USA > Kentucky > The Commercial history of the Southern States covering the post-bellum period Kentucky > Part 5
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ville & Tennessee has 2.25 miles. The Middlesboro Belt Railway Co. has 18.03 miles. The Knoxville. Cumberland Gap & Louisville Railroad has 3.50 miles in the county. The five railroads furnish ample transportation for the products of the county.
The agricultural products of the county are hardly sufficient for home consump- tion. Vegetables and fruits of all kinds can be had and are produced in abun- dance. Grains are grown successfully where interest is taken. Clover and orch - ard grass give better results than others.
Pineville, the county seat, is situated at the base of Pine Mountain. which, at this point, rises to a height of 2. 200 feet above the sea level. and 1,500 above Cumber- land Valley. Pineville is the central point of distribution for Southeastern Kentucky. and is the only water gap from Jellico to the " breaks of the Big Sandy."
Middlesboro University. a branch of the Richmond (Ky.) University, is located at Middlesboro, and its workings do credit and honor to its mother institution. Of the public schools in Bell County and the rapid strides they have made toward the front in the past two years too much can not be said. The teachers have a library of two hundred and forty volumes, eighty- nine of which constitute the prize given by the State to the county showing the larg- est per cent of its teachers enrolling in the State reading circle, completing the course and receiving certificates for the year 1895. Out of the fifty-two districts in the county, forty five have globes and maps and charts, and in most all the districts the " backless bench " has disappeared, and desks of the very latest patent have taken their place. No district has supple- mented the public money to extend the term of the school beyond the term of five months.
The bonded indebtedness of Bell County is $38,000; in 1894 this was $ .. The rate of taxation for county purposes is sixty cents per one hundred dollars.
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STATE OF KENTUCKY
BOONE COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSU'S 1900), 11, 170. COUNTY SEAT, BURLINGTON.
Situated in the Sixth Congressional, Sixth Appellate, Fifteenth Judicial, Twenty-third Senatorial, and Seventy- eighth Legislative Districts.
Boone County, the thirtieth formed in the State, was organized in 1798, and was formed out of part of Campbell County and named in honor of Daniel Boone. It is the most northern county in the State. The area of the county con- tains 152,869 acres. The principal water courses of the county are the Ohio River, which washes its northern and western border for forty-two miles, and Big Bone, Mud Lick, Gunpowder, Middle, Woolper and Ashby's Fork creeks. These creeks supply an abundance of stock water, but are not available for water power or navi- gation.
The soil of Boone County along the river bottoms is of almost inexhaustible fertility, and the hill lands are well adapted to the growth of all kinds of agricultural products that can be grown in this latitude. The crops now principally grown are corn, wheat, hay, and tobacco.
There is about ten per cent of the area of this county in timber land. in- cluding the varieties of oak, gum. poplar. hickory, ash. walnut, beech, sycamore, lynn, and water and hill maple. There are no bodies of timber land in this county for sale.
The noted Big Bone Springs, situated near a hamlet of the same name in the southern part of the county, was visited as early as 1773 by Captain Thomas Bullitt and the McAfee party. James Douglass, of this party, remained here for some time to explore these springs, examine and drink of their health-giving waters. The right kind of a hotel. under proper management, as· a summer resort, would beyond doubt be a money-making investment, for this place is of national
reputation. An electric railway from Cov- ington. a distance of twenty-two miles, to these springs has been projected, and doubtless will be built at no distant date. At one of these springs salt was manu- factured by the early settlers, and this was continued until a few years ago .. Anywhere here for acres around a well can be sunk and these same waters obtained.
The bones of the largest mastodon ever discovered in the world. of which history relates. were discovered here, and are now in a museum in London, England. Some idea of the immensity of size of these gigantic animals of tradition can be realized when one has seen a tusk over sixteen feet in length and fifteen inches in circumference, this being the size of one that was unearthed here just a few years ago.
Split Rock, located on the banks of the Ohio River, three and a quarter miles below Petersburg, and over a quarter of a inile above the mouth of Woolper Creek, is, in all the term implies, a natural curiosity.
Several very brilliant sapphires. almost equaling the diamond in hardness and brilliancy, have been picked up here. Pleasure seekers and tourists for many miles around visit this curiosity of nature every summer. In the immediate vicinity of Split Rock, and situated on Taylor's Creek, are several caves, one of which is an almost sqnare room. sixteen feet each way, in which a number of mummified pigmies of the human race have been found, some of which appear to be chil- dren but a few days old, petrified, retain- ing perfect form and features.
