USA > Kentucky > The Commercial history of the Southern States covering the post-bellum period Kentucky > Part 16
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There is only one railroad in Simpson County-the Louisville & Nashville rail- road. Only one turnpike, known as the
L. & N. pike. Both of these run through the center of the county sixteen miles, as intimated, parallel with Drake's Creek.
Public schools are maintained by the State in all the school districts, mostly for six months in the year.
Franklin, the county seat, is six miles north of the Tennessee line, on the Louis- ville & Nashville Railroad. For its sani- tary and hygienic facilities, its location is unexcelled. The population of Franklin is three thousand.
SPENCER COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 7.406. COUNTY SEAT, TAYLORSVILLE.
Situated in the Eighth Congressional. Third Appellate, Twelfth Judicial, Four- teenth Senatorial, and Forty-first Legis- lative Districts.
The county was created in 1824 out of parts taken from Bullitt, Nelson, and Shelby counties, being the seventy- seventh county, and was so called in honor of Captain Spear Spencer, the gallant young Kentucky hero, who fell at the bat- tle of Tippecanoe, November 7. 1811.
The county affords variety in soil and location. The eastern end of the county is rolling or quite hilly. These hill lands are very fine for tobacco, and have placed Spencer County in the very forefront in the tobacco markets. For fruit they are also well adapted, the apple tree and grapevine being especially vigorous and productive. About thirty per cent of the timber remains. It consists chiefly of walnut, poplar, oak, and beech, with a good supply of maple, ash, elm, hickory, cherry, etc.
The school facilities and interest in educational matters are well up to the State standard, the whole county work- ing under the public school system for
five months, and most of the schools being continued for another five months by private subscription.
Spencer's exports are principally horses, mules, cattle, sheep, hogs, poultry, eggs, tobacco, wheat, corn, and fruit. The C. & O. railroad (northern division) runs across the center of the county from east to west, a distance of twelve miles.
The county has seventy miles of turn- pikes within its borders. but did not con- tribute to their construction and does not own any stock in them. County roads are plentiful and kept in fairly good condi- tion without taxation for that purpose.
Salt River runs through the central portion of the county from east to west, and is at times navigable for flatboats and rafts. Brasher's, Simpson. Big and Little Beech, and Plumb creeks are large streams, affording ample water supply and the finest water power available for running machinery, etc.
There has been very little immigration to the county until quite recently.
Taylorsville is the county seat, and has made notable progress in the last two years.
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TAYLOR COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 11, 075. COUNTY SEAT, CAMPBELLSVILLE.
Situated in the Fourth Congressional, Third Appellate, Eleventh Judicial. Fifteenth Senatorial, and Thirty-eighth Legislative Districts.
In the year 1848, Taylor County was formed out of the northern portion of Green County, and Campbellsville was made its county seat. It is located almost in the central part of the State, and is bounded on the north by Marion County, on the west by Larue County. on the south by Green County, and on the east by Casey and Adair counties. The central portion, which is in and around the county seat, is rolling. while the extreme eastern and western portions are very hilly. The county has an abun- dance of water, but no navigable streams. Green River and Robinson Creek run through the eastern part and Pitinan Creek and Brush Creek run through the western part, and all of them in a south- erly direction. The soil along these streams is very fertile and is especially adapted to raising corn, while in the central portion of the county the soil is not so strong, but is especially adapted to wheat. But very little tobacco, com- pared with other counties, is grown in Taylor County, because the land is so much better adapted to corn and wheat. There is no soil in the State more suitable for raising watermelons than on the waters of Robinson Creek. In the extreme west- ern portion of the county the soil is suited to sorghum.
There is a great deal of timber in
Taylor County, and it is now being hauled to the market in form of staves and lumber at a very rapid rate. There is some poplar and walnut, but the bulk of the timber is oak. There are a number of saw inills in the county and they are fast cutting out the timber.
One railroad. the C. & O. Division of the Louisville & Nashville, furnishes all the transportation facilities. The public road system of the county is now on a good basis, though it has only about fifty miles of macadamized road main- tained by toll gates, and the roads other than macadam are maintained mostly by appropriations. The labor of the county is mostly white, but there are some negroes. The average price per month for farm hands is $10 and board and $15 without board.
