USA > Kentucky > The history of Kentucky, from its earliest discovery and settlement, to the present date, V. 2 > Part 45
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To 1886 and 1887, the splendid coal fields, covering the region of over twenty counties in East Kentucky at the head waters of the Big Sandy, Licking, Kentucky and Cumberland rivers, had been but partially surveyed. An active corps was organized and placed in this field, under the able and trained leadership of Prof. A. R. Crandall, and with results far exceeding the most sanguine expectations. In the report of 1887, Prof. Procter says that in addition to the coals beneath the conglomerate sandstone, forming the base of the coal measure proper, we have above the conglomerate, north of Pine mountain, sixteen hundred feet of measures, containing nine beds of coal of workable thickness. Between the Pine and Cumberland mountains there is a greater thickness of the coal measures, containing twelve or more workable beds. In places two and sometimes three of the measures are cannel coals of remarkable richness and purity. The largest known area of rich cannel coals is found in Eastern Kentucky, and the largest known area of coking coal is found in the same section ; and this coking coal is more advantageously located with reference to cheap and high grade iron ores than any other known. Cannel coal lies in sixteen of
799
THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.
the counties of this region, some of which excels the most celebrated coals of this kind in Great Britain. The coking coal lies in thick beds over sixteen hundred square miles of territory, through Pike, Letcher, Harlan, Floyd, Knott, Perry, Leslie, and Bell counties.
Rich iron ores have long been known in quantities and of value in Bath county, in North-eastern Kentucky, and in the Red and Kentucky river valleys. The large deposits of Clinton ore, dyestone and red fossil along the eastern base of Cumberland and Stone mountains and duplicated on the slopes of Powell's mountain and Walden's ridge, and in the Oriskany ore beds of Pine mountain, were brought more prominently to the knowl- edge of the public. These, together with the rich and inexhaustible fields of iron deposits, fronting the border line of Kentucky for one hundred miles, in Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina, began to interest the attention of capitalists abroad. The proximity of all the materials necessary to the manufacture of iron and steel, in great abundance, presented oppor- tunities unsurpassed anywhere in the world. The vast forest of timber covering this hitherto inaccessible region adds to the attraction for enter- prise and development.
Large investments in mineral and timber lands, on the part of English and American capitalists, very soon followed the publication of these authentic reports of the geological survey by Professor Procter. The developments have been most marked in Bell county. Within two years the mountain village of Pineville has grown to the proportions of an infant city, and the city of Middlesborough, built up from the forest, to be peopled by thousands. The taxable wealth of Bell county has increased from one million to over seven million dollars. Railroads have penetrated this region and, tunneling the mountains, have opened to the commerce and traffic of the world the vast stores of natural wealth hitherto inacces- sible. These coking coal fields are supplying fuel for a number of furnaces for making iron, and large quantities are being carried to distant cities- even as far as St. Louis-for the gas supply of the same. * Already six large coke iron blast furnaces have been completed and two others com- menced in this vicinity, with a total capacity for an annual product of over three hundred thousand tons. This is but the beginning of the develop- ment for South-east Kentucky.
The improvement in the north-east, and within a radius of fifty miles around Ashland, has been almost as marked. Similar results appear in the region of the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, in a notable field of iron ores, of which Grand Rivers is the center. Not less rapidly have the coal mines interspersed over the eleven thousand square miles of coal area in East Kentucky and four thousand five hundred square miles in West Ken- tucky been opened up, and their products added to the commerce and wealth of the State.
*Geological Report, 1890-92.
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
The report shows that the survey has brought to knowledge the cxist- ence of extensive deposits of fire and pottery clays of great variety and excellence in the counties west of the Cumberland river and in other localities; lead ores and fluor-spar in Caldwell, Crittenden and Living- ston counties; asphalt rock, marls, cement rock, salt brine, natural gas and clays for making paving brick of great excellence and quantity in the district of Meade, Breck- inridge and Grayson coun- ties; petroleum in the Cum- berland counties, from Wayne to Barren; and building stone of great value in many local- ities.
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CHARLES J. NORWOOD.
Associated with the geo- logical and mining history of the State is the important department of Inspector of Mines and the duties assigned to the same. The growth of the mining interests made necessary the creation of this office in 1884. In May of that year, Mr. Charles J. Norwood was appointed In- spector of Mines by Governor Knott, and has continued to fill the office since.
