Judge Gaston Co
I I
es Back
Anil (no u ell-known resilient* of Gnslonia
рпнччч!
lo show our former <li*lin<£nislied
eilizen .some of llio iiileresliii{* tilings in
(lie eon nly I hsil hears his name.
IT was on a cold, blustery night By DA.MEKOA WILLIAMS
that Brice Dickson and I met
the ghost, or. to use another - ••• _
word, the spirit.
Brice and I ( he is the affable
and very efficient Secretary of the
Gastonia Chamber of Commerce»
not only met this spirit but we
communed with him. Further¬
more, we even rode with him.
I well remember the night. We
were sitting in front of a fire in
my home discussing Gastonia and
Gaston County. Possibly wo dozed,
Suddenly, from the storm raging
outside, a shadowy figure entered
the room. How he got there we
don't know. But there he was in
the spirit if not in the flesh.
Startled, we must have sat bolt
upright. But it developed that he
was an amiable spirit and most
courteous.
Bowing deeply, he said, "Gentle¬
men. I trust this isn't an intrusion.
My name is Judge William Gaston.
1 formerly lived in New Bern and
my old home is still there. In the
good year 1844, I moved from New
Bern to dwell with many fellow
spirits in Shadowland."
"Gentlemen. I make a simple re¬
quest,” he continued. "Following
my departure from New Bern and
after my services as an Associate
Justice on your Supreme Court,
your forefathers, two years later,
saw fit to name this county Gas¬
ton — in my honor. This I appreci¬
ate deeply but I have never had
the opportunity of seeing the
county which bears my name."
"Therefore." our spiritual visi¬
tor explained, "I would be deeply
honored if you two would accom¬
pany me on a hurried trip over
the 363 square miles of your
county."
All this seemed a fantasy; a zany
adventure indeed! But who could
resist the temptation of whisking
around in the air in company with
a gentlemanly spirit?
Mounting a sort of "Magic
Carpet" -spiritually speaking, of
course we were amazed to dis¬
cover that we could see as plainly
as we could have if the sun had
been shining. Landmarks, build¬
ings. rivers, people were perfectly
visible.
The Judge, as we called him.
began asking questions at once.
"Where now." he asked as we rose
into the air. "is Kings Mountain?
I was here on earth when the
battle was fought there. To my
mind it represented the favorable
turning point in our Revolutionary
War with the English."
We pointed out the towering
mountain, its peak lost in clouds.
We explained that this was the
tremendous Duke Power Co. plant
on the Catawba and located at
Mountain Island. From it and other
similar plants, we told him. elec¬
tricity was generated to supply the
hundreds of industrial plants in
this section.
First Cotton Mill
"The first cotton manufacturing
plant to bo put into operation in
Gaston County, Judge," 1 pointed
out, "was named the Mountain
Island Factory, built near here in
"It is about 20 miles south of
Gastonia." Brice explained, "and
it may interest you to know that
in late years the Government has
established a national park in the
area around it. Good roads make
it easily accessible. Markers and
monuments have been erected
showing the site of the battle and
other interesting features. A trip
through it is well worthwhile from
the standpoint of the scenic as
well as historical interest."
Turning his eyes north, the Judge
was immediately interested in sev¬
eral dams across the Catawba
River close to a cluster of build¬
ings. "What factories are those?"
he asked. "Smoke appears to be
pouring from countless tall chim-
— - - - -
и
WE PAY 825.00
Wc arc paying $25.00 for
each of these stories about
things of interest in the vari¬
ous counties of North Caro¬
lina. They are being written
hv residents of those counties
and. for the most part follow
the line of a personally con¬
ducted tour.
Thus far we have published
articles about Beaufort, Car¬
teret, Avery. Hyde. Onslow.
Orange and Surry counties,
An article on Gaston County
appears on this page.
If an article about your
county doesn't appear in due
course of time, it won’t be our
fault: it’ll he the fault of some¬
one in your county.
1848. It had ail of 3.000 spindles
and 150 looms. Two years later,
another plant, quaintly known as
‘Pinhook,’ was started in the now
thriving town of Mount Holly, just
cast of here. It boasted 600 spin¬
dles."
"Doubtless you've increased your
textiles to an extent," observed
the Judge.
Brice Dickson supplied the an¬
swer: "Yes. sir." he said. "Gaston
County now has over 1,200,000
spindles. Some 27.000 of the
county's population of 104.000 arc
gainfully employed in these mills."
"Or. to put it another way,"
Brice continued. “I have calcu¬
lated that if all the yarn produced
in Gaston County in one year could
be put in a single strand, it would
reach from the earth to the sun-
93 million miles away 36 times!
Then there would be enough left
to reach to the moon— 238.000
miles away from us— 270 times and
back.”
"Astounding!" murmured the
spirit.
Pointing over the side of our
rapidly moving vehicle, the Judge
asked, "What is the name of that
old-fashioned, quaint town?"
"That is the town of Dallas,"
we replied. "In 1847. the present
county organization was perfected
in Dallas, following the action of
the State Legislature when it
sliced off a part of Lincoln County
to make Gaston. It was then the
county seat and you can see the
old courthouse standing there in
the court-yard. In 1911, following
a bitter ballot-box fight, the seat
was removed to Gaston where it is
now located."
4
THE STATE. February 26. 1949