In the way of industries this county has a large distillery, cooper shop. flonring mill, saw and planing mill, steam and water grist mill, numerous tobacco ware-
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COMMERCIAL GROWTH
houses, and canning and preserving facto- ries that sell their products not only in this country but in Europe.
The Ohio River, which runs alinost two thirds the way around the county, and the Cincinnati. New Orleans & Texas Pacific and the Louisville & Nashville railways, which run through the eastern edges of the county for a distance of 9. 13 and 9.48 miles respectively, furnish the county with ample transportation facili- ties. No other roads are projected at this time.
The county has eighty-four and three- quarter miles of macadam roads, main- tained by the statutory charges of toll. The county has about 350 miles of dirt roads, which are maintained by a property tax of 10 cents on the Stoo worth of taxable property, and the working of these roads is supervised by overseers appointed by the county judge. The roads are fully up to the average for such roads through the State. However, we do not find that the management of the road system in this county deserves any words of praise.
With the exception of a few negroes, the labor of this county is performed by native white men. The average price per month for farm labor, with board, is about $12; withont board, about $ 17 per month.
The League Institute, of Verona, and the Walton Academy, of Walton, are both institutions of learning that are an honor and credit to the county. The common schools are managed by an efficient and worthy superintendent and capable teachers.
Burlington, the county seat, is situated near the center of the county, and eight miles from the nearest railroad station. Erlanger. The town has about 300 inhabitants, two general merchandise stores. one drug store, a bank, a good hotel, a printing office, which is owned and managed by W. L. Riddell. editor of the Boone County Recorder, one of the best papers in the State outside the city of Louisville; also four nice church build- ings. The town is laid off in a square. with a beantiful court honse in the center. The town is connected with the outside world by long-distance telephone.
BOURBON COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 18,069. COUNTY SEAT, PARIS.
Situated in the Seventh Congressional. Fifth Appellate, Fourteenth Judicial. Twenty-eighth Senatorial, and Seventy. fifth Legislative Districts.
Formed in 1775 from Fayette County, and named in honor of the famous Bonr- bon family of France. Bourbon County was one of the nine counties organized by the Virginia Legislature before Kentucky becaine a State. It is bounded on the north by Harrison, the east by Mont. gomery, the south by Fayette, and west by Scott, and is watered by Stoner, Hink- ston. Houston, and Boone creeks, and the south fork of the Licking River. Located in the heart of the bluegrass
region, the' gently undulating soil is won. derfully fertile, producing generous yields of wheat. corn, barley. oats, hemp. tobacco, etc. The virgin half of the soil produces about 150,000 bushels of blue- grass seed per year, and furnishes grazing for sheep giving an annual wool clip worth $15,000: for valuable horse, mule. and hog stock, and for $300,000 worth of fine export beef cattle every year. Scores of the best race horses the turf has ever known were bred in Bourbon County.
The soil furnishes an abundance of primitive limestone for building purposes. In the county are two undeveloped lead mines-one in Paris, and the other near
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STATE OF KENTUCKY
Millersburg. Near North Middletown is an oil well, bored during the Civil War. Oak, ash. hickory, elm, sugar tree. wild cherry. mulberry and box elder constitute liberal timber resources. The walnut timber is being rapidly cut away. The fruit crop averages probably $6,000 per year. None of the streams are navigable.
There are two hundred and seventy-six miles of excellent turnpikes and thirty- nine miles of dirt roads in the county- every mile being free. The pikes were freed without a lawless or violent act at an aggregate cost of $55.000. The thirty eight imles of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, comprising branches in four directions-to Lexington. Covington. Winchester and Maysville - and the Frankfort & Cincinnati Kentucky Mid- land) eleven miles, going to Georgetown and Frankfort, afford railroad competi- tion and give Bourbon excellent shipping facilities. It has been proposed to ex- tend the Frankfort & Cincinnati road to the mountains of Eastern Kentucky.
Bourbon has no natural curiosities save a few Indian mounds. and a buffalo trace on Cane Ridge, but in her soil reposes the remains of Edward Boone. the pioneer and Indian fighter and brother of Daniel Boone. Bones of mastodons have been found in excavations near Paris.
