USA > Georgia > The history of the State of Georgia from 1850 to 1881, embracing the three important epochs: the decade before the war of 1861-5; the war; the period of Reconstruction, v. 2 > Part 31
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Up to this time there have been collected and placed in the geological rooms, at the State Capitol, carefully labeled with the name of the owner, and the number of the lot, district and section, and arranged by counties: Asbestos from nine counties; Barite or Heavy Spa, two; Buhrstone or Mill Rock, twenty-seven; Chrome for paints, two; Coal, three; Copper, twelve; Corundum for Emery wheels, six; Diamond. one; Graphite or black lead, ten; Granite for building, forty-five; Glass sand, two; Green sand, fertilizer, four; Grindstone and Whet- stone, four; Gold ores, sixty-one; Gypsum, land plaster, two; Hy- draulic Cement, two; Iron ores, seventy-one; Iron Pyrites (sulphur), seven; Kaolin, for china ware, eleven; Lead ore, eight; Lignite, fuel, four; Limestone, forty-eight; Manganese, fifteen; Marble, six; Marl, fertilizer, twenty-two; Mica, eleven; Nickel, one; Nitre, two; Peat, four; Quartz (opal, amethyst), forty-six; Slate, roofing, four; Soapstone, twenty-two; Serpentine, mantels, etc., eleven; Rutile, seven; Zinc ore, two.
The following counties have minerals as follows: Rabun, Gold, Asbestos, Serpentine; Towns, Gold, Copper, Corundum; Union, Gold, Mica; Fannin, Gold, Copper, Iron, Marble, Tale; Gilmer, Gold, Copper, Iron, Marble, Soapstone; Pickens, Gold, Iron, Mica, Marble, Graphite; Cherokee, Gold, Copper, Iron, Mica, Soapstone; Milton, Gold, Iron; Forsyth, Gold; Dawson, Gold, Corundum; Lumpkin, Gold, Copper, Iron; White, Gold, Asbestos, Diamond; Habersham, Gold, Iron, As- bestos; Hall, Gold, Lead, Iron, Mica, Asbestos; Dade, Iron, Coal, Fire- clay, Holloysite; Walker, Iron, Coal, Marble; Catoosa, Iron, Marble, Limestone.
We have now in Georgia fifty gold mills with 500 stamps, the ma- chinery worth $500,000; one copper mine, 850,000; one Sulphuric Acid fac- tory, $200,000; one Soapstone mill, $10,000; one Asbestos mine, $10,000; one Manganese mill, 8100,000; eighteen Iron Furnaces, $2,000,000; one Lead mine, $1,000,000; one Corundum mine, $10,000; one Mica mine,
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642
AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT.
85,000; Lime Kilns, $20,000; one Ferro-Manganese Furnace, $10,000; aggregating four millions dollars of mineral establishments. Georgia has grown from the production of 9,634 tons of iron in 1870 to 35,152 tons in 1880.
The State of Georgia has the honor of being the first State in the Union to organize a Department of Agriculture, presided over by a Commissioner charged with the administration of the office, untram- meled by an advisory board.
The administration of the Department throughout, and especially by Hon. J. T. Henderson, has been vigorous and profitable to the State by educating the farmers through many valuable publications, by increasing production and elevating the pursuit of agriculture. It contributed too, more largely than any other instrumentality, to the advertisement of the resources of Georgia, and to the enhancement of her reputation abroad. It is a source of gratification to Georgians, when traveling in other states of the Union, to hear the encomiums passed upon their State, and especially upon the work of their Department of Agriculture.
The commissioner has control of the inspection and analysis of commercial fertilizers, and by the thorough system of supervision the farmer is very thoroughly protected from loss, by the purchase of spu- rious goods.
The fee for the inspection of fertilizers is fifty cents per ton. The State derived during the last season the sum of $64,060.23 in revenue from this source. Previous to 1877, the inspectors received the fees as compensation for their services.
Under the law of 1877, the inspectors receive salaries and the fees are paid into the treasury. Since that time nearly $200,000 have been paid into the treasury, in fees for inspection, or $100,000 more than the Department of Agriculture has cost since its organization.
The influence of the publications of the department have exerted a silent, yet decided influence on the agriculture of the State, which has been overlooked by many, but which has not failed to impress itself upon the observant of this as well as other states of the Union-nor has this influence been confined to Georgia, but has been felt for good in adjacent states. The manuals on Sheep-husbandry, the Hog, on Cattle, Farmers Scientific Manual, the Hand-book of Georgia, Manual of Georgia, the reports of the soil-tests of commercial fertilizers in the different sections of the State-the crop reports-indeed all of the publications issued by the department, have exerted a most salutary influence upon the productive industries of the State, by supplying a
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643
GEORGIA THE SECOND COTTON STATE.
vast amount of useful information to the tillers of the soil, which they have not failed to turn to practical account.
