USA > Kentucky > The Commercial history of the Southern States covering the post-bellum period Kentucky > Part 10
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18
COUNTY SEAT, GREENUP.
65
COMMERCIAL GROWTH
posed of clay soils. Nearly all of the county is underlaid with bituminous coal, and the well-known Falcon and Hawes coal is found in the western part of the county, and the famous cannel coal mines are situated in the eastern portion. Potters' and fire clay are also found un- derlying the coal and elsewhere in the county in great abundance. Some of the finest red sandstone in the world is found in this county. Graphite and other min- erals are known to exist. but have not been developed. Gas and oil are both known to abound in the county. but neither has yet been developed. The supply of timber is well-nigh exhausted, but there can yet be found nearly all the
varieties indigenous to this latitude, thongh in limited quantity.
The labor employed is mostly native white and colored hands, for which a good price is paid, averaging $18 per month.
Educational facilities are furnished alone by the common schools of the county, the school fund in some instances being supplemented by local taxation. The county has no bonded debt; the rate of taxation for county purposes is forty. three cents on the Soo.
Hawesville, the county seat of Hancock County, is situated in the northeastern part of the county, on the Ohio River and on the Louisville. Henderson & St. Louis Railroad, and is a flourishing town.
HARDIN COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 22, 837.
Situated in the Fourth Congressional. Third Appellate, Ninth Judicial, Twelfth Senatorial, and Thirty-first Legislative Districts.
Hardin County was named after John E. Hardin, and was created by act of the legislature in 1792 out of a part of Nelson County. Several other counties have since been formed out of a part of this territory. The first settlement was at Elizabethtown, the county seat. and was known originally as the Severn Valley Settlement.
The county has produced some of the leading men in the State, notably Gov. John L. Helm, Gov. John Young Brown, Gen. Ben Hardin Helm, who was killed at Chickamauga. It was also the birth- place of Abraham Lincoln, the old Lincoln homestead having been subse- quently included in what is now Larue County. Gov. John Ireland, of Texas, spent his youth in this county. President Jamies Buchanan and Judge Joe Holt lived in Elizabethtown at one time and prac- ticed law.
COUNTY SEAT, ELIZABETHTOWN.
The county in territory is one of the largest in the State.
The county is watered and drained by Salt River and Rolling Fork, with their numerous tributaries.
Much of the land in the county consists of rich bottoms. Most of this land has been cultivated with corn for a hundred years, and the yield is from sixty to one hundred bushels to the acre. South of the Rolling Fork valley is the range of Muldraugh Hills, extending entirely across the county from east to west. On the slopes of these hills is the finest fruit region in Kentucky. Peaches. apples, pears, and grapes grow there to the great- est perfection.
On the southern slope of Muldraugh Hill is Elizabethtown. the county seat of Hardin, 300 feet above Louisville. It has a population of over 3.000: has a fine system of water-works, electric lights, two telephone exchanges, and is in every respect an up-to-date town.
The cattle industry has grown wonder- fully in the county in the past two years.
67
STATE OF KENTUCKY
Nearly a half million dollars' worth of cattle were shipped out of the county in the past year. No county in the State is is better condition financially. It is on a cash basis, has $30,000 in the county
school fund, has spent in the past few years $100,000 in cash on its public roads, and owns 800 shares of Louisville & Nasliville stock. The county ranks first in the State in its public school interests.
HARLAN COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 9,378. COUNTY SEAT, HARLAN COURT HOUSE.
Situated in the Eleventh Congressional, Seventh Appellate. Twenty-sixth Judicial, Thirty-third Senatorial, and Ninety-third Legislative Districts.
Harlan County was formed out of parts of Knox and Floyd counties in 18 19. and is situated in the southeastern part of the State. It is the most rugged and moun- tainous of all our mountain counties. It was named in honor of Major Silas Har- lan, a young Virginian, a gallant and accomplished soldier in our Indian wars.
The Cumberland River runs westward and southward through the county, and with its various tributaries waters and drains the county. There are no naviga- ble streams in the county. though the Cumberland is used for rafting and flat- boating during the high-water season. The county has an abundance of oak, beech, and pine, which are most valuable hardwood timbers.
There are no turnpikes in Harlan County. There are no railroads in the county.
