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KENTUCKY,
a South Central State of the United States of America, situated
between
36°
30' and 39° 6' N., and 82° and 89° 38' W. It is bounded N., N.W., and
N.E. by
Illinois,
Indiana and Ohio; E. by the Big Sandy river and its E. fork, the Tug,
which
separates
it from West Virginia, and by Virginia; S.E. and S. by Virginia
and
Tennessee;
and W. by the Mississippi river, which separates it from Missouri.
It
has an area of 4.0,598 sq. m.; of this, 417 sq. m., including the entire
breadth
of
the Ohio river, over which it has jurisdiction, are water surface.
Hypsography.-^From
mountain heights along its eastern border :he surface of
Kentucky
is a north-western slope across two much dissected plateaus to a
gracefully
undulating lowland in the north central part and a longer western s
lope
across the same plateaus to a lower and more level lowland at the
western
extremity.
The narrow mountain belt is part of the western edge of the
Appalachian
Mountain
Province in which parallel ridges of folded mountains, the
Cumberland
and
the Pine, have crests 2000-3000 ft. high, and the Big Black Mountain
rises
to
4000 ft. The highest point in the state is The Double on the Virginia
state line,
in
the eastern part of Harlan county with an altitude of over 4100 ft. The
entire
eastern
quarter of the state, coterminous with the Eastern Kentucky coal-field,
is
commonly
known as the region of the " mountains," but with the
exception of the
narrow
area just described it properly belongs to the Allegheny Plateau
Province.
This
plateau belt is exceedingly rugged with sharp ridges alternating with
narrow
valleys
which have steep sides but are seldom more than 1500 ft. above the
sea.
The
remainder of the state which lies east of the Tennessee river is divided
into
the
Highland Rim Plateau and a lowland basin, eroded in the Highland
Rim
Plateau
and known as the Bluegrass Region; this region is separated from
the
Highland
Rim Plateau by a semicircular escarpment extending from
Portsmouth,
Ohio,
at the mouth of the Scioto river, to the mouth of the Salt river
below
Louisville;
it is bounded north by the Ohio river. The Highland Rim Plateau,
lying
to the south, east and west of the escarpment, embraces fully one-half
of
the
state, slopes from elevations of 1000-1200 ft. or more in the east to
about
500
ft. in the north-west, and is generally much less rugged than the Allegheny
Plateau;
a peculiar feature of the southern portion of it is the numerous
circular
depressions
(sink holes) in the surface and the cavernous region beneath.
Kentucky
is noted for its caves, the best-known of which are Mammoth Cave
and
Colossal Cavern (qq.v.). The caves are cut in the beds of
limestone
(lying
immediately below the coal-bearing series) by streams that pass
beneath
the surface in the " sink holes," and according to Professor
N. S.
Shaler
there are altogether " doubtless a hundred thousand miles of
ways
large
enough to permit the easy passage of man." Down the steep slopes
of
the
escarpment the Highland Rim Plateau drops 200 ft. or more to the
famous
Blue
Grass Region, in which erosion has developed on limestone a gracefully
undulating
surface. This Blue Grass Region is like a beautiful park, without
ragged
cliffs, precipitous' slopes, or flat marshy bottoms, but marked by
rounded
hills
and dales. Especially within a radius of 20 m. around Lexington, the
country
is
clothed with an unusually luxuriant vegetation. During spring, autumn,
and
winter
in particular, the blue-grass (Poa com-pressa and Poa pratensis)
spreads
a
mat, green, thick, fine and soft, over much of the country, and it is a
good winter
pasture;
about the middle of June it blooms, and, owing to the hue of its
seed
vessels,
gives the landscape a bluish hue. Ancfther lowland area embraces
that
small part of the state in the extreme south-east which lies west of
the
Tennessee
river; this belongs to that part of the Coastal Plain Region which
extends
north along the Mississippi river; it has in Kentucky an average
elevation
of less than 500 ft. Most of the larger rivers of the state have
their
sources
among the mountains or on the Allegheny Plateau and flow more or
less
circuitously in a general north-western direction into the Ohio.
Although
deep
river channels are common, falls or impassable rapids are rare
west
of
the Allegheny Plateau, and the state has an extensive mileage of
navigable
waters.
The Licking, Kentucky, Green and Tradewater are the principal
rivers
wholly
within the state. The Cumberland, after flowing for a considerable
distance
in the south-east and south central part of the state, passes into
Tennessee
at
a point nearly south of Louisville, and in the extreme south-west
the
Cumberland
and the Tennessee, with only a short distance between them,
cross
Kentucky and enter the Mississippi at Smithland and Paducah
respectively.
The
drainage of the region under which the caverns lie is mostly
underground.
Fauna
and Flora.—The first white settlers found great numbers of buffaloes,
deer,
elks,
geese, ducks, turkeys and partridges, also many bears, panthers, lynx,
wolves,
foxes,
beavers, otters, minks, musk-rats, rabbits, squirrels, raccoons,
woodchucks,
opossums
and skunks, and the streams were inhabited by trout, perch,
buffalo-fish,
sun-fish,
mullet, eels, and suckers. Of the larger game there remain only a few
deer,
bears
and lynx in the mountain districts, and the numbers of small game and
fish have
been
greatly reduced. In its primeval state Kentucky was generally well
timbered, but
must
of the middle section has been cleared and here the blue grass is now
the dominant
feature
of the flora. Extensive forest areas still remain both in the east and
the west, In the
east
oak, maple, beech, chestnut, elm, tulip-tree (locally “yellow poplar
“), walnut, pine
and
cedar trees are the most numerous; in the west the forests are composed
largely of
cypress,
ash, oak, hickory, chestnut, walnut, beech, tulip-tree, gum and sycamore
trees.
Locust,
pawpaw, cucumber, buck-eye, black mulberry and wild cherry trees also
abound,
and
the grape, raspberry and strawberry are native fruits.
Climate.—The
climate is somewhat’ more mild and even than that of the neighboring
states.
The mean annual temperature, about 50° F. on the mountains in the S.
E., and 60° W.
of
the Tennessee, is about 55° F. for the entire state; the thermometer seldom
registers as
high
as 100° or as low as—b0. The mean annual precipitation ranges from
about 38 in.
in
the north-east to 50 in. in the south, and is about 46 in. for the
entire state; it is usually
distributed
evenly throughout the year and very little is in the form of snow.
The
prevailing
winds blow from the west or south-west; rain-bearing winds blow
mostly
from
the south; and the cold waves come from the north or north-west.
Soil—The
best soils are the alluvium in the bottom-lands along some of the
larger
rivers
and that of the Blue Grass Region, which is derived from a limestone
rich in
organic
matter (containing phosphorus) and rapidly decomposing. The soil within
a
radius
of some 20 m. around Lexington is especially rich; outside of this area
the Blue
Grass
soil is less rich in phosphorus and contains a larger mixture of sand.
The soils
of
the Highland Rim Plateau as well as of the lowland west of the Tennessee
river
vary
greatly, but the most common are a clay, containing more or less
carbonate of
lime,
and a sandy loam. On the escarpment around the Blue Grass Region the
soils are
for
the most part either cherty or stiff with clay and of inferior quality.
On the mountains
and
on the Allegheny Plateau, also, much of the soil is very light and thin.
Agriculture—Kentucky
is chiefly an agricultural state. Of the 752,53! of its
inhabitants
who,
in 1900, were engaged in some gainful occupation, 408,185 or 54~2 %,
were
agriculturists,
and of its total land surface 21,979,422 acres, or 85~9 %, were
included
in
farms. The percentage of improved farm land increased from 35~2 in 1850
to 49’9
in
1880 and to 62~5 in 1900. The number of farms increased from 74,777 in
1850 to
166,453
in 1880 and to 234,667 in 1900; and their average size decreased from
2267
acres
in 1850 to I29~f acres in 1880 and to 93’7 acres in 1900, these
changes being
largely
due to the breaking up of slave estates, the introduction of a
considerable number
of
Negro farmers, and the increased cultivation of tobacco and
market-garden produce.
