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STEPHEN B, WEEKS 
 
 CLASS OF 1886; PUD. THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNTVERSfTY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 IE WEEKS OTLILECTKON 
 
 OF 
 
 385.\-'A3aa. 
 
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 dM 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
 00042095847 
 
 FOR USE ONLY IN 
 THE NORTH CAROLINA COLLECTION 
 
 Vhis> 'NILE HAS BEEN MICROFILMED 
 
THE 
 
 Albemarle & Pantego 
 
 RAILROAD. 
 
 A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ADJACENT COUNTRY 
 
 AND ITS ADVANTAGES AND NATURAL 
 
 RESOURCES. 
 
NORFOLK, VA. : 
 CHRISTIAN VOICE, PRINI^ 
 
 1887. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/albemarlepantegoOOalbe 
 
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 V 
 

 OFFICERS OK THE 
 
 0LBEMARLE fy PANTEG6 R. R. 
 
 AND THEIR ADDRESSES. 
 
 PRESIDENT. 
 
 JOHN L. ROPER, Norfolk, Va. 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENT. 
 
 WALTER H. TAYLOR, Norfolk, Va. 
 
 SECRETARY AND TREASURER. 
 
 JOHN F. STEWART, Norfolk, Va. 
 
 DIRECTORS. 
 
 WALTER H. TAYLOR, ----- Norfolk, Va 
 
 W. D. PRUDEN, ------ Edenton, N. C 
 
 W. H. WHITE, -------- Norfolk, Va 
 
 WILSON GODFREY, - 91 Wall St., New York 
 
2 
 
 qt comparison of the official statistics presented by the 
 pf^ Census Reports of 1870 with those of 1S80 is the best 
 evidence that can be offered of the wonderful advance which 
 our country has made in material wealth and national great- 
 ness ; of its increase in population and its progress in inven- 
 tion and the application of the useful arts. Nor is this nota- 
 ble advance and progress confined to any particular section, 
 it being plainly observable in every part of the American 
 Union. For example, take the State of North Carolina : in 
 1870, its population numbered 1,071,261 ; in 1880, it was 
 1,396,008, showing an increase of over 300,000 in ten years; 
 but the proportional increase of the State's wealth was even 
 greater than that. 
 
 If it sholl be asked what cause has brought about this 
 remarkable state of prosperity, the answer may be given in 
 few words : — the great natural resources and mineral wealth 
 of the country have been and are now being developed and 
 brought prominently into view. 
 
 That portion of North Carolina which lies east of the 
 Chowan, Roanoke and Pamlico Rivers, known as the "Albe- 
 marle District," and to which we invite attention, is composed 
 of eleven counties, whose aggregate area is about 3,000 
 square miles, and whose population at the present time is 
 about 120,000. Until a recent date, the Albemarle District 
 was comparatively unknown, except by name, to those living 
 outside of it. Its inhabitants, up to the close of the late 
 war, were almost exclusively farmers. There were in it no 
 large towns ; but few manufactories of any kind, and no 
 railroads. Although surrounded by the great Sounds of 
 North Carolina on three sides, and by deep rivers on the 
 fourth, and most conveniently situated for commerce, the 
 shipment by small sail-boats of its surplus grain to Norfolk, 
 Va., and other points outside of the State, was about the 
 extent of its operations in that line ; though its waters 
 
3 
 abounded with the best varieties of fish, but few were taken 
 in excess of home supplies ; though its forests were full of 
 the best kinds of timber, they were left untouched and, in 
 fact, considered next to valueless ; and though its cleared 
 lands were as productive as any in the country, only a small 
 surplus of farm products found its way to the markets. The 
 proverbially peaceful population was satisfied with enough 
 to supply the necessities of the time being. 
 
 But great changes have taken place in the condition of 
 things ; the complete revolution in the labor system has pro- 
 duced good effects ; new modes of living and new industries 
 have been introduced ; the farmer, instead of raising corn 
 almost exclusively, has given his attention to the cultivation 
 of cotton, rice, fruits, hay, grapes, &c. ; factories have arisen 
 on every hand; extensive mills for the manufacture of lum- 
 ber have been erected, and large capital has been brought in 
 and invested in lands, timber, fisheries, &c. A consequence 
 of all this is that quicker transportation of freight and passen- 
 gers, by steamboat and railroad, is required. The increase 
 of population during the last decade has been as great as 
 during a whole century preceding ; it being now estimated 
 at 120,000 to 125,000, whereas in 1870 it was only 73,665. 
 
 THE NORFOLK SOUTHERN R. R. 
 
 In 1 88 1, the Norfolk Southern Railroad, extending from 
 Norfolk, Va. to Edenton, N. C, was completed. Steamboat 
 lines, connecting this road at Edenton and Elizabeth City 
 with Newberne, Washington, Fairfield. Columbia, Plymouth, 
 Jamesville, Williamston, Windsor and other places, were 
 forthwith established. 
 
