By Bion H. Butler
Tuesday night Sam Richardson, Frank Buchan and Talbot Johnson assembled a little group of men at Mid-Pines club house to discuss the situation in the Sandhills and the possibility of extending the interest and development of this field. Being in attendance it was my opportunity to size up a right important meeting of outstanding men of this vicinity gathered to discuss a vital question. Besides Johnson, Richardson and Buchan others present were James Barber, Leonard Tufts, A.S. Newcomb, Judge Way, Jack Boyd, Harry Lewis and Edwin McKeithan. If you will look that list of names over it will be seen that it is a right strong bunch of men. John McQueen and H.A. Page Jr. had been asked to take part in the meeting but were kept away by other matters. John McQueen and Henry Page are both pretty busy men. But they are interested in the situation.
Talbot Johnson announced the purpose of calling the men together telling in his introductory talk about a trip to Florida a few days ago where he found that everybody has gone crazy over what is the most astonishing real estate gamble probably ever known on earth. Without going into the merits of that situation very far Leonard Tufts and Arthur Newcomb told briefly a similar story of their experience in Florida, the purpose of the tale being to show what can be done with warm weather and enthusiasm to impress on Sandhill folks that with our resources here we might do much more than we are. To imitate Florida was farthest from the intention of any man at the meeting, but all agreed that if Florida, with her limited resources can infect this whole United States with the virus of real estate insanity, a reasonable amount of energy and enthusiastic backing the solid resources of the Sandhills can do an awful lot more in this neighborhood than we are doing at the present time.
Not that the Sandhills is playing a losing game at all, for it is not. Leonard Tufts presented figures of Pinehurst which showed that this is the best season ever known there. For that matter each year at Pinehurst shows an increased business over all proceeding years. Mr. Tufts told that the hotels had their hands full. In spite of the continued increase of building year by year, but three or four cottages at Pinehurst were without tenants. Property sales were more active than in previous years, and prospects for summer building tell of activity throughout the year. Sam Richardson had been talking with John West, division passenger agent of the Seaboard during the day, and brought the positive information that freight and express business at the Southern Pine station was running far in excess of any previous season and that passenger traffic to Sandhills towns has made a new record this winter. John Powell reports that the post office is away ahead of any previous years, Frank Buchan says the hotels of Southern Pines are doing more business than ever in their history, and that while some of the cottages are not rented this year it is not surprising for about 40 new houses were building during the year. Harry Lewis says that in spite of new stores that have been opened this year his business continues to expand, and that as far as he gathers form other merchants the village never knew such a voluminous trade. The definite figures presented by these men of business that is checked up every night tell in positive terms that the Sandhills section is making gratifying progress.
Possibly if we did not have something like Florida to compare our progress with, we would be enthusiastic over the advances we are making. Arhtur Newcomb mentioned the reasonable increase in land values, offering as an illustration prices in some negotiations that are under way at the present time in the vicinity of Broad street and Pennsylvania avenue, where $130 and $250 a front foot according to location seems acceptable to buyers. Mr. Newcomb thought such a price low because as he says the way development is going on, convenient locations before a great while will be in much keener demand and a $6,000 lot for a $100,000 building is not regarded as a high price. Judge Way, one of that excessively modest group of Pittsburghers, that is getting interested in the Sandhills county, blushed and said that one thing we need here is more hotel accommodations. He argued that if people want to come this way for the winter, they must have a place where they can eat and sleep, and he thought another good big hotel, anywhere in the Sandhills from which the golf courses and amusement features at Pinehurst and Southern Pines and Knollwood could be reached, would bring a much larger winter population and the Judge and Mr. Tufts and Mr. Newcomb were fully in harmony in the belief that people who come here and get acquainted by a brief visit to the hotels are liable to want to build a winter home for themselves and become permanent winter if not all the year round residents. Jack Boyd made one point that struck the bunch with a good deal of force when he said that if the Seaboard would arrange a schedule out of New York to enable a busy man to get away from there at 6 o’clock after his day’s work was done, instead of 3 o’clock which compels him to break way from his business at a bad hour, many more people could run down here on an overnight journey. And a train leaving here at 6 o’clock at night instead of 10 would put people in New York early enough in the morning to do a day’s work, instead of spoiling the day by getting there just about noon.
Mr. Barber proposed that we provide some means of showing more fully what we have here. And thought perhaps a system of sight seeing automobiles or something of that kind to get the people out and let them know more about the attractions of the community would be a wise idea. Edwin McKeithan who has been active in the development of the Sandhills ever since development has started, drew some comparisons between North Carolina and Florida and talked about direct and indirect methods of advertising which got everybody started along this line. He also pressed the question of a hotel a little farther and questioned Mr. Tufts about the cost of a hotel such as would be desirable. Considerable interest was shown in the idea of a new hotel, the principal difficulty of this proposal being the one of financing. The interest that was shown at the meeting led to the forgetfulness of time, until about 11 o’clock James Barber suggested that it was about time for us older fellows to be in bed and with the understanding that next week the group would gather again to go a little farther into these things, we all went home. It is unfortunate that the Pilot does not have room for a more lengthy story of what was done there, but as plans will be worked out farther, it is sufficient to say that we all realized very clearly that Moore county is coming along at a satisfactory gait and every day stepping a little harder on the accelerator. One easy glimpse of the reports that were presented from the daily and weekly balance sheet of the various industries of the territory makes that positive.
From the front page of The Pilot, Vass, N.C., Friday, March 6, 1925
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073968/1925-03-06/ed-1/seq-1/
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