In
the best stock-raising country, e.g. in Fayette county, the opposite
tendency prevailed
during
the latter part of this period and old farms of a few hundred acres were
combined
to
form some vast estates of from 2000 to 4000 acres. Of the 234,667 farms
in 1900,
155,189
contained less than 100 acres, 76,450 contained between boo and 500
acres,
and
558 contained more than 1000 acres; 152,216 or 64’86%, were operated
by owners
or
part owners, of whom 5320 were Negroes; 16776 by cash tenants, of whom
789 were
Negroes;
and 60,289 by share tenants, of whom 4984 were Negroes. In 1900 the
value of
farm
land and improvements was $291,117,430; of buildings on farms,
$90,887,460; of
livestock,
$73,739,106. In the year 1899 the value of all farm products was
$123,266,785
(of
which $21,128,530 was the value of products fed to livestock), including
the following
items:
crops, $74,783,365; animal products, $44,303,940; and forest products,
$4,179,840.
The
total acreage of all crops in 1899 was 6,582,696. Indian corn is the
largest and most
valuable
crop. As late as 1849, when it produced 58,672,591 bu., Kentucky was the
second
largest Indian corn producing state in the Union. In 1899 the crop
had
increased
to 73,974,220 bu. and the acreage was 3,319,257 (more than half
the
acreage
of all crops in the state), but the rank had fallen to ninth in product
and
eleventh
in acreage; in 1909 (according to the Yearbook of the United
States
Department
of Agriculture) the crop was 103472,000 bu. (ninth among the states
of
the
United States), and the acreage was 3,568,000 (twelfth among the
‘states).
Among
the cereals wheat is the next largest crop; it increased from 2,142,822
bu.
in
1849 to If,356,113 bu. in 1879, and to 14,264,500 bu. in 1899; in 1909
it was only
7,906,000
bu. The crop of each of the other cereals is small and in each case was
less
in
1899 than in 1849. The culture of tobacco, which is the second most
valuable crop
in
the state, was begun in the north part about 1780 and in the west and
south early in
the
19th century, but it was late in that century before it was introduced
to any
considerable
extent in the Blue Grass Region, where it was then in a measure
substituted
for the culture of hemp. By 1849 Kentucky ranked second only to
Virginia
in the production of tobacco, and in 1899 it was far ahead of any
other
state
in both acreage and yield, there being in that year 384,805 acres, which
was
3~~9
% of the total acreage in the continental United States, yielding
314,288,050 lb.
As
compared with the state’s Indian corn crop of that year, the acreage
was only a
little
more than one-ninth, but the value ($18,541,982) was about 63%. In 1909
the
tobacco
acreage in Kentucky was 420,000, the crop was 350,700,000 ib, valued at
$37,174,200;
the average price per pound had increased from 5~9 cents in 1899
to
Icr6
cents in 1909. The two most important tobacco growing districts are: the
Black
‘Patch,
in the extreme south-west corner of the state, which with the adjacent
counties
in
Tennessee grows a black heavy leaf bought almost entirely by the agents
of foreign
governments’
(especially Austria, Spain and Italy) and called regie “tobacco; and
the
Blue
Grass Region, as far east as Maysville, and the hill country south and
east, whose
product,
the red and white Burley, is a fine-fibred light leaf, peculiarly
absorbent of
licorice
and other adulterants used in the manufacture of sweet chewing tobacco,
and
hence
a peculiarly valuable crop, which formerly averaged 22 cents a pound for
all
grades.
The high price received 'by the hill growers of the Burley induced
farmers in the
Blue
Grass to plant Burley tobacco there, where the crop proved a great
success, more
than
twice as much (sometimes 2000 ib) being grown to the acre in the Blue
Grass as in the
hills
and twice as large patches 'being easily managed. In the hill country
the share tenant
could
usually plant and cultivate only four acres of tobacco, had to spend 12o
days working
the
crop, and could use the same land for tobacco only once in six years.
So, although a
price
of 6~5 cents a pound covered expenses of the planter of Burley in the
Blue Grass,
who
could use the same land for tobacco once in four years, this price did
not repay
he
hill planter. The additional production of the Blue Grass Region sent
the price of
Burley
tobacco down to’ this figure and below it. The planters in the Black
Patch
had
met a combination of the buyers by forming a pool, the Planters’
Protective
Association,
into whirl? 40,000 growers were forced by “night-riding” and other
forms
of coercion and persuasion, and had thus secured an advance to II cents
a
pound
from the “regie “ buyers and had shown the efficacy of pooling
methods in
securing
better prices for the tobacco crop. Following their example, the
planters
of
the Burley farmed the Burley Tobacco Society, a Burley pool, with
headquarters at
Winchester
and associated with the American Society’ of Equity, which promoted
in
general
the pooling of different crops throughout the country. The tobacco
planters
secured
legislation favorable to the formation of crop pools. The Burley
Tobacco
Society
attempted to pool the entire crop and thus force the buyers of the
American
Tobacco
Company of New Jersey (which usually bought more than three-fourths
of
the
crop of Burley) to pay a much higher price for it. In 1906 and in 1907
the crop was
very
large; the pool sold its lower grades of the 1906 crop at 16 cents a
pound ‘to the
American
Tobacco Company and forced the independent buyers out of business;
and
the
Burley Society decided in 1907 to grow no more tobacco until the 1906
and 1907
crops
were sold, making the price high enough to pay for this period of
idleness.
Members
of the pool had used force to bring planters into the pool; and now
some
tobacco
growers, especially in the hills, planted new crops in the hope of
immediate
return,
and a new “ night-riding” war was begun on them. Bands of masked
men
rode
about the country both in the Black Patch and in the Burley, burning
tobacco
houses
of the independent planters, scraping their newly-planted tobacco
patches,
demanding
that planters join their organization or leave the country, and whipping
or
shooting
the recalcitrant. Governor Wilson, immediately after his inauguration,
took
measures
to suppress disorder. In general the Planters’ Protective Association
in the
Black
Patch was more successful in its pool than the Burley Tobacco Society in
its, and
there
was more violence in~ the “regie “ than in the “ Burley district.
In November
1908
the lawlessness subsided in the ‘Burley after the agreement of the
American
Tobacco
Company to purchase the remainder of the 1906 crop at a “ round “
price of
203/4
cents and a part of the 1907 crop at an average price of 17 cents, thus
making it
profitable
to raise a full crop in 1909.
Kentucky
is the principal hemp-growing state of the Union; the crop of I899,
which was
grown
on 14,107 acres and amounted to 10,303,560 Ib, valued at $468,454,
was
87~7
% of the hemp crop of the whole country. But the competition of
cheaper
labor
in other countries reduced the profits on this plant and the product of
1899 was
a
decrease from 78,818,000 lb in 1859. Hay and forage, the fourth in value
of the state’s
crops
in 1899, were grown on 683,139 acres and amounted to 776,534 tons,
valued at
$6,100,647;
in 1909 the acreage of hay was 480,000 and the crop of 653,000 tons
was
valued
at $7,771,000. In 1899 the total value of fruit grown in Kentucky was
$2,491,457
(making
the state rank thirteenth among the states of the Union in the value of
this product),
‘of
which $1,943,645 was the value of orchard fruits and $435,462 that of
small fruits.
Among
fruits, apples are produced in greatest abundance, 6,053,717 bu. in
1899,
an
amount exceeded in only nine states; in 1889 the crop had been
10,679,389 bu. and
was
exceeded only by the crop of Ohio and by that of Michigan. Kentucky also
grows
considerable
quantities of cherries, pears, plums and peaches, and, for its size,
ranks
high
in its crops of strawberries, blackberries and raspberries. Indian corn
is grown in
all
parts of the state but most largely in the western portion. Wheat is
grown both in the
Blue
Grass Region and farther west; and the best country for fruit is along
the Ohio river
between
Cincinnati and Louisville and in the hilly land surrounding the Blue
Grass
Region.
In the eastern part of the state
North
of the Black Patch is a district in which is grown a heavy-leaf tobacco~
a large part
of
which is shipped to Great ‘Britain; and farther north and east a dark
tobacco is grown for the American market. where tops are generally
light, Indian corn, oats and potatoes are the principal products, hut
tobacco, flax and cotton are grown. The thoroughbred Kentucky horse has
long had a world-wide reputation for speed; and the Blue Grass Region,
especially Fayette, Bourbon and Woodford counties, is probably the
finest horse-breeding region in America and has large breeding
farms. In Fayette county, in
1900,
the average value of colts between the ages of on&and two years was
$377.78.
