Industry Growing in Bladen County

July 11th, 2008 | webmaster | Historical Accounts

A Historical Article Believed to be Authored by: Margaret Parker Bridger

Bladen County, in 1700, referred to as a “pauper county,” has always been a strictly rural county, therefore the industries were very limited and few in variety. Though still a rural county and sparsely populated, great strides have been made in advancement in manufacturing, lumbering, and tobacco sales.

In 1733, there were only three “free holders” and 30—families all told in this county. From earliest colonial days, Bladen possessed no central settlement of overshadowing local importance, its principal inhabitants living on their own plantations and growing food stuffs and making with their hands practically what was consumed, not much more. It was quite natural that no amount of trade could be carried on in a territory like that, though it was the richest in natural resources of any section of the state, if rightly developed. History has it that in 1743, when the alarm came that the Spanish troops were about to invade South Carolina, an order was issued from the capital that no men were to be taken from Bladen as it needed all it had to protect its own people. At that time Bladen was comprised of the counties of Brunswick, Columbus, Cumberland, Orange, and Robeson, and with no railroads and very little inland water routes, it was greatly handicapped for transportation facilities. It is interesting to note, however, that all the stories of the small industries mentioned, that in 1754, Bladen exported (for the army) “flour, pork, beef, rice, butter, indigo, tar, pitch, turpentine, stoves, heading, shingles and lumber,” all going out through the ports at Wilmington.

Turpentine Days
In 1775 to 1800, the principal industry of the county was the manufacture of turpentine, though every settlement had its own dairy and meat supplies grown by individuals, and cotton was grown sufficiently to make by hand the family clothing. Sheep raising was done on a small scale. The transportation of turpentine in the early history of the county is also an interesting story. As Elizabethtown was the only shipping point in this section, all stills had to get their produce there to sell or ship down the Cape Fear River, where it was sent to Wilmington. A number of barrels of tar and turpentine were made into a sort of raft formed by running iron rods through the barrels in coupling them together in such a way they would roll, as teams of horses pulled the load over the unfinished road. Large timbers, known as a “ton timber” were carted to the river and shipped on rafts in the same way as turpentine.

Then Change Came
Between the years of 1890 and 1900, radical changes were made in the industry of Bladen. Farming showed more progress in these years, the “Cleveland panic” forcing many changes in the life of rural people in the South. On account of the panic, practically all the sawmills and turpentine stills were closed, and the men thus put out of work were employed stumping and clearing new ground, preparatory to farming on a large scale. Though industry was practically dead for about ten years, this marked the beginning of a great era in this section of the state.

Tobacco Growing
In 1898 a Mr. H.G. Biddings came into Clarkton to teach farmers how to raise and cure tobacco for market, and in 1899 Mr. J.W. Johnson, a well-trained young man of Oxford, while passing through the town of Bladenboro, and in conversation with citizens, talked interestingly on the culture of tobacco. So enthused did the men become, that Mr. Johnson was urged to stop over for the night, and he remained that year to teach and train farmers in the growth and curing of the weed. The tobacco industry has revolutionized rural Bladen, in that it is of short cultivation, is always in demand and brings ready money to the farmer at the leanest period of the year.

Cotton is King
Of all the industries of the county, cotton is in the lead. In early 1800’s, horse driven cotton gins were owned and operated on a small scale, the first motor gins that we have any
record of being built in 1887 in Clarkton. After it was made it had to be shipped to Wilmington in most cases to receive any reasonable price for it, while the seed were hauled away and used in some instances as fertilizer, but considered as evil dust to the average farmer.

So, with the coming of the growth and selling of raw cotton, came the discovery that cotton seeds were good for food for man and beast. In 1916, Bladen County joined other cotton
growing sections in the building of the modern cotton seed oil mill in Bladenboro at a cost of around $75,000. This industry not only gave employment to many men, but added
immense wealth to the county by saving the seed, the products which were used for cow feed, greatly increasing the butter yield, and meat supply, and besides a tremendous revenue was collected in taxes for this plant.

Cotton Manufacture
In 1911, an industry was organized which has revolutionized the county, the building of the cotton mills in Bladenboro. The first unit of the mills was built at a cost of $300,000, operating about 10,000 spindles and employing around 200 men and women. This plant was added to in 1916, almost doubling the capacity and using around 100 more workers. Also in 1916, another unit was built, bringing the total number spindles up to 22,000, with a consumption of 250 bales of cotton weekly, and annual payroll of about $150,000, paid to around 400 workers.

In 1923, the third unit was built at a cost of $700,000, making a total investment of $1,500,000, consisting of 40,000 spindles, employing 900 men and women, annual payroll
$400,000. This one industry alone gives sustenance to the majority of the population of three townships, and the revenue collected has in a large measure made the splendid county
school system possible, along with comfortable homes, modern church buildings, and many luxuries unknown before its organization.

The “Lowly” Peanut
The newest industry in Bladen and one that touches all sections of the county, is the manufacture of the peanut. In 1931, the growth of this plant was greatly enlarged when an
up-to-date peanut factory was erected at Elizabethtown, the capacity of which was 100,000 bags per season. The products of this industry has enriched the county in many ways besides furnishing employment for many men.

Smaller Industries
In practically every section of the county, sawmills, lumber plants and a very few turpentine stills are to be found, all these operating at a fair margin of profit and adding much to
the wealth of the county. Among the largest plants are the Butters Lumber Company, which owns 40,000 acres of land, and employs about 250 men.

In Elizabethtown, the Ricks Lumber Company and Bryant Lumber Company are located near White Lake. Industry in Bladen today, with its network of highways, railroad and water transportation facilities, and with a citizenry awake to the possibilities of the future, will soon push the county out of the “pauper class” and help gain its rightful place among the sections like the great Piedmont section of the state.