Though the surface of the county is very bold, rugged, and mountainous, the soil is very fertile and produces well. Corn, wheat, oats, and hay are produced in sufficient quantities for home con- sumption, but none for market else- where. The labor of the farin is per- formed by native whites. The people are industrious, honest people, and as the bloody feuds which at one time disturbed the peace of the county have been settled, the county is now as quiet and as peaceful as any in the State. The Presbyterians have estab. lished a church at Harlan Court House. and have erected a nice, substantial church building. The school facilities of the county are furnished by the common school system.
Harlan Court House, the county seat. is situated in the western part of the county, and is a thriving town with good churches, schools, business houses, and comfortable residences.
HARRISON COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 19, 838. COUNTY SEAT, CYNTHIANA.
Situated in the Ninth Congressional, Sixth Appellate, Eighteenth Judicial, Thirtieth Senatorial, and Seventy-sixth Legislative Districts.
Harrison County was formed in 1793 out of parts of Bourbon and Scott coun- ties, and named after Colonel Benjamin
Harrison, who was at the time a repre- sentative from Bourbon County in the Kentucky Legislature.
From the original territory of Harrison portions have been taken to help form Campbell, Pendleton, Boone, Robertson, Grant, Kenton, and Owen counties.
68
COMMERCIAL GROWTH
It is situated in the north middle section of the State, lying on both sides of South Licking River. The county is well watered and drained by Main Licking and South Licking rivers, and their numerous tribu- taries.
About one half of the county is gently undulating, rich, and very productive; the other portion, hilly, and also quite pro- ductive.
There are no longer any extensive tim- ber resources in this county. In recent years diversified farming has been made very profitable, both by private enterprise and co-operative capital. Corn, wheat, and tobacco are the principal products. The county has always been famous for the production of whisky.
There are no navigable streams in Harrison County, and none capable of being made so. The county has over 300 miles of free turnpike, and the fiscal court has recently let contracts for the construction of additional pikes. A bond issue of $50,000 has been voted for the purchase of all pikes in the county.
There are about twenty-five miles of completed railroad in the county, the Kentucky Central branch of the L. & N. running for the most part along the banks of South Licking, and the Cincinnati Southern through a small section of the western part of the county.
Most of the labor employed in the county is unskilled labor, farm hands
receiving an average of thirteen dollars per month.
Cynthiana, the county seat, was estab- lished December 10, 1793, and named in honor of Cynthia and Anna, two daugh- ters of the original proprietor, Robert Harrison. It is situated on both sides of South Licking River, thirty-three miles from Lexington and sixty-five from Cincinnati, being connected with both cities by railroad. Its present popula- tion is estimated at 4,000. Its busi- ness men are of the most substantial character and well known for enterprise and thrift. A Commercial Club has been organized to advance the interest of the city.
The Cynthiana High School was organ- ized thirty years ago and is a continu- ation of Harrison Academy, which was chartered in 1798 and opened in 1804. Several good private schools have always existed, making Cynthiana's educational facilities equal to those of any town in Kentucky. She was the pioneer in the establishment of a first-class
graded school. The public schools of the county are in fine condition. The State fund is supplemented in some districts by local taxation and subscription. The county has always aided liberally in public improve- ments, the bonded indebtedness being now $100,000, and the rate of tax- ation for county purposes fifty cents on the $100.
HART COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 18,390. COUNTY SEAT, MUNFORDSVILLE.
Situated in the Fourth Congressional, Third Appellate, Tenth Judicial, Thir- teenth Senatorial. and Thirty-third Legislative Districts.
Hart County is located in the western central portion of the State, its north- ern boundary line being only sixty miles south of Louisville, on the line of the
Louisville & Nashville Railroad. It was formed out of portions of Barren and Hardin counties, and established by an act of the General Assembly approved January 28, 1819. It was named in honor of one of Kentucky's inost dis- tinguished pioneers, Captain Nathaniel Hart.
69
STATE OF KENTUCKY
The topography of Hart is far from uniform, embracing considerable level land and much that is broken and undu- lating, interspersed with numerous hills and knobs.
The soils of the county, of which every class and variety may be found, are exceedingly fertile and productive, yield- ing abundant harvests of grains, grasses, fruits, and vegetables, and are unsur- passed for the production of fine tobacco. While much of the timber of the county has been cleared away, there is yet in some sections considerable timber. The growth consists of the different species of oak, ash, hickory, walnut. poplar, beech. and wild cherry.