In
the Blue Grass Region many thoroughbred shorthorn cattle and fine mules
are raised. The numbers of horses, mules, cattle and sheep increased
quite steadily from 1850 to
1900,
but the number of swine in 1880 and in 1900 was nearly one-third less
than in 1850. In 1900 the state had 497,245 horses, 198,1
Iomules,364,025 dairy cows,755,7I4 other
neat
cattle, 1,300,832 sheep and 2,008,989 swine; in 1910 there were in
Kentucky
407,000
horses, 207,000 mules, 394,000 milch cows, 665,000 other neat
cattle,
1,060,000
sheep and 989,000 swine. The principal sheep-raising counties in
1905
were
Bourbon, Scott and Harrison, and the principal hog-raising counties
were
Graves,
Hardin, Ohio, Union and Hickman.
Forests
and Timber.—More than one-half of the state (about 22,200 sq. m.) was
in
1900
still wooded. In 1900 of the total cut of 777,218 M. ft., B.M., 392,804
were white
oak
and 279,740 M. ft. were tulip-tree. Logging is the principal industry of
several localities,especially in the east, and the lumber product of the
state increased in value from
$5,502,434
in 1850 to $4,064,361 in 1880, and to $13,774,911 in 1900. The factory
product
in
1900 was valued at $13,338,533 and in 1905 at $14,539,000. In 1905 of a
total of
586,371
M. ft., B.M., of sawed lumber, 295,776 M. ft. were oak and 553,057 M.
ft. were
“
poplar.”
The
planing mill industry is increasing rapidly, as it is found cheaper to
erect mills near
the
forests; between 1900 and 1905 the capital of planing mills in the state
increased If
7~2
% and the value of products increased 142’8 %.
Manufactures.—Kentucky's
manufactures are principally those for which the products
of
her farms and forests furnish the raw material. The most distinctive of
these is
probably
distilled liquors, the state’s whisky being famous. A colony of Roman
Catholic
immigrants
from Maryland settled in 1787 along the Salt river about 50 m. S.S.E.
of
Louisville
and with the surplus of their Indian corn crop made whisky, a part of
which
they
sold at settlements on the Ohio and the Mississippi. The industry was
rapidly
developed
by distillers, who immediately after the suppression of the Whisky
Insurrection,
in 1794, removed from Pennsylvania and settled in what is now
Mason
county and was then a part of Bourbon county-the product is still known
as
“
Bourbon “ whisky. During the first half of the 19th century the
industry became of
considerable
local importance in all parts of the state, but since the Civil War
the
heavy
tax imposed has caused its concentration in large establishments. In
1900 nearly
40%
and in 1905 more than one-third of the state’s product was distilled
in Louisville.
Good
whisky is made in Maryland and in parts of Pennsylvania from rye, but
all efforts
in
other states to produce from Indian corn a whisky equal to the Bourbon
have failed,
and
it is probable that the quality of the Bourbon is largely due to the
character of the
Kentucky
lime water and the Kentucky yeast germs. The average annual product of
the
state
from 1880 to I900 was about 20,000,000 gallons; in 1900 the product was
valued
at
$9,786,527; in 1905 at $11,204,649. In 1900 and in 1905 Kentucky ranked
fourth
among
the states in the value of distilled liquors. The total value of all
manufactured products of the state increased from $126,719,857 in 1890
to $154,166,365 in 1900, or 21.7%, and from 1900 to 5905 the value of
factory-made products alone increased from
$126,508,660
to $159,753,968, or 26.3%.i Measured by the value of the product,
flour
and
grist mill products rose from third in rank in 1900 to first in rank in
1905, from
$13,017,043
to $18,007,786, or 38~3 %; and chewing and smoking tobacco and
snuff
fell
during the same period from first to third in rank, from $14,948,I92 to
$13,117,000,
or
12.3%; in 1900 Kentucky was second, in 1905 third, among the states in
the value
of
this product. Lumber and timber products held second rank both in 1900
($13,~38,533)
and
in 1905 ($14,539,000). Distilled liquors were fourth in rank in 1900 and
in 1905.
Men’s
clothing rose from tenth in rank in 1900 to fifth in rank in 1905, from
83,420,365
to
86,279.078,’ or 83.6%. Other important manufactures, with their
product values in 1900
and
in 1905 are iron and steel ($5,004,572 in i~oo; $6,167,542 in 1905);
railway cars
($4,248,029
in 1900; $5,739,071 in 1905); packed meat’ ($5,177,167 in 19o0;
$5,693,731
in
1905); foundry and machine shor products ($4,434,610 in 1~oo; $4,699,559
in 1905);
planing
mil products, including sash, doors and blinds ($1,891,517 in 1900
~4,593,25I
in
1905—an increase already remarked); carriages and wagons ($2,849,753
in 1900;
$4,059,438
in 1905); tanned and curried leather ($3,757,016 in i~oo; $3,952,277 in
1905);
and
malt liquor ($3,186,627 in 19o0; $3,673,678 in 1905). Other important
manu factures
(each
with a product value in 1905 of more than one million dollars) were
cotton-seed oil
and
cake (in 1900 Kentucky was fifth and in 1905 sixth among the states in
the value of
cotton-seed
oil am cake), cooperage, agricultural implements, boots and shoes, cigar
i
In the census of 1905 statistics for other than factory-mad products,
such as t~bse of the
hand
trades, were not included. and cigarettes, saddlery and harness, patent
medicines and compounds, cotton goods, furniture, confectionery,
carriage and wagon materials, wooden
packing
boxes, woolen goods, pottery and terra cotta ware, structural iron-work,
and
turned
and carved wood.
Louisville
is the great manufacturing centre, the value of its products amounting
in
1905
to $83,204,125, 52.1 % of the product of the entire state, and showing
an increase
of
25~9 % over the value of the city’s factory products iii 1900. Ashland
is the principal
centre
of the iron industry.
Minerals.—The
mineral resources of Kentucky are important and valuable, though
very
little developed. The value of all manufactures in 1900 was
$154,166,365, and
the
value of manufactures based upon products of mines or quarries in the
same year
was
$25,204,788; the total value of mineral products was $19,294,341 in
1907.
Bituminous
coal is the principal mineral, and in 1907 Kentucky ranked eighth
among
the
coal-producing states of the Union; the output in 1907 amounted to
10,753,124 short
tons,
and in 1902 to 6,766,984 short tons as compared with 2,399,755 tons
produced in
1889.
In 1902 the amount was about equally divided between the eastern
coalfield, which
is
for the most part in Greenup, Boyd, Carter, Lawrence, Johnson, Lee,
Breathitt,
Rockcastle,
Pulaski, Laurel, Knox, Bell and Whitley counties, and has an area of
about
11,180
sq. m., and the western coalfield, which is in Henderson, Union,
Webster,
Daviess,
Hancock, McLean, Ohio, Hopkins, Butler, Muhlenberg and Christian
counties,
and
has an area of 5800 sq. m. In 1907 the output of the western district
was 6,295,397
tons;
that of the eastern, 4,457,727. The largest coal-producing counties in
1907 were
Hopkins
(2,064,154 short tons) and Muhlenberg (1,882,913 short tons) in the
western
coalfield,
and Bell (1,437,886 short tens) and Whitley (762,923 short tons) in
the
south-western
part of the eastern coalfield. All Kentucky coal is either bituminous or
semi-bituminous, but of several varieties. Of cannel coal Kentucky is
the largest
producer
in the Union, its output for 1902 being 65,317 short tons, and,
according to
state
reports, for 1903, 72,856 tons (of which 46,354 tons were from Morgan
county),
and
for 1904, 68,400 tons (of which 52,492 tons were from Morgan county);
according
to
the Mineral Resources of the United States for 1907 (published by the
United States
Geological
Survey) the production of Kentucky in 1907 of cannel coal (including
4650
tons
of semi-cannel coal) was 77,733 tons, and exclusive of semi-cannel coal
the output
of
Kentucky was much larger than that of any other state. Some of the coal
mined in eastern Kentucky is an excellent steam producer, especially the
Jellico coal of Whitley county, Kentucky, and of Campbell county,
Tennessee. But with the exception of that mined in Hopkins and Bell
counties, very little is fit for making coke; in 1880 the product was
4250 tons of coke (value $12,250), in 1890, 12,343 tons ($22,191); in
1900, 95,532
tons
($235,505); in 1902, 126,879 tons ($317,875), the maximum product up to
1906; \and in 1907, 67,068 tons ($157,288). Coal was first mined in
Kentucky in Laurel or Pulaski
county
in 1827; between 1829 and 1835 the annual output was from 2000 to 6000
tons;
in
1840 it was 23,527 tons and in 1860 it was 285,760 tons. Petroleum was
discovered
on
Little Rennick’s Creek, near Burkesyule, in Cumberland county, in
1829, when a
flowing
oil well (the “American well,” whose product was sold as “American
oil” to
heal
rheumatism, burns, &c.) was struck by men boring for a “salt
well,” and after a second discovery in the ‘sixties at the mouth of
Crocus Creek a small but steady amount
of
oil was got each year. Great pipe lines from Parkersburg, West Virginia,
to Somerset,
Pulaski
county, and with branches to the Ragland, Barbourville and Prestonsburg
fields,
had
in 1902 a mileage of 275 m. The principal fields are in the “southern
tier,”
from
Wayne to Allen county, including Barren county; farther east, Knox
county, and
Floyd
and Knott counties; to the north-east the Ragland field in Bath and
Rowan
counties
on the Licking river. In 1902 the petroleum produced in the state
amounted
to
248,950 barrels, valued at $172,837, a gain in quantity of 81.4% over
1901.