A few facts and figures in this connection will serve to illustrate some of the beneficial effects of the work of this Farmers' Department conducted by farmers in the interest of farmers. The production of oats in the State in 1870 was, according to the census, 1,904,601 bushels. The census of 1880 shows a production of 5,544,161 bushels, on 612,- 350 acres. This increase has been induced, in the main, through the agency of the publications of the Department, which informed the farmers in every section and county of the State as to the varieties which had given best results. The influence of the information in regard to the Rust Proof variety of Oats, published by the Depart- ment, has been most marked.
The influence of the Department in inculcating correct ideas in regard to the use of commercial fertilizers, has been decisive in the increase in cotton production. According to the census of 1870, the Cotton Crop of the State was 473,934 bales, while the census of 1880 shows a production of 814,398 bales, upon 2,617,138 acres, aggregat- ing 193,430 tons of lint cotton, and 386,859 tons of cotton seed. This increase in cotton production has not been accompanied by a reduction in grain. On the contrary, besides the increase in oats already mentioned, the last census shows that Georgia produced 5,544,013 more bushels of corn in 1879 than in 1869. The census reports of 1880 reveal the complimentary fact that Georgia stands the second State in the Union in the total production of cotton, a fact due to "better cultivation of the soil, the use of fertilizers and the thrift of an industrious popula- tion." It has been a remarkable fact in the cotton production of Georgia, that the use of the commercial fertilizer has made Northern Georgia a large cotton-producing section by hastening the seasons.
Georgia, in her versatility of climate and soil, is adapted for every variety of fruit, and is making rapid progress in fruit culture. The raising of early fruits and vegetables for the Northern and Western markets, is becoming a vast business. Judge Cunningham, of Atlanta, is the leader in the fruit industry. He has the largest orchard in the South, 60,000 trees covering nearly 600 acres. The first peaches bring thirty-five dollars a bushel in the New York market.
The range of production in Georgia is very wide and varied. Sea Island cotton, rice, sugar and tropical fruits, in the Southern part; cot- ton, corn, fruit and the cereals all over the State; and grasses and clovers in the middle and Northern parts, afford any kind of farming,
644
FERTILITY OF GEORGIA SOIL.
that any one can desire. The vast pine forests in the lower portion have supplied an immense and growing lumber and turpentine trade. The tea production has been proven a success, offering an illimitable source of wealth with the proper labor.
Some remarkable cases of productive fertility have been shown. Mr. R. H. Hardaway, in Thomas county, raised 117 bushels of corn to the acre; Mr. S. W. Leak, of Spalding county, has obtained 40} bushels of wheat on an acre; Mr. J. F. Madden, in the same county, raised 137 bushels of oats; Mr. T. C. Warthen, of Washing- ton county, five bales of cotton; Mr. J. R. Winters, of Cobb county, over three tons of clover hay; Dr. T. P. Janes, of Green county, five tons of clover hay; Mr. R. Peters, Jr., of Gordon county, nearly five tons of Lucerne hay; Dr. W. Moody, of Greene county, seven tons of Bermuda hay; Mr. John Dyer, of Bibb county, 398 bushels of sweet potatoes; Dr. J. S. Lavender, 1552 bushels of turnips in Pike county, on one acre. These are fine results, and show alike the fertility of the soil, and the excellence of the farming.
In stock raising, Georgia has the best capacities, and has achieved good results. The Jersey cattle are taking strong and general hold on our people. Col. Richard Peters, of Atlanta, has been the leader in the introduction of stock. He has experimented in every variety of thoroughbred cattle and hogs. He has tried Devon, Ayrshire, Brahma, Durham and Jersey cattle, settling down finally upon the Jersey breed, the Merino sheep and the Angora goats. Col. W. B. Cox has made a specialty of Jerseys, and also Mr. Rhode Hill, Judge John L. Hopkins, and Mr. J. B. Wade, and others.
The water powers of Georgia are almost innumerable, covering three- fourths of our counties. There are mineral springs of strong potency in 23 counties. The development of cotton manufactures is progress- ing with a giant stride. The manufacture of cotton where it is grown is an idea that is seizing the world, it has proven so profitable. In Augusta 170,000 spindles are running, and the profit for eleven years of one mill, has been 18 per cent. The Eagle and Phenix mills of Columbus, in 1870 used 1922 bales, and in 1880, 19,000, and have made 25 per cent. profit. The following figures taken from an article in the Savannah Nors will tell the tale of our manufactures:
"There are two classes of factories in our State-those exempt from taxation for a cer- tain period, and those which pay taxes annually to the Comptroller General. Through the courtesy of Robert U. Hardeman, Esq., the able chief of this department of the Comptroller's office, we have verified our figures, as far as such a thing was possible
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645
FACTORIES, FARMS AND FREE SCHOOLS.