The average price of farm land in Bourbon is sixty dollars per acre. The farm hands employed are mostly colored,
the wages being from $15 to $18 per month. There are no foreign colonies in the county. There is an excellent opening for tobacco, hemp, broom-corn manufacturing interests, and fruit can- ning enterprises. The county furnishes an abundant supply of these products.
Paris, the county seat, is a beautiful and enterprising city of about 7,500 ill- habitants. The city is located on high ground, and Stoner and Houston creeks, which flow through the corporate limits, offer fine advantages and locations for factories. The city is healthy and is a delightful place of residence, having electric lights, water works, electric fire alarm system, competitive telegraph and telephone communication, ice factory, handsome business blocks and residences, well appointed stores, fine theater and school buildings, and nine churches. The people are progressive, intelligent. robust. and hospitable.
The Millersburg Female College. a flourishing institution, has recently been improved and refurnished. The public schools are in an admirable condition. The public fund is supplemented by local taxation in but three of the county dis- tricts. The county has no bonded debt. The rate of taxation is eighty-seven cents on the Stoo. fifty-seven and one half for revenue, nine and one half for general purposes and twenty-five cents for turn- pikes.
BOYD COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900). 18,834.
Situated in the Ninth Congressional, Seventh Appellate, Twentieth Judicial, Thirty-second Senatorial, and Ninety- eighth Legislative Districts.
Boyd County was taken from the coun- ties of Greennp. Carter, and Lawrence in 1860, and was organized as a county in that year. It is situated in the extreme northeastern part of the State.
COUNTY SEAT, CATLETTSBURG.
The county is drained by the Ohio. Big and Little Sandy and their tributaries. which also afford an abundant water snp- ply for the county. East Fork drains the more central and western portion of the county, while the Big Sandy and its tribu- taries drain the eastern portion.
The soil of Boyd County is particularly good along its rivers and creek bottoms.
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COMMERCIAL GROWTH
being for the most part a rich sandy loam. and produces well, the principal products of the Boyd Comtty farm being corn, wheat, oats, and some tobacco. The grasses usnally grown in Kentucky grow well in this county. There is an abun- dant supply of good timber yet in the county. embracing all the species and varieties found in any of the other coun- ties in Eastern Kentucky, and large tracts of the same can be purchased at reason- able prices. Diversified farming is not engaged in in this county further than to supply domestic demands. The mineral resources of this county are very great, being the attractive feature for humau effort here. The best of iron and coal are found in the county, and the same has been largely developed and a large and very desirable class of population has been attracted here thereby.
Boyd County has most excellent country roads, many of them being good turnpikes and are free of toll, but are maintained and kept up by the county. All of the public roads are kept in good condition. The Maysville & Big Sandy Railroad runs
through the eastern part of the State. and the Elizabethtown, Lexington & Bis Sandy roads run through the northern and western part of the county. These roads are operated by the Chesapeake & Ohio system, and together with the Ohio River bordering on the northern portion of the county, afford ample and convenient transportation for the connty, and also sufficient competition in that line. Farm labor is supplied mostly by native whites and can be employed at prices ranging from ten to twelve dollars per month and board. The educational facilities of the county are furnished princi- pally by the common schools, which are well attended and are under good management. Ashland. a considerable manufacturing city, is the principal town in the county. and has a population of nearly 5,000.
Catlettsburg, the county seat, is siti- ated at the junction of the Big Sandy and the Ohio rivers. It is a thriving town of over 2,000 population. It has good schools and churches, and its merchants are wide-awake and progressive business men.
BOYLE COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSU'S 1900), 13, 817. COUNTY SEAT, DANVILLE.
Situated in the Eighth Congressional, Fifth Appellate, Thirteenth Judicial, Eigh- teenth Senatorial, and Sixty-fiftli Legis- lative Districts.
Boyle County, the ninety-fourth in order of organization, was formed in IS42 out of parts of Mercer, Lincoln. and Casey counties, and is near, if not the geographi- cal center of the State. While it is one of the sinallest counties in area (having only a little over a hundred thousand acres of land), its assessed valuation of prop- erty listed for taxable purposes is more than seven million dollars. Its soil is rich, deep, and easily cultivated, adapted to wheat, corn, tobacco, hemp, oats, millet,
timothy, clover, orchard grass, bluegrass. and all other crops and grasses usually grown on bluegrass soil.
