USA > Kentucky > Trigg County > Counties of Christian and Trigg, Kentucky : historical and biographical > Part 2
USA > Kentucky > Christian County > Counties of Christian and Trigg, Kentucky : historical and biographical > Part 2
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The importance of this subject, and our desire to impress its value upon the rising generation, must be our excuse for the space we devote to it in this work. A painful realization of the defects in the education of our young farmers and of their great losses, disappointments and even dis- asters in their pursuit of tilling the soil, that come of this neglect in their early education and training, prompts this forcing of a subject upon our readers, which at first glance they may consider dry or uninteresting. The most important subject to all mankind at this time is how to get for the young people the best education ; how to fit our youths for the life struggle that is before them. For 2,000 years, the schools have believed
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY.
that Latin and Greek were the highest type of information and knowledge, and next to these dead languages were metaphysical mathematics and theories of so-called philosophy. It is time these long drawn out mistakes were rectified, and the truths that are revealed in the investigation-the experimental facts of the natural laws that govern us-be made known and taught to those who will soon bear along the world's highway its splendid civilization. Here and there are to be found an intelligent machinist, or a farmer, who understand the simple scientific principles that govern their work or occupation. Thei. knowledge is power. In every turn of life they stand upon the vantage ground, and their lives are successful in the broad sense of the term. They understand the soil they till, or the implements of industry they are called upon to make or use. They know where ignorance guesses, doubts and fears, and by not know- ing, so often fails and falls by the wayside. The farmer will take his place among the earth's noblest and best, only when he forces his way there, by the superior intelligence, culture and elegance with which his mode of life is capable of surrounding itself. Understand your soil, your climate, and master the art of care and cultivation of those things for which it is best adapted, and at once your business will take rank with the most exalted of the professions.
The Cavernous Limestone .- Christian County lies in what is termed, geologically, the "Fifth Formation," and is underlaid mostly by the cavernous limestone. Prof. Peter, Chemist to the State Geological Survey, says: This formation is made up of alternating layers of white, gray, reddish, buff, and sometimes dark-gray colored rocks, varying in quality from the most argillaceous claystone to the purest limestone. Limestone predominates, however, which, in the southern part of the State, contains numerous caves, of which the celebrated Mammoth Cave, of Edmonson County, is one, and causing many "sinks," in which the drainage water of the county sinks to form underground streams. Clear and copious springs mark the junction of this limestone with the underlying knobstone; and its lower strata contain in many places the dark, flinty pebbles which furnished the material for the arrow heads, etc., of the aborigines. Some of its layers are so compact and close-textured as to be fit for the lithog- rapher; others are beautifully white, with an oolitic structure. In it are found valuable beds of iron ore, some zinc and lead ore, and large veins of fluor-spar. The so-called barrens of Kentucky are located on this forma- tion ; so called, not because the soil is not fertile, but because of the former absence of timber and the numerous sinks. This region, which, when Kentucky was first settled, was said to be an open prairie, is now covered with forests of trees, of medium growth, which have since sprung up. Its land is found to be quite productive.
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY.
This formation is geologically important, being the basis of the true coal measures-no workable beds of that mineral having ever been found below this formation in any part of the world. It surrounds the coal fields on all sides, and, like the other lower formations, is believed to extend continuously under them ; appearing always in its relative position, in the beds of streams or bottoms of valleys which are cut down sufficiently deeply in the coal measures. In Kentucky, its principal surface exposure is in the central portion of the State. The counties of Adair, Allen, Barren, Green, Warren, Logan, Simpson ; and much of Hart, Edmonson, Logan, Caldwell, Crittenden, Monroe, Butler, Grayson, Ohio, Taylor, Larue, Todd, Trigg and Christian are mainly based upon it. It comes to the Ohio River in Breckinridge and Meade counties in its lower sweep and in Greenup County in its upper ; skirting the western edges of our great Eastern coal field, around through Carter, Morgan and Rowan, Bath, Powell, Estill and Madison, Jackson, Laurel, Rockcastle, Pulaski, and down through Wayne, Clinton, and Monroe Counties to the Cumberland River.