Kentucky
is the S.W. extreme of the natural gas region of the west flank of
the
Appalachian
system; the greatest amount is found in Martin county in the east,
and
Breckinridge county in the north-west. The value of the state’s
natural gas
output
increased from $38,993 in 1891 to $99,000 in 1896, $286,243 in
1900,
$365,611
in 1902, and $380,176 in 1907. Iron- ore has been found in several
counties,
and
an iron furnace was built in Bath county, in the N. E. part of the
state, as early as
1791,
but since 1860 this mineral has received little attention. In 1902 it
was mined only
in
Bath, Lyon and Trigg counties, of which the total product was 71,006
long tons, valued
at
only $86,169; in 1904 only 35,000 tons were mined, valued at the mines
at $35,000.
In
1898 there began an increased activity in the mining of fluorspar, and Crittendon,
Fayette
and
Livingston counties produce in 1902, 29,030 tons (valued at $143,410) of
this mineral,
In
I901 30,835 tons (valued at $153,960) and in 1904 19,096 tons (value at
$111,499),
amounts
(and values) exceeding those produced is any other state for these
years; but in
1907
the quantity (21,051 tons) was less than the output of Illinois. Lead
and zinc are
mine
in small quantities near Marion in Crittenden county and elsewhere in connation
with
mining for fluorspar; in 1907 the output was - 75 tons of lead valued at
$7950 and
358
tons of zinc valued a $42,244. Jefferson, Jessamine, Warren, Grayson
and
Caldwell
counties have valuable quarries of an excellent light-colored öolitic
limestone,
resembling
the Bedford limestone of Indiana, and best known under the name of
the
finest
variety, the “Bowling Green stone “ of Warren county; and sandstones
good for
structural
purposes are found in both coal regions, and especially in Rowan county.
In
1907
the total value of limestone quarried in the state was $891,500, and of
all stone,
$1,002,450.
Fire and pottery clay and cement rock also abound within the state.
The
value
of clay products was $2,406,350 in 1905 (when Kentucky was tenth among
the
states)
and was $2,611,364 in 1907 (when Kentucky was eleventh among the
states).
The
manufacture of cement was begun in 1829 at Shipping port, a suburb of
Louisville,
whence
the natural cement of Kentucky and Indiana, produced within a radius of
15 m.
from
Louisville, is called “ Louisville cement.” In 1905 the value of
natural cement
manufactured
in the state (according to the United States Geological Survey) was
-only
$83,000.
The manufacture of Portland cement is of greater importance.
There
are mineral springs, especially salt springs, in various parts of the
state,
particularly
in the Blue Grass Region; these are now of comparatively little
economic
importance;
no salt was reported among the state’s manufactures for 1905, and in
1907
only
736,920 gallons of mineral waters were bottled for sale. Historically
and
geologically,
however, these springs are of considerable interest. According to
Professor
N. S. Shaler, state geologist in 1873—1880, “When the rocks whence
they
flow
were formed on the Silurian sea-floors, a good deal of the sea-water
was
imprisoned
in the strata, between the grains of sand or mud and in the cavities of
the
shells
that make up a large part of these rocks. This confined sea-water is
gradually
being
displaced by the downward sinking of the rain-water through the rifts of
the
strata,
and thus finds its way to the surface: so that these springs offer to us
a share
of
the ancient seas, in which perhaps a hundred million of years ago the
rocks of
Kentucky
were laid down.” To these springs in prehistoric and historic times
came
annually
great numbers of animals for salt, and in the marshes and swamps
around
some
of them, especially Big Bone Lick (in Boone county, about 20 m. S.W.
of
Cincinnati)
have been found many bones of extinct mammals, such as the
mastodon
and
the long legged bison The early settlers and the Indians came to the
springs to shoot
large
game for food, and by boiling the waters the settlers obtained valuable
supplies
of
salt. Several of the Kentucky springs have been somewhat frequented as
summer resorts;
among
these are the Blue Lick in Nicholas county (about 48 m. N.E. of
Lexington),
Harrodsburg,
Crab Orchard in Lincoln county (about 115 m. S.E. of Louisville),
Rock
Castle
springs in Pulaski county (about 23 m. E. of Somerset) and Paroquet
Springs
(near
Shepherdsville, Bullitt county), which was a well-known resort before
the Civil War,
and
near which, at Bullitt Lick, the first salt works in Kentucky are said
to have been
erected.
Pearls
are found in the state, especially in the Cumberland River, and it is
supposed that
there
are diamonds in the kimberlitic deposits in Elliott county.
Transportation.—Kentucky
in 1909 had 3,503.98 m. of railway. Railway building was
begun
in the state in 1830, and in 1835 the first train drawn by a steam
locomotive ran
from
Lexington to Franklin, a distance of 27 m. Not until 1851 was the line
completed to
Louisville.
Kentucky’s trade during the greater part of the i9th century was very
largely with the South, and with the facilities which river
navigation afforded for this the development of a railway system was
retarded. Up to 1880 the railway mileage had increased to only 1,530;
but during the next ten years it increased to 2,942, and railways were
in considerable measure substituted for water craft. The principal lines
are the Louisville & Nashville, the Chesapeake & Ohio, the
Illinois Central, and the Cincinnati Southern (Queen & Crescent
route). Most of the lines run south or south-west from Cincinnati and
Louisville, and the east border of the state still has a small railway
mileage and practically no wagon roads, most of the travel being on
horseback. The wagon roads of the Blue Grass Region are excellent,
because of the plentiful and cheap supply of stone for road building.
The assessment of railway property, and in some measure the regulation
of railway rates, are entrusted to a state railway commission.
Population.—The
population of Kentucky in 188oi was 1,648,690; in 1890, 1,858,635,
an
increase
within the decade of I 2.7%; in 1900 it was 2,147,174; and in 1910 it
had reached 2,289,905. Of the total population of 1900, 284,865 were colored
and 50,249 were
foreign-born;
of the colored, 284,706 were Negroes, 102 were Indians, and 57 were
Chinese; of the foreign-born, 27,555 were natives of Germany, 9874 were
natives of Ireland, and 3256 were natives of England. Of the foreign born,
21,427, or 42.6%, were inhabitants of the city of Louisville, leaving a
population outside of this city of which 98.4%
For
a full account of the “licks,” see vol. i. pt. ii. of the Memoirs of
the Kentucky
Geological
Survey (1876).
2
The population of the state at the previous censuses was: 73,677 in
1790; 220,955 in 1800; 406,511 in i81o; 564,317 in 1820; 687,9i7 in
1830; 779,828 in 1840; 982,405 in
1850;
1,155,684 in 1860 and 1,321,011 in 1870. were native born.
The
rugged east section of the state, a part of Appalachian America, is
inhabited by a
people
of marked characteristics, portrayed in the fiction of Miss Murfree (“
Charles
Egbert
Craddock “) and John Fox, Jr. They are nearly all of British—English
and Scotch-Irish—descent, with a trace of Huguenot. They have good
native ability, but
through
lack of communication with the outside world their progress has been
retarded.
Before
the Civil War they were owners of land, but for the most part not owners
of slaves,
so
that a social and political barrier, as well as the barriers of nature,
separated them
from
the other inhabitants of the state. In their speech several hundred
words persist
which
elsewhere have been obsolete for three centuries or occur only in
dialects in
England.
