NORTH WILKESBORO, N. C. A NEW CITY ON THE YADKIN AND REDDIES RIVERS, IN WIE KES CO. A Full Sketch ol its location. Beauty of Scenery, Mineral Wealth and Prospects—An Invitation to Visit this Magnificent. Country. The Company has puschased one thousand acres of rich land of great intrinsic value, almost every part of which is available either for business or residence sites. This valuable property is on the North side of the Yadkin river and East side of Reddies river, one mile North of Wilkesboro, the county seat of Wilkes county, North Carolina. erne te- ^:..^1 J. r ^c „ ow extension of the North Western North Carolina R. R., a branch of the Richmond & Danville sys tem, has just been located in the centre of the Company’s property. The location of this stragetic point just where the high Brushy , and Blue Ridge mountains form a geological trough, and through which must pass all the great through lines of railroads between the East, West, North and South. Here in the earliest days crossed the great thoroughfares from Vir ginia, North and South Carolina to Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana. The old stage tavern, one hundred years old, has just been torn down to make room for a modern hotel. The instinct and the woodcraft of the pioneer marked with unerring skill the highways which the learning and the instruments of the engineer who followed him have.only ver ified and corrected. Over the lines he traced, great railways now run, connecting all parts of the United States, bringing the people of the whole country into the most friendly intercourse and uniting them in the bonds of com mon interest, arising from profit able interchange of commodities. The officers of The Winston Land and Improvement Company have selected the name of North Wilkesboro for their town, and it is confidently believed there is a combination of ability; energy and experience in the board of direc tors of this company that will car ry to success its every under taking. SITUATION of THE NEW TOWN. The town of North Wilkesboro has been located in the heart of the great Alleghany mineral belt, seventy-five miles west of Win ston; forty miles north-west of Statesville; one hundred miles north-cast of Asheville ; one hun dred miles east of Bristol, Tenn., and eighty miles south of the Norfolk & Western Railroad. The -choice of the site was influenced in the first place by the fact that within this stretch of a hundred - and seventy-five miles between Winston and Bristol, some impor tant centre of industry and popu lation is bound soon to be devel oped by the progress of the coun try. After careful surveys of the whole line, the particular locality ofNorth Wilkesboro was chosen as surer than any other to secure to its settlers the advantage and profits of such a development. THE Situation OF THE LAND. Because of the lay of the land, the town site is a parallelogram comprising one thousand and eighty acres; a segment of beau tiful and fertile valley, bounded on the North by the Blue Ridge and on the South by the Brushy mountains. The town site slopes gently down from the foot hills of these mountains, forming in the center a level, inviting railroad transit; the trend of the valley here is nearly east and west. Height of this level (which is the lowest part of the town site) is one thousand feet above sea level, while nearly in the center of the town stands a beautifully rounded knoll more than one hundred feet above the level part of the town, upon which the Company proposes to bnild a hundred thou- ^pd dollar hotel. This yalley land has been cleared and well tilled for more than a hundred years and dates its settlement back to the beginning of the State. As one travels westward from Winston, this point is the first that is suitable for the site of a town which may reasonably .hope to attain the growth of Asheville or Birmingham; There are situ ations on the way which are adapted for hamlets and villages, But until North Wilkesboro is reached, none that is clearly des tined by nature for a great aggre gation of industries and people THE SUCCESS OF OTHER NEW TOWNS. The success of other new towns (many of them with less than half the natural advantages of North Wilkesboro) in the South, dating from 1871, lias been phenomenal, even in an age of industrial im provement. Birmingham, on grounds cultivated in corn in 1871, is now a city of fifty thou sand inhabitants with industrial establishments paying one million dollars per month for labor. An niston, within whose corporate limits there was not a human habitation in 1872, has eighteen million dollars invested in manu facturing enterprises and im provements. New Decatur, Shef