xt780g3gxq90 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt780g3gxq90/data/mets.xml Beckner, W. M. 1889  books b92-116-28170966 English The Arkansaw Traveler Publishing Co., : Chicago : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Clark County (Ky.) Winchester (Ky.) Hand-book of Clark County and the city of Winchester, Kentucky  / by W.M. Beckner. text Hand-book of Clark County and the city of Winchester, Kentucky  / by W.M. Beckner. 1889 2002 true xt780g3gxq90 section xt780g3gxq90 















H AND- BOOK
              OF....


          AND
C L A R K   C O U N TY _ CTH0 F W N C E T R



KENTUCKY.



BY XV. M- BECKNE1.



THE ARKANSAW



CHICAGO:
TRAVELER PUBLISHING CO.
1889.



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CLARK COUNTY CITY OF WINCHESTERT


                                          KENTUCKY.


                              IE3Y W. M. BECKNEII.


                                         XI NTREODUCTION4
T      HIS Hand-Book has been prepared at the instnlLce of some enterprising citizens of Winchester and Clark County, andl is
      1 itended to set forth the advantages of the region in which they line. It was not designed to be a liograjphical dlictionarv,
and therefore has no gushing sketches of individuals.  People abroad will not care to know who are the great maen of Clark,
buit will be aixiots to learn how they can better their own condition by coming here to live and engage in business. The key-
note of the book is to present Winchester and Clark County as they are.
                                                                                                        T  El  AL' 1110R.



  Is 17913, Capt. Imlay, an offiCer of the revole-I sweet songsters of the forest appear to feel the  bore those marks of melancholy which the rude
tionary army, published the first description of  influence of the genial clime, and in more soft  hand of frost produces. I embarked immedi-
Kentucky ever put intobook form. From it we  and modulated tones warble their tender notes  ately for Kentucky, and in less than five days
make the following extract:                in unison with love and nature. Everything here  landed at Limestona (now Maysville, where I
` Everything here assumes a dignity and splen-  gives delight; and in that wild effulgence which  found nature robed in all her charm.s"
dor I have never seen in any other part of the  beams around us, we feel a glow of gratitude for  Filson, the first historian of the state, wrote
world.       Flowers full and perfect s. if  the elevation which our all-bountiful Creator has, of Kentucky in 1784:



X OAK fIDGn," anX ANDi FARM OF JOHN W. .-AN, ESQ.



they had been cultivated by the hand of a florist.
with all their captivating odors, and with all the
variegated charms which color and nature can
produce, here, in the lap of elegance and beauty,
decorate the smiling groves.  Soft zephyrs
gently breathe on sweets and the inhaled air
gives a voluptuous glow of health and vigor that
seems to ravish the intoxicated senses. The



bestowed upon us. You nusat forgive what I
know you will call a rhapsody, but what I really
experienced after traveling slone the Allegheny
Mountains in March. when it was covered with
snow, and after finding the country about Pitts-
burgh bare and not recovered from the ravages
of the winter. There was scarcely a blade of
grass to be seen; everything looked dreary and



;     The cotunltry is il souoe part: nearly level;
iil others not so  -uch so: il others, again, hilly,
but moderately and il such places there is most
water. The levels are not like a carpet. but in-
terspersed with small rising, and declivtties
which foriii a beautiful prospect. The -oil is of
a loose,. deep black mould without sald, in the
first rate lands, about two or three feet deep. and



 








exceedingly luxuriant in all the productions.
The country in general may be considered as
well timbered, producing large trees of many
kinds, and to be exceeded by no country in vari-
ety.    The reader, by casting his eye
on the map, and viewing around the heads of
Licking, from the Ohio and around the beads of
Kentucky Dick's River, and down Green River
to the Ohio, may view in that great compass of
above one hundred miles square the most extra-
ordinary country on which the sun has ever
shone."
  Almost in the center of this favored state is
the County of Clark. Winchester, its countj
seat, is in latitude 37 5d', and in longitude 70
07'. The western portion of Clark County, em-
Iracing about one-third of its area, is in what is



CLARK COUNTY, KENTUCKY.