 In addition to the large local business of this road along 
 its immediate line, these steamboat lines have brought to it 
 immense and continually increasing quantities of freight and 
 no inconsiderable number of passengers, which increase each 
 
year. These freights consist of cotton, grain, and fresh and 
 salt fish ; but the completion of the road has given also a 
 great impetus to the raising of fruits, melons, strawberries 
 and garden vegetables — to the production of all which the 
 country is peculiarly adapted — and thousands of packages 
 are carried over the road during the season ; the large busi- 
 ness is continually increasing, and must ever thus increase 
 as the country is developed. 
 
 THE ALBEMARLE & PANTEGO R. R. 
 
 The Albemarle and Pantego Railroad, of not less import- 
 ance and interest than the Norfolk Southern Railroad to the 
 people of the Albemarle District, has recently been under- 
 taken. The Legislature of North Carolina, at its recent 
 session, granted a charter of incorporation to the Albemarle 
 & Pantego Railroad Company, the features of which are as 
 broad and liberal as could be asked. The northern terminus 
 of this road is at Mackey's Ferry, on Kendrick's Creek, 
 near Albemarle Sou. id, from which point it extends in a 
 southwardly direction through the counties of Washington 
 and Beaufort to Pungo River, at a point near the village of 
 Pantego, a distance of about thirty miles ; the distance from 
 Mackey's Ferry to Edenton is nine miles. The transfer 
 from Mackey's Ferry across the Sound to Edenton will be 
 made by steamers and transfer barges, which will connect 
 with the Norfolk Southern Railroad at the latter place, the 
 Norfolk Southern Railroad and the Albemarle & Pantego 
 Railroad having entered into a traffic arrangement. 
 
 The work upon the Albemarle & Pantego Railroad has 
 been progressing for some months and is now being pushed 
 forward; a broad channel has been dredged through the 
 bar at the mouth of Kendrick's Creek to the deeper waters 
 of the Sound; wharves and depots have been built at 
 Mackey's Ferry ; about ten miles of the road from that 
 
5 
 point have been completed and are now being operated, 
 making daily connection with the Norfolk Southern Railroad 
 at Edenton, and yielding a very considerable revenue. 
 
 The brightest expectations of those interested in the pro- 
 motion of this work can hardly fail to be realized. It is the only 
 railroad south of the Sound in the Albemarle District, and, 
 connecting as it will do with the Norfolk Southern Railroad, 
 completes a line of the length of about one hundred and 
 twenty-five miles, extending nearly through the centre of 
 the Albemarle District, from Pungo River, at Hyde County, 
 N. C. to Norfolk, Va., offering conveniences for travel and 
 freight to a large section of the richest and most productive 
 portion of the State of North Carolina that were scarcely 
 thought of until the inauguration of this enterprise. 
 
 A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY THROUGH WHICH 
 THE ALBEMARLE & PANTEGO RAILROAD WILL PASS. 
 
 A belt of land of the average width of eight to ten miles, 
 bounded on the north by the Albemarle Sound, and extend- 
 ing from the Roanoke River to the Scuppernong, a distance 
 of about thirty-five miles ; it is high, generally well-drained, 
 and well adapted to the raising of grain, fruit, garden-truck 
 and the hay grasses. This tract is tolerably thickly popu- 
 lated, and is divided into a considerable number of farms. 
 Through its entire length, from east to west— from Plymouth 
 on the Roanoke, to Columbia on the Scuppernong, and 
 still on to Fort Landing, on the Alligator — runs the main 
 county road, from which issue numerous branch roads, ex- 
 tending in every direction through the country. Extending 
 still southwardly from this eight-mile-wide strip for the dis- 
 tance of about twelve miles in the direction of Pantego, is a 
 region of timber lands with an average width of twenty to 
 thirty miles, through the centre of which the line of the 
 railroad passes. In this region are immense forests of pine, 
 
6 
 juniper (or white cedar), cypress, poplar, ash, oak, &c. 
 Here the character of the soil is as varied as that of the 
 growth upon it ; in one direction (notably in the northern 
 part of the tract) the growth is almost exclusively pines, 
 reaching away for miles; in the "spongy" lands are miles 
 square of juniper ; and in the districts of deep, rich loam, grow 
 cypress, poplar, ash, &c. The most fertile lands, and there- 
 fore the most valuable for general farming purposes, are those 
 where the cypress, gum and poplar flourish ; those that are 
 best adapted to the raising of fruit, melons and garden-truck 
 are those where the pines grow. The spongy peat, out ol 
 which juniper grows, cannot, without much labor in reclaim- 
 ing, be used for farming purposes ; but a notable peculiarity 
 of the juniper is that it is continually repeating itself: — re- 
 move all the merchantable timber from a juniper tract to-day 
 and in ten to twenty years it will contain as much of the 
 same kind as at first, and so on continually. 
 