field, Florence, Bessemer, Roan- OK^ and curb lay mu are other in stances that might be cited, and these are not all, to illustrate the fact that, under conditions exist ing at North Wilkesboro—capi tal and skill united in the devel opment of the mineral, timber and agricultural resources of this section—are certain of the rich est rewards that come to well di rected enterprise. The Elyton Land Company, by which Bir mingham was founded, was or ganized with a capital of two hundred thousand dollars in 1871, and this has never been increased. For eleven years no dividend was declared upon its stock—its prof its having been devoted to im provements. Its single shares of on§ hundred dollars have sold as high as six thousand dollars. Since 1883 its dividends have exceeded six millions of dollars. The orig inal investments in Anniston in 1872 was one hundred and rorty thousand dollars and a fifty-ton charcoal furnace. This capital, its profits from year to year hav ing been put into new productive enterprises, had grown to six mil lion dollars in 1887. TOWN LOT PROFITS. Two years ago Fort Payne, Ala., had twenty-five inhabitants. To-day five thousand busy work ing people call it their home. Fort Payne business lots were at first sold at two hundred dollars —they are now selling at five thousand dollars. One North Carolinian, on a capital of five thousand dollars, has made, in two years, sixty thousand dollars in Fort Payne town lots. Mil lions of money has been made on town lots in Roanoke, Va., in the last eight years. To give some idea of the big advance in prices, a few figures are given below: A business lot in Roanoke which, in 1882, sold for $500, was sold recently for $15,000. Other Ro anoke lots, which originally cost from $150 to $400, have been sold at prices ranging from $0,000 to $20,000. Lots in Winston, N. C., which sold fifteen years ago at $150, have been sold for $15,000 to $18,000, and land near Win ston has advanced from $5 per acre to one thousand dollars per acre in the same length of time. North Wilkesboro’s natural ad vantages in mineral, timber, wa ter power, scenery, climate and agricultural resources are superior to many of the above named places. NORTH WILKESBORO Is situated on the north side of the Yadkin river, one mile north of Wilkesboro, the county seat of Wilkes county, North Carolina, in the beautiful and world- renowned Yadkin Valley, the scenery and climate of which are not excelled in the most favored sections of the United States. North Wilkesboro lies at an alti tude of one thousand feet above the level of the sea. Malaria is unknown 5 the atmosphere is clear and bracing, and during summer months a blanket may be used with comfort almost every night. Comparatively little snow falls during the winter season, which is usually mild and dry. In fact the immense number of health and pleasure seekers who annual ly visit Western North Carolina is the best evidence that can be adduced of the favorable charac ter of the pinnate and the beauty of the mountain and river scenery of this region. From the hill tops of this favored spot may be seen a stretch of more than a hun dred miles of the Blue Ridge, Brushy and Black mountain ranges. Pilot, Hawk’s Bill, Ta ble Rock, Roan, Grandfather, Mount Mitchell and ip$qy other peaks may be seen lifting their heads more than five thousand feet above sea level. Such grand mountains are seldom seen in this or any other country. PLAN OF THE CITY* Numerous broad, well-graded avenues and streets; a public square, park, engine house, mar ket house, graded school, fair grounds, manufacturing sites and a church building lot for each de nomination will be reserved and donated free of cost. Business, homestead and villa site lots will be sold privately and at auction. Electric lights, water works and sewarage system will be estab lished as the town develops, and everything will be done to build up a large and thriving city at North Wilkesboro. Are you an investor ? Are you a business man ? Are you a professional man ? Are y ou of the arts and trades ? Are you a manufacturer £ Do you wish to establish a mer cantile business where the trade of five counties will pour in upon you ? Do you desire to change your field of practice ? Do you want to make a sound investment ? Do you wish more lucrative employment ? Do you want to cheapen the cost of manufacturing? Do you want a new home? proposition. To obtain the promptest return for your investments you must look elsewhere than to the larger cities. This fact needs no de monstration. Rather seek a new place which by virtue of its nat ural advantages and surroundings cannot fail to grow to large pro portions. Start with such a town and participate