed and there have
heen at least as many as ten of themhas
been steadily progressive. In my opinion
4 nd it has been long and deliberately
formed, and frequently expressed the
maintenance of a direct navigable com
munication between either Albemarle or
l'amplico sound and the ocean is imprac
ticable. I purpose, in my final report, to
attempt the demonstration of this proposi
tion; and I think 1 will be able to show
that Ocracock, the only inlet now capable
of admitting the passage of coasters, will
probablyalso close in a few years. This
inlet, which formerly had 13 feet at low
water upon its bar, was last summer re
duced to a depth of6 feet at ordinary :
high tide, notwithstanding the efforts of
the Government to resist the pncmarli.
ment of the sand upon it. By the storms
of August, September, and October last,
these efforts were paralyzed, and the hope
f improving the inlet was abandoned.
"As suming the impracticability of reo
pening and maintaining a communication
between Albemarle or Pamlico sounds, at
any point upon the coast between Cap
Henry and Cap? Lookout, we have only
left, for the trade of those sounds, and of
Chowan, Roanoke, Tar, Neuse, and other
rivers, their tributaries, an opening to the
Mirth by the Dism swamp canal, and to
the south by Beaufort harbor, at Old Top
sail inlet. Between Pamlico sound and
Beaufort (as stated by these gentlemen)
intervenes Core sound, whirh is between
38 and 39 miles long, and in which are
several shoal., some having little more
than four feet of water upon them at times
of very low tide.
"Beaufort, since the settlement of the
country, has never had less than 15 or 1G
feet on the bar of its inlet, at high tides. It
has now perhaps 23 feet at high tide; cer
tainly it has nearly that depth, and there
are few bars to the southward of it with
more. At low quarter it has I62 feet. A
navigable communication for coasting vps
sels would, therefore, open for the trade of
a large part of North Carolina at least one
of the best, and. taking the depth of water
at low tides, the character of the bar, and
the safety of the coast near it into conside
ration, perhaps the best, Atlantic harbor
south of the Chesapeake bay.
"Several routes have been proposed,
some of them have been surveyed, and one
of them has been attempted, by w hich to
connect the trade of the sounds herein men
tioned with Beaufort. It does not yet ap
pear that any one of them combines as
many advantages as that by Core sound,
or that, if they were effected, the improve
ment of this sound should therefore be
neglected.
"The act of Congress, to which refer
ence has been made, proposes a depth ol
seven feet at low water, and a breadth of
lilty yards, lor tue dimensions 01 tne im
proved channel. The depth is perhaps as
great as could be attained within the limits
of any appropriation of money whic h
could be reasousbly expected to be ob
tained. The breadth is, however, iusuffi
cient for all the objects of the improvement.
Two hundred yards would be required for
a beating channel, and that breadth would
also be necessry to enable vessels to con
tinue their voyage during night as well as
day.
'The surveys of last year are in a state
to enable me to frame a project for the im
provement of the sound, and to estimate
the cost of it. I have refrained from doing
this, and I had reserved it until all the sur-
vevs nronosed bv the act of the 3d of
March last were completed, with the inten
tion of presenting the whole of the subject
of an inland commerce south of the Chesa
peake bay to the Department at one view;
not conceiving that I was authorized to re
port upon detached portions of the sub
ject. I have, however, considered the
nnpstioo of the improvement of Core
sound sufficiently to enable me to say, ge
nerally, that for a channel of the dep'h
and breadth mentioned by Mr. Shepard,
the cost would be somewhere about $80,
000; and for the one I have proposed
abont $300,000, exclusive of. any jettees
or other works, which might possibly be
found necessary to protect the sides of the
channel from abrasion, or to prevent the
channel itself from shifting; but the proba
bil'uy of which I do not, with ray present
knowledge ot the composition 01 me oea
of the sound, by any means anticipate,
the larger plan were adopted
VVe are not dependent upon mere spe
culation for our opinion of the importance
of this harbor; it was made manifest by
the war of 1S12, '13, '14, during which it
became the depot of prizes for many of
our cruisers, whence, by lighters, their
cargoes were forwarded through the
sounds, and by the Dismal Swamp canal,
to the northern cities. Tbbaccoand other
produce were sent by that route from Pe
tersburg to foreign markets, whenever the
Chesapeake bay was occupied by the ene
my. The following extract from the books
of the Treasury Department will show the
importance of Beaufort harbor to com
merce at that period, and its contrast with
the usual transactions of the port.
t r
1 ean
1810
1811
1812
1813
1814
1815
1816
Gross revenue.
