State

Peaches, Pines And Power . . . Montgomery is almost a miniature North Carolina, with mountains, Piedmont anil sand. By KILL SIIAKPE "Lord, how Montgomery can grow peaches and pines” said one of the older citizens when asked about the county’s resources. Pines have served the county well, and from its beginning. Once the west¬ ern — clay — part of Montgomery had prosperous cotton plantations. Boll weevil, low prices and crop control have almost done for cotton. But the old fields, allowed to go back into wilderness, threaten to once more en¬ rich their owners. Mayor Homer Haywood of Mt. Gilead, told us of one 60-acre tract of pineland which sold for $90,000, and that was not an unusual price. The pines grow fast in the Uwharrics. More and more landowners arc planting pines, and lumbering still ranks at or near the top as an income producer, nighty-two sawmills, mostly small, arc licensed to operate in Montgomery. The pines grow well over in the sand belt, too, but here peaches were intro¬ duced in 1903 and for a while Mont¬ gomery shared with Moore and Rich¬ mond a sort of fruit boom. State in Miniature If Montgomery only had an ocean, it could duplicate in miniature the topography of the State. It has the lonesome Uwharric Range on its west¬ ern border, rising strongly above the Yadkin Dec River. Here are steep slopes, fast moving streams, and thick forests containing game. The land be¬ comes rolling foothills, like the Pied¬ mont, and then later gentle swells as one travels eastward. The sand belt is entered over near the eastern border, and affords large, often flat areas. At one time, Montgomery did have its ocean, but it receded cons ago, and the beach it left is represented in the famous Sandhills of today. The county's 488 square miles are well watered. There are the Yadkin- Pcc Dee. the Uwharric River, and the Little River. Tributaries of these streams touch almost every farm in the county. Primeval Forest The great forests of longleaf pine which originally covered the area formed the basis of Montgomery's first industry. Turpentiners thoroughly exploited the woodlands, and when the naval stores industry petered out about 1898, lumbering took its place. Tram¬ ways — little wooden-rail tracks — crisscrossed the county. Now the Uwharric Division of the National For¬ ests includes around 36,000 acres in Montgomery, lying in the northwest section. About 73 per cent of the county is in forests. Peaches The timber boom retarded agricul¬ ture. but H. R. Clark planted an orchard near Aberdeen which was un¬ successful. He then moved to Mont¬ gomery and planted a large orchard a mile from Candor — the first success¬ ful commercial peach orchard in North Carolina. That was in 1903, and the 30.000 trees set out then thrived beautifully and profitably. So profitably that they inspired others, and by 1920, the peach idea had spread over eastern Montgomery, and into Moore, Richmond and other nearby counties. Montgomery now 12