Carolina Camera
The Stonewall Stock
driven as far as Ramseur when — all
of a sudden — I straightened up with
a sudden start.
I tried to figure out exactly what
had happened, but I actually had to
stop the car by the side of the road
and do a little mathematical work with
pencil and paper before I realized what
had taken place.
And then, with a sigh. I resumed my
way in the direction of Raleigh.
I decided that the next time I passed
through Asheboro and stopped for
lunch. I'd insist that I be permitted to
pay. In the long run it undoubtedly
would be much cheaper.
Tar Heel
Opinion
Here is how a cross-section of North
Carolinians responded to public-inter¬
est questions asked in the monthly
Long Marketing N. C. Poll:
QUESTION— If the American voter
was given the opportunity to vote to¬
day on each of the following issues,
how do you think the majority would
vote (the whole country, not just North
Carolina)?
Results: School busing: Would
vote for, 6.6 per cent. Would
vote against, 92.7 per cent. No
opinion, 0.7 per cent. Integration:
Would vote for, 54.5 per cent.
Would vote against, 40.0 per cent.
No opinion, 5.5 per cent.
ANALYSIS: Clearly. North Carolinians
interviewed have separated the two issues in
their own minds, and busing is more than
twice the problem to them that integration
represents. This panel even exceeded the
Florida straw vote against busing, which was
about 73 per cent against. Any criticism that
LMNCP panels may be overweighted with
conservatives appears invalid in view of the
results of the second part of the question,
where Tar Heels feel the country would sup¬
port an integration referendum about five to
four. A young Monroe man whose votes
parcllelcd the results said: "The American
people might as well learn to live with inte¬
gration. Busing proves nothing." A Sanford
lady said: "Busing will not solve the inte¬
gration problem." A Mecklenburg County
man wrote: "Integration isn't wanted by the
majority of either race.”
(This poll was conducted by the executive
and field staffs of W. H. Long Marketing,
Inc., and was originated by W. H. Long
Marketing, Inc., a North Carolina corpora¬
tion. Analyses by Mrs. Bettye D. Williams,
MA Human Development. Florida State
University, Tallahassee, Fla.)
THE BTATE, AuQUIT IS. 1972
Time seems to have preserved, rath¬
er than deteriorated, the ancient
“Stonewall Iron Stack” (furnace), situ¬
ated on property now owned by George
Fox in the Pumpkin Center area of
Lincoln County.
Steve Thornburg, a Lincolnton stu¬
dent who takes pictures for the Lin¬
colnton Times- News, and who made
this one, posed Fox (left) and his
friend Ruben Meeks, both of whom arc
about six feet tall, with the stack to
give an idea of its size.
Mrs. Frances Puckett, of Iron Sta¬
tion, who is familiar with the history
of iron manufacture in the area, says
this iron stack was built by James
Madison Smith, operator of The Vesu¬
vius and the “Rough and Ready
Forge,” on Mountain Creek. He also
built the "Stonewall Forge” on Ander¬
son Creek during the Civil War. and
operated it successfully until his death
in 1873.
The picture recalls a significant
epoch in the industrial history of the
State. Iron-making developed in Lin¬
coln County within a decade after the
Act of 1 788. to encourage the building
of iron works in the State, and con¬
tinued on into the Reconstruction Era.
after the Civil War. Five families were
engaged in the manufacture of iron, all
of them interrelated and destined to
practically control the industry of the
North Carolina Piedmont for three
generations.
A few miles cast of Lincolnton was
the Big Ore Bank in Ironton Township.
Peter Forney and his associates ob¬
tained the Ore Bank Tract in 1789,
( Continued on page 17)
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