There is but little timber in the county except the poplar, ash, walnut, cherry, and locust scattered thirongh the woodland pastures of the farmns.
White and gray lintestone furnish an abundance for building and road purposes. In the southern part of the county, near Junction City, are Linnietta Springs, of wide renown as a health resort.
There are two lines of railroads, the Knoxville Division of the Louisville & Nashville running through the county from west to cast, and the Cincinnati, New
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STATE OF KENTUCKY
Orleans & Texas Pacific from north to south, crossing the L. & N. R. R. at Junc- tion City, in the southern part of the county.
The county owns about 100 miles of turnpikes and macadamized roads, all of which are maintained by taxation. There are no toll-gates in the county.
The county has a large negro population, from which a large proportion of the farm laborers are obtained. The average wages per month with board is about $15, and without board about $20.
The educational facilities of the county are all that could be desired. there being more than fifty public schools. academies. and colleges distributed all over the county.
Danville. the county seat. founded in 1782 by Walker Daniel. is one of the oldest towns in the State, and is to-day a thriving little city with about 6, 000 inhabi- tants, one railroad, churchies of all de-
nominations, three national banks, one tri- weekly newspaper. gas and water-works. ice factory, flouring mills, and a number of other flourishing mercantile and manu- facturing concerns. Danville is widely known as an educational center. having some of the oldest and best-equipped in- stitutions of learning in the South. Among them are the Kentucky Institute for the Deaf, established in 1823, Old Central College, recently consolidated with Central University at Richmond, Caldwell Female Institute. Hogsett Military Academy, an excellent City High School, and a number of other public and private schools for both white and colored pupils.
Perryville, situated in the western part of the county, is a wide-awake business- like little city with several hundred inhabi- tants. It was in and around this town that the battle of Perryville was fought in October, 1862.
BRACKEN COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSU'S 1900), 12, 137. COUNTY SEAT, BROOKVILLE.
Situated in the Ninth Congressional, Sixth Appellate, Nineteenth Judicial. Twenty-sixth Senatorial, and Eighty-fifth Legislative Districts.
Bracken County was formed out of parts of Campbell and Mason counties in 1796. It was named in honor of William Bracken, an early pioneer. and was the twenty-third county created in the State. The lands are mostly high and rolling and contain just enough limestone to make them fertile and especially adapted to the growth of tobacco, corn, wheat, oats, and hay, tobacco being the principal article of export. Bluegrass, with timothy and clo- ver, are abundant and grow to perfection. Also many varieties of fruits.
Such is the character of the soil that, when seemingly exhausted. it can in a few years be reclaimed by grassing.
The North Fork of the Licking River. Big Bracken, Locust, Turtle, Snag, Holts,
and Big Kinkaid creeks are the prin- cipal streams. furnishing, with the Ohio River, abundant water for man and beast.
All classes of timber usually grown in this section, especially hard wood, are found in this county.
There are 175 miles of turnpike free to the traveling public. All roads of any im- portance have been macadamized. There are twenty-nine and three fourth miles of completed railroad in the county. Nine- teen and three fourths miles of the C. & O. run through the Ohio valley, and ten Iniles of road have just been completed from Wellsburg to Brookville. It was built by the citizens of the county.
None but first-class farm hands are em- ployed, at from twelve to sixteen dollars per month.
There is one vegetable and fruit can- nery located at Augusta. There are three
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COMMERCIAL GROWTH
good banks and two live newspapers, which are well patronized.
There is an excellent opening for both tobacco and shoe factories at Augusta, a live town with an estimated population of 2,000, where a model school building, costing $20,000, has just been completed on the site of the .. Old Academy Build- ing," one of the first institutions of learning erected west of the Alleghany Mountains. There are also excellent openings for manu- facturing enterprises at Wellsburg. Both of these towns are well located and have ex- cellent shipping facilities by rail and water.
This county is noted for the growth of white Burley tobacco, especially the color,
texture, and fiber of the plant when cured, and is one of the foremost, and possibly leads, the counties in northern Kentucky engaged in this industry.
