INDUSTRIAL AND AGRICULTURAL
DEVELOPMENT OF
DUPLIN COUNTY
mntclv 150 |>copIe arc employed.
“A goodly portion of our output
goes to the Government at the present
time/’ Mr. Roy Catos told us, “and
consequently we can’t fill nil of our
orders ns we used to do. However,
we’re trying to see that our pickles
and other lines are distributed ns
fairly as possible in order that nil
merchants may have some to soil.”
Faison is one town that never has a
serious business slump. One reason for
this is the fine farming section in
which it is located.
Four miles south of Faison is the
village of Bowden. Its principal in¬
dustry is a lumber mill.
Town of Warsaw
Duplin County Courthouse at Kenansville.
LET'S go down to the southeastern
part of the state this week and
■take a look at Duplin County.
It- adjoining neighbors are Samp¬
son. Wavne.
Ь
Jones, Onslow,
and Pender. The county seat is Ke¬
nansville. The area of the county is
TIM) square miles and the population
i« around lls.OOO.
Duplin is primarily an agricultural
county. It is one of the host diversi¬
fied-crop counties in the state. Cotton
and tobacco are raised, of course, hut
most of the acreage is devoted to truck
farming. Among the leading crops
arc English peas, cucumbers, straw¬
berries. snap beans, lima beans, canta¬
loupes, watermelons, green pepj*er.
Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes and
okra. And if that doesn’t s|»e!l diversi¬
fication, we’d like to know what it docs
spell.
Entering Duplin from Wayne
County, the first town we come to is
the village of Calypso with a popula¬
tion of about 700. There are a number
of good stores here. The largest indus¬
try is the Calypso Veneer Company, of
which H. E. Bryan is manager.
Three miles further down the high¬
way is Faison, with a population of
about
У00.
It rates as the largest cu¬
cumber market in the world. Vast
quantities of other produce arc also
•old here, the total amount in money
running up to about $400,000 an¬
nually.
By the way, you might be interested
in knowing that L. A. (“Speed")
Riggs, probably the best-known tobac¬
co auctioneer in the country, got his
-tart in Faison, auctioning off encum¬
bers, beans and other farm crops.
Speed, as you probably know, is the
auctioneer whose voice you hear regu¬
larly on the Lucky Strike program.
He worked down at Faison for three
seasons.
Faison has three cotton gins. The
Mansfield Hatchery also is located
here. The biggest local industry, how¬
ever. is that of Charles F. Catos
Sons, manufacturers of pickles, rel¬
ishes, etc. They have at Faison the
largest individual salting station in
the United States. Approximately 326
vats have been set up. They have a ca¬
pacity of from 175,000 ’to 200,000
bushels of cucumbers annually, and
there are many farmers in this area
who make a nice profit every year in
the raiding of cucumbers. Approxi-
And another four miles brings you
to Warsaw, with a population of
I,500.
I»
is the largest town in the
county and is the trailing center for
a wide area. Modern stores, a fine
school system and attractive homes
all combine to make it a fine place in
which to live and do business. Among
the leading industries are a modern
Hour mill, operated by J. M. Surrat;
a cotton gin run by R. H. Best, Jr.,
and a planing mill operated by the
J. M. Pierce Manufacturing Com¬
pany. They make doors, windows,
-ashes and other things of that nature.
Warsaw has a fine citizenship and
i hey cooperate splendidly in every¬
thing that pertains to the welfare and
progress of the town. They’ve got a
line American Legion home and their
annual Armistice Day celebrations
have been outstanding throughout the
state.
In our regular weekly feature-
"What’s in a Name?” which tells he
how
SAMPSON COUNTY
Wc left off the "by-lino” on
the Sampson County story last
week. It was written for us by
Mrs. Taft M. Bass, of Clinton,
and she did a mighty fine job
with it. Sorry that this credit
is rather belated.
is