  Here was located the last town inhabited by
the aborigines in Kentucky. Black Hoof (Cata-
hecassa), who preceded Tecumseh as commanding
chief of the Shawnees. and who was conspicuous
in all the great battles of the tribe from Brad-
dock's defeat to Wayne's victory, was born here.
In 1816, when over one hundred years of age, he
visited his birthplace, and pointing out the
dimensions of the town declared that he had
never seen any spot so fertile or lovely. South
of the "Indian Old Fields," and in the hilly
country lies what is known as the " Marshy Bot-
tome," a very rich piece of farming land sur-
rounded by less favored soil.
  Clark County was established in 1792 out of
parts of Fayette and Bourbon counties, and em-
braces an area of 255 square miles, or 163,200



are eight voting places. The villages in Clark
that have post-offices are Vienna, Kiddville,
Hedges, Thomson, Dodge (Kentucky Union Junc-
tion), Wade's Mill, Ruckerville, Indian Fields,
Merritt, Hunt, Pine Grove, Sycamore (Renick's
Station), Elkin, Ford, Flanagan and Beckner-
ville. At one of these (Ford), a town of over 700
inhabitants has grown up within the past six
years. It has four great saw-mills, which cut at
least 150,000 feet of lunber each day. Two of
them are owned by Asher Brothers, who have
booms, and get their timber by logging. One of
the others is owned by H. C. Long, of Indian-
apolis, Indiana, and the fourth by the Ford
Lumber Company. The last two get their logs
in rafts.
  From the "History of Kentucky," written by



strictly called the blue grass region, and is con-
ceded to produce blue grass of unsurpassed vigor
and quality. The middle section of the county,
running from the Montgomery line to the Ken-
tucky, is hillier, but quite fertile and productive.
The eastern portion of the county is somewhat
knobby, but contains some good farming lands,
and produces a very fine quality of tobacco. In
this section lie the Indian Old Fields, which con-
slit of several thousand acres of as rich land as
there is in the West. They were evidently at
some period the bottom of a lake, and formed
a prairie when the whites first settled here. It
was these fields that Boone, on the 7th day of
June. 1760, saw from the top of Pilot Knob, when
he had the view of " the level fields of Kain-
tucke. of which he speaks so rapturously in his
autobiography.



" tAILAND,'" ARM OF v. B. ABBOTT, NSAB WLIN5BSTZB.

acres. It is bounded on the north by Bourbon,  Professor Shaler (now of Harvard College, but
on the east by Montgomery and Powell, on the  formerly chief of the Geological Bureau of our
south by Estill and Madison, and on the west by  state), we take the following interesting extracts
Fayette. Its eastern boundary is washed by    with reference to the geology of this region:
Red River and Lulbegrud Creek; on the south,    "The beds of rock beneath the surface of Ken-
the Kentucky River separates it from Madison  tucky that are mainly marine limestone and
County. It has a number of creeks, each of   shales, have probably a total thickness of nearly
which has numerous tributaries. Among them   ten thousand feet-of which about two thousand
are Lulbegrud, Howard's Upper, Four Mile,     feet are exposed to view in the central part of
Howard's Lower, Two Mile, Big Stoner, Strode,  the state along their, somewhat upturned edges.
Little Stoner, Hancock, Boone and Indian. Much  This great section is mainly composed of the
of the original territory of Clark was taken from  remains of animals and plants that have died in
it in forming Montgomery, Estill and Powell,  the sea and been cemented together on its floor.
and has gone from these into a number of other  This life-born series of rocks rests upon the old
counties.                                      granite and other crystalline rocks that are seen
  Clark County is divided into six precincts or  to constitute the deeper part of the earth's crust
subdivisions, called Winchester, Blue Ball, Kidd-  wherever we find our way to it. Above these
ville, Goode's, Pinchem and Germantown. There  marine rocks we find the great series of coal



 