Local Geology .*- Christian County is about equally divided between the sub-carboniferous limestone formation, which is the basis of the south- ern, and the carboniferous lime and sandstones, which are the base of the northern half of the county. The line of the demarkation between the two formations passes nearly centrally through the county from east to west, with occasional deflections to the right or left. The northern part of the county is hilly and broken, and abounds in the finest of timber, coal and iron ores. The southern part is level or gently rolling, with the frequent sinks or basins which distinguish the "barrens" of Southern Kentucky. Near the line of demarkation between the two geological formations, from east to west, is a continuous escarpment inclining north- ward or northwestwardly, showing most conclusively that in the early geological eras there must have been an up-throw or upheaval of the lithostrotion or sub-carboniferous limestone, or a down-throw of the coal formations, most probably the latter, since the strata of the cavernous limestones are nearly horizontal, while those of the coal measures are dis- jointed, and under different angles of inclination. Along this line of demarkation also are frequently found specimens of lead ore (sulphurets or galena) and fluor-spar, particularly in the counties of Caldwell, Liv- ingston and Crittenden, where the same disturbance exists as in Christian. In fact, this disturbance is found around the entire rim of the carbonifer- ous formation of the Western Kentucky coal field. On the road from Hopkinsville to Greenville, one and a half to two miles northeast of the former place, this down-throw is quite plainly visible just before reaching
*Compiled from the State Geological Survey.
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY.
the banks of Little River. The coal beds of North Christian are practi- cally inexhaustible, while the iron, either limonite, brown hematite or pot ores exist in large quantities. In the State cabinet is a sample of these ores from a tract of land of 2,600 acres belonging to Maj. John P. Campbell, which show over sixty per cent of metal. The ores are scat- tered all over this tract as well as over the adjacent country.
Coal .- The coal on McFarland's branch of Pond River, in the north- east part of the county, was a soft bituminous coal, of a pitch-black color, with some fibrous coal, exhibiting vegetable impressions between the layers. The coal near Pond River, also in the northeast part of the county, was a soft, friable coal, scarcely soiling the fingers; was of a dull pitch-black appearance, and quite free from pyrites and earthy impurities. Its com- position, dried at 212°, was-
Volatile combustible matters. 42.284
Carbon in the coke. 50.309
Ashes 7.407
100.000
Many of the banks opened in the county produce a coal of very supe- rior quality, and in places veins have been struck four and five feet thick, which demonstrates what we have already said, that the coal beds of the county are inexhaustible. The developments of the last few years prove this very conclusively. Our space will not admit of more extended descriptions of the mineral wealth of the county, and has been but briefly alluded to by way of a hint to the people, of the unexplored riches lying beneath them. Nature has hidden away in those barren hills wealth almost beyond computation, and far exceeding that which she has spread upon the surface. Time, money and labor are only needed to bring it to light.
Soils .- The soil in the northern part of the county is poor on the hills and ridges, often quite rocky, but exceedingly fertile in the bottoms. The hills are well adapted to the growth of a fine quality of tobacco and all kinds of fruit. Here orchards and vineyards never fail of a good crop. In the southern part of the county the lands are level and very rich, with a sub-soil of red or chocolate-colored clay, which itself con- tains all the elements of plant food needed by the prevailing crops of the country. It is on these cavernous limestone or " barren " lands that the far-famed " Hopkinsville Shipping Tobacco " is grown in such perfec- tion, making this section as noted for the production of "the weed " as Central Kentucky for the blooded horse. There are no minerals in this formation in the southern part of the county worth working.
The following analysis of soil from between the Quarles place and Oak Grove is given in the geological survey by Prof. Peter : One thou-
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY.
sand grains, treated with water containing carbonic acid, yielded 3.822 grains of solid extract, dried at 212º, which,- when treated with pure water, left of insoluble matter, which had been dissolved by the carbonic acid, 2.457 grains, of the following composition, viz. :
Silica .130
Carbonate of lime. .830
Carbonate of magnesia. .115
Carbonate of manganese. .642
Alumina, oxide of iron, and trace of phosphates.