Of the taxable factories, Bibb county has invested within her borders $77,500, Brooks $13,955, Clarke $260,000, Cobb $156,750, Coweta $7,500, Decatur $5,000, Early $6,500, Greene $52,000, Hancock $10,800, Harris $75,000, Hart $6,000, Houston $25,000, Muscogee $501,565, Newton 815,500, Pulaski $6,000, Richmond $546,000, Taylor $11,- 000, Troup $40,000, Upson $45,000, Waltou $56,000, Warren $30,000, making a total of $1,966,070. Of the non-taxable corporations Cobb county has invested $53,000, Chattooga $225,000, Coweta $75,000, Chatham $100,000, Cherokee $16,000, Bibb $70,000, Brooks $30,000, Bartow $49,000, Early $57,000, Fulton $286,000, Muscogee $500,000, Pickens $15,000, Richmond $1,700,000, making a total of $3,176,000, and a grand total of $5,142,070. This, however, does not include the splendid new cotton factories under con- struction at Augusta, in Richmond county, which, when fully completed and put in operation, will add over $2,000,000 to the foregoing grand total."
These are marvelous figures.
The policy of running small well-tilled farms in the place of the baro- nial plantations is becoming engrafted beneficially upon our husbandry. From 1868 to 1873 our small farms had increased 32,824, and now the enlargement will number 138,626, of which 76,451 are owned, and the balance rented. Only 3,491 are 1,000 acres and over; 7,017 of 500 acres to 1,000; 53,635 of 100 to 500; 26,059 of 50 to 100; 36,524 of 20 to 50; 8,694 of 10 to 20; 3,110 of 3 to 10; and 101 under 3 acres. Georgia has more farms than any Southern State. The colored people have become thrifty and own 680,000 acres of land. The farmers must gen- erally adopt the policy of raising provisions and making cotton a sur- plus crop, and then with the multiplication of manufacturers we shall see an era of prosperity that can not be measured.
In free education the State is marching apace with the age. Prof. J. G. Orr, the State School Commissioner, has done a noble work.
The attendance since the inauguration of the school system in 1871, exhibits the gratifying fact of a steady growth of the system in each year. In 1871, white pupils, 42,914; colored, 6,664; total, 49,578. In 1873, white, 63,922; colored, 19,755; total, 83,677; increase, 34,099. In 1874, white, 93,167; colored, 42,314; total, 135,541; increase, 51,864. In 1825, white, 105,990; colored, 50,358; total, 136,394; increase, 20,808. In 1876, white, 121,418; colored, 52,987; total, 179,405; increase, 23,011. In 1877, white, 128,296; colored, 62.330; total, 196,626; in- crease, 11,211. In 1878, white, 132,217; colored, 72,655; total, 209,812; increase, 19,246. The total number of children of school age is 433,444.
Cities and towns have local school laws, paying $200,000. With the State school fund the sum of $600,000 is paid for free schooling. The State gives an endowment of $10,000 to the State University at Athens, and $8,000 to the colored college at Atlanta. The State University and!
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646
CONDENSED STATEMENT OF GEORGIA ADVANTAGES.
its branches at Dahlonega, Milledgeville, Cuthbert, and Thomasville, educate free in the highest college curriculum over 2,000 pupils. We have flourishing denominational and private schools and colleges. Mr. Geo. I. Seney of New York, deserves a large share of State gratitude and appreciation for $100,000 donation to Emory College at Covington, and $70,000 to Wesleyan Female College at Macon. The State is espe- cially affluent in Female Colleges. Wesleyan, at Macon, is the first Female College that was established in the world. The Southern Masonic Female College at Covington, Catholic Pio Nono College at Macon, Rome Female College, Rome Cherokee Baptist Female College, Houston Female College at Perry, Martin Institute at Jefferson, Con- yers Female College, Collingsworth Institute, Levert Female College at Talbotton, Southern Female College at La Grange, West Point Female College, and two Female Colleges at Dalton, are among our prosperous seminaries of learning.