No county in the State has better educational facilities than Taylor County. There are fifty-two common (white) schools in the county, one college, one academy, and five or six private schools.
The county seat, Campbellsville, is the largest city in the county, being a city of the fifth class, and situated in the central portion of the county. It has five white churches : Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Christian, and Catholic. Three colored churches : Baptist, Metho- dist, and Presbyterian ; five schools, one cigar factory, two newspapers, and busi- ness houses that are not excelled by any city of the fifth class in the State.
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TODD COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 17,371. COUNTY SEAT, ELKTON.
Situated in the Third Congressional, Second Appellate, Seventh Judicial, Ninth Senatorial, and Nineteenth Legis- lative Districts.
Todd County lies along the Tennessee line, in the southern part of the State. It was formed in the year 1819, and taken from the counties of Logan and Christian, and named in honor of Colonel John Todd, who fell in the battle of the Lower Blue Licks in August, 1782.
The greatest portion of the surface of the county is level, the central or middle portion being broken and hilly. The county is well watered and drained. Clifty Creek and Pond River drain the northern section, and the tributaries of Red River and the Lower Cumberland drain the southern part of the county. The soil is strong and productive, especially in the northern and southern sections. The hilly land in the central portion of the county is not so fertile, but all of it produces good grass for pastures.
The staples of the Todd County farm are corn, wheat, hay, and tobacco, a surplus of all being raised. This county is noted for its fine tobacco, and for many years it was the leading staple of the farmı, and while large quantities are now being raised farmers are turning their attention to the raising of grain much more than formerly, and to the raising of stock-cattle, horses, sheep, mules, and hogs. Fertilizers are fast bringing out the thin sections of the county, and are
used more and more each year, with the best results. The labor of the farm is performed by native white and colored hands. and their services can be had for from $1o to $15 per month and board.
The timber supply of Todd is fast disappearing, only about one twelfth of the original forests remaining. Oak is found in larger tracts than other timber; there is also some poplar, beech, and walnut to be found. There are no navi- gable streams in the county.
There are about thirty-two miles of completed railroads in operation in the county. The Memphis branch of the L. & N. passes through the county and a branch runs from Guthrie to Elkton.
The county has fonr miles of free turn- pike road. The county roads are the common dirt roads, and they are kept in fair repair by the old system of overseers and warning-out hands.
The school facilities of the county are those furnished by the common school system. The schools are in a good condi- tion, well attended, and under good manage- ment. Each district has a good, comfort- able school house, and good teachers are provided.
Elkton, the county seat, is situated a little south of the center of the county. It is the terminus of the Elkton & Guthrie railroad, which connects it with the Memphis branch of the Louisville & Nashville road. It is a flourishing town with churches and good schools, business houses, and newspapers.
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TRIGG COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 14,073.
Situated in the First Congressional, First Appellate. Third Judicial, Third Senatorial, and Eighth Legislative Dis- tricts.
Trigg County is situated in south- western Kentucky, and was made a county in 1820. The county was named in honor of Colonel Stephen Trigg, a pioneer and Indian fighter of the earliest days of Kentucky. The county is drained by the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers and their tributaries. The Tennessee forms the western boundary of the county, and the Cumberland River flows through the entire county from north to south. The soil of the county is about equally divided between good and bad: about one half is first-class farmning land and the other half is valuable because of its deposits of iron ore. There is no finer farming land to be found anywhere than the rich river bottoms of this county, strong, fertile, and very productive.
The deposits of iron ore are well-nigh inexhaustible, and the quality is the very best. There is plenty of good timber, such as walnut, hickory, oak, cherry, poplar, and ash, to be had in the county. There is but little attention paid to diver- sified farming because of insufficient means of transporting such products to market. The Tennessee and Cumber- land rivers afford good facilities for water transportation.
COUNTY SEAT, CADIZ.
There are about thirty-five miles of turnpikes in the county, about twenty iniles free of tolls. The public roads other than turnpikes are the common dirt roads, kept up by the county under the general road laws of the State. There are only a few miles of railroads in this county, running across the northeast corner of the county. The products of the farms are corn, wheat, oats, hay, and tobacco. All the grasses grow well in this county, but clover is considered as the best adapted to the soil.