The report of Inspector Norwood for 1891 is a reliable and interesting history of coal mining in Kentucky, now just emerging from its age of infancy. For the year ending June 30, 1890, the output of bituminous coal from the mines of Western Kentucky was 30,417,289 bushels; of South-eastern Kentucky, 17,443, 689 bushels; of North-eastern Kentucky, 10,435,071 bushels, making a total of 58,296.049. The total output of the same fields for the year ending June 30, 1891, was 67, 610, 660 bushels, an increase of 9,314,6tr bushels. From the table of product for the last twenty years the output for 1870 was but 4, 228, 000 bushels; for 1880, 23,657, 200 bushels, and for 1890 (to December 31st), 62,078,609. This increase was over five hundred per cent. during the first decade and over two hundred per cent. the second. Four thousand nine hundred and forty-one persons were employed under ground in these bituminous mines for the year ending June, IS91, in that time producing 67,610,660 bushels of coal, an average of 13,706 bushels to each miner. For the year 1890 there was produced, in addition to the above, 1, 244, 550 bushels of cannel coal and 517,750 bushels of coke from the new plants at St. Bernard and
801
GOVERNOR BUCKNER'S ADMINISTRATION.
Cumberland Valley Colliery Company. The bushel of eighty pounds and the ton of two thousand pounds are used in Kentucky.
Under the impetus given in part through the enterprise awakened and by improved revenue enactments, the taxable wealth of the State has in- creased in the decade from 1880 to 1890 over $209,000,000, or more than sixty per cent. This was $45,000,000 more than the increase in any other Southern State, and much more than double the average increase in all these.
During the adminis- tration of Governor Buckner, G. M. Adams was secretary of state, and C. Y. Wilson served as commissioner of agri- culture. Messrs. I. A. Spaulding, J. F. Hagar and W. B. Fleming were appointed railroad commissioners. James B. Beck having died in office at Washington, while United States sen- ator, May 3, 1890, on the 17th of the same month John G. Carlisle HENRY S. HALE. was elected to succeed him. W. S. Pryor, Joseph H. Lewis, W. H. Holt, and Caswell Bennett, of the Court of Appeals, and W. H. Yost, Joseph Barbour, and J. H. Brent, the latter recently appointed by the governor to the vacancy occasioned by the death of Van B. Young, of the Superior Court, constituted the last courts of the highest resort under the provisions of the old constitution. Fayette Hewitt, having resigned as auditor, Luke C. Norman was appointed in his stead and Henry F. Duncan named to succeed the latter as commissioner of the insurance bureau. Woodford Longmoor having died during his term of office, A. Addams was appointed to the vacancy created in the office of clerk of Court of Appeals. Sam Hill was made adjutant-general of the State under the administration of Governor Buckner, C. J. Norwood inspector of mines, and W. J. Macy inspector of public trusts. Mrs. Mary Brown Day was elected librarian by the Legislature in 1890, and again in 1892.
One of the most marked features of improvement during this administra- tive term was in the management of the Bureau of Agriculture, under the efficient and faithful direction of Commissioner Charles Y. Wilson. Through
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802
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
the judicious selection and distribution of seeds, the dissemination of infor- mation when needed and most appreciated, and the holding of Farmers' Institutes at convenient points in the State, a new impetus and life were given to agriculture and live stock interests, resulting in permanent improve- ment and progress in many localities. The intelligent skill and enterprise shown by Commissioner Wilson in his department were at once creditable to himself, and of inestimable value to the Com- monwealth. He has shown the possibilities of good through the agency of this bureau, for future time.
The General Assembly of 1889-90, in one of those pe- riodic affectations of economy for which there is no defense of rational plea, reduced the tax rate for general expenses from twenty to fifteen cents on the one hundred dollars of assessed property. The in- ED PORTER THOMPSON. evitable increase of expenses attendant on the Constitutional Convention, to convene in a few months, and the fact of an existing deficit of over two hundred thousand dollars in the treasury, had no effect to deter the body. By rare coincidence the sum of six hundred thousand dollars of direct tax money, expended by the State during the late war, was refunded by the Government in 1891. This was set apart by the Constitutional Convention for the benefit of the school fund, the State executing bond and paying the interest annually. The principal was put in the treasury for general State expenses. The relief from this source saved the Commonwealth from a serious embarrassment for a time ; but a result was that, in July, 1892, the treasurer announced an exhausted treasury.