The following succinct and condensed statement of the advantages of Georgia was made by Hon. Joseph E. Brown, and gives an admirable recapitulation of our great State:
" The climate is genial and healthy, with every variety to suit the preferences of the immigrant, whatever may be his intended pursuit. If he desires to raise rice, sea island cotton and semi-tropical fruits, including the orange, and have fish in abundance, or desires to engage in the culture of early vegetables and fruits for Northern consumption, ne can find a suitable location upon her southern coasts or islands. If he desires to engage extensively in the lumber business, there is no better field open to him in the world. In connection with this, he can make turpentine and naval stores to any extent hat his capital and enterprise may justify. If he desires to raise cotton, and pro- luce the cereals necessary for his own use, there is no better field than Middle and Southern Georgia. If he desires to embark in sheep husbandry or the raising of cattle, he can do so with great success in all the wire grass section of the State, where they winter themselves upon the spontaneous productions of the earth. If he wishes to make sugar and syrup for his own use, and even for market, South Georgia affords him an ample field. If he wishes to cultivate clover and the other grasses, with corn, wheat, oats and cotton, the rich valleys of upper Georgia hold out a most inviting prospect. If he wishes to raise the apple and other fruits of the higher latitudes, the high table end mountain lands of North-eastern Georgia afford him an ample field with liberal remuneration. If he wants to engage in the culture of potatoes and vegetables in com- mon use, he can find a suitable location in almost any part of the State. If he wants a healthy retreat in the heat of summer he can find among the mountains of North-east Georgia localities where the buds scarcely begin to swell before the first days of June, and where he will need fire in his room every night in the year. If he wants to engage in the manufacture of cotton, water power of the best kind abounds without limit, and he will never be interrupted a day during the year by the streams being frozen over with ice, or if he prefers the use of steam power, he can have that in the upper part of the State, near the coal mines, as cheap as he can have it anywhere in the Union. And if
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647
THE INTERNATIONAL COTTON EXPOSITION.
his tastes or his training lead him into the business of merchandising, Atlanta, Savannah and other centers of the State extend to him an inviting field and a cordial invitation. In a word, we offer to the immigrant of every country and of every calling or pursuit a cordial welcome and an inviting field of operations, where industry, energy and economy soon lead not only to competency, but to the accumulation and possession of large wealth.
The year 1881 will be a memorable one in Georgia annals in marking the most momentous and far-reaching event of her extraordinary mate- rial progress. It has at one single step placed her indisputably among the foremost states of the Union and the leader of the South. It has strikingly worked out her "manifest destiny" of supremacy. The INTERNATIONAL COTTON EXPOSITION, the first WORLD'S FAIR in the South, was opened on the 5th day of October, 1881, with imposing ceremonies. In its significance and results it was a massive occurrence. An immense crowd witnessed the pageant. The Right Rev. Bishop Robert W. Elliott, son of Bishop Stephen Elliott, one of the most gifted and pious divines of Georgia, opened the ceremonies with a beautiful prayer. The Director-General, HI. I. Kimball, gave a brief history of the enterprise, and presented the Exposition to the public. Gov. A. H. Colquitt, the President of the Exposition, formally received the Exposition in a brief address of fervent eloquence. Succinctly alluding to the financial and material purposes of the project, he broad- cned its inspiration in these noble words, which evoked deafening applause:
" While material objects and results have been wisely considered in this exposition, for one, I feel sure that the noble and beneficent impulse of this enterprise is to draw the people of every section of this great country nearer and more firmly to- gether, and closer to each other's hearts. The idea that has run like a thread of light through every measure and labor of this enterprise is, that all sections or portions of this vast country are truly, essentially, virtually parts of it. You, gentlemen, propose to encircle in the warm embrace of your fraternal love our fellow-citizens of every state, and to unify the spirit of our common country. A sublimer work was never designed or attempted by mortal agency. * Let the good work prosper and go on. Let the ministering spirit of peace and good will, with strong pinion, take the sweep of this vast heritage of ours, and may every patriot feel that in the house of our Father, we cherish one heart, one hope, one destiny."
U. S. Senator, Z. B. Vance, of North Carolina, followed in an exquisite little speech. His tribute to Cotton was poetic. Designating it as the "infant heir of the blood royal to the empire of trade," he continued in these beautiful words:
" The merchant in the distant city listens for tidings of its coming up; the manufac- turer amid his brick walls and tall chimneys anxiously observes its bloom ; the restless
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U. S. SENATORS Z. B. VANCE AND D. W. VOORHEES.
speculator gazes upon its opening bolls ; the mariner, with his broad sails flapping idly against his masts, waits for its maturing -- and the poor everywhere pray for the gentle shower and the soft sunlight on which it feeds, and rejoice at its safe ingathering.