$522 00
Ton i of the port.
929 Tons.
909
1,022
1,041
1,460
1,533
2.G81
18,116
105.214
74,774
4.809
00
00
00
00
00
2,358 00
1,344
'At the period we are now speaking of,
the inland communication was embarras
sed not only by the extreme shoahiess of
Core sound, which still continues, but the
Dismal Swamp canal had then but a depth
of 18 to 20 inches, and a breadth of about
13 feet at the surface; audit was other
wise in so defective a state that the pas
sage through it war sometimes altogether
interrupted. The canal is now, or is pro
posed to be feet broad, by 6 to 7
feet deep. It is ti be borne in mind, aUo,
that'Oeracock had then about 4 to G feet
in its channels over the shoals in the b.iy.
ind that ihere existed a navigable commu
nication between Currituck sound and the
ocean.
'I subjoin the following statement, to
enable you to form some estimate of thf
value of the inland trade connected with
the sounds which lie between Beaufort and
the Chesapeake :
"Amount of certain articles transported
through the DimimI Swamp an;il du
ring the years 1S33, 1834, 1835, and
1836
Q iarter casks wine, 639
Barrels spirits, 13.707
Barrels pork, 5 540
Barrels Hour, 30 232
Barrels hMi, 24.5J2
B iles cotton. 24.091
'uhir ft. scantling,plank 8c timber 9G0.672
- taves,
23,450.21 I
59,421
Barrels tar,
Hhds. sugar,
Hhhds. molasses,
890
1 GO I
150 905
5G3.535
31 001
8 495
100,154 475
$17,800
Bushels salt,
Bushels corn,
B'ish wheat and flax seed,
1 ords wood,
Shingles,
Sundries,
'It should be remarked, that during the
vear 1835 the navigation of the canal was
obstruttcd for ten weeks, and in 1836 it
was totally suspended for seventy davs.
' The accompanying statement, prepar
ed for me by the collector at Ocracock,
shows that 1,149 vessels, averaging 100
tons each, passed through that inlet during
the year ending 0 tober 1, 1836; of which
893 were bound coastwise, and 256 to for
eign ports. In June last the expense of
ighterage at Oracock was estimated at
$100 per vessel.
'It is known that, because of the diffi
culty of getting directly to sea from the
northern ports ol North Carolina, much
produce finds its way to market, indirectly,
through the three commercial cities of
Virginia. I have not yet taken measures
for estimating how much, nor the value of
the foreign or other goods which enter the
State through those cities.
'I am of opinion that the improvement
of the sounds of North Carolina, as a ge
neral channel of communication for the
coasting trade, should not extend to the
westward of Beaufort. These sounds are
very shallow; and beyond Swansborough
they are generally filled with marshes,
through which wind narrow tortuous
creeks, in which we find occasional shoals,
incapable of floating, at low tide, a whale
boat with her crew on board. Besides
which, some of them are very narrow, and
the sand-banks which separate them from
the sea are so low, that they are equally
exposed to the inroads of the ocean or of
the enemy. It is along this line ot coast
that we find New-river inlet, as well as
Bocrue. the inlet to Whitock river, on
which Swansborough is situated.
