USA > Kentucky > The Commercial history of the Southern States covering the post-bellum period Kentucky > Part 11
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There is a variety of soils in Jefferson County, some quite poor, and some as fine as can be found in the State. Almost all the land within six miles of Louisville is devoted to market-gardening, and Jefferson County likely produces more of what is known as second crop potatoes than are produced in any other section. Enormous quantities of main crop potatoes (or first crop), onion seed, onion sets, and onions are grown extensively throughout the county. The territory lying from eight to fourteen miles from the city is largely devoted to fruit-growing and truck-garden- ing. The small-fruit industry is very extensive, and no place in the world raises finer berries than those grown in the Mid- dletown, Jeffersontown, and Fern Creek region. Strawberries were grown at Fern Creek in 1899, and exhibited in Louis-
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ville, seven of which would fill a quart box. Farming proper is carried on quite extensively in a large portion of the county. Magniheent corn and wheat lands are found along Beargrass Creek. Pond Creek, Floyd's Fork, and other sec- tions, while in the southern part of the county more attention is paid to early corn and hay.
The people have splendid facilities for transportation of their products in every direction, as there are no less than ten great railroads centering in Louisville, the county seat of the county. There has also been built within the last year the Louisville, Anchorage & Pewee Valley Electric Railroad, and in addition to the railroads they have the Ohio River. There are a number of turnpikes in the county which have been built and operated as toll roads which are now free. The militia system of working of the county roads was abandoned years ago, and all roads are worked by taxation.
Timber is becoming very scarce, and remains only in most part on the rough and glady parts of the county. The timber growth of the county has been mainly oak, poplar, walnut, hickory, ash, elm. and beech. There are several excellent quarries of building stone. and quite a number of brick and tile works. Farm labor, botlı white and black, is largely employed, and wages average about $15
per month, with board, or $1 per day, without board.
In Jefferson County are numerous relics of the pioneer period. At Mulberry Hill, on the Poplar Level Road, stands the two- story double log house, built in 1874 by John Clark, the father of General George Rogers Clark, and at Locust Grove, on the Ohio, may be seen the old-style solid brick mansion house built by Colonel Wil- liam Croghan in 1709. In the family graveyard here the remains of General Clark reposed from 1818 to 1869. when they were re-interred in Cave Hill Ceme- tery. On Beargrass Creek are the sites of six original forts: Spring. Floyd's. Dutch, Sturgis. Sullivan's, and Linn's, which sheltered so many pioneers from the Indians, and where lie in unknown graves the remains of inen and women who helped to lay the foundation of the State of Kentucky. On the bank of Long Run. a branch of Ford's Fork, stood Hugh's Station, where the grandfather of Presi- dent Lincoln was killed in 1768, and on the same stream was routed the little army of Colonel Floyd, who went to the relief of Boone's Station in 1781. On Cheno- weth's Run yet stands the stone spring- house in which the survivors of the inas- sacre of the Chenoweth family took refuge in 1789. The ground itself of Jefferson County in many places is hallowed by recollections of the past.
JESSAMINE COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 11,925. COUNTY SEAT, NICHOLASVILLE.
Situated in the Eighth Congressional, Fifth Appellate, Twenty-fifth Judicial, Twenty-second Senatorial and Sixty-third Legislative Districts.
The act creating Jessamine County was passed in the Kentucky Legislature Feb. ruary 14, 1797, but took no effect until August, 1798. Previous to this it was a part of Fayette County. Col. John Price,
who had been the first to urge upon the people the necessity of forming a new county, was the first representative, and was repeatedly elected to that position, and was a delegate from Jessamine County to the convention that formed the second Constitution of Kentucky in 1799. To Col. Price belongs the honor of giving to Jessamine County her name, and the name
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was suggested to him by that flower grow- ing in such profusion in portions of the county. The story related by Collins in his history of Kentucky, and repeated since in other publications, that the county was named for Miss Jessamine Douglas. a young girl killed by the Indians in 1789, is a romance pure and simple.
The boundary of Jessamine, east, west, and southwest, on the Kentucky River, is very irregular, as the river has many bends of considerable length, making a boundary line of water ninety-two miles. Jessamine County has no navigable streams.