 After passing through these timber lands the cleared farm 
 lands are again reached, a large region lying between the 
 timber lands and the Pungo and Pamlico Rivers, and extend- 
 ing southwardly to the Pamlico Sound, which is divided 
 into farms, and contain a considerable population. 
 
 Hundreds of square miles of the country adjacent to that 
 described, is similar to it in respect to its large forests of val- 
 uable timber and its cleared farms. Pungo River is the 
 dividing line between the counties of Beaufort and Hyde, 
 and this river, from the terminus of the Albemarle and Pan- 
 tego Railroad to its mouth at Pamiico Sound, is navigable 
 lor vessels of a large class. 
 
 A glance at the map will show, better than words, the 
 probabilities of business that will be done by the Albemarle 
 and Pantego Railroad in that direction. A large region ol 
 rich country, with vast resources, that heretofore has been 
 isolated and, as has been said, comparatively unknown, -will 
 
7 
 be brought into close proximity with the markets of the 
 world. Instead of consuming two or three days in weary 
 travel from Hyde County, N. C. to Norfolk, Va., the trip 
 need not take more than five hours from points situated on 
 the Pungo River ; instead of freighting by sailing vessels 
 taking four or five days to get a load of corn or cotton to 
 market, it may reach Norfolk in the afternoon of the day of 
 shipment, or it may reach Baltimore, Philadelphia or New 
 York inside of twenty-four hours. Heretofore there has 
 been no encouragement for raising truck, fruit, &c, at these 
 places, for in the long time required for transportation they 
 would have spoiled before reaching market ; but with the 
 present arrangement, strawberries raised in Hyde County 
 may be put into New York market in the early morning of 
 the next day after they are picked, and at least eight to ten 
 days before they ripen in the gardens near Norfolk. Oyster 
 culture along the shores of Pamlico Sound and its tribu- 
 taries, from the present outlook, bids fair to grow into a 
 great business, and whilst the quality of oysters in that re- 
 gion is excellent, the quantity is unlimited. 
 
 Again, the wild lands throughout the region of country 
 spoken of, afford natural pasturage for vast herds of cattle 
 that will be a source of large income when facilities for get- 
 ting the beef into market are at hand. Fish, too, that 
 abound in the waters of this region, will be taken in great 
 quantities and shipped fresh. 
 
 A dozen or more extensive mills in close proximity to the 
 line of the road are already in operation, sawing lumber for 
 the northern markets. This lumber has to be shipped now 
 in sailing-vessels to Elizabeth City, Norfolk and other points, 
 there to be re-shipped at great trouble and expense ; but 
 with the Albemarle & Pantego Railroad in operation, it can 
 be received at Pungo River, or elsewhere on the line of road 
 and forwarded to its destination without the breaking of bulk, 
 
s 
 
 at less expense, and in one-fourth the time now required. 
 
 It may be remarked here, for the purpose of showing that 
 the lands through which the line of the Albemarle & Pan- 
 tego Railroad passes are susceptible of easy drainage, that 
 the highest point in the road is about half way from Mack- 
 ey's Ferry to Pungo River. At this point the elevation is 
 eighteen feet above the Sound. 
 
 The Albemarle & Pantego Railroad Company has secur- 
 ed its rights of way, varying in width from ioo to 150 feet, 
 from Albemarle Sound to Pungo River, with ample terminal 
 lands for the purpose of affording facilities for any business 
 that may come to this road. 
 
 The Albemarle & Pantego Railroad can but be a paying 
 institution at the very outset, with the positive certainty of a 
 constantly increasing business as the grand natural resources 
 of the country through which it passes are developed. A 
 good road that will be substantial and in every respect first- 
 class, is being constructed, with a charter, as has been said, 
 that is exceedingly liberal. 
 
 The lands along the line of this road offer great facilities 
 to persons wishing to engage in agricultural pursuits. In 
 the first place, they are very cheap; and secondly, nowhere 
 can they be surpassed in richness. They are easily culti- 
 vated and, with the completion of this road, will have easy 
 access to the best markets in the country ; having, withal, a 
 climate which gives to the farmer almost the entire year for 
 working his land. Persons contemplating the purchase of 
 lands will be amply repaid by a visit to the country through 
 which the Albemarle & Pantego Railroad passes. 
 
 Any information in reference to the lands, or the road, will 
 be cheerfully given by any of the officers of the road who 
 may be addressed on the subject, or by the John L. Roper 
 Lumber Company, Norfolk. Va. 
 
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