Their life is still in many respects very primitive; their houses are
generally
built
of logs, their clothes are often of homespun, Indian corn and ham form a
large
part
of their diet, and their means of transportation are the saddle-horse
and sleds and
wheeled
carts drawn by oxen or mules. In instincts and in character, also, the
typical
“mountaineers”
are to a marked degree primitive; they are, for the most part,
very
ignorant;
they are primitively hospitable and are warm-hearted to friends and
strangers,
but
are implacable in their enmities and are prone to vendettas and family
feuds, which
often
result in the killing in open fight or from ambush of members of one
faction by
members
of another; and their relative seclusion and isolation has brought
them,
especially
in some districts, to a disregard for law, or to a belief that they must
execute
justice
with their own hands. This appears particularly in their attitude toward
revenue
officers
sent to discover and close illicit stills for the distilling from Indian
corn of
so-called
“moon-shine” whisky (consisting largely of pure alcohol). The taking
of
life
and “moon-shining,” however, have become less and less frequent
among them,
and
Berea College, at Berea, the Lincoln Memorial University, and other
schools
in
Kentucky and adjoining states have done much to educate them and bring
them more
in
harmony with the outside community.
The
population of Kentucky is largely rural. However, in the decade between
1890 and
1900
the percentage of urban population (i.e. population of places of 4000
inhabitants
or
more) to the total population increased from I7~5 to I9~7 and the
percentage of
semi urban
(i.e. population of incorporated places with a population of less than
4000)
to
the total increased from 8’86 to 9’86 %; but 483 % of the urban
population of 1900
was
in the city of Louisville. In 1910 the following cities each had a
population of more
than
5000. Louisville (223,928), Covington (53,270), Lexington (35,099),
Newport
(30,309),
Paducah (22,760), Owensboro (16,011), Henderson (11,452),
Frankfort,
the
capital (10,465), Hopkinsville (9419), Bowling Green (9173), Ashland
(8688),
Middlesboro
(7305), Winchester (7156), Dayton (6979), Bellevue (6683),
Maysville
(6141),
Mayfield (5916), Paris (5859), Danville (5420), Richmond (5340).
Of
historical
interest are Harrodsburg (q.v.), the first, permanent settlement in the
state,
and
Bardstown (pop. in 1900, 1711), the county-seat of Nelson county.
Bardstown
was
settled about 1775, largely by Roman Catholics from Maryland. It was the
see
of
a Roman Catholic bishop from 1810 to 1841, and the seat of St Joseph’s
College
(Roman
Catholic) from 1824 to 1890; and was for some time the home of John
Fitch
(1743—1798),
the inventor, who built his first boat here. The Nazareth Literary
and
Benevolent
Institution, at Nazareth (2 m. N. of Bardstown), was founded in 1829 and
is
a
well-known Roman Catholic school for girls. Boonesborough, founded by
Daniel
Boone
in 1775, in what is now Madison county, long ago ceased to exist, though
a
railway
station named Boone, on the Louisville & Nashville railroad, is near
the site
of
the old settlement.
In
1906 there were 858,324 communicants of different religious
denominations in the
state,
including 311,583 Baptists, 165,908 Roman Catholics, 156,007
Methodists,
136,110
Disciples of Christ, 47,822 Presbyterians and 8091 Protestant
Episcopalians.
Administration.—Kentucky
is governed under a constitution adopted in 1891.I A
convention
to revise the constitution or to draft a new one meets on the call of
two
successive
legislatures, ratified by a majority of the popular vote, provided
that
majority
be at least one-fourth of the total number of votes cast at the
preceding
general
election. Ordinary amendments are proposed by a three-fifths majority
in
each
house, and are also subject to popular approval. With the usual
exceptions
of
criminals,
1
There were three previous constitutions—those of I 792r 799 and 1850.
idiots and
insane
persons, all male citizens of the United States, who are’ at least 21
years Of age,
and
have lived in the state one year, in the county six months, and in the
voting precinct
sixty
days next preceding the election, are entitled to vote. The legislature
provides by
law
for registration in cities of the first, second, third and fourth
classes—the minimum
population
for a city of the fourth class being 3000. Corporations are forbidden
to
contribute
money for campaign purposes on penalty of forfeiting their charters, or,
if
not
chartered in the state, their right to carry on business in the state.
The executive is
composed
of a governor, a lieutenant-governor, a treasurer, an auditor of public
accounts,
a
register of the land office, a commissioner of’ agriculture, labor,
and statistics, a
secretary
of state, an attorney-general and a superintendent of public
instruction. All
are
chosen by popular vote for four years and are ineligible for immediate
re-election,
and
each must be at least 30 years of age and must have been a resident
citizen of the
state
for two years next preceding his election. If a vacancy occurs in the
office of
governor
during the first two, years a new election is held; if it occurs during
the last
two
years the lieutenant-governor serves out the term. Lieutenant-governor
Beckham,
elected
in 1900 to fill out the unexpired term of Governor Goebel (assassinated
in
1900),
was re-elected in 1903, the leading lawyers of the state holding that
the
constitutional
inhibition on successive terms did not apply in such a case.
The
governor is commander-in-chief of the militia when it is not called into
the service
of
the United States; he may remit fines and forfeitures, commute
sentences, and grant
reprieves
and pardons, except in cases of impeachment; and he calls
extraordinary
sessions
of the legislature. His control of patronage, however, is not extensive
and
his
veto power is very weak. He may veto any measure, including items in
appropriation
bills,
but the legislature can repass such a measure by a simple majority of
the total
membership
in each house. Among the various state administrative boards are
the
board
of equalization of five members, the board of Health of nine members, a
board
of
control of state institutions with four members (bipartisan), and the
railroad commission,
the
prison commission, the state election commission and the sinking fund
commission
of
three members each. Legislative power is vested in a General Assembly,
which consists
of
a Senate and a House of Representatives. Senators are elected for four
years,
one-half
retiring every two years; representatives are elected for two years. The
minimum age for a representative is 24 years, for a senator 30 years.
There are thirty-eight senators and one hundred representatives. The
Senate sits as a court for the trial of impeachment cases. A majority of
either house constitutes a quorum, but as regards ordinary bills, on the
third reading, not only must they receive a majority of the quorum, but
that majority must be at least two-fifths of the total membership of the
house. For the enactment of appropriation bills and bills creating a
debt a majority of the total membership in each house is required. All
revenue measures must originate in the House of Representatives but the
Senate may introduce amendments. There are many detailed restrictions on
local and special legislation. The constitution provides for local
option elections on the liquor question in counties, cities, towns and
precincts; in 1907, out of 9 counties 87 had voted for
prohibition.
The
judiciary consists of a court of appeals, circuit courts, quarterly
courts, county courts,
justice
of the peace courts, police courts and fiscal courts. The court of
appeals is
composed
of from five to seven judges (seven in 1909), elected, one from
each
appellate
district, for a term of eight years. The senior judge presides as
chief
justice
and in case two or more have served the same length of time one of them
is
chosen
by lot. The governor may for an reasonable cause remove judges on
the
address
of two-thirds of each house of the legislature. The counties are grouped
into
judicial
circuits, those containing a population of more than 150,000
constituting
separate
districts; each district has a judge and a commonwealths attorney. The
county
officials
are the judge, clerk, attorney, sheriff, jailor, coroner, surveyor and
assessor,
elected
for four years. Each county contains from three to eight justice of the
peace
districts.
The financial board of the county is composed of the county judge and
the
justices
of the peace, or of the county judge and three commissioners elected on
a
general
ticket.
The
municipalities are divided into six classes according to population, a
classitlcat’ion
which
permits considerable special local legislation in spite of the
constitutional
inhibition.
Marriages between whites and persons of Negro descent are prohibited
by
law,
and a marriage of insane persons is legally void. Among causes for
absolute
divorce
are adultery, desertion for one year, habitual drunkenness for one year,
cruelty, ungovernable temper, physical incapacity at time of marriage,
and the joining by either
party
of any religious sect which regards marriage as unlawful. A home-stead
law
declares
extempt from execution an unmortgaged dwelling house (with
appurtenances)
to
exceed $1000 in value, and certain property, such as tools of one’s
trade, libraries
(to
the value of $500) of ministers and lawyers, and provisions for one year
for each
member
of a family. Child labour is regulated by an act passed by the
General
Assembly
in 1908 this act prohibits the employment of children less than 14
years
of
age in any gainful occupation during the session of school or in stores,
factories,
mines,
offices, hotels or messenger service during vacations, and prohibits
the
employment
of children between 14 and 16-unless they have employment
certificates
issued
by a superintendent of schools or some other properly authorized
person,
showing
the child’s ability to read and write English, giving information as
to
the
child’s age (based upon a birth certificate if possible), and
identifying the child
by
giving height and weight and color of, eyes and’ hair. These
certificates must
be
kept on file and lists of children employed must be posted by
employers;
labor
inspectors receive monthly lists from local school boards of children
receiving
certificates; and children under 16 are not to work more than 10
hours
a
day or 60 hours a week, or between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.