Hickman, Jessamine, and Marble creeks each afford water for propelling mills and factory machinery, and several large flour- ing mills are located on each. There are thirty-six miles of railroad. made up of sections of the Cincinnati Southern, run- ing across the conuty from north to south. and of the Louisville Southern, known as the Richmond, Nicholasville, Irvine & Beattyville Road, which crosses the county west to east.
Jessamine is decidedly a stock-raising county, combined with agriculture, which
constitutes a profitable adjunct to stock raising. Nicholasville, the county seat, is an enterprising, up-to-date town of 3,000 inhabitants, in the center of the county. It can be reached by six differ- ent pikes and two railroads, the Q. & C. and the Louisville & Atlantic. It has two lumber yards, a large saw mill, a first-class furniture store, two telephone exchanges, two newspapers and job offices. three banks, two tobacco factories, $20,000 hotel, two hemp factories, grain elevator, splendid graded school, Jessamine Female Institute, public library, and $30,000 be- queathed for a public library, which will insure one of the finest in the State: train- ing track, steam laundry, carriage factory, bakery, two clothing stores, three elegant dry goods stores. three shoe stores. a jeweler, gents' furnishing establishment, two hardware stores, about fifteen grocer- ies, four livery and feed stables. a flouring mill, three inillinery and notion stores, Noah's ark, three meat shops, a planing mill, three drug stores, water-works, well- paved streets, and a comicil that enforces good sanitary regulations.
JOHNSON COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 13,730. COUNTY SEAT, PAINTSVILLE.
Situated in the Tenth Congressional, Seventh Appellate, Twenty-fourth Judi- cial, Thirty-third Senatorial, and Ninety- sixtlı Legislative Districts.
Jolinson County is situated in Central Eastern Kentucky, and was formed in 1843 and named in honor of a distin- guished son of Kentucky, Colonel Richard M. Johnson. The county is well watered and well drained. The Big Sandy River flows through the eastern part of the county. Paint Creek flows in a south- eastern direction through the central part. Paint, Tom's and Jolin's creeks are the principal creeks, though there are numer- ous others.
The soil of Johnson County is probably as good, if not better. than that of any other county in Eastern Kentucky, and is very strong and productive. The bottom lands along the numerous streams are as fertile as can be found anywhere.
Corn, wheat, oats, hay, potatoes, tobac- co and sorghumn are all raised, but only in quantities sufficient for home consumption, excepting tobacco and sorghum, and es- pecially is the latter raised in large quan- tities for market. Fruits grow well in the county. The labor of the county is per- formed mostly by native whites, farin hands being paid from Sio to $15 per month and board, while hands for timber-
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ing receive from $18 to $20. Timber is the principal product of the county. Por- table saw mills are found all over the county in the great timber belts. Poplar, ash, hickory, beech, oak, pine, locust, chestnut, and sycamore can be found in large tracts and may be had at very reason- able prices.
The county is well underlaid with coal, both cannel and bituminous, and the supply is practically inexhaustible. Veins of bituminous coal eight feet in thickness are found.
A cannel coal mine is in operation about four miles south of Paintsville. Iron ore of a superior quality is also found in some portions of the county. The county is rich in mineral and tim- ber.
The Big Sandy River is navigable for steamers for about two thirds of the year.
There are no turnpike roads in the county. There are only about four miles of com- plete railroad in the county, which is an extension of the O. & B. S. Railroad to Myrtle, in Johnson, and is located in the eastern part of the county.
Good churches are found throughout the county everywhere, and the common schools are in good condition. All the districts have good and comfortable school houses.
Paintsville, the county seat, is situated on Paint Creek, just a little southeast of the center of the county. It is a flourish- ing town with enterprising merchants. good church buildings. and live congregations; has good graded schools and good, new school buildings, with ample accommoda- tions. Hotel accommodations are good, and the citizens are quiet and law- abiding, and hospitable to strangers.
KENTON COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 63,591.
Situated in the Sixth Congressional, Sixth Appellate, Sixteenth Judicial. Twenty-fourth Senatorial and Eightieth. Eighty-first, and Eighty-second Legislative Districts.
Kenton County was separated from Campbell in 1840. It lies in the extreme northern part of the State, at the mouth of the Licking River. It is a narrow county, being about six to twelve miles wide and about twenty-five miles long.