in its triumphs. There is not a place in the whole South that can offer equally as good inducements to every class, of industry as North Wilkesboro. Why? First, you must recognize the fact that the New South, for many years to come, will be the field whereon the mighty com mercial forces of the country will, be engaged. The South is, and ought to be a section of the Uni ted States susceptible of more growth and greater development than almost any other part of the Union at the present time. The vast variety of her productive possibilities have hitherto been but little known. But now, keen-eyed science, commercial in stinct and the tireless energies of wealth-seeking enterprise have sought her riches and are inviting investors to sources of profit, nev er before available in that direc tion. New England was the first to realize that its capital must seek elsewhere for the income formerly derived from invest ments in another section of the country. The West was not slo^ to discover the value of Southern venture, and these two leaders, uniting with the South, formed a trinity of inestimable wealth and unprecedented strength. Every one is familiar with the rapid strides made by the South in the last decade, yet, but a step has been taken, only a foundation laid. From now henceforth the progress will be greater still. Do you desire to share in these benefits and profits? CLIMATE, Health is of primary import ance. No matter what powerful inducements a town may boast above all others, the matter of health must first be considered. North Wilkesboro is in the moun tain region of Western North Carolina, one thousand feet above the level of the sea. The mean temperature for the year is about 58°. There is no fever or mala ria h§re. There is health in ev ery breath, strength in every breeze. North Wilkesboro has a gracious climate, tempered to all constitutional conditions in summer and in winter, making this spot in every way desirable and advantageous fpr the thou sands of people who are looking for new homes and another start in life away from limited chances which haye hitherto C^.cqpiscpibi nd their endeavors with the slow* ly moving population of the Un ion. WATER. Another important factor in the matter of health is that of pure water. Sparkling and cool, never failing and in quantity suf ficient for a city of a hupdr^d thppsaqd population, is supplied by a number of large, ever-living springs, while the supply for wa ter power, sufficient to run a hun dred factories and for water works, is furnished by the bold, clear, never failing Yadkin or Reddieg Rivers. There are with ¬ in a radius of te n miles of North Wilkesboro twenty . mineral springs, iron, chalybeate, sulphur, arsenic, alum, lithia, cathartic and magnesia. Many of these springs have been noted for their remark able cures for the last half cen tury. SEWERAGE. No where will greater care be exercised in all matters relative to the health of the place than in North Wilkesboro. Every pre caution will be taken, the utmost vigilance will be observed in all sanitary matters. Sewers will be constructed for carrying off all filth into the Yadkin or Reddies Rivers. WATER ■ ORE-. A survey lor .he vater works is now being made. The water will be pumped by "water power to the reservoir on the top of a hill one hundred feet above the town. HOTELS. It is proposed to build at North Wilkesboro one of the finest ho tels in the South, approximating in cost one hundred thousand dollars. The style of the build ing will be Italian—made attract ive by some French detail. It will be three stories high, with hipped shingle roof, long veran das and hanging balconies. It will have one hundred and thirty rooms, including many fine apart ments. The day is not very far off when North Wilkesboro, by the force of her natural advan tages, will become a summer and winter health resort, not only for people from States South of Vir ginia, but from the North as well. One has but to live here through one summer and one winter to fully appreciate all the advan tages of this climate. In such a climate and such a hotel, furnish ed with every comfort that money will buy, and communication with the whole world by tele graph and railroad, elegant drives through shaded nooks or over mountain sides. What more could heart desire? This magnif icent hotel will be in the center of Kensington Park, near the rail road station, overlooking the city, and from its balconies may be seen the Yadkin River, winding through the valley for miles, while from the tower a grand panorama will unfold itself in the stretch of hill and mountain in every direction. Just over the hills to the North and West rises the giant domes of the Blue