Charitable
and Penal Institutions.—The charitable and penal institutions are
managed
by
separate boards of trustees appointed by the governor. There are a deaf
and dumb
institution
at Danville (1823), an institution for the blind at Louisville (1842),
and
an
institution for ‘the education of feeble-minded children at Frankfort
(1860). The
Eastern
Lunatic Asylum at Lexington, established in 1815 as a private
institution, c
came
under the control of the state in I824. The Central Lunatic Asylum at
Anchorage,
founded
in 1869 as a house of refuge for young criminals, became an asylum in f
873.
The
Western Lunatic Asylum at Hopkinsville was founded in 1848. The
main
penitentiary
at Frankfort was completed in 1799 and a branch was established at
Eddyville
in 1891. Under an act of 1898 two houses of reform for juvenile
offenders,
one
for boys, the other for girls, were established near Lexington.
Education—The
early history of the schools of Kentucky shows’ that ,the rural
school
conditions have been very unsatisfactory. A system of five trustees,
with a
sixty-day
term of school, was replaced by a three trustee system, first with a
one-
hundred-day
term of school, and subsequently with a one-hundred-and-twenty-day
term~
of school annually. The state fund has not been supplemented locally for
the
payment
of teachers, who have consequently been underpaid. The rural
teachers,
however,
have been paid from the state fund, so that the poorer districts receive
aid
from
the richer districts of the commonwealth. The rural schools are
supervised’ by
a
superintendent in each county. Throughout the state white and Negro
children are
taught
in separate schools.
The
state makes provision for revenue for school purposes as follows:
(I)
the interest on the Bond of the Commonwealth for $1,327,000 00~
(2)
dividends on 798 shares of the capital stock of the Bank of
Kentucky—representing
a
par value of $79,800.00;
(3)
the interest at 6% on the Bond of the Commonwealth for
$381,986.08,
which is a perpetual obligation in favor of the several counties;
(4)
the interest at 6% on $606,641.03, which was received from the United
States;
(5)
the annual tax of 261/2 cents on each $100 of value of all real and
personal estate and
corporate
franchises directed to be assessed for taxation;
(6)
a certain portion of fines, forfeitures and licenses realized by the
state; and
(7)
a portion of the dog taxes of each, county.
The
present school system of Kentucky may be summarized under
three
heads: the rural schools, the graded schools, and the high schools
(which are
further
classified as city and county high schools). The 1908 session of the
General
Assembly
passed an act providing: that each county of the state-be the unit
for
taxation;
that the county tax be mandatory; that there be a local sub district
tax; and that
each
county be divided into four, six or eight educational divisions, that
one trustee be
elected
for each sub district, that the trustees of the sub districts form
division Boards
of
Education, and that the chairmen of these various division boards form a
County
Board
of Education together with the county superintendent, who is ex officio
chairman.
This system of taxation and supervision is a great advance in the
administration
of public schools. Any sub district, town or city of the fifth or
sixth
class may provide for a graded school by voting for an ad valorem
and
poll
tax which is limited as to amount. There were in 1909 135 districts
which
had
complied with this act, and were known as Graded Common School
districts.
By
special charters the General Assembly has also’ established 25 special
graded
schools.
Statutes provide that all children between the ages of 7 and 14
years
living
in such districts must attend school annually for at least eight
consecutive
weeks.
In each city of the first, second and third class there must be, and of
the
fourth
class there may be, maintained under control of a city Board of
Education
a
system of public schools, in which all children between the ages of 6
and 20
residing
in the city may be taught at public expense. There were in 1909 62
city
public
high schools whose graduates are admitted to the State University
without
examination.
A truancy act (1908) provides that every child between the ages of
7
and 14 years living in a city of the first, second, third or fourth
class must attend
school
regularly for the full term of said school. It was provided by statute
that
before
June 1910, there should have been established in each county of the
state at
least
one County High School to which all common school graduates of the
county
should
be admitted without charge. Separate institutes for white and colored
teachers
are
conducted annually in each county. These institutes are held for a five
or ten day
session
and attendance is required of every teacher. The state provides for the
issuance
of
three kinds of certificates- A state diploma issued by the State Board
of Examiners
is
good for life. A state certificate issued by the State Board of
Examiners is good
for
eight years with one renewal. County certificates issued by the County
Board of
Examiners
are of three classes, valid for one, two and four years respectively.
According
to a school census there was in 1908—1909 a school population of
739,352,
of
which 587,051 were reported from the rural districts In the school year
1907—
I908
the school population was 734,617, the actual enrolment in public
schools was
441,377,
the average attendance was 260,843; there were approximately 3392
male
and
5257 female white teachers and 1274 negro teachers; and the total
revenue for
school
purposes was $3,805,997, of which sum $2,437,942.56 came from the state
treasury.
What
was formerly the State Agricultural and Mechanical College at Lexington
became
the
State University by legislative enactment (1908); there is no tuition
fee except in
the
School of Law. The State University has a Department of Education. ‘
The state
maintains
for the whites two State Normal Schools, which were established in
1906—
one,
for the eastern district, at Richmond, and the other, for the western
district, at
Bowling
Green. Under the law establishing State Normal Schools, each county
is
entitled
to one or more appointments of scholarships, one annually for every ~oo
white
school children listed in the last school census. A Kentucky Normal
and
Industrial
School (1886) for Negroes is maintained at Frankfort. Among the private
and denominational colleges in Kentucky are Central University
(Presbyterian), at Danville; Transylvania University, at Lexington;
Georgetown College (Baptist) at Georgetown;
Kentucky
Wesleyan College (M.E. South), at Winchester; and Berea College(
non-sectarian)
at
Berea.
Finance.—Kentucky,
in common with other states in this part of the country, suffered
from
over-speculation in land and railways during s83o—185o. The funded
debt of the
state
amounted to four and one-half millions of dollars in 1850, when the new
constitution
limited
the power of the legislature to contract further obligations or to
decrease or
misapply
the sinking funds. From 1850 to 1880 there was a gradual reduction
except
during
the years. of the war. The system of classifying the revenue into
separate funds
has
frequently produced annual deficits, which are, as a rule only nominal,
since the total
receipts
exceed the total expenditures. In 1902 the net bonded debt, exclusive of
about two
millions
of dollars held for educational purposes, was $1,171,394, but this debt
was paid
in
full in the years immediately following.
The
sinking fund commission is composed of the governor, attorney-general,
secretary
of
state, auditor and treasurer.
The
first banking currency in Kentucky was issued in 1802 by a co-operative
insurance company established by Mississippi Valley traders. The Bank of
Kentucky, established at Frankfort in 1806, had a monopoly f or several
years. In 18I8—1819 the legislature chartered 46 banks, nearly all of
which went into liquidation during the panic of 1819.
The
Bank of the Commonwealth was chartered in 1820 as a state institution
and the charter of the Bank of Kentucky was revoked in 1822. A court
decision denying the legal tender quality of the notes issued by the
Bank of the Commonwealth gave rise to a bitter
controversy
which had considerable influence upon the political history of the
state.
This
bank failed in 1829. In 1834 the legislature chartered the Bank of
Kentucky, the
Bank
of Louisville and the Northern Bank of Kentucky. These institutions survived
the
panic of 1837 and soon came to be recognized as among the most
prosperous and
the
most conservative banks west of the Alleghenies. The state banking laws
are
stringent
and most of the business is still controlled by banks operating
under
state
charters.
History—The
settlement and the development of that part of the United States
west
of
the Allegheny Mountains has probably been the most notable feature of
American
history
since the close of the Seven Years’ War (1763). Kentucky was the
first
settlement
in this movement, the first state west of the Allegheny Mountains
admitted
into
the Union. In 1763 the Kentucky country was claimed by the Cherokees as
a part
of
their hunting grounds, by the Six Nations (Iroquois) as a part of their
western
conquests,
and by Virginia as a part of the territory granted to her by her charter
of
1609,
although it was actually inhabited only by a few Chickasaws near the
Mississippi
river-
and by a small tribe of Shawnees in the north, opposite what is now
Portsmouth,
Ohio.
The early settlers were often attacked by Indian raiders from what is
now
Tennessee
or from tile country north of the Ohio, but the work of colonization
would
have
been far more difficult if those Indians had lived in the Kentucky
region itself.