The county is noted for the grandeur and beauty of its natural scenery. The bluffs overlooking the Licking River pre- sent one of the finest views in the State, and the heights back of Covington look down on half a dozen cities. a number of towns, and five monster bridges spanning the Ohio and two over the Licking.
The fertile valleys of Kenton are market gardens for this population, and this in- dustry, together with the growing of small
COUNTY SEAT, INDEPENDENCE.
fruits and berries, gives employment to a large part of the population.
Wheat, corn, and tobacco are exten- sively grown on the highlands and rich hillsides. Butter and milk dairies are numbered by the hundred, and a large acreage of land is devoted to grass in order to supply this demand. All kinds of fruit grow well. Much attention is paid to growing strawberries, dewberries. raspberries, gooseberries, currants, and blackberries.
Kenton has no extensive timber tracts left.
The Ohio, skirting the northern bound- ary for six or eight miles, and the Lick- ing in fair water form all the navigable water-courses. Black Lick Creek is the principal affluent of the Licking. There are numerous other small streams that give an excellent natural water supply for stock.
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There are fifty-one miles of turnpike on which toll is taken at moderate rates, and one hundred and fifty-two miles of free turnpikes in the county.
The county has about fifty-three miles of complete railroad. The K. C. Railroad runs the full length of the county on the eastern border, and the Cincinnati South- ern on the western. The L. & N. Short Line runs through the county about twenty miles, from north-east to south- west.
Laborers on the farms receive an average price of $15 per month and board. The hands in the various factories, mills, etc .. receive the usual wages, vary- ing with the general laws of supply and demand.
Independence, a village of about 200 inhabitants, is the county seat. The city of Covington is the metropolis, and there
are virtually two seats of government. Double sessions of all the courts are held. All the business of the first district is transacted at Independence. There are two court houses and two clerk's offices. The rest of the business, that within the city corporation, is transacted at Coving- ton. The county judge, circuit clerk, and county clerk appoint a deputy who takes charge of the Independence clerk's office. There are also two jails, the deputy serv- ing at Independence.
The public schools in the county are in average condition, and the houses very good. Covington is noted for its excellent school system. Ludlow, Milldale. West Covington, Central Covington, and Erlanger have ten months graded school. Coving- ton and Ludlow support free high schools. Independence has five months' free school. with two teachers.
KNOTT COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSU'S 1900), 8, 704. COUNTY SEAT, HINDMAN.
Situated in the Tenth Congressional, Seventh Appellate. Twenty-fourth Judi- cial, Thirty-third Senatorial, and Ninety- seventh Legislative Districts.
Knott County lies in the extreme eastern part of the State. It was formed out of parts of Perry, Floyd. Letcher, and Breathitt counties in 1884, and named in honor of the Honorable J. Proctor Knott, who was at that time the Governor of the State.
The county is drained and watered by the Kentucky and Big Sandy rivers and their numerous tributaries. The char- acter of soil is rich sandy loam, and the bottom lands along the many streams which traverse the county are peculiarly productive, raising magnificent corn, oats, and vegetables. Wheat is grown on the uplands, and also fine pastures are pro- duced there. Minerals, iron and coal, also oil and gas are known to exist in the county.
The county has abundant forests of the
finest and most valuable hardwood timber. The splendid poplar timber has about all been bought up and now is in the hands of a timber company, but other good tim- bered land in great quantities can be bought at an average price of $5 per acre.
Diversified farming is not engaged in further than to meet domestic uses.
There are no railroads. turnpikes, or navigable streams in the county.
The character of labor employed in the county is mostly native white, farm hands getting $13.00 a month, and hands for timber from 75 cents to $1.00 per day.
There is one good college in the county, situated at Hindman, known as Hindman College; other educational facilities are af- forded solely through the common schools of the county.
Hindman, the county seat of Knott County, a nice little village, named after Lieutenant-governor James R. Hindman. is situated a little southwest of the center of the county. on Troublesome Creek.
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KNOX COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 17,372.
Situated in the Eleventh Congressional, Fifth Appellate, Twenty-seventh Judicial, Seventeenth Senatorial, and Sixty-ninth Legislative Districts.
Knox (named in honor of Major-general Henry Knox. of Revolutionary fame) became a county in 1799, being in that year carved out of Lincoln. one of the largest counties then composing the State of Kentucky.