Few, if any, States in the Union have provided so munificently for their unfortunate citizens as Kentucky in proportion to her taxable prop- erty. The official reports for 1889 show that in the three insane asylums, at Lexington, Anchorage and Hopkinsville, there were two thousand five hundred and sixty-three subjects of lunacy being cared for, and one hun- dred and eighty-five outside, at a cost to the treasury of $377,928.31. Of idiots not confined, and distributed throughout the counties, there were one thousand four hundred and eighteen, for the support of whom the
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803
CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.
State paid in that year $100,021.88. There were, beside these, one hun- dred and one inmates of the Blind Asylum, at a cost of $28,037.67 ; one hundred and sixty-eight in the Deaf and Dumb Institute, at $58, 152.23, and one hundred and forty-six in the Feeble Minded Institute, at $29, 170.69. Thus it appears that four thousand five hundred and eighty-one dependent citizens were beneficiaries of the char- ities of the Commonwealth at a total cost to the treasury of $593,310. 78, about one in every four hundred of the population. The cost per head of the insane in public 'charge is about $134; of the blind, $277 ; of the deaf and dumb, $346, and of the feeble minded, $200. These are the charges outside of the costs of the six handsome and com- modious buildings erected by the State on the sites selected for the several institutions. The total disbursements of revenue from the treasury for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1890, were $3,811,248.32 ; of this amount near $1,530,000 GOVERNOR JOHN YOUNG BROWN. was paid out for education in the schools of the State. Adding to the latter amount the sum expended for public charities, and together they make fifty-five per cent. of all the expenses of the Commonwealth.
It is to the credit of the management of the Feeble Minded Institute that the first successful efforts were here made to educate and train these unfortunates to labor and for self-help. Many have been thus returned to their families and homes capable of self-support. The successful work of Dr. Stewart, through years of experiment and patient training, has given the institution a reputation throughout this country and in Europe.
The Kentucky Institution for the Education of the Blind was estab- lished fifty-one years ago, the sixth of the kind in the United States. B. B. Huntoon has presided over its management as superintendent since 1871, and with eminent fitness and efficiency. For the year ending Octo- ber 30, 1891, the report shows that there were enrolled one hundred and twenty-one pupils in charge, twenty-five of whom were colored. Besides the main structure, there is a separate building for the colored and one for
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
the American Printing House for the Blind, with other necessary improve- ments, all erected at a cost of $110,000. In this printing house are pub- lished books and literature in raised letters for the blind in many States of the Union. Under the superintendence of men of ability and experience, the success of the Insti- tution for the Deaf and Dumb, at Danville, and of the several asylums for the insane have won for these a distinction not less marked than that of the two first- named institutions.
The State offices to be filled, by a vote of the people, at the elec- tion in August, 1891, and for the last time under the Constitution of 1850, were governor, lieutenant-governor, at torney-general, auditor, treasurer, register of the land office, superinten- JOHN W. HEADLEY. dent of public instruc- tion, and clerk of the Court of Appeals. For these offices were nominated respectively, by the Democratic party : John Young Brown, M. C. Alford, W. J. Hendrick, L. C. Norman, H. S. Hale, G. B. Swango, E. P. Thomp- son, and A. Addams. By the Republicars: A. T. Wood, H. E. Huston, T. J. Crawford, Charles Blanford, Eli Farmer, L. I. Dodge, and Robert Blain. By the Prohibitionists : Josiah Harris, H. M. Winslow, E. J. Polk, W. W. Goddard, J. M. Holmes, B. McGregor, A. B. Jones, and R. S. Friend ; and by the People's Party : S. B. Erwin, S. F. Smith, B. L. D. Guffy, W. G. Fulkerson, I. G. Sallee, M. Herreld, J. B. Secrist, and W. B. Ogden. The nominees of the Democratic party were elected by popular majorities ranging between twenty-five thousand and thirty thousand votes. The usual installation ceremonies were observed in September, after the election, at the Capitol. This administrative term will be remembered as one of the most important episodes of the history of the Commonwealth. The changes made by the new constitution imposed upon the Legislature the delicate and complex duties of altering and adjusting the statutory laws of the State to the new condition of affairs; upon the judiciary, that of construing the new constitution and laws, and upon the executive, the duties of first enforcement. The General Assembly which convened
805
THE STATE CENTENNIAL IN 1892.
on the last days of December, 1891, continued in session over seven months. On adjournment in August, it was reconvened ten days after, on call of the governor, and was in session several months.