Ridge and Black Mountains. The valley is a natural path for breezes of summer and the hotel will stand in the center of the air current,—standing above the lev el of the valley the air will be free and pure; the drainage will be perfect. The travelling pub lic now find ample accommoda tion at the Hotel Gordon, already built, a house whose table is un surpassed, a reputation acquired by careful and constant attention to its cuisine. HOMES. North Wilkesboro presents a diversity of sites for home build ing. The range of choice is a wide one, and no matter which way one may go there will be found pleasant locations tor homes. Cool and shaded retreats, commanding and lofty elevations, smooth and level plats, near or far removed from the busy streets —any choice can be made. The residence portion of the city sur rounds the business center, and one cannot go amiss in any di rection. No particular section of the town lands in pleasant homes, each side of the valley seeming to have an even representation. North Wilkesboro does not boast of any picturesque ruins or an cient weather beaten, moss cover ed antiquities—everything is new, clean and wholesome. MINERALS. The mountains round about North Wilkesboro seejp almost bursting with mineral treasure. The Winston Land and Improve ment Company have just bought four thousand acres of these min eral and timber lands. Gold, silver, copper, zinc, manganese, red hematite and magnetic iron ore in abundance, felspar, kaolin, fire clay, glass sand, pottery clay, granite^ soap gtcmc., ‘ surpentine, asbestos, mica, limestone, plum bago, ochre, umber, pipe clay, sandstone, brick clay, and other valuable minerals a-e found here. Before the late war there were several old fashioned Wn fur naces in Wilkes county. The one owned by Capt. Lovell’s grand-father was on Mulberry Creek, five miles from North Wilkesboro. The ore bank from which this furnace was supplied is now being opened up and it is said that a charcoal furnace will be built very soon. A northern nail manufacturing company has offered to take the entire output of this furnace. Placer gold mining is now carried on to a con siderable extent in the northern part of this county. We want to develop all kinds of minerals and manufacturers to convert iron into all kinds of iron goods. Foundrymen, machinery manu facturers, stove, agricultural im plement, hardware, axe, shovel, hoe, horse shoe, nail and paint factories will pay here. TIMBER. North Wilkesboro is in the center of the greatest hardwood timber belt in America. The conditions are most favorable for forest growth, and the greatest variety of timbers and woods are found within the surrounding country. The territory has never been lumbered to any extent, the nearest railroad being forty miles distant until the completion of a branch of the Richmond and Dan ville Railroad from Winston, N. C., in August, 1890. Therefore the greater part of this section remains an unbroken forest, as it was when the first settler came to this country. Among the varie ties of wood are yellow pine, hickory, yellow poplar, holly, sweet gum, black gum, white pine, cherry, birch, maple, white poplar, beech, lind, black walnut, basswood, chestnut, cedar, ash, persimmon, dogwood, sourwood, post oak, white oak, black oak, spanish oak, red oak, chestnut oak, turkey oak, locust, cucum ber, sassafras, mulberry, syca more, mountain laurel and spruce pine. The yellow’ pines occupy a prominent place, being well dis tributed over the land. The next in importance is poplar, oak, walnut, hickory, locust, cedar, chestnut, lind, white and spruce pine. Many tall pines here will scale a thousand feet to the tree White pine is abundant and of fair quality. The oaks form a large share of the product, there being seven varieties. The oak is very sound and tough, especial ly adapted to the manufacture of plow handles, carriages, wagons, carts, cars, agricultural imple ments, and bending works gener ally. Black oak has a very fine grain when finished and is more brash than white oak, and is suit able for inside trimmings for houses, car works, furniture of all kinds, and staves. Spanish, red, turkey, chestnut, water oak and post oaks may be used where black oak is suitable. Chestnut is very abundant and valuable for posts, fence rails, telegraph poles, inside work and furniture. Next comes hickory for all kinds of bent work in carriages, wagons and carts, agricultural machinery and handles; the supply and quality for factories in this line would last for years. Red hick ory is a fine lumber for house fin ishing. White wood or poplar is very abundant here, and of good quality, both white and yellow. It is easily worked into lumber at