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RESOURCES EXTRAORDINARYeelliterEp-Wuicn Nature Ha* Lavishly RestoweG Upon the County anfl Town of Athens.nr-iorted,ndThe Cincinnati Commereial-Gazettein describing the resources of the towns and counties through which the Baltimore A Ohio Southwestern railroadThe flavor and quality of Athens county peaches are unexcelled. There are now within the county 10,000 acres of orchards of the various kinds of fruits.Farming in Athens county is keeping pace with the progress of the age. Our farmers, as a class, are men who rend,,, , and observe, and adopt the most modernpasses, dismisses Athens and Athens i , \ , ... . ...1 * . : and acientiilc methods of farming. Sta-tMiv-tlykHl -ice icounty with u scant quartercolumn notice, which is far from doing us justice. Verv briefly—for volumes could bo• Vwritten—the Messenger and Herald will enumerate some of the natural re-ii sources and leading industries of Athenscounty and its seat of justice.It is told of Senator Brice that, whenitistics indicate that our rural population. Iis more contented and prosperous than I in many other counties. While several II* ‘ _ ' . . . mcounties around us have suffered a de- ! crease in population in the past ten j years, Athens county shows a gain of i 8,lt;K3() in population and a proportionate ■ gain in wealth. Another feature that!It1!Itie a young man. and while tr ing to enlist s{jOHjt| commend the county to the fav-rle.inertofehekhe:aredresoniteess.adtatheheheTe■y.ofm.atn-y,tro18-neityg-idolliey.ase.idrecapital to extend a railway from the Sunday Creek valley to adjacent coal fields, he one day met a party of capitalists in New York, who asked him for some good reason why the road should be extended. With a pencil he drew a line on the map of the state, beginning at Pomeroy, running north through Athens county to the north line of Hocking county, then west to the western boundary of that county and thence south to Portsmouth. Said he: ‘‘Gentlemen, the territory embraced within the lines which I have just drawn is richer in mineral wealth than any other similar quantity of ground on the face of the earth. Human skill and industry, aided by every mechanical appliance, cannot exhaust the supply in the next five hundred years.” Mr. Brice is a shrewd man of affairs and he correctly foresaw what more recent developments have proven to be true. Athens county ranks fifth among the counties of the state in the output of coal. Two million tons is annually mined and 2,500 men are engaged in mining within the county. Notwithstanding this enormous and constant output there are thousands of acres of the best coal land in the state, within the county limits, which are yet undeveloped. The Athens county coal field is practically inexhaustible and its development will continue to contribute to the county’s prosperity for decadesto come.v-'t*rseiestk-e,isatisdsrt-r-li-16a-i-;hIn no other county in the state are there more and better facilities for manufacturing enterprises. The county possesses an ubundance of superior clay for the manufacture of brick,sewer pipe, tiling, etc., and yet the manufacture of clay products is but in its infancy. AtEast Clayton, Nelsonville, Trimble and Athens are extensive plants for the manufacture of building and paving brick, sewer pqe and tiling, turning out millions of the finished product of the very best quality. As was mentioned last week a movement is in progress to establish an immense plant at Salina. In this company, styled the Ohio Clay Coke Company, are several leadiug citizens of Columbus, possessing ample capital to assure the success of the enterprise. With abundance of fuel easily available and with the excellent railroad facilities which the conuty possesses,the manufacture of clay products is destined to become one of the county’s leading industries.:eitdyB.kiekr,isr*i.hr-ieyA feature that should commend the county to manufacturers seeking a location is its railroad facilities. Within the county there are 180 miles of railway including main lines, brunches and sidings, forming a network which reaches every important center in the county, affording accessible outlets for the shipment of products. By means of the Baltimore Ohio Southwestern, the Columbus, Hocking Valley k Toledo and the Ohio Central Lines, with their connections, all points of the compass are directly accessible. This, together with the superior raw material suitable for manufacturing, cheapness f and availability of fuel, peculiarly fit Athens county for manufacturing. Capitalists having money to invest would do well to consider these facta.orable consideration of those seeking a location is its healthfulness. The rate of mortality is very low as compared with other counties. High, dry and well drained as most of the county is, there are no low, swampy regions breathing forth deadly miasmas and malarias. Epidemics in the county are rare. In short, for those seeking a home or an investment in an agricultural or manufacturing enterprise, Athens county presents many superior advantages, rendering it unnecessary to emigrate to the far West, the home of