Brookville, the county seat, is situated near the center of the county, and is a thriving and prosperous town. Graded schools are maintained in Augusta. Brook- ville, Johnsville, and Germantown, with competent and well-paid instructors. In some instances the public funds are sup- plemented by local taxation. In every part of the county there are convenient schools, mills, churches, and almost every convenience or necessity of modern civili- zation.
BREATHITT COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 14,322. COUNTY SEAT, JACKSON.
Situated in the Tenth Congressional, Seventh Appellate, Twenty. third Judicial, Thirty-fourth Senatorial, and Ninety-sec- ond Legislative Districts.
Breathitt County was formed in 1839 from parts of Clay, Perry, and Estill coun- ties.
The surface of the county is mountain- ous and hilly, but the valleys are very fertile and productive. The North and Middle Forks of the Kentucky River flow through the county, and with all their various tributaries it is well watered and drained. The North Fork is navigable for small steamboats as far up as Jack- son, the county seat. during the rainy season, for about six months in the year.
Breathitt is famous for its coal fields. It has inexhaustible fields of the finest cannel and bituminous coals, the George's Branch, Wilson Wedge, Buckhorn. Flint Ridge, and Howards Fork fields. There is also an alınost inexhaustible bituminous coal field within the corporate limits of Jackson, the county seat, now being op- erated by the Jackson Coal Company.
The above are only a few of the vast coal fields in this county.
The county is covered with the finest oak, poplar, ash, cucumber, sugar-tree, beech, birch, and hickory timber. The poplar is being very rapidly worked out, but the rest of the timber is comparatively untouched, and almost inexhaustible in quantity, and can be bought for from four to six dollars per acre.
The county is being dotted over with inills used for the purpose of manufactur- ing lumber. This business is increasing almost daily.
The soil in Breathitt County produces fine vegetables, corn, oats, rye, wheat. tobacco, and the various grasses, also the finest apples are grown here. Corn and oats are the principal products now raised. There are two mineral springs on Cane Creek, about four miles west of Jackson, whose waters possess wonderful healing qualities.
There are sixty-seven public schools taught in the county. The S. P. Lee's Collegiate Institute, a branch of
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STATE OF KENTUCKY
Central University, Richmond, Ky., is located at Jackson and lias about two hundred pupils enrolled. This is a splendid educational institution, and has a
manual training, domestic science, and musical department, and offers all the advantages to be found at any prepara- tory school in the State.
1686694
BRECKINRIDGE COUNTY
POPULATION (CENSUS 1900), 20, 534.
Situated in the Fourth Congressional, Second Appellate, Ninth Judicial, Tenth Senatorial, and Twenty-eighth Legislative Districts.
Breckinridge County was formed in 1799. and lies in the northwestern part of the State, on the Oliio River.
Its principal water-courses are: Sinking Creek, Hardin's Creek. Clover Creek, Tar- fork Creek, Calamese Creek. Rough Creek, Bull Creek, and Town Creek. None of these streams are navigable, ex- cept for rafts at high tide.
The soil is very fertile and grows fine crops of tobacco, wheat, corn, vegetables, and fruits.
A great variety of timber, including all classes usually grown in this climate, is found in the county, which at one time was very heavily timbered.
An abundance of natural gas is found in certain localities.
The celebrated White Sulphur and Tar Springs, a noted health resort, is located four and one half miles south of Clover- port.
Numerous mills, factories, and dis- tilleries are located at different points throughout the county.
COUNTY SEAT, HARDINSBURG.
Cloverport, one of the most important towns, has three vitrified brick plants, shops of the L., H. & St. L. railroad, two mills, a number of good stores and busi- ness houses.
Hardinsburg, the county seat, is cent- rally located, is accessible by rail and turn- pike. It has a $40,000 court house, a $12,000 jail (stone cells), several very costly private residences, two good hotels, two large flouring mills, one stave factory, and the Bank of Hardinsburg, with a cap- ital of $25,000. There are about seventy miles of railroad in the county, operated by the L., H. & St. L. R'y Co., which runs through some of the best portions of the county and has been the means of large improvement and development : ten miles of macadamized road in the county. leading from Hardinsburg to Cloverport, and more being constructed on the public roads throughout the county.
The educational facilities are excellent. The Breckinridge Normal College, situated at Hardinsburg, is a first-class institution. Cloverport has another fine school and so has Glendean. There are good public schools taught in every district in the county for five months in each year.
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