small cost and is desirable for wash boards, buckets, tubs, furni ture, coffins and inside work. Black walnut is more plentiful here than any where else in the State and is valuable for furni ture, inside work and coffins. Gum, cherry, maple, beech, birch and basswood are plentiful, and make fine furniture and inside work. Cedar, ashe and lind can be obtained cheaply and of good quality, valuable for buckets, tub,s and wooden ware generally, household and kitchen furniture, inside house work, handles, agri cultural machinery and coffins. Sourwood, dogwood and persim mon are plentiful and are used for shuttles, bobbins, spools for cotton and woolen factories. Lo cust is very plentiful and is much used for fence post and telegraph p’oles. Millions of chestnut oaks abound throughout- this entire section, enough bark could be ob tained to supply a dozen steam tanneries for years. COST Of LUMBER. qualities : Yellow pine, 1000 feet, Oak, “ “ Yellow poplar, “ “ White poplar, “ “ Chestnut, “ ^ Cedar, “ “ Walnut, “ “ Mind, “ “ White pine, “ “ Dogwood, “ “ Persimmon, v “> FIRST. SECOND. THIRD. $ 8.50. $ 7.50 $ 6.00 10.00. 8 00 6.00 10.00. 7.5Q 0.00 ?^ ’LOO 6.00 8.00. 6.00 5.00 12.00. 10.00 8.00 15.00. 13.00 10.00 18.00. 15.00 12.00 25.00. 20.00 16.00 18.00. 16.00 13.00. 8.50. 7.00 5.00 16.00. 14.00 12.00 16,-00. 1,4.00 1.2.00 BUILDING MATERIAL. There is no place in the South where the cost of building, mate rial is more moderate, by reason of the facility of supplies, of ma terial and labor. None of the great young cities which have grown up of late years in this country have enjoyed, at the start, such advantages in this respect. The sources of lumber supply are all around the town, the hills are full of granite, sandstone, sand and brick clay in abundance. MANUFACTURING THAT WILL PAY AT NORTH WILKESBORO. Saw mills, sash, door and blind factories, brick making, terra cot ta pipe works, paving block fac tory, granite works, paper mill, cotton and woolen factories, foun dries and machine works, railway car works, furniture factories, coffin factories, wagon and car riage factories, spoke and handle factories, plow handle factories, paper mill and paper bag factory, rope works, bagging factory, match factory, trunk factory, knitting mill, steam tanneries, (chestnut oak bark only costing $2.50 per cord, delivered.) Shoe factory, harness factory, leather belting factory, stove works, ag ricultural implement works, woodenware factory, (to manufac ture buckets, tubs, washboards, stepladders, Ac.) Inside house furnishing factory, shuttle, spool and bobbin factory, wood excel sior factory, barrel factory, well bucket factory, hame factory, roller flouring mill, "wood pulp factory, pottery and earthenware factory, tobacco factories, tin and holloware factory, straw hat fac tory, broom factory, bent wood factories of all kinds, cheese fac tories, fruit and vegetable can ning factories. FACILITIES FOR MANUFACTURING. The most essential requisites for successful manufacturing are: An ample supply of raw material at low cost. An eligible location with economical conveniences and favorable surrounding conditions for the home and satisfaction of labor. Ample shipping facilities and proximity to the consumer The Yadkin and Reddies Rivers, flowing through North Wilkes boro, afford ample water for raft ing the millions of logs that are now on the hill and mountain sides, and millions of water pow er for manufacturing purposes. Railroad sidings will be built along the front of manufacturing sites, and the sites themselves, lots for employees, and capital, will all, as circumstances seem to justify it, be furnished on most satisfactory terms. Through the medium of the great Richmond and Danville Railroad and the Richmond Terminal System an enormous territory is reached and its markets made tributary to the manufacturers of North Wilkes boro. Favorable through rates of freight will be made to every important town in the South, North, East and West. The pol icy of the Richmond and Dan ville Railroad has ever been rec ognized as most progressive and liberal, and the policy has been the most important factor among the many influences which alone built Winston, Durham and Ashe ville, and which have been at work in the development of the wonderful riches of North Caro lina and of the upbuilding of the now numerous manufacturing towns and cities which mark its course from end to end. HOW TO REACH NORTH WILKESBORO. From all points call for your tickets via Greensboro, N. C., which is just one hundred and three miles east of North Wilkes boro. If through tickets are not on sale then buy your ticket to Greensboro, N. C., and buy a lo cal ticket from there to Wilkes