To simplify and facilitate the work of legislation, and in accordance with the provisions of law, the gov- ernor appointed John Carroll, W. C. McChord, and James C. Sims, com- missioners to revise the statutes, and to prepare them in form for the action of the General Assembly.
On his accession to office, Governor Brown appointed John W. Headley, secretary of state, and Ed O. Leigh, assistant secretary; A. J. Gross, ad- jutant-general ; W. H. Gardner, in- spector of public offices; Nicholas McDowell, commissioner of agricul- ture, and C. C. McChord, Charles B. Poyntz, and Urey Woodson, railroad commissioners. Mrs. Mary Brown Day was re-elected librarian.
W. J. HENDRICK.
By a coincidence which happened with no other State in the Union, the centennial of the accession of Ken- tucky to Statehood as one of the United States, and the discovery of America by Columbus, occurred in the same year, 1892. February 4, 1791, Congress passed the final act of admission, to have effect June 1, 1792; and all the conditions having been complied with, Kentucky formally assumed her sovereignty as a member of the Federal Union on that day. On October 12, 1492, Columbus first sighted the land of America. Eight- een hundred and ninety-two is the first centennial of the birth of our Commonwealth, and the fourth centennial of the discovery. In commem- oration of the great event of discovery, the Columbian Exposition was projected on a scale of national magnificence and international magnitude, unequaled in the history of the world, and Chicago selected as the site. The Legislature of Kentucky appropriated one hundred thousand dollars from the public treasury, to have the State duly and appropriately repre- sented on the occasion. In accordance with a provision of the act of appropriation, Governor Brown appointed a commission of five citizens, composed of W. H. Dulaney, J. D. Clardy. John W. Yerkes, James D. Black, and Young E. Allison, for the disbursement of the money, and for the proper management of all interests and exhibits of the State during the season of the exposition. The body named appointed an auxiliary commission of three ladies, Mrs. Sue Phillips Brown and Misses Ida E. Symmes and Lucy Lee Hill, to have charge of such interests as more
806
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
especially applied to women. In 1891, President Harrison appointed James A. Mckenzie, John S. Morris, Wm. Lindsay, and John Bennett, from Kentucky, to represent the exposition at home and abroad in foreign countries from a national standpoint.
The history of this event of the Nineteenth century has entered so largely into the literature of the day as to have become familiar to every intelligent mind.
On the Ist day of June, 1892, the centennial of the Statehood of Kentucky, an audience assembled at Ma- cauley's Theater, in Louisville, in commemoration of the event. Col. R. T. Durrett, under the auspices, and as the president, of the Filson Historic Club. read an interesting address, graphically reviewing the his- tory of the discovery, settle- ment, and political events of the State, making a contribu- tion of value both to the literature and history of our Commonwealth. Major Henry L. C. NORMAN. T. Stanton followed with a stirring poem appropriate to the occasion, and in flowing and rhythmical verse recited again the story of adventure, of romance and heroism, stranger and not less fascinating than fiction. A banquet at the Galt House followed these literary exercises, in the evening of the same day, attended by the members of the Filson Club and their invited guests. The toasts and speeches around the dining-board were commemorative of the heroic men and women of Kentucky, and of their heroic deeds.
At Lexington, the first capital of the State, the ceremonies of celebra- tion were of wider range and more varied. The governor and staff, the State officials and members of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth, were present, by invitation, with a large attendance of visitors from far and near.
The donation by the citizens of Philadelphia of a group of historical works of art was one of the leading and interesting incidents of the day. The collection included four paintings in oil ; one, of Independence Hall, in which the Declaration of Independence was signed ; one, of the build- ing in which Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence ; two views of Carpenter's Hall, in which the Continental Congress first inet,
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THE STATE CENTENNIAL IN 1892.