"Its growth is the idyllic poem of our people-its mature existence is a system of political economy. It is the source of the hoarse shout of the steam engine ; it is the melody of the soft song of the spindle and the loom; it is the fairy of the waterfall; it is warmth, it is comfort, it is beauty. It is the pride of our fields, the source of our wealth, the king of our commerce."
Mr. Vance gave this soulful Southern welcome, the characteristic out- flow of the sunny hospitality of our people:
" Farmers, merchants, manufacturers, miners, curriers, laboring men and men of letters, the great army of civilizers and supporters of progress and free government, the men of the press, strangers and lookers-on, countrymen and countrywomen, we welcome you all. To every one present, or to come, we extend a Southern welcome, warm as our sunshine, and bid him behold what can be done by a land whose fields were but yesterday ' kneaded into bloody sods by the maddening wheels of artillery,' whose beasts of burden were swept away by devastating armies, whose noblest sons were slaughtered in battle, whose homes were burned with fire, and whose governments have passed through an era of corruption worse than anarchy. We invite you with pride to witness these conclusive tests of the genial nature of our climate, the fertility of our soil, the energy of our people, the conservative vitality of our political institutions ; in short, we invite you to see that we have renewed our youth at the fountains of industry and found the hills of gold in the energies of an imperishable race.
"To every human soul from all the broad domains of Christendom, which may have one desire to promote the happiness and stimulate the progress of our race, which can add one voice in praise of the triumphs of peace, we say welcome, in God's name, to the hearts and homes of this Southern land."
The response to this was given by U. S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees, of Indiana, in a speech of eloquence and statesmanship, holding the immense gathering upon his stately utterances for one hour and a half. This address elaborately recounted the history and triumphs of Cotton. The whole speech was a great one. There were expressions in it of noble import, and a broad grasp of inspired prophecy. The paragraphs following deserve perpetuation :
" This is a world of compensations, and it seems to me that for the sorrows of the past we are now standing in the dawn of a better day than American history has ever known, and that the splendor of its unclouded sun will soon break over our heads. Sir, the South enters the arena to contend, for the first time, for the supremacy in all the industrial pursuits. She comes with the light of youth and hope in her face, her eyes no longer red with weeping, and every patriotic heart in the North salutes her here on these grounds with a fraternal embrace. This is a field of peaceful strife over which the angels in heaven have joy. The South and the North meet here with one language, one territory, one government, one allegiance, one flag and one heart for the prosperity of all. Those whom God hath thus joined together let no man seek to alienate or put asunder !
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SENATOR VOORHEES' GREAT SPEECHI.
"The relations which the southern states hear to the great questions of production and manufacture are of vital and overshadowing importance. Here stretches that mighty cotton belt which startled and revolutionized the trade of the world less than a century ago ; whose fields, with their tinted blossoms, are richer and more valuable to mankind than all the mines of gold and diamond fields of the earth. It was once thought that the cotton plantation was dependent upon a certain system of labor. The rapidly increasing production of cotton during the last fifteen years has, to the joy of the world, exploded that error. It is the creature of intelligent industry by whomso- ever bestowed. It invites the labor of every nativity and color, and remunerates them all.
" There is such a thing as fair play in the history of a people, and the time has now come for the south, in my opinion, to enjoy its fruits. There is a gigantic double profit within your reach if you will put forth your hands and take it. 'The profit of the pro- ducer you already have; the profit of the manufacturer-which enriches nations-is yours to command ; it awaits your call, and if I mistake not the meaning of this day, the call has been made. Be assured that it will be answered. It is my fond hope and belief that he who is living twenty-five years hence will behold the transfiguration of the south. New industries, incoming capital, and teeming populations are in store for her future. The cotton belt proper, extending from North Carolina to Texas, will be studded with gems more resplendent than ever shone on the belts or diadem of roy- alty. Along the banks of southern streams, inlets and bays, new cities and villages will arise, sending to all the markets of the world the manufactured productions of the neighboring plains.
" The Creator has here spread Ilis amplest bounties for the human race, and the south now for the first time, with the authority of circumstance and ceremony, invites the capital and labor of the world to assist in their development. Throughout all this vast extent of country, the capabilities of the south for cotton-raising and for manufacturing her own productions are practically without limit. There are young men and women now listening to me, who will as certainly behold a crop of twenty million bales in the future, as they have seen one of five millions in the past. And they will with the same certainty, behold the purchasers of the whole world coming here, not only for their supply of the raw material, but also for manufactured goods in such quantities as to rule all markets, foreign and domestic. Such is the great and puissant future which I foresee for the South, springing forward, as she now is, to grasp all the improvements, the inventions, and the progression of the present age, and all the benefits and blessings of her government.
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