Labor on the farm is performed mostly by native white and colored hands, who can be employed for from Sio to $15 a month, with board furnished them. Good churches can be found in all parts of the county. The common schools are in a flourishing condition and under good management. Each district has a good school house, provided with all the modern appliances for teaching and under the control of competent teachers.
Cadiz, the county seat, is situated in the northeastern part of the county, on the northern bank of Little River, which is navigable for small vessels for about twenty miles. The city of Cadiz has recently completed a railroad from Cadiz to Gracey, which will add materially to the business of Trigg County. Cadiz is a pleasant little village with enterprising merchants, good churches, and schools.
TRIMBLE COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 7,272. COUNTY SEAT, BEDFORD.
Situated in the Sixth Congressional, Fifth Appellate. Twelfth Judicial, Twenty- first Senatorial, and Fifty-second Legis- lative Districts.
Trimble County. the eighity-sixth ill order of formation, was established in
1837 from parts of the counties of Galla - tin, Henry, and Oldham, and was named in honor of Judge Robert Trimble. When first formed the extreme north. eastern corner extended to the Big Ken- tucky River, but quite a large portion of
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STATE OF KENTUCKY
this section was cut off in the following year (1838) in the formation of Carroll County. The Ohio River forms the nurthem and western boundaries of the county, a distance of about twenty miles, and is the only navigable stream within or on the border of the county. The Little Kentucky River, Corn Creek, Bare- bone Creek, Middle Creek, Patton's Creek, and Spring Creek are the chief water- courses.
The land is either freestone or lime- stone land, the limestone portion being more productive than the freestone, the freestone, however, being better adapted to fruit growing. General farm products are raised, but the chief exports are tobacco, wheat, and corn, tobacco being the greatest source of income. Red clover and timothy in the meadows, white clover and bluegrass in the pasture lands are the principal grasses grown. Stock-
raising is engaged in to a considerable extent, and is a source of no little income to the county.
Probably ten per cent of the original timber growth remains. The principal species of timber available for lumber purposes are beecli, oak, poplar, walnut, ash, lynn, sugar-maple, and elm.
There are no educational institutions in the county other than the public schools, and usually a private school for the higher branches, at Bedford. These schools are in good condition, a marked progress having been made in the educa- tional line during the last ten years. A number of the districts supplement the public fund by subscription.
Bedford, situated near the center of the county, is the county seat. and owing to its central location is quite a business place for its size. It has a population of a little over three hundred.
UNION COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 21.326. COUNTY SEAT, MORGANFIELD.
Situated in the Second Congressional, First Appellate, Fifth Judicial. Fifth Senatorial, and Fourteenth Legislative Districts.
The county in its present shape. since a portion of Webster County was cut off, in 1860, from Half Moon Lick on Trade- water to White Lick on Highland Creek, contains about 210,000 acres.
Union County has forty-three miles of border on the Ohio River, which gives her great shipping advantages. She also has the Illinois Central Railroad running from Evansville, Indiana, to Hopkinsville. Kentucky, and it so runs through Union County that any one in the county is in twelve miles of the same.
The county is rich in mineral deposits. There are now two coal mines operated at Uniontown, two at Spring Grove, one at
DeKoven, and some four or five in and near Sturgis.
Lands in the county are mostly improved, and many of the farms are as good as can be found in any portion of the State. Nearly all the timber is gone; some oak, some poplar. and some cypress yet remain.
Morganfield has been the county seat since May, ISHI, when the county was established. It has something over 2,000 inhabitants, a good graded school, with over five hundred enrolled students. Also eight churches (five for white and three for colored members), two well-conducted banks, city water-works, and ice plant of large capacity, an electric light plant, two hotels, blacksmith shops and machine shops, and other manufacturing establish. ments of various kinds.
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WARREN COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 29,970.
Situated in the Third Congressional, Second Appellate, Eighth Judicial, Eleventh Senatorial, and Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Legislative Districts.
Warren County was formed from Logan County in 1796. It was the twenty-fourth county formed, and was named after General Joseph Warren, who fell at Bunker Hill. It lies in the southern part of the State.