September 5, 1774, and in which the act admitting Kentucky to the Union was passed. Accompanying the paintings was a portfolio elegantly bound in Russia leather. This contained a copy of the letter of Hon. J. E. Pey- ton, of Philadelphia, to Governor Brown; a copy of the presentation testi- monial of Carpenter's company ; a copy of the presentation testimonials of the citizens of Philadelphia ; a large photographic view of Bunker Hill monument; a similar view of Carpenter's Hall ; a scene of the opening of the first Colonial Congress, called " Duche's Prayer ; " a view of Independence Hall ; a view of Congress Hall, in which Kentucky was admitted into the Union; a view of the building in which Jefferson wrote the Declaration ; a view of the Moore House, on Tem- ple Farm, Yorktown, Virginia, in which the terms of surren- der by Cornwallis were drawn up; a view of the Yorktown monument; and last, a fine expansive view of the present PROFESSOR W. H. BARTHOLOMEW. Capitol at Washington. Twenty-two of the citizens of Philadelphia formed the committee of presentation of these beautiful and hallowed souvenirs of the historic past, under the lead of Hon. Jesse E. Peyton, a Kentuckian by birth and raising. Other representatives of the City of Brotherly Love with him were Hampton L. Carson, John Lucas, Francis M. Brock, John W. Woodside, Edward Shippen, James L. Pennypacker, and Granville Pat- ton. From Carpenter's company were S. R. Mariner, Stacy Reaves, Thomas H. Marshall, Charles McDevitt, Oliver Brandin, and Jacob Garber. From the Select Council were J. M. Adams, George Myers, A. D. Wilson, John H. Baizley, Henry Robertson, James Franklin, Daniel Watt, and William C. Haddock.
The distinguished guests were met with a generous welcome, and the hospitality of the State and her people extended in honor of their presence and mission. An address of welcome was made by J. H. Davidson, Mayor of Lexington, and responded to by Hons. Edward Shippen and Joseph M. Adams, of the committee. A brilliant oration by Hon. Hampton L. Car- son, of Philadelphia, was then delivered, and an original poem by John W. Woodside followed. The proceedings were happily closed with eloquent addresses by Governor Brown and Hon. W. C. P. Breckinridge, when the
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
assemblage was invited to Woodland Park, to partake of an old-fashioned Kentucky barbecue feast, after the custom handed down by our pioneer fathers.
Thus passed into history the memorial services of Kentucky's first cen- tennial, and the occasions of festivity that followed; when the thousands present adjourned to their homes, destined to never look upon the like again. On the Ist day of June, 1992, a few of their children, and many of their children's children, will assemble once more, with patriotic rever- ence and pride, to pay the tribute of respect to the memories of the historic dead, of the past and of the future, and to their great achievements, which shall add new luster and fame, with the old, to our Commonwealth.
809
EVENTS OF THE PERIOD FROM 1892 TO 1895.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
(1892-95.)
General unrest and discontent.
Parties and platforms. 1892.
Collapse of the speculative mania.
Mad folly of investing in " boom " properties.
Disastrous results to many worthy citizens.
The inevitable day of reckoning must come.
Ominous troubles from " strikes " and "riots."
The Agriculturists and the ' Peo- ple's Party."
Results of the November election, 1892.
The "Long Session " of the Legis- lature.
State revenues and finance.
Lottery charters revoked and forbid- den.
Resolution against Pinkerton de- tectives.
Resolution favoring the election of U. S. Senators by the people.
The " separate coach " law.
The Capitol to remain at Frank- fort.
Foreign companies must be incor- porated under Kentucky laws and be- come residents.
Property rights of husband and wife made equal.
Classifying the cities into six grades. Unwise legislation causes a deficit in the treasury.
Successful methods of the treasurer. Annual receipts and disbursements. Court of Appeals increased to seven members.
Common school law revised. The good and the evil of legislation.
Recent educational progress under good management. Needed reforms.
The great panic and its disasters, IS93.
Causes and remedies. Better out- look.
Radical changes in politics and parties.
In 1892 the tidal wave carries into power the Democracy; in 1894 the Republicans.
The tariff in 1892 ; silver coinage in 1894-95.
Repeal of the Sherman law.
A. P. A , or American Protective As- sociation.
Congressional elections, 1894.
Administration of Governor Brown. Kentucky under the panic.
The city of Louisville ; its phenom-
enal growth in the face of disasters and panic. Its attractions and future promise.
The period beginning with the autumn of 1892 and extending to the close of 1895 will be ever memorable in the history of our country for the radical and almost revolutionary changes which occurred in its political, financial, and industrial affairs. The presidential campaign for 1892 was inaugurated in the usual manner. The Republican National Convention, held at Minneapolis, June 7th, nominated Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana, for President, and Whitelaw Reid, of New York, for Vice-President of the United States. The platform declared the indorsement by the party of the policy of high protection as set forth in the recent law of Congress known
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