Sulphate of lime, a trace. .740
The soluble matter dissolved by the water, weighed, when dried at 212º, 1.365 grains, out of which was burnt, with the smell of burnt horn, organic and volatile matters .960
The residue contained-
Carbonate of lime. .067
Carbonate of magnesia. .196
Potash .096
Soda .046
With traces of alumina and phosphates.
The Timber .- The northern part of the county is heavily timbered, and though much of it has been cut away, there still remains sufficient for all practical purposes. The timber of the barrens consists of red oak, hickory, white oak, and such other kinds of hard woods as have grown up since the fires have been kept off by the settlement of the white race. These barrens were originally devoid of timber, and when first seen by the whites, presented all the " barrenness," without the monotony-which is broken by their rolling surface-of the prairies of the West. Along the streams, even in the "barrens," grow forests of the very best quality of timber.
Dr. Owen, the State Geologist, related the following, which he learned in the northern part of the county, among the heavily timbered hills : "At Mr. Williams' I listened to one of the legends of the county, which appears to be fully accredited by the people. This story, as related to me, details with much apparent accuracy the direction, size and condi- tion of certain great lodes of lead, not yet worked in this part of the country ; also, of certain mines of silver said to exist near the margin of the coal field. The relator of this information informed me that nothing but his great age and ill-health prevented him from opening and operating the mines, whose existence he had communicated to me. Nothing, how- ever, that I was able to observe at these localities, would warrant me in giving any encouragement to these fancies, but rather to discourage any hope of these visions of wealth being realized. There may be all that the mineral witches declare there is, of lead and silver, but the miner -
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY.
alogical and geological signs do not accompany them here, as they do at localities where lead and silver are found elsewhere."
Streams .- The principal streams of the county are Little River, Pond River and Red River, the latter merely passing through the south- east corner, and a number of smaller streams. West Fork and Pond River, with their tributaries, flow north into Green River ; Little West Fork flows east and south into Red River ; Little River and its tributaries flow south and west into the Cumberland, and Treadwater and its branches flow west and northwest into the Ohio. Each of these streams affords fine sites for mills, furnaces and factories, and have since the first settle- ment of the country supplied the power to a number of grist and saw mills. They are all skirted with fine timber. In the southern part of the county are numerous and extensive caves, and many subterranean water-courses issue from them ; occasionally, in bold streams, sufficient to turn a large mill. Dr. Owen mentions the following in the Geological Survey, to which we shall refer more at length in a subsequent chapter. He says: "Near the Davis Station, by John Bell's, there are several ex- tensive caves, which have been excavated and weathered out of the cherty and earthy limestone of the sub-carboniferous group. In the early settle- m nt of the country, James Davis lived for some time in one of these caves, which has much the appearance of having been once the channel of a subterranean stream ; its entrance opens toward Cave Creek, which flows near by." This is but adding to the evidence we have, that in all the cavernous region of Kentucky subterranean streams flow, which, like Prentice's river in the Mammoth Cave, may have
"A hundred mighty cataracts thundering down, Toward earth's eternal center; but their sound Is not for ear of man."
Pilot Rock .- This is one of the natural curiosities common in Ken- tucky. It is about twelve miles from Hopkinsville, in a northeast direc- tion, on the line between Christian and Todd Counties. Collins thus describes it : "The rock rests upon elevated ground, and is about 200 feet in height. Its summit is level, and covers about half an acre of ground, which affords some small growth and wild shrubbery. This rock attracts great attention, and is visited by large numbers of persons and sight-seers, particularly in the summer months. Its elevated summit, which is reached without much difficulty, affords a fine view of the sur- rounding country for many miles, presenting a prospect at once pictur- esque, magnificent and beautiful." James Weir, in a novel entitled "Lonz Powers," written some years ago, makes the Pilot Rock the scene of a thrilling incident. He has the band of outlaws capture a pic-nic party of young girls of the surrounding neighborhood and from Hopkins-
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY.
ville, and carry them away to their cavernous retreat in the hills adjacent. The people, however, say that the incident is wholly fiction, and contains no word of truth.