Green River is the only river of any considerable size in the county. Nolynn River is the next in size, but neither of these is large enough to be available for navigation without the aid of locks and dams. These streams, with their numer- ous tributaries, furnish water and drainage
in all sections of the county. The Louisville & Nashville Railroad has over twenty-six miles of road in the county, running through the center from north to south. The county has about fifty miles of free turnpike road.
Excellent schools, colleges, and churches are located in all parts of the county.
For farm work, good reliable laborers are paid from $15 to SIS per month with- out board, and from $12 to $14 with board. For other classes of labor prices vary from $15 to $25 per month.
Munfordville, the county seat, is pleas- antly situated upon a high elevation overlooking Green River. It is seventy- two miles south of Louisville: has a population of 600, with three churches. two white and one colored, a good public school building, modern court house and public offices, a bank, weekly newspaper, and a good system of water-works. It is the principal shipping point for the section lying north of Green River.
HENDERSON COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 32,907. COUNTY SEAT, HENDERSON.
Situated in the Second Congressional, First Appellate, Fifth Judicial, Fifth Sen- atorial, and Thirteenth Legislative Dis- tricts.
Henderson County was formed ont of Christian County in 1798, was organ- ized June 4. 1799, and was named in honor of Judge Henderson, more com- monly known as Colonel Richard Hender- son. It is situated in the southwestern part of the State on the Ohio River. Green River runs along its eastern and northern border for a considerable length. Both streams are navigable for steamboats at all seasons of the year. The bottom lands along these rivers embrace many thousands of acres, the soil of which is extremely fertile, producing corn and tobacco and other crops in enormous
quantities. In the production of corn. wheat, and tobacco, Henderson County ranks among the foremost of the State. The soil is well adapted to the growth of all the cereals known to this latitude, the uplands comprising about three fourths of the area of the county. besides being well adapted to agriculture and fruit culture.
There is an abundance of timber, and while there is a very great variety, oak, ash, hickory, poplar. and gumi largely predominate. There is a great disposition of late to diversified farming, it proving much more profitable and safer to the ordinary farmer. This mode of farming. taken in connection with the milling and manufacturing industries, gives employ- ment the year round to all the laborers of the county at remunerative prices.
0
1
70
COMMERCIAL GROWTH
Farin labor commands from $12 to $15 per month, with board, the year round. The cropping system is very much in vogue.
The county has about thirty miles of free turnpike.
Henderson, the county seat. has a popu- lation of 15,000; excellent facilities for transportation by rail and water; an excel- lent system of public graded schools; ele- gant churches, of all denominations: beauti- ful residences; electric light, gas, and water-works; broad, well-made streets and sidewalks; twenty-two tobacco stemmeries, two cigar and two tobacco factories, two dis- tilleries, a brewery, box factory, ice and cold storage plant, three grain elevators,
woolen, flouring, and planing mills, furni- ture factory, foundry, hominy mill, har- ness and saddle factories, and a number ot other minor manufacturing concerns; five banks, a large number of elegant stores and business houses in all lines of trade; telephone exchange, three railroads, electric street railway, and numerous other advantages which can not be mentioned on account of limited space. It is sufficient to say, however, that Henderson is in every way a prosperous, up-to-date city.
The county has good schools and churches in every section, and several progressive. wide-awake small towns, doing a substantial business.
HENRY COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 14, 620. COUNTY SEAT, NEW CASTLE.
Situated in the Seventh Congressional, Fifth Appellate, Twelfth Judicial. Twenty- first Senatorial, and Fifty-fourth Legisla- tive Districts.
Henry County was formed in 1798 out of Shelby, and was named in honor of Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia.
The land is generally rolling, and along water-courses quite hilly. The eastern part, for more than twenty miles. lies along the Kentucky River.
The Little Kentucky runs through the western side of the county, and Dren. non's Creek runs through the central por- tion and empties into the Kentucky River near the famous Drennon Springs, which were at one time a noted health resort.
The character of the soil varies-some very rich and productive-producing in abundance all of the best products grown in the State. A large portion of the hill land is rich, and produces as fine quality of tobacco as is grown in the Burley dis- trict; none so inferior that it can not be made good pasture land. These lands are located along the .. fruit line," and produce as fine apples, peaches, and
pears as are to be found anywhere. The bottoms along the river have been grow. ing corn for 100 years, and are still very productive. Some splendid liomes are seen along these bottoms. At one time Henry County was one of the largest corn-producing counties in the State, and fattened thousands of hogs annually. Now, corn, wheat, and tobacco are exten- sively grown, tobacco the principal crop. Herds of cattle and sheep are increasing, and can be made profitable owing to abundance of pasture lands. Farm labor is paid from Și0 to $15 per month, with board.