The remarks which the gentlemen have
made respecting New-river are undoubted
ly very sound, while their views are hmi
ted to the existing connexion of that river
with the interior, and they measurably ap
ply also to Whitock river. Should, how
ever, a navigable canal be made unitinj.
the waters of the Neuse river with the
northeast braoch of Cape Fear river, (and
my surveys of the past season have satis
fied me of its practicability,) then, the im
portance not only of New river and Whi
tock, but of Beaufort harbor also, may be
greatly enhanced by establishing a con
nexion between them and the canal; a con
nexion which their position in relation to
it would invite, and one also which might
be formed at an expense much below the
value of the improvement to the coasting
trade and to the general commerce of the
country, especially in time of war.
Memorandum of distances roughly estima
ted in statute miles.
Norfolk to Bogue point Beau
fort harbor, via the Dismal
Swamp canal, and Core
t sound, 20G miles.
Norfolk, via Core sound and
Beaufort, to the main bar of
Cape Fear river, 350 "
Norfolk to Wilmington, via
Dismal Swamp canal, Albe
marle, Crotan, and Pamlico
sound, Neuse river, Slocum's
creek, and experimental line 1
of canal surveyed last year
(572 miles,) to north east
branch of Cape Fear river,
and thence to Wilmington, 302 "
Norfolk, via Chesapeake bay
and the ocean, to Beaufort
harbor, about 260 "
"An error appears to have been fallei;
into respecting the authority under which
the surveys were made; that authority i
altogether distinct from that for executing
the work. But it was necessary that a sur
vey should be made, and a plan of im
provement be adopted, before the work
was undertaken, It so happened that the
appropriation" for the special work oi
Core sound was made before the appro
priation and authority for the general sur
vey and plans for an inland communica
tion between the Chesapeake and Charles
ton. The two duties weir assigned to
separate branches of the service : the exe"
cution of the work on Core sound, in the
first instance, to the engineers of fortifica
tion, as was likewise the special survey and
improvement of New river; after which,
and before the engineers charged with the
special improvement had commenced ope
rations in the field, came the authority
and means for making the general survey,
&; ihp execution of which was given in
charge lo the topographical engineers.
'It would seem that, at New river inlet
the obstructions have been surveyed under
ihe authority granted for its improvement,
hot that Core sound has not been; and (hat
ihe work of improvement has not been
commenced at either place, but that pre
parations have been made towards it, and
that the work of Core sound halls for lack
of a survey and plans.
Both Core sound and New river fall
within the line of operations of the officer
charged with the investigating the general
question ol no inland coastwise communi
cation to Charleston; and the sound has
been surveyed, and the work has been, for
some time past, in a state of preparation to
enable him to form a general plan of im
provement, and to estimate the cost ofexe
ruling it. at least so far as the excavation
of the channel is concerned.
The plan of improvement which he
would recommend exceeds greatly in ex
lent and point of expense, as has been al
ready intimated, the improvement contem
plated by the art of the 24;h Congress. It
is connected with a general system for the
accommodation of the coasting trade of
the Union in peace, and its protection du
ring war.
It has been qtiestioned by the officer in
charge of the duty, whether, on the one
hand, his plans should be narrowed down
to the limited object which the Legislature
were apparently contemplating at the time
of the passage of the act of 1824; on the
other hand, would he be warranted in
proposing his plan, or could the Depart
ment undertake the execution, without leg
islative sanction of a project so far exceed
ing in dimensions and cost the one which
the act referred to had indicated?
'Again, it was believed that the general
inland coastwise navigation should aban
don the sounds, and be carried inland, at
least from the waters of the Neuse to those
of Cape Fear river, although apparently
ihe Legislature deemed that it might fol
low the line of sounds upon the coast,
from Pamlico to the vicinity of the new in
let of Cape Fear. At the same time the
engineer was persuaded that Beaufort har
bor was so important to commerce, that it
deserved to be made the principal inlet to
the great sounds of North Carolina, and
that Core sound should be improved so as
to become a most important branch of the
general inland communication.
'Upon so serious a subject it was lo be
questioned whether the department would
be warranted in compromising the Legis
lature. It is yet a question for the De
partment, how far the selection of either
route may compromit the execution of the
other.