A natural bridge is also described by Mr. Collins, in his History of Kentucky, as being in this county, some twenty miles from Hopkinsville, near " Harrison's tanyard." This bridge, he says, is somewhat similar, but on a reduced scale, to the celebrated rock bridge in Virginia, which has been considered one of the greatest natural curiosities in the world. Many people living in Christian County say they have never heard of any such natural structure in this part of the country ; but, notwithstanding their ignorance on the subject, there is such a natural curiosity in the ex- treme north part of the county, though, perhaps, less wonderful than Collins describes it.
Climatology .- A few statistics from the Weather Bureau may be of interest to the general reader. Mr. Collins says that there is one feature in our climate upon which the weather prophets all agree with great unanimity, and that is in describing it as "fickle." Everyone who has paid any attention to this subject, as well as the fraternity of "weather prophets," will subscribe to this fact. Those versed in the science of climatology attribute this changeableness in a great degree to the fact that most of the storms approach this section in the winter from the west ; and, as Kentucky is an inland district, swept over by winds ranging many hundred miles, its temperature is affected very considerably when the temper of those winds is intensely cold. Since the beginning of the present century, the mercury has twice been made to sink sixty degrees in twelve hours by these cold winds. The first of these was on the evening of February 6, 1807. Just after night- fall, rain set in, but it soon turned to snow; the wind blew a hurricane blast, and the next morning it was so intensely cold that it passed into history as " cold Friday." The mercury in the afternoon of December 31, 1863, stood at an average in Kentucky of about forty-five degrees above zero. A light rain fell in the afternoon, succeeded by snow and a strong wind, and on the morning of January 1, 1864, the mercury had fallen from forty-five degrees above zero to twenty below. There are sev- eral other periods in the history of Kentucky when the mercury stood as low as on " cold Friday." February 10, 1818, it registered twenty-two degrees below zero; February 14, 1823, twenty degrees below ; again in January, 1835; on January 19, 1852; on January 10, 1856, and on January 19, 1857. On the 3d and 4th days of January of the past winter (1884) it was intensely cold. In the office of the Signal Service at Louisville, the mercury went down a fraction over nineteen degrees below zero.
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY.
The coldest winter ever known in this latitude was that of 1779-80, and is known in the annals of Kentucky as the "cold winter." The ground was covered with ice and snow from November to March, without thaw, and many of the wild animals either starved or froze to death. The sufferings of the few pioneer families then in the wilderness of Ken- tucky were terrible, and they were often on the very verge of starvation.
The Mound-Builders .- The Anglo-Saxons were not the first people to occupy this country, neither were their precursors the red Indians. There are throughout a large portion of the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys, as well as other sections of the country, remains of a former race of in- habitants found, of whose origin and history we have no record, and who are only known to us by the relics discovered in the tumuli which they have left. The Mound-Builders were a numerous people, entirely distinct from the North American Indians. Their footprints may be traced wher- ever the Mississippi and its tributaries flow. Says a writer upon the sub- ject : "Traces of them are found in the fertile valleys of the West, and along the rich savannas of the South; upon the Ohio, the Kentucky, the Cumberland, the Licking, upon the streams of the far South, and as far north as the Genesee and the head waters of the Susquehanna ; but rare- ly upon mountainous or sterile tracts, and almost invariably upon the fer- tile margins of navigable streams." These ancient people were industri- ous and domestic in their habits, and enjoyed a wide range of communi- cation. From the same mound, antiquarian research has gathered the mica of the Alleghenies, obsidian from Mexico, native copper from the Northern Lakes, and shells from the Southern Gulf.
The most interesting fact, perhaps, connected with the Mound-Builders is that they had a written language. This has been proven by some in- scribed tablets found in the mounds, the most important of which belong to the Davenport Academy of Sciences. These tablets have attracted con- siderable attention from archaeologists, and it is thought they will some- time prove of great value as records of the people who wrote them. It is still by no means certain whether this written language was understood by the Mound-Builders, or whether it was confined to a few persons of high rank. In the mound where two of these tablets were discovered, the bones of a child were found, partially preserved by 'contact with a large number of copper beads, and as copper was a rare and precious metal with them, it would seem that the mound in question was used for burial of persons of high rank. The inscriptions have not been deciphered, for no key to them has yet been found ; we are totally ignorant of the deriva- tion of the language-of its affinities with other written languages.