The timber of the county consists of oak, walnut, hickory, beech, locust, and sugar-tree.
The Louisville & Nashville Short Line and the Louisville & Lexington railroads, together with the Kentucky River, furnish excellent transportation facilities through- out the county.
There are over 400 miles of roads, 220 of which are macadam. They are main- tained by taxation, toll system. and the common State laws for road-working
71
STATE OF KENTUCKY
under overseers. Many good schools and churches are located in different parts of the county.
New Castie, the county stat, is one among the oldest towns in the State. Some of the old landmarks remain, giving proof of age. New Castle has a fine
court house, beautiful residences, and a number of substantial business houses, doing a good business.
Eminence, Smithfield. Pleasureville, Pendleton, Sulphur, and Turner's Sta- tion are a few of the most important and thriving towns.
HICKMAN COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 11, 745. COUNTY SEAT, CLINTON.
Situated in the First Congressional, First Appellate, First Judicial. First Sen- atorial, and First Legislative Districts.
Hickman County, which formerly em- braced all of the territory of Ballard, Car- lisle, and Fulton counties, was organized by an act of the legislature in 1822, and was named in honor of Captain Paschall Hickman. of Virginia.
The general face of the county is undu- lating, broken at intervals by hills and valleys. The soil is very fertile. and pro- duces abundant crops of corn, wheat, to- bacco, and vegetables of all kinds, espe- cially potatoes.
Considerable timber of varieties usually grown is found in different parts of the county.
Clinton, the county seat. a progressive little city with a population of 2,000, off the Illinois Central Railroad. is in the cen- ter of the best farming section of the county, and has two excellent colleges, a $25,000 court house, a fine system of water-works, two churches, good common schools, a fine new flouring mill and eleva- tor, beautiful homes, and a number of progressive business houses and manufac- turing concerns.
Besides Clinton, there are several other good business and manufacturing towns in the county, among which are Columbus. Moscow, Oakton. Spring Hill. Beelertown, Croley, Cypress, Bugg, Halwell. Stubbs, and Fulgham. Good churches and schools are located in all parts of the county.
HOPKINS COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 30,995. COUNTY SEAT, MADISONVILLE.
Situated in the Second Congressional, First Appellate, Fourth Judicial, Sixth Senatorial, and Eleventh Legislative Dis- tricts.
Hopkins County was formed out of a part of Henderson County by an act of the legislature in 1806. and was named in honor of General Stephen Hopkins.
The surface of the county is in some places rough and hilly, but most of it
generally undulating. The soil is produc- tive, on which are grown tobacco, wheat, oats, rye, potatoes, sorghum. and all kinds of garden vegetables, Fruits, such as apples. peaches, pears. plums, grapes, all kinds of berries, etc., are produced in abundance.
Hopkins County is a fine agricultural district. Nearly everything that can be grown in the State of Kentucky can be
72
COMMERCIAL GROWTH
produced from its soil. Tobacco is the leading staple. There are less than a dozen counties in the world that produce more pounds of tobacco than Hopkins County.
Oak, walnut, ash, poplar, hickory, and many other kinds of timber that are valu- able abound in the forests along the streams. It is estimated that there are over one hundred different kinds of tim- ber growing in this county.
The coal fields of Hopkins County are almost inexhaustible. More than one fourth of the coal mined in the State of Kentucky is taken from the mines of this county. The St. Bernard Company, of which Mr. John B. Atkinson, a fine busi- ness man and successful financier. is the president, with headquarters at Earling- ton, has three large mines, one at Earl- ington, one at Morton's Gap, and one at St. Charles. There is the Hecla. near Earlington, the Ilsey mines, the Carbon- dale mines, the Stull mines, the mines at Barnsley, and two at Madisonville, the Rienecke and the Monarch. All these mines are in a prosperous condition. The
yearly output is more than 20,000,000 bushels.
The St. Bernard Company also operates extensive coke works at Earlington.