The village of Flat Lick, in the south- eastern part of the county, is the oldest settlement in Kentucky. having been peopled by the first of the emigrants from Virginia, who came through Cumberland Gap : the first house ever built in Kentucky was erected by Dr. Walker within the present limits of Knox. on the Cumberland River, about three miles below Barbour- ville.
Knox lies on both sides of the divide separating the waters of the Kentucky River from those of the Cumberland, at least nine tenthis of the county lying on the latter waters. Cumberland River offers fine sport to fishermen at certain seasons of the year. The topography of almost the whole county is a series of mountain ridges winding in all sorts of fantastic curves, and separated by long, narrow, and winding creek valleys. More than three fourths of the territory is steep mountain sides thickly covered with forests.
The soil is disintegrated sandstone, except new ground, where the timber has lately been cleared away, which is loose,
COUNTY SEAT, BARBOURVILLE.
black soil, very productive. Agriculturally Knox produces enough to feed her own people, no more. Wool-growing is one of the principal sources of the farmer's income.
The forests have been stripped of the larger part of the more marketable timber, such as poplar and walnut, but a vast amount of timber is still left, such as oak in all varieties, hickory, beech, chestnut, ash, dogwood, sourwood, gum, maple. sugar·tree. elm, sycamore, lynn, ironwood, birch, cucumber, buckeye. service. willow, redbud, cedar. holly, etc. The chestnut oak furnishes the Knox county land owner with, perhaps, his principal source of revenue. Thousands of cords of this bark are annually shipped. But the great resources of Knox County are in her coal and oil fields, in which she may be fairly said to be unsurpassed by any county in the State. All grades of bituminous and cannel coals are found in this county in great profusion.
Knox was entirely without railroad facilities until 18SS. when the Cumberland Valley branch of the Louisville & Nash- ville Railroad was built through the county, and soon afterward completed through the famous Cumberland Gap to Norton, Va.
Barbourville. the county seat, is a beau- tiful mountain town, with good schools. churches, and residences, and wide-awake, progressive business houses in several branches of trade.
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STATE OF KENTUCKY
LARUE COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 10,764. COUNTY SEAT, HODGENVILLE.
Situated in the Fourth Congressional, Third Appellate, Tenth Judicial, Thir- teenth Senatorial, and Thirty-second Legislative Districts.
Larue County was formed from a portion of Hardin County by an act of the legislature in 1842. Larue County is below the average in size. but in point of fertility of soil, the enterprise of its citizens, and its educational progress, it is above the average of Kentucky counties.
The principal crops of Larue County are corn, wheat, hay, and tobacco. Three branches of Nolin Creek run through the connty, and the farms along these branches are fertile and produce abundantly. The remainder of the farm land is compara- tively thin, but with the use of fertilizers it produces wheat almost as well as the better land. The live stock raised con- sists of horses. cattle, hogs, mules, and sheep.
Larue County has two railroads - the Illinois Central, which has a branch road running from Cecilian Junction and termi -. nating at Hodgenville. The main stem of the Louisville & Nashville runs through the west end of the county, and the Knox- ville branch of the same road crosses the eastern border.
The Bardstown and Green River Turn- pike runs through the county from north to south, and a pike connects Hodgenville
and Buffalo, on both of which toll gates are yet maintained.
The factories of the county consist of distilleries of J. M. Atherton & Co., at Athertonville, which are now the property of the Kentucky Distilleries and Ware- house Company, and are the largest in the State, five or six other distilleries of smaller capacity. the Hodgenville Spoke and Lumber Company, and the planing iniils of Daugherty Bros., at Hodgenville.
Hodgeuville is the county seat. It is a town of 1.300 inhabitants, and is a clean. healthful, live country town, with increasing business. The other towns of the county are: Buffalo, Athertonville. Magnolia, Mt. Sherman, and Roanoke.
There are two splendid colleges in the county-Kenton College, at Hodgenville, and East Lynn College, at Buffalo, both of which are prosperous. Magnolia has a good high school. The district schools of the county are in good condition.
Farm lands in the county vary in price according to location and improvement.
Larue County contains the farm that is now noted as being the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. It is situated three miles south of Hodgenville. and is now the property of New York capitalists. The cabin in which Lincoln was born has been removed to Central Park, New York City.
LAUREL COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 17,592. COUNTY SEAT, LONDON.
