FE BE a FEET ET ere ee = 4 “See =F minnows i aie 5 ia a er a bie niin 6 — wre 2 - = 4 POEL EOD SF j / ) i . | ) i | 534 Chronicles of the Cape Fear River The same general type of construction is being used for Lock and Dam No. 2, at Brown’s Landing as at King’s Bluff. Here, however, the dam will raise the water 12 feet above the level of the water between King’s Bluff and Brown’s Landing, thus requiring heavier construction throughout. This work is being rapidly prosecuted and its completion in 1917 is dependent only upon sufficient congressional appropria- tions and favorable stages of water for sinking the dams. The amount expended on locks and dams to June 30, 1915, was $647,635.79; on other improvements, $183,654.10. The advantages to be derived from this improvement are obvious and are those which would naturally result from certain all-the-year-round navigation with 8-foot navigable depth. It will benefit the cities of Wilmington and Fayetteville, at the two ends of the improved channel, in a commercial way, acting as it will as a steady and increasing feeder to their business activities. In addition to this, not the least important result will be that this stream, with its cheap transportation facilities close at hand, will act as a constant incentive to the development of the agricultural resources of the country through which it flows. DISASTROUS FIRES. The following account of a great conflagration on the night of April 30, 1864, taken from the Daily Journal, is of particular in- terest, as it gives us a glimpse of the city during the war—the value of cotton, $1,000 a bale; the interest of the Confederate Government, of the State of Virginia, and of the blockade runners in cotton, and the quantities stored in Wilmington, with other details of the war. “Yesterday morning at 20 minutes to one o’clock,” says the Journal, “a fire broke out in a warehouse or shed on the west- ern side of the river, some 200 feet south of the ferry, which is opposite to the Market Dock. From this point it spread with amazing rapidity, and in an inconceivably short space of time, every building on the western side of the river south of the depot of the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad was envel- oped in flames. “When we arrived at the dock the whole western bank of the river for several squares was one line of flame, and it was feared that the railroad depot, with the workshops of the company, MS ONE 5, ARMED CRE EIN cere appar e tT ee et pee SpE 2 0 ga: PA OF A ANN OE ON IN Ee eR Re Peace Restored 535 would also be destroyed. The destruction of property is very great. We sum it as nearly as possible as follows: “The Confederate Government lost 800 bales of cotton burned, of which about 200 bales were Sea Island, say $800,000. It lost, also, in materials and work in progress at Beery’s ship-yard, about $100,000. T. Andrea lost 2,500 bales of cotton, 300 of it Sea Island, say $2,430,000. The Nash- ville and Chattanooga Railroad Company lost 187 bales; J. W. Thomas, thirty-seven bales, say $200,000. In Captain Hallet’s sheds there were 850 bales of cotton, forty-seven of it Sea Island, belonging to the State of Virginia and sundry other par- ties. Also, rope and bagging to the amount of $100,000. All burned. Loss, about $900,000. Rankin and Martin’s Rosin Oil Works, about $70,000. Insurance to the amount of $7 ,000. B. Hallet’s loss in shed, about $25,000. Insurance, $3,000. The Southern Express Company lost two cars with merchan- dise, also some merchandise in a small warehouse. Loss, about $100,000. John A. Taylor, shed, ete., at ferry, $10,000. The damage to the machinery and tools at B. W. & W. L. Beery’s ship-yard is comparatively light. Most of the workmen’s tools were saved. They expect to be able to resume work in about three weeks. The sheds and sawmill machinery in rear of ship- yard is the principal loss. Estimated loss, $25,000. The Wil- mington & Manchester Railroad Company lost the small wooden building in which the president, treasurer, and superin- tendent had their offices. All the contents were saved. The building was of little value. The chief loss of railroad prop- erty was twenty-five freight cars, fifteen of them belonging to the Georgia Central Road, eight to the Wilmington and Man- chester Road, and two to the Southern Express Company. Total loss in cars, $150,000. “Thus far we have a summing up of about $4,800,000, but this does not include the injury to a quarter of a mile of wharf- ing, mainly ruined, nor the loss of the sheds and buildings be- longing to the Confederate Government and to the other par- ties, nor the injury to the cotton-press. ‘These and other things not necessary to mention can hardly be estimated at the present time, Since it may be impossible to replace them and difficult to do without them. We are happy, indeed, to learn that the cotton-press itself ig expected to be in operation again in a short time. It is probable that, when the whole loss is known, and the wharves, buildings, ete., have been included, it will fall little, if anything, short of six millions of dollars.