INDUSTRIAL AND AGRICULTURAL
DEVELOPMENT OF
BLADEN COUNTY
Bladen County courthouse at Elizabethtown.
«Л
MRS. E. II. MCCULLOCH
BLADEN County is located in
the southeastern part of North
Carolina and is surrounded by
the counties of Cumberland. Samp¬
son. New Hanover. Columbus and
Robeson. Fifty-five of the one
hundred counties which comprise
the state were formed from
“Mother Bladen," yet today it is
one of the largest and most pro¬
gressive of the agricultural coun¬
ties.
The historic Cape Fear River,
which Hows through the heart of
the county, dividing it practically
in half, has played an important
part in its development. A number
of historic homes stand today on
the bluffs overlooking the river, a
reminder of the gay life of colonial
days. One of these. Oakland, the
home of General Thomas Brown,
has been restored to its pristine
beauty, and is one of the county’s
show places.
Transportation in the early his¬
tory of the county was principally
on the waters of the Cape Fear,
and, while today no picturesque
passenger boats ply the river, the
three Government Locks make the
stream navigable from the Port at
Wilmington, where it connects
with the Inland Waterway, to the
Inland Port at Fayetteville, and
gasoline and freight barges carry
valuable cargoes regularly The
Cape Fear is beyond the Tide¬
water. and the freshwater, added
to the navigableness of the stream
is an inducement to the establish¬
ment of industries in the county.
Since the construction of the
Cape Fear bridge in 1925, thus
joining the two halves of Bladen,
all sections of the county have
enjoyed a steady period of growth
and development. The bridge com-
Sleted a needed link in the North-
outh highway, and has brought
hundreds of tourists through this
section, and made Elizabethtown,
the county seat, easily accessible
to the residents of the Northern
section of the county.
Agriculture Leads
Bladen is principally an agri¬
cultural county. The fertility of
the soil combined with the mild
climate, and the variety of types
of soil, makes it possible to grow
practically every crop known to
man in the Temperate zones. There
are 3,490 farms set up under the
Agricultural Adjustment Adminis¬
tration. Corn is the largest crop,
and last year 38,000 acres of land
were planted to corn here, with
an average yield of 22 bushels to
the acre. This yield was lower
than usual on account of the loss
of a large part of the corn crop in
Frenches Creek Township, the
Corn Belt of Bladen, from exces¬
sive rainfall and freshets in the
Cape Fear.
Bladen’s money crops are tobac¬
co, peanuts, and cotton. Ap¬
proximately 8.000 acres of tobacco
were planted last year, with a
yield of 1,010 pounds per acre.
Approximately 10,000 acres of
land were planted to peanuts in
Bladen last year, in cooperation
with the request of the government
for oil-bearing crops. A yield of
1,500 pounds of marketable nuts
per acre is very common here, this
crop having been planted in the
county for more than a generation.
Farmers cooperated in this plant¬
ing one hundred per cent.
In 1940-41, Bladen County
planted 7.400 acres of cotton, with
an approximate yield of 280
pounds of lint cotton per acre. In
1942-43 much less cotton was
planted, due to the shortage of
labor caused from the large num¬
ber of men the county was called
upon to furnish for the armed
services.
Dairying is an extensive in¬
dustry here. Since January 1941.
five Commercial dairies have been
established to produce Grade A
fluid milk, which has
Ъееп
pro¬
cessed by the Cumberland Dairies.
Fayetteville, for consumption by
the armed forces at Fort Bragg.
Along with these dairies have been
established temporary and perma¬
nent pasture to supply feed for
dairy cattle.
Prospects point to Bladen’s be¬
coming one of the most outstand¬
ing live stock counties in eastern
North Carolina. Three of the out¬
standing beef cattle herds in the
state are located in Bladen. These