boro, N. C. AGRICULTURAL. No city can grow to great pro portions and remain prosperous which has not a good farming country to draw from. Cheap subsistence holds too important a place in the affairs of men to be easily set at naught. From the rich lands of Wilkes, Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany and other counties, West of the Blue Ridge, will con: e great supplies of fruit, fat cattle, butter, cheese, honey, hogs, sheep and poultry, and from the never failing fertile valley of the Yadkin will pour in enough grain, meat and vegata bles to feed a mighty city. • TRUCK FARMING. The concentration of popula tion affords a regular and stable market for the products of the truck farmer, fruit grower, poul try raiser and dairyman. Their most liberal and steady patrons are the skillful wage earners, fac tory hands, carpenters, brick ma sons and miners; those who earn good wages and spend the same freely for their table supplies. FARMING. Farming is profitable in this section of North Carolina, even by the old method, slip shod go as you please policy. Hundreds of men, who at the close of the late war had not a dollar in the world and not a foot of land, are to-day wealthy farmers. The valley soil is - deep black loam that produces an average of fifty buslicis-of corn to the acre, amir worth from forty to one hundred dollars per acre. Corn usually sells for seventy-five cents per bushel. Such a thing as a crop failure in this section is unknown. The table, rolling, hill and moun tain side lands are also very fer tile and produce twenty to thirty bushels of wheat to the acre. The land is especially adapted to the cultivation of corn, oats, rye, buckwheat, clover, timothy, or chard grass and rich, yellow to bacco; this county having receiv ed the first prize on bright, rich, yellow tobacco at the World’s Fair, in Vienna. Tobacco is one of the most profitable crops and often pays a farmer from two to five hundred dollars per acre. STOCK RAISING AND DAIRYING. Stock raising has for yeais been one of the great industries of the surrounding mountain section. Grass is a natural growth of this section—wild mountain grass, clover, blue grass, timothy, orch ard grass and red top all do well. The cattle, hogs, horses and sheep fatten on these grasses and are driven to market and sold on foot. The fine grades of cattle, the Jer seys, Alderneys, Ac., flourish as readily as the more hardy native born. The flow of milk and the yield of butter is as abundant as in any section, and the universal existence and general distribution of cold, clear free-flowing springs make this an almost ideal dairy country. FRUIT GROWING. This broad Union does not af ford a better, never-failing, ever keeping fruit section than this— western New York not excepted. Apples, pears, peaches, plums, apricots, grapes, cherries, straw berries, whortleberries, persim mons, chestnuts, walnuts, hickory nuts, blackberries and cranberries all do well. The apples are of a very fine flavor and keep through the winter. POULTRY Raising. This section of North Carolina seems to be a natural home for the fowl. The earlier settlers found the woods swarming with wild turkeys, pigeons, ducks and partridges. The domestic fowls do well also. Immense quantities are now raised. In some instances artificial hatching, or the use of the large incubators, is resorted to, and invariably with great suc cess, but in spite of the present extent of the industry and the large quantities of eggs, chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese market ed, the demand is far from being met by the supply. There is every requisite here for successful poultry raising, and no more profitable field for it can be found in any country. LANDS. Lands for stock raising and dairying, truck-farming, farming, and fruit growing, sell within an area of one to twenty-five miles of North Wilkesboro from fifty cents to one hundred dollars per acre. There are thousands of acres oyer-lying the ore beds that are fertile and susceptible of large yields and easily brought into cul tivation. The workman, mechanic and business man can certainly find a fitting field in this section for their labor and their enterprise. Millions and billions of wealth is here dormant in nature’s greatest, richest store-house. Of Colonization. From the North and the North west farmers and others are look ing to the Middle-South in great numbers, and immigration thither has year by year increased, under conditions never the most favor able. This company will take steps to secure low rates of travel to make known the advantages Western North Carolina affords ;• to organize excursion parties, and Continued on fourth page.