'The officer charged with the execution
of the surveys asks the orders of the De
partment to report on any detached por
tions of the work.
'Should it, nevertheless, be deemed ex
pedient to open the channel of Core sound
at as early a day as practicable, in antici
pation of the restriction of Ocracock inlet,
or lo provide against the contingency of
war, an increased appropriation ought to
be asked for, so as to make the fund avail
able for the current year amount to forty
or sixty thousand dollars.'
(Signed) J. Kearney,
Lt. Col. T&p'l Engineers.
Respectfully submitted by,
Sir, your obedient servant,
J. J. A BERT,
Lt. Col. Topi Engineers,
Hon. J. R. Poinsett,
Secretary of War.
CCPDid you ever hear of Frank Ryan.
of Ashe county? He is a fine specimen
ot the Mountains. He is now upwards of
75, has raised a family of some dozen boys
(whalers!) and yet moves with the elas
ticity of a boy. He says he toated the logs
00 his shoulder to make thecabiu in which
e first settled. He has placed all his chil
dren on good land and given them a good
start, besides reserving a plenty for him
self. We heard him invite Judge Baily to
visit him on his route to Ashe court; by
waj' of heightening the inducement, he
fold his Honor, that his house was at the
foot of Butter Hill, opposite to Pancake
Mountain, between which elevations runs
Honey River; that just below him is Bran
dy Creek, made up of Peach and Apple
Forks; that all he has to do when he gets
hungry is to gather up an arm full of Pan
cakes, run through the River, wallow them,
a few times against Butter Hill, and walk
down to the junction of the creeks and help
himself. Salisbury Car.
Yankee Ingenuity. A gentleman of
Albany has invented a machine represent
ing a female figure as large as life, sitting
on a pedestal, holding in her hand an ac
cordion, on which she performs several
pieces of music. This figure it is said so
nearly resembles life, that the motion of
the chest in the act of respiration is distinct
ly visible. She moves her head, fingers
the. keys of the instrument with her right
hand, and draws and dresses the bellows
with her left; she also beats time with her
foot to the music, and does many other
wonderful things. The owner intends to
take the machine to England for exhibition.
Secrets of Health. - With regard to ex
ercise, judge between the two following ex
tremes : A fox hunter can get drunk
every night in the year, and yet live to an
old age; but then he is all exercise and no
thought. A sedentary scholar shall not be
able to get drunk once in a year with Im
punity; but then he is all thought and no
exercise. Now the great object is neither
to get drutik, or be all exercise, nor be all
thought; but to enjoy all our pleasures
with a sprightly reason. The four ordina
ry secrets of human life are early rising,
exercise, personal cleanliness, and the ri
sing from the table with the stomach un
oppressed. There may be sorrows in
spite of these but they will be less with
them, and nobody can be truly comforta
ble without them.
Colds. At this season of the year, when
couzhs and colds are the order of the day
and scarce a family is to be found, some of
whose members are not afflicted with them,
the following remedy communicated by a
Russian, as the usual mode of getting rid
of these complaints in that part of Russia
from whence he came is simple. It is no
other than a strong tea of elder flowers,
sweetened with honey, either fresh or
dried. A basin of this tea is to be drank
as hot as possible after the person is warm
in bed; it produces a strong perspiration,
and a slight cold or cough yields to it im
mediately; but the most stubborn will re
quire two or three repetitions.
QTf01 'You ought to marry.
"I know a good girl for you.
" "Let me
alone." "But perhaps, you pshaw?
you don't know her. She is young."
"Then she is sly." "Beautiful." "Then
more dangerous." "Of good family."
Then she is proud." "Tender hearted."
"Then she is jealous." "She has talents."
"To kill me." "And one hundred thou
sand dollars." "I will take her !"
A saying of Sam Slick. Any man lhat
understands horses has a pretty consider
ble knowledge of woman, for they are just
alike in jemper and require the very same
treatment. Encourage the timid ones, be
gentle and steady with the fractious, but
lather the sulky ones like blazes.