Dr
Thomas Walker (1715—1794), as an agent and surveyor of the Loyal
Land
Company,
made an exploration in 1750 into the present state from the Cumberland
Gap,
in
search of a suitable place for settlement but did not get beyond the
mountain region.
In
the next year Christopher Gist, while on a similar mission for the Ohio
Company,
explored
the country westward from the mouth of the Scioto river. In 1752 John
Finley,
an
Indian trader, descended the Ohio river in a canoe to the site of
Louisville. It was
Finley’s
descriptions that attracted Daniel Boone,~ and soon after Boone’s
first visit,
in.
1767, travelers through the Kentucky region became numerous. The first
permanent
English
settlement was established at Harrodsburg ill 1774 by James Harrod, and
in
October
of the same year the Ohio Indians, having been defeated by Virginia
troops in
the
battle of Point Pleasant (in what is now West Virginia), signed a treaty
by which they surrendered their claims south of the Ohio river. In March
1775 Richard Henderson and
some
North Carolina land speculators met about 1200 Cherokee Indians in
council on the
Watauga
river and concluded a treaty with them for the purchase of all the
territory south
of
the Ohio river and between the Kentucky and Cumberland rivers. The
purchase was
named
Transylvania, and within less than a month after the treaty was signed,
Boone,
under
its auspices, founded ~a settlement at Boonesborough which became
the
headquarters
of the colony. The title was declared void by the Virginia government
in
1778,
but’ Henderson and his associates received 200,000 acres in corn-~
pensation,
and
all sales made to actual settlers were confirmed. During the War of
Independence,
the
colonists were almost entirely neglected by Virginia and were compelled
to defend
themselves
against the Indians who were often under British leadership.
Boonesborough
was
attacked in April and in July 1777 and in August 1778. Bryant’s (or
Bryan’s) Station,
near
Lexington, was besieged in August 1782 by about 600 Indians under the
notorious
Simon
Girty, who after raising the siege ‘drew the defenders, numbering
fewer than 200,
into
an ambush and in the~ battle of Blue Licks which ensued the Kentuckians
lost about
67
killed and 7 prisoners. Kentucky county, practically coterminous with
the present state
of
Kentucky and embracing,~ all the territory claimed by Virginia south of
the Ohio river
and
west of Big Sandy Creek and the ridge of the Cumberland Mountains, was
one of
three
counties which was formed out of Fincastle county in 1776. Four years
later, this in
turn
was divided into three counties, Jefferson, Lincoln and Fayette, hut,
the name Kentucky
was
revived in 1782 and was given to the judicial district winch was then
organized for
these
three counties. The War of Independence was followed by an extensive
immigration
from
Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina1 of a ,popu-. lation of which
fully 95%,
excluding
Negro slaves, were of pure English, Scotch or Scotch-Irish
descent.
The
manners, customs and institutions of Virginia were transplanted beyond
the
mountains.
There was the same political rivalry between the slave-holding
farmers
of
the Blue Grass Region and the “ poor whites” of the mountain
districts that there
was
in: Virginia between the tide-water planters and the mountaineers.
Between these
extremes
were the small farmers of the “ Barrens”2 in Kentucky and of the
Piedmont
Region
in Virginia. The aristocratic influences in both states have always been
on the;
Southern
and Democratic side, but while they were strong enough in Virginia to
lead
the
state into secession they were unable to do so in Kentucky.
1
Most of the early settlers of Kentucky made their way thither either by
the Ohio river
(from
Fort Pitt) or—the far larger number-by way of the Cumberland Gap and
the “
Wilderness
Road.” This latter route began at Inglis’s Ferry, on the New river,
in
what
is now West Virginia, and proceeded west by south to the Cumberland
Gap.,
Tue
“ Wilderness Road,” as marked by Daniel Boone in 1775, was a mere
trail,
running
from the Watauga settlement in’ east Tennessee to the Cumberland Gap,
and
thence
by way of what are now Crab Orchard, Danville and Bardstown, to the
Falls
of
the Ohio, and was passable only for men and horses until 1795, when the
state made
it
a wagon road. Consult Thomas Speed, The Wilderness Road (Louisville,
Ky., 1886),
and
Archer B. Hulbert, Boone’s Wilderness Road (Cleveland, 0., 1903).
2
The “ Barrens “ were in the north part of the state west of the Blue
Grass Region, and
were
so called merely because the Indians had burned most of the forests here
in order to provide better pasturage for buffaloes and other game.
At
the close of the War of Independence the Kentuckians complained because
the mother
state
did not protect them against their enemies and did not give them an
adequate system
of
local government. Nine conventions were held at Danville from 1784 to
1790 to demand separation from Virginia. The Virginia authorities
expressed a willingness to grant the
demand
provided Congress would admit the new district into the Union as a
state. The
delay,
together with the proposal of John Jay, the Secretary for Foreign
Affairs and
commissioner
to negotiate a commercial treaty with the Spanish envoy, to
surrender
navigation
rights on the lower Mississippi for twenty-five years in order to remove
the
one
obstacle to the negotiations, aroused so much feeling that General James
Wilkinson
and
a few other leaders began to intrigue not only for a separation from
Virginia, but also
from
the United States, and for the formation of a close alliance with the
Spanish at New
Orleans.
Although most of the settlers were too loyal to be led into any such
plot they
generally
agreed that it might have a good effect by bringing pressure to bear
upon the
Federal
government. Congress passed a preliminary act in February 1791, and the
state
was
formally admitted into the Union on the 1st of June 1792. In the Act of
1776 for
dividing
Fincastle county, Virginia, the ridge of the Cumberland Mountains was
named
as
a part of the east boundary of Kentucky; and now that this ridge had
become a part of
the
boundary between the states of Virginia and Kentucky they, in 1799,
appointed a joint commission to run the boundary line on this ridge. A
dispute with Tennessee over the
southern
boundary was settled in a similar manner in 1820.1 The constitution of
1792
provided
for manhood suffrage and for the election of the governor and of
senators by an
electoral
college. General Isaac Shelby was the first governor. The people still
continued
to
have troubles with the Indians and with the Spanish at New Orleans. The
Federal
government
was slow to act, but its action when taken was effective. The power of
the
Indians
was overthrown by General Anthony Wayne’s victory in the battle of
Fallen
Timbers,
fought the 20th of August 1794 near the rapids of the Maumee river a few
miles
above
the site of Toledo, Ohio; and the Mississippi question was settled
temporarily by
the
treaty of 1795 and permanently by the purchase of Louisiana in 1803. In
1798—1799
the
legislature passed the famous Kentucky Resolutions in protest against
the alien and
sedition
acts.
For
several years the Anti-Federalists or Republicans had contended that
the
administration
at Washington had been exercising powers not warranted by the
constitution,
and when Congress had passed the alien and sedition laws the
leaders
of
that party seized upon the event as a proper occasion for a spirited
public protest
which
took shape principally in resolutions passed by the legislatures of
Kentucky
and
Virginia. The original draft of the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 was
prepared
by
Vice-President Thomas Jefferson, although the fact that he was the
author of them
was
kept from the public until he acknowledged it in 1821. They were
introduced in
the
House of Representatives by John Breckinridge on the 8th of November,
were
passed
by that body with some amendments but with only one dissenting vote on
the
10th,
were unanimously concurred in by the Senate on the I3th, and were
approved
by
Governor James Garrard on the 16th. The first resolution was a statement
of the
ultra
states’-rights view of the relation of the states to the Federal
government2 and
subsequent
resolutions declare the
I
The southern boundary to the Tennessee river was surveyed in 1779—1780
by
commissioners
representing Virginia and North Carolina, and was supposed to be
run
along
the parallel of latitudes 36° 30’, but by mistake was actually run
north of that parallel.
By
a treaty of 1819 the Indian title to the territory west of the Tennessee
was extinguished, and commissioners then ran a line along this
parallel of 36° 30’ from the Mississippi to the Tennessee. In 182C
commissioners representing Kentucky and Tennessee formally) adopted the
line of 1779—1780 and the line of 1819 as the
boundary
between the two states.