CLARK COUNTY, KENTUCKY.



measures, where only th
thin limestones owe their
all the rest of the rocks be
of the waste of old land
sand and gravel.  
of the state, extending in
from near Nashville, Tei



e coal beds and a few  ton and the line that separates Kentucky from
origin to organic life;  Tennessee, so that newer rocks-the Devonian
ing made up altogether  and carboniferous strata-lie on its middle part
. in the shape of mud,  than we find near Lexington or the Tennessee
 Through the middle   line. It is this wide geological ridge that brings
a north and south line  to the surface the rocks which by their decay
anessee, to Cincinnati,  form the blue grass soil in the middle of the



wise a part of the great Appalachian coal field,
which occupies a large part of Pennsylvania,
West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama and
Georgia. These two coal tields were once united
over Central Kentucky, but have been worn
away, leaving their waste upon the hill-tops:
they have together an area of about twelve thou-



Ohio, and beyond, rises a very broad, low, geolog-
ical ridge; not that the surface is higher, but the
beds are bent upward as we may observe the
beveled layer of wood curved over a knot on the
surface of a planed board. It is here that the
lowest beds of rock are exposed by the Chazy
and Trenton limeestone. This ridge is not of
equal height in all its parts; it sags down like a
broken ridge pots in the region between Lexing-



   "DUDLEY PLACE -eOUs OF r. B. DUDLEY.
state. But for its ample uplifted back Kentucky
would have had no soil to tempt the early settlers
to their new homes. On either side of this prin-
cipal central field of limestone and other marine
rocks we have the great coal measure districts of
Eastern and Western Kentucky. That on the
west is but a fragment of the great western coal
field of the Ohio valley, which extends into
Indiana and Illinois. That on the east is like-



sand square miles, of which the eastern is by far
the larger and better of the two. 'Ihis coal dis-
trict is somewhat less valuable than that of
Pennsylvania, but is exceeded in value by that
of no other state. All the Kentucky coals are of
the bituminous species (including the richest
cannels), varying a good deal in their quality,
which is generally extremely good. They are
easily mined, and the total supply of this buried



"DEEB LAWN '-UMMEE HOME Or Da. WASHIxNGTON MILLEE, Nasa WINCHESTER.



:3



He -9FW



1



I i



 





  4


solar force is about equal to that of Great
Britain.
  "Next after the coal beds the iron ore deposits
are the principal source of underground wealth
in this region. They are much less extensive
and varied than those of Virginia, Alabama.
Pennsylvania, Michigan or North Carolina. but
are probably exceeded by those of ito other
state. Owing to their close proximity to the
coal beds where the smelting fuel may be found,
they are better disposed for working than any
other ores except perhaps those of Alabama and
Virginia."
  Clark County lies it the foot of the knobs
known as the mountains of Eastern Kentucky,
in which these great deposits of coal and iron
are found. In fact, the knobs begin within her
borders, and an outcrop of black Lingula shale
near the mouth of Red River led the owner of



CLARK COUNTY, KENTUCKY.



copperas bank and also an abundance of alum.
Near the same place there is a deposit of bone
phosphate which will some day, no doubt, be
developed for fertilizing purposes. All the indi-
cations point to oil and gas in this favored
region. In fact a well sunk 640 feet some years
ago struck a vein of lubricating oil which Prof.
Froehling, a noted chemist of Richmond, Va.,
pronounced the best he had seen. The same
well developed gas in large quantities. Our
State Geologist has given it as his opinion that
the anti-clinal and other indications point to this
as the most promising oil and gas field of East-
ern or Central Kentucky. On the waters of Big
Stoner creek, near the corner made by Clark
with Bourbon and Montgomery counties, there
is an inexhaustible supply of marble as hard as
granite itself, and which is not only variegated
in color but receives the finest polish. Near the



facilities for transportation that Clark County
enjoys, ought to induce manufactories of vari-
ous kinds.
  Artesian wells, near Winchester, have struck
several veins of very fine white sulphur