The county has sixty-four iniles of rail- road, operated by the Louisville & Nash- ville and the Illinois Central systems. There are no turnpikes in the county. There are in the county about one hundred and twenty public schools for white and colored pupils; these. in addition to sev- eral private schools at Madisonville, fur- nish excellent facilities for education.
The county owes but a small debt, and it will be but a few years until that is paid. The county tax is only 50 cents on the $1oo worth of property.
Madisonville, the county seat, is near the center of the county, in a fine agricul- tural district; a city of the fourth class, with a population of over 4, 000. It is on the Henderson Division of the L. & N. Railroad, fifty miles south of Evansville. Ind., and 107 miles north of Nashville, Tenn. It is one of the most progressive towns in this portion of the State. It has good churches and schools.
JACKSON COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 10,561. COUNTY SEAT, MCKEE.
Situated in the Eleventh Congressional, Fifth Appellate, Twenty-seventh Judicial, and Seventeenth Senatorial Districts.
Jackson County, named in honor of Andrew Jackson. seventh President of the United States, was formed April, 1858, out of parts of Clay, Laurel, Rockcastle. Madison, Estill, and Owsley counties, and lies in the southeast central part of the State.
The headwaters of the Kentucky and Cumberland rivers find their source in this county. The main water-courses of the county are: Terill's Creek, Moore's Creek. Pond Creek, Laurel Fork, Indian Creek, Horse Lick. South Fork, Middle Fork,
War Fork, and Cavenaugh Fork of Sta- tion Camp Creek. None of these streams are navigable.
The character of the soil is so varied that it is suited to most all crops, the principal ones of which are corn, wheat, oats, to- bacco. potatoes, fruits, etc.
The county at one time before settle- ment presented an unbroken forest of fine timber, fully 70 per cent of which still remains. The principal growth is white oak, poplar, and pine. Other kinds of timber are the various species of oak, pine, beech, linden, hickory. buckeye. cedar, maple, birch, sugar-tree, walnut, gum, chestnut, etc.
73
STATE OF KENTUCKY
No other county in the State has finer or better fields of mineral lands than Jack- son, comprising coal, which is as yet but little inmed, iron, copperas, santpetre, oil, building stones, clays, etc.
Jackson County has sixty-eight public schools, and can boast of the best school houses of any county in the State. The
county is well supplied with churches. McKee, the county seat, is a small town situated in the center of the county be- tween four hills on . Indian " Creek, about one mile above where tradition says the Boone and Calloway girls were rescued by their gallant lovers July 17, 1776, some- thing of which every one knows.
JEFFERSON COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 232, 549. COUNTY SEAT, LOUISVILLE.
Situated in the Fifth Congressional, Fourth Appellate, Thirteenth Judicial. Thirty-sixth, Thirty-seveutli. and Thirty- ciglith Senatorial, Forty-fourth. Forty- fifth, Forty-sixth, Forty-seventh. Forty- eighth, Forty-ninth, Fiftieth, and Fifty- first Legislative Districts.
Jefferson County, named in honor of Thomas Jefferson, then Governor of Vir- ginia, was established by the legislature of Virginia, May 1, 1780. It was one of three counties formed of the old County of Kentucky, which had, by a similar eliminating process, been made out of the then County of Fincastle, in 1776. Fincastle County disappeared when Kentucky County was carved out of it, and Kentucky County, in turn. passed out of existence when Jefferson and the other two counties, Lincoln and Fayette, were carved out of it. There were in the whole of old Kentucky County 26.408.320 acres, and of these Jefferson got abont 5,000,000, while Lincoln and Fayette secured the rest. Eighteen counties. having an aggregate territory of 3,717,018 acres, were carved out of Jefferson be- tweet 1784 and 1848. But besides these eighteen new counties there were twelve other counties partly made up from it.
The county of Jefferson, as it now stands, has 233. 206 acres. Except in the eastern and southern portions, where hills and knobs occur, its surface is generally level and well watered by Beargrass
Creek, Floyd's Fork, and Pond Creek. Besides Louisville, the chief city of tlie State, it contains some of the oldest vil- lages, such as Jeffersontown and Middle- town.
Jefferson County may be said to have begun its political existence on March 7. 1781, when its first county court was held in the old fort at the foot of Twelfth Street. There is no reliable record of the names of the justices who held this first court. but they are believed to have been William Pope, John Floyd, George Slaughter. Isaac Cox. and Andrew Hines. Richard Chenowith was sheriff.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.