2
This resolution read as follows: Resolved, that the several statn
composing the
United
States of America are not united on this principle of unlimited
submission to
their
general government; but that by compact under the style of a
Constitution for the
United
alien and sedition laws unconstitutional and therefore” void and of no
force,”
principally
on the ground that they provided for an exercise of powers which
were
reserved
to the state. The resolutions further declare that “this Commonwealth
is
determined,
as it doubts not its co-states are, tamely to submit to undelegated
and
therefore
unlimited powers in no man or body of men on earth,” and that “these
and
successive
acts of the same character, unless arrested on the threshold, may tend
to drive
these
states into revolution and blood.” Copies of the resolutions were sent
to the governors of the various states, to be laid before the different
state legislatures, and replies were received from Connecticut,
Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont
and Virginia, but all except that from Virginia were unfavorable.
Nevertheless
the Kentucky legislature on the 22nd of November 1799 reaffirmed
in
a
new resolution the principles it had laid down in the first series,
asserting in this
new
resolution that the state “does now unequivocally declare its’
attachment to the
Union,
and to that compact between the anti-relief or “ old court “ party
and the relief or
“
new court” party, in which the former was successful. The old court
party followed the
lead
of Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams in national politics, and became
National
Republicans
and later Whigs. The new court party followed Andrew Jackson and
Martin
Van
Buren and became Democrats. The electoral vote of the state was cast for
Jackson in 1828 and for Clay in 1832. During the next thirty
years Clay’s conservative influence
dominated
the politics of the state. Kentucky voted the Whig ticket in every
presidential
election
from 1832 until the party made its last campaign in 1852. When the Whigs
were
destroyed
by the slavery issue some of them immediately became Democrats, but
the
majority
became Americans, or Know-Nothings. They elected the governor in 1855
and
almost
succeeded in carrying the state for their presidential ticket in 1856.
In 1860 the
people
of Kentucky were drawn toward the South by their interest in slavery and
by their
social
relations, and toward the North by business ties and by a national
sentiment
which
was fostered by the Clay traditions. They naturally assumed the
leadership in
the
Constitutional Union movement of 1860, casting the ‘vote of the state
for Bell and
Everett.
After the election of President Lincoln they also led in the movement to
secure
the
adoption of the Crittenden Compromise or some other peaceful solution of
the
difficulties
between the North and the South.
A
large majority of the state legislature, however, were Democrats, and in
his message
o
this body, in January 1861, Governor Magoffin, also a Democrat, proposed
that a
convention
be called to determine “the future of Federal and inter-state
relations of Kentucky;
”
later too, in reply to the president’s call for volunteers, he
declared, “ Kentucky will
furnish
no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern
States.”
Under
these conditions the Unionists asked only for the maintenance of
neutrality, and
a
resolution to this effect was carried by a bare majority—48 to 47.
Some of the
secessionists
took this as a defeat and left the state immediately to join the
Confederate
ranks.
In the next month there was an election of congressmen, and an
anti-secession
candidate
was chosen in nine out of ten districts. An election in August of
one-half the
Senate
and all of the House of Representatives resulted in a Unionist majority
in the
new
legislature of 103 to 35, and in September, after Confederate troops had
begun to
invade
the state, Kentucky formally declared its allegiance to the Union. From
September
1861
to the fall of Fort Donelson in February 1862 that part of Kentucky
which is south
and
west of the Green River was occupied by the Confederate army under
General A.
S.
Johnston, and at Russellville in that district a so-called “
sovereignty convention”
assembled
on the 18th of November. This body, composed mostly of Kentucky
men
who
had joined the Confederate army, passed an ordinance of secession,
elected state
officers,
and sent commissioners to the Confederate Congress, which body voted
on
the
9th of December to admit Kentucky into the Confederacy. Throughout the
war
Kentucky
was represented in the Confederate Congress—representatives and
senators
being
elected by Confederate soldiers from the state. The officers of this
“provisional
government,”
headed by G. W. Johnson, who had been elected “governor,” left
the
state
when General A. S. Johnston withdrew; Johnson himself was killed at
Shiloh,
but
an attempt was subsequently made by General Bragg to install this
government at
Frankfort.
General Felix K. Zollicoffer (1812—1862) had entered the south-east
part
of
the state through Cumberland Gap in September, and later with a
Confederate force
of
about 7000 men attempted the invasion of central Kentucky, but in
October 1861 he
met
with a slight repulse at Wild Cat Mountain, near London, Laurel county,
and on the
i9th
of January 1862, in an engagement near Mill Springs, Wayne county, with
about
an
equal force under General George H. Thomas, he was killed and his force
was
utterly
routed. In 1862 General Braxton Bragg in command of the Confederates
in
eastern
Tennessee, eluded General Don 1 He died in 1852, but the traditions
which he
represented
survived.
Carlos
Buell, in command of the Federal Army of the Ohio stationed there, and
entering
Kentucky
in August 1862 proceeded slowly toward Louisville, hoping to win the
state
to
the Confederate cause and gain recruits for the Confederacy in the
state. His main
army
was preceded by a division of about 15,000 men under General Edmund
Kirby
Smith,
who on the 30th of August defeated a Federal force under General Wm.
Nelson
near
Richmond and threatened Cincinnati. Bragg met with little opposition on
his march,
but
Buell, also marching from eastern Tennessee, reached Louisville first
(Sept. ~4),
turned
on Bragg, and forced him to withdraw. On his retreat, Bragg attempted to
set up
a
Confederate government at Frankfort, and Richard J. Hawes, who had been
chosen
as
G. W. Johnson’s successor, was actually “ inaugurated,” but
naturally this state”
government”
immediately collapsed. On the 8th of October Buell and Bragg
fought
an
engagement at Perryville which, though tactically indecisive, was a
strategic victory
for
Buell; and thereafter Bragg withdrew entirely from the state into
Tennessee. This
was
the last serious attempt on a large scale by the Confederates to win
Kentucky; but
in
February 1863 one of General John H. Morgan’s brigades made a raid on
Mount
Sterling
and captured it; in March General Pegram made a raid into Pulaski
county;
in
March 1864 General N. B. Forrest assaulted Fort Anderson at Paducah but
failed
to
capture it; and in June General Morgan made an unsuccessful attempt to
take
Lexington.
Although
the majority of the people sympathized with the Union, the emancipation
of
the
slaves without compensation even to loyal owners, the arming of Negro
troops, the
arbitrary
imprisonment of citizens and the interference of Federal military
officials in
purely
civil affairs aroused so much feeling that the state became strongly
Democratic,
and
has remained so almost uniformly since the war. Owing to the panic of
1893, distrust
of
the free silver movement and the expenditure of large campaign funds,
the Republicans were successful in the gubernational election of
1895 and the presidential election of 1896.
The
election of 1899 was disputed. William S. Taylor, Republican, was
inaugurated
governor
on the 12th of December, but the legislative committee on contests
decided in
favor
of the Democrats. Governor-elect Goebel was shot by an assassin on the
3oth of
January
1900, was sworn into office on his deathbed, and died on the 3rd of
February.
Taylor
fled the state to escape trial on the charge of murder.
Lieutenant-Governor
Beckham
filled out the unexpired term and was re-elected in 1903. In 1907
the
Republicans
again elected their candidate for governor.
Governors
OF Kentucky
Isaac
Shelby Democratic-Republican 1792—1796
James
Garrard ,, ,, 1796—1804
Christopher
Greenup ,, ,, 1804—1808
Charles
Scott ,, ,, 18o8—I8I2
Isaac
Shelby ,, ,, 1812—1816
George
Madison* ,, , 1816
Gabriel
Slaughter (acting) ,, ,, 1816—1820
John
Adair ,, ,, 1820—1824
Joseph
Desha ,, ,, 1824—1828
Thomas
Metcalfe National ,, 1828—1832
John
Breathitt* Democrat 1832—1834
JamesT.
Morehead (acting) ,, 1834—1836
James
Clark* Whig 1836
Charles
A. Wickliffe (acting) ,, 1836—1840
Robert
P. Letcher ,, 1840-1844
William
Owsley ,, 1844—1848
John
J. Crittendent ,, ‘ 1848—1850
John
L. Helmf Democrat 1850—1851
Lazarus
W. Powell ,, I 851—1855
Charles
S. Morehead American 1855—I 859
Beriah
Magoflin Democrat 1859—1862
James
F. Robinson ,, 1862—1863
Thomas
E. Bramlette ,, 1863—1867
John
L. Helm* ,, 1867
John
W. Stevenson~ ,, 1867—1871
Preston
H. Lesliet ,• 1871—1875
James
B. McCreary ,, 1875—1879
Luke
P. Blackburn ,, 1879—1883
J.
Proctor Knott ,, 1883—1887
Simon
B. Buckner ,, 1887—1891
John
Y. Brown . 1891—1895
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