Their Antiquity .- The Mound-Builders lived while the mammoth and mastodon were upon the earth, as is clearly proved by the carvings
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY.
upon their stone pipes, but our knowledge of them is very incomplete and mostly conjectural. It is sufficient, however, to show that at least a por- tion of this country was once inhabited by a people who have passed away without leaving so much as a tradition of their existence, and who are only known to us through the silent relics which have been buried for centuries in the mounds heaped above them. Thorough excavation, care- ful survey, accurate measurement, exact delineation and faithful descrip- tion may assist materially in the formation of sound and definite conclu- sions concerning these peculiar elevations. Were they sepulchres, tem- ples or fortresses ? Beneath this sloping area, the Mound-Builder migh: have buried his dead ; from it flung defiance to a foe ; upon it made sac- rifice to the gods. These conjectures suggest many knotty questions, questions that have never been satisfactorily answered, and perhaps never will be, but they form at least a sound basis for extended and systematic investigation .*
The number of mounds in Kentucky has never been accurately estimated. It has been suggested that these elevations of earth were natural formations-the results of diluvial action, "but the theory was scarcely reconcilable with the facts, and has long since passed into the limbo of exploded hypothesis." The form, position, structure and contents of the mounds afford convincing proof of their artificial origin. The Altar Mounds, which are supposed to have been places of sacrifice, are found either within, or near an enclosure, are stratified, and contain altars of stone or burned clay, whereas the mounds of sepulture or the burial places are isolated, unstratified and contain human remains. The Temple Mounds, which are "high places " for ceremonial worship, differ from the preceding in containing neither altars nor human remains. In addition to these there are certain anomalous mounds-mounds of observation, signal mounds, etc., which defy all precise or satisfactory classification. The Temple, or terraced, Mounds are said to be more numerous in Ken- tucky than in the States north of the Ohio River, a circumstance which implies an early origin and application of the familiar phrase 'sacred soil.' The striking resemblance which these Temple Mounds bear to the teocallis of Mexico has suggested the purposes to which they were devoted, and the name by which they are known. Some remarkable works of this class have been found in the counties of Adair, Trigg, Montgomery, Hick- man, McCracken, Whitley, Christian, Woodford, Greenup and Mason. t
Mounds in Kentucky .- One of the most perfect specimens of the Temple Mound, and one of the best preserved, even as late as 1820, was near Lovedale, in Woodford County. In shape it was an octagon, and measured 150 feet on each side. It was about six feet high, and had three
* Dr. Pickett.
+ Collins.
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY.
graded ascents, one at each of the northern angles, and one at the middle of the western side. Another very interesting mound of this character, and one that has excited a great deal of interest, is in Greenup County. It is described as " a circular work of exquisite symmetry and proportion, consisting of an embankment of earth 5 feet high by 30 feet base, with an interior ditch 25 feet across by 6 feet deep, enclosing an area of 90 feet in diameter, in the center of which rises a mound 8 feet high by 40 feet base ; a narrow gateway through the parapet and a causeway over the ditch lead to the enclosed mound." Near this mound is what appears to be the remains of a fortification, and is thus described by Prof. Pickett: "It forms part of a connected series of works, communicating by means of parallel embankments, and embracing the chief structural elements pe- culiar to this class of works. On a commanding river terrace stands one of the groups of this series-an exact rectangle, 800 feet square, with gateway, bastion, ditch and hollow-way, with outworks consisting of parallel walls leading to the northeast and the southwest, from opposite sides of the rectangular inclosure. The work has many of the salient features of an extensive fortification, and appears to have been designed for purposes of military defense ; and yet there is nothing to forbid the supposition that its sloping areas were also devoted to the imposing rites of a cere- monial worship." These works, described by Dr. Pickett, seem to be but a corresponding part of a similar group on the opposite side of the river at Portsmouth, Ohio. Whether these works were of a religious or military origin, the architectural skill of construction, the artistic symmetry of proportion, and the geometrical exactness of design certainly suggest the idea that the originators, or builders, were not un- acquainted with a standard of measurement and a means of determining angles.
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