Situated in the Eleventh Congressional, Fifth Appellate, Twenty-seventh Judicial, and Seventeenth Legislative Districts.
Laurel County is situated in the south- eastern part of the State, was formed in 1826, and was named after the Laurel
River, which flows through the southern portion of the county, the river having been given its name from the laurel shrub and evergreen which line the shores of that streani. The county is watered and drained by the Rockcastle River and its
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tributaries. The soil of Laurel County may be said in a general way to be neither good nor bad. It is excellent, much of it, for tobacco, and grows very well all such vegetables as are grown in the State, and produces good grass. The surface of the county is very broken and rolling. It con- tains possibly the best coal fields in Ken- tucky, and many mines are now in active operation within the borders of the county. Iron ore has been discovered but has not yet been developed. Diversified farming is engaged in by the Swiss colonies in this county to a considerable extent: grapes and fruits of all kinds are raised in great abundance. Fine cheese is made by them, and many minor manufacturing industries engaged in.
Good timber is still to be had in the county; about one fourth of the original area of woodland is still here. White and black oak, black pine, beech, chestnut, ash, and maple are still abundant. There are no water-courses in or bordering on the county that are navigable. There are no
turnpikes in the county. There are twenty- nine miles of railroad in the county, the Knoxville Branch of the Louisville & Nash- ville Railroad running entirely through the county nearly from north to south.
Nearly any or all of the streams of Laurel County can be easily used for the purpose of propelling machinery. No county has water power more available than this one. The labor on farms is mostly performed by native whites, and good hands can be had for Sro to $15 per month with board. There are four flour- ishing Swiss colonies in Laurel County- Bernstadt, East Bernstadt, Langnau, and Strasburg. The school facilities are fur- nished by the common schools of the county.
London, the county seat of Laurel County, is a flourishing little town. with enterprising business men, good hotels, schools, and churches, and is situated nearly in the exact center of the county. on the Knoxville Branch of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad.
LAWRENCE COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 19,612. COUNTY SEAT, LOUISA.
In the Ninth Congressional, Seventh Appellate, Twentieth Judicial, Thirty- second Senatorial, and Ninety-eighth Leg- islative Districts.
Lawrence County was formed in 1821 from the portions of Floyd and Greenup counties, the dividing lines of those coun- ties at the time being Main Street, of Louisa. It is located in the northeastern part of the State.
The county is well watered. The Big Sandy River flows along its eastern bound- ary from its northern limit to Louisa, where it forks. The river and its forks are navigable for steamboats for a large portion of the year.
The principal streams, flowing into the Big Sandy and its tributaries and through
and in the county, are Blaine, Bear, Rove, Rush, Two Mile, Lick Three Mile, Grif- fith's Contrary. George's, Nat's, Donothan. and Rock Castle creeks. None of them is navigable.
The surface of the county is largely hilly and broken, but not mountainous. There is, however, a large acreage of bot- tom land, owing to the numerous water- courses.
All kinds of crops that can be grown successfully in the Central States can be grown here, and with as good returns. The principal crops are corn, oats, wheat, hay, potatoes, sorghum, tobacco, apples, peaches, pears, plums, small fruits, cow peas, and tufa beans.
The adaptability of the land for grazing
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STATE OF KENTUCKY
purposes has stimulated the sowing of grass seed.
An abundance of good cannel and bitu- minons coal. some iron ore. and a fine quality of lubricating oil are found in the county.
The county has two railroads, which furnish transportation to almost every section. There are no turnpikes in the county. The labor of the county is mostly white, and receives $ 13 per month, with board.
There are no colleges or academies in the county, but there is a great interest
in the public schools, which are as good as any in the State outside of large cities. After the public schools close, subscription schools are opened in the thickly-settled districts.
Louisa, the county seat, situated on the eastern boundary of the State and on the Big Sandy River, at the confluence of the Levisa and Tug forks, is a thriving town of a little over 1, 000 inhabitants, with six churches, good graded schools for white and colored pupils, and a large num- ber of handsome residences and thriving business concerns.
LEE COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 7,988. COUNTY SEAT, BEATTYVILLE.
Situated in the Tenth Congressional, Seventh Appellate, Twenty-third Judicial, Twenty-ninth Senatorial, and Ninety-sec- ond Legislative Districts.
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