cyclones, blizzards, drouths, grasshoppers and worst of all, Populists. Buy a home or engage in business in loyal old Republican Athens county and be happy.The town of Athens occupies one of the most pleasant, healthful and picturesque sites in Southern Ohio. One of the oldest towns iu the state, haviug its birth m 1700, it lias had a conservative and substantial growth that has saved itfrom the fate of ephemeral “boom” towns. Founded ns an adjunct to the University, the present pride of the town, the growth of the town and the institution have kept pace and are inseparably linked together. The town is what the University has made it and I vice versa to a great extent. As a place of residence,Athens presents uiaujr advantages. Educational and church privileges, cultured citizenship, healthful, beautiful location, reasonable rents, moderate taxes,railroad facilities,cheap living and a host of other advantages might be named. In modern improvements Athens surpasses many towns of double her population. With electriclights, waterworks, and with a sewerage system and paved streets in immediateprospect, the town will be supplied with every convenience necessary to health and comfort. Business methods being conservative and the amount and character of business being uniform and substantial, business failures rarely occur and depressions are not so sorely felt as in many other communities.As a manufacturing center Athens is unsurpassed in advantages by any town in southern Ohio. With three railroad systems making the town directly accessible to any market iu the land, with inexhaustible supplies of fuel in close proximity, there are especial inducements for the location of manufactories here. We already have several flourishing industries but there is room and opportunity for more. A fruit and vegetable canning factory would without donbt prove a success here, and many other industries which lack of space forbids mentioning.Among the industries which the towncr1brnctlfilhVbtlbfthwtia:wsisitlmtlcl C tl w a i atinaSitlK|tl:olill1lt;itPik'ecboasts is its brick plant with a capacity of 40,000 or 50,000 brick per day. Bothpaving and building brick are manufactured. The shale from which these brickare manufactured is of the very bestqual •ity and the supply is boundless. Ath-h■aNot the least of Athens county’s advantages are its agricultural resources. The county is favored with a topography, climate and soil that are splendidly adapted to the different branches of agriculture. Within the county are 813,274 acres of land. It ranks eighth among the counties in the state iu the amount of wool prodnoed.the clip being over half a million pounds annually. There is much land throughout the county especially adapted to stock rais-iug and our farmers have long been extensively engaged in this industry. Of hay, 50,000 tons are produced aunually, wheat over 100,000 bushels, corn 400,000 bushels. The county is also destined to take front rank in the amount and quality of fruit produced. The climate and soil are excellent for the growth of small fruits and berries. Within the past few years a large number of peach orchards have been plauted and in soasous of good crops the yield is very great. It Y j has been conservatively estimated that» the great peach crop last year netted the producers of the oounty $100,000.ens brick have a reputation as wide us the state and meet with favor wherever used. The Athens Brick Company is composed of representative men, allresidents of the oounty.Another important industry is theSlant of the Hudson School Furniture ompany, one of the largest of the kind in the oountry. The Hudson Brothers reoogmzed the superior advautagea of Athens as a location for such a plant because of railroad facilities, the availability of fuel and the material used iu their manufactures. When m operation to its full capacity this will prove a valuable addition to the industries of the town.diI)0mciiiu01toHitilatsitestlihitilt;I)tabetooldcfotoThe Athens Lumber Company, withmpany,mills at Trimble, Glouster, Nelsonville and Athens, is one of the county’s creditable institutions. They manufacture building material of all kinds and do avery large busiuess.It may not lie generally known that d in the river bed aqdtigby architects and builders in the citiesthe sand in the river bed a^d on its banks near Athens is much sought afterfor use iu mortar. Much of it is also used upon railroad locomotives.The State Hospital, with its artificial lakes, well-kept grounds, beautiful andthfanastiInsuindrDimwlatfasnevcdi;telt;aba iromantic reputed to be the most beau- onktiful in the state -lends additional attractiveness to onr pretty, prosperous aud growing town.There is no Aladdin’s lamp or philos-oper’s stone here to turn everything into palaces and gold, but ss a place of residence or for investments iu mauu-IBfactnring enterprises Athens possesses such decided advantages that, w hen theybecome fully known, must become irresistible. Its progressive citizens are always ready to welcome and encourage any addition to our legitimate industries.oftcianlt;nujai t ryaiumobohis
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