The topography is gently undulating, the altitudes run from four hundred and thirty-two feet, the level of the rail at Bowling Green, to more than eight hun- dred feet on the top of Chester Capped Hills of north Warren.
It has two navigable streams, Green and Barren rivers, which communicate with the Ohio. In addition to these it is splendidly watered by Gasper River. Drake's Creek, Trammel, Indian and Bay's Fork creeks, and their numerous tributaries.
The soils are of many kinds, and vary from the inost fertile alluvial to the leaner sandstone soils. including the calcareous or limestone, which covers three fourths of the county. Corn, wheat, oats, rye, all the grasses, tobacco, together with all the vegetables and fruit common to this latitude, are grown here in abundance.
All the hardwood and other timbers, amounting to one hundred and fifty species, are found in the county.
COUNTY SEAT, BOWLING GREEN.
The minerals are coal, bituminous sand- stone or Kentucky asphalt, iron ore, and traces of lead. The Kentucky asphalt is being largely developed. Vitrified brick clays are found in great quantities.
There are eight hundred miles of public roads in the county. There are nearly one hundred and fifty miles of free mac- adamized roads running in every direction from the county seat.
Labor ranges from fifty cents a day for farm hands to $3.50 for skilled artisans, depending on the skill required. The farm labor is principally negro.
The educational facilities are equal to those of any part of the country. The common schools are the best to be found in the State, and are under the manage- ment of competent teachers. Each dis- trict has a comfortable school house, pro- vided with modern appliances for teaching.
Bowling Green, the county seat, has nearly 10,000 inhabitants, and is a thrifty, healthy, growing town.
Already in the immediate vicinity of the city are to be seen large patches of small fruits ready for the market and factory, while in the county more remote are most splendid orchards, capable of producing plenty of fruit to employ canneries. There are several progressive villages in the county; the most important are Smith's Grove, Woodburn, and Rich Pond.
WASHINGTON COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 14, 182. COUNTY SEAT, SPRINGFIELD.
Located in the Fourth Congressional, Third Appellate, Eleventh Judicial, Fifteenth Senatorial, and Forty-second Legislative Districts.
The county was the first of the nine counties organized when Kentucky was
admitted into the Federal Union as a State, 1792. Up to that time the county of Kentucky had been subdivided into seven counties of Virginia. Washington County was the first piece of territory named for the illustrious George Washing-
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ton. Its area is three hundred square miles ; population 14. 152. It covers a part of the Salt River plateau, and is mamed by Chapin hiver, the Little and Big Beech forks, Glen's Creek, Cart- right's Creek, and Hardin's Creek and their tributaries.
The surface of the county has a general dip from southeast to north and west, this determining the direc- tion of its streams: is beautifully undulating, in localities really pic-
turesque. In the native forests are embraced nearly all the species and vari- eties of the trees of Kentucky-poplars, oaks, ash, beech, wild cherry, walnuts, hickories, mnaples, mulberries. and black locusts. There are more than half a hundred indigenous species. some of them growing to a great altitude and size.
The rich alluvial surface soil. being continually supplied with lime by natural disintegration, has made Washington County very productive of all the ordinary
crops and grasses ; Indian corn, white Burley tobacco, wheat, rye, barley, oats, timothy, bluegrass, clover, and orchard grass are all produced in abundance.
Washington County has nearly three hundred miles of macadamized and graveled roads, all now free to the public travel. She has but eleven miles of rail- road. the Bardstown & Springfield branch, terminating at Springfield.
Her public buildings are good. The county is dotted over with comfortable and some of them beautiful country homes, surrounded by orchards and gar- dens. yielding the finest quality of fruits. berries, and all the garden vegetables peculiar to this climate.
Springfield, the county seat, has two banks and some as handsome and com- modious stores as are found in the interior. Her merchants are eminently reliable and enterprising. There are good stores in every voting precinct of the county.
WAYNE COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 14, 892 .. COUNTY SEAT, MONTICELLO.
Situated in the Eleventh Congressional. Third Appellate. Twenty-eighth Judicial, Sixteenth Senatorial, and Thirty-sixth Legislative Districts.
The county was formed in 1800 from the parts of Pulaski and Cumberland counties. It is situated in the southeast middle portion of the State, and is watered by the Cumberland River and tributaries. the south fork of the Cumberland passing entirely through the county. The Cumber- land River forms the most of the northern boundary.
Much of the surface of the county is broken with hills, but the valley lands, which are extensive, are fertile and productive, the soil very generally based upon limestone.
No county in the State has such a favorable distribution of mineral and farming lands. Stock raising is very popular among the farmers, and many thousands of hogs, cattle, sheep, and mules are annually marketed.
The coal fields cover about one half of the county. Beside the five sub-conglom- erate coal veins, the large beds of the upper coal measures show themselves in the southeast corner of the county.
Sandstone, ripple-marked and fine- grained, in eight-inch layers, and quarry- ing in ten-foot slabs, admirably adapted for building purposes, is found west of Dick's Jumps in a ridge of Turkey Creek. Iron ore is found all over the coal region, in some places strewn over the tops of the
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COMMERCIAL GROWTH
ridges, in others in belts near the coal beds.
A fine quality of lubricating oil has been found in large quantities, and there are now in the county a great many producing wells.
Throughout the eastern portion of the county much fine poplar and oak timber is found.
Monticello, the county seat, is a beauti- ful village, situated at the junction of two extensive and fertile valleys in the north - central part of the county. This town is developing a rapid and healthy growth. It is connected with surrounding towns by telephone and the Cincinnati Southern Railroad, and a splendid pike connects it with Burnside, twenty miles away.
WEBSTER COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 20,097. COUNTY SEAT, DIXON.
Situated in the Second Congressional. First Appellate, Fifth Judicial. Fourth Senatorial, and Twelfth Legislative Dis- tricts.
The county is situated in the western part of the State. and was formed in 1860 of portions of Hopkins. Henderson, and Union counties, and contains about four hundred square miles.
The central portion of the county is moderately broken, but the greater part of the northern and southern portion is comparatively level.
Green River, which bounds the north- ern portion of the county for a distance of twelve miles, is a navigable stream, and considerable business is carried on by its means.
Tradewater River, which forms the southwestern boundary of the county for a distance of twelve miles, is navigable for small steamers during a portion of the year.
The soil of Webster County is generally very fertile and adapted to corn, wheat, tobacco, etc., especially the latter, great quantities of which are put as strips and shipped to foreign markets.
There are vast quantities of excellent timber in this county, consisting of white oak, black oak, poplar. and sweet gum.
While there are large quantities of building stone in the county, the principal mineral deposit is coal.
The Louisville & Nashville Railroad traverses the eastern portion of the county for a distance of twelve or thirteen iniles. There is also a branch of the same road running from Madisonville, Hopkins County, to Providence, this county. and a branch of the Illinois Central runs from Blackford, on Tradewater, to Dixon, the county seat, a distance of eighteen ıniles.
In addition to the public common schools of the county there are several graded schools at various points, viz. : One at Providence, Dixon, Sebree, Slaughtersville, and Claysville, all of which have a large attendance.
Dixon, the county seat, is pleasantly situated on a moderately elevated plateau in the central portion of the county, and in addition to the public buildings has a large flouring mill, four dry goods stores. and other business houses.
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STATE OF KENTUCKY
WHITLEY COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 25,015. COUNTY SEAT, WILLIAMSBURG.
Situated in the Eleventh Congressional, Third Appellate, Twenty-eighth Judicial, Seventeenth Senatorial, and Sixty-ninth Legislative Districts.
The General Assembly, in an act approved February 16, 1818, created the county of Whitley, which was then a part of Knox. Whitley County was the fifty- ninth county formed in the State. Wil- liamsburg, the county seat, and the county itself, were named in honor of Colonel William Whitley.
The surface is mountainous, the alti- tude being in the neighborhood of a thousand feet above the sea level. The principal mountains are Jellico Mountain, Heckler's Knob, Pine Mountain, and Patterson and Poplar Creek mountains. The county is well watered by the Cumberland and its tributaries.
There are about sixty miles of com- pleted railway in Whitley. The Louis- ville & Nashville runs from north to south through the entire length of the county, while the Cumberland Valley branch passes through the northeast corner. The C., N. O. & T. P. passes through the west end of the county for a distance of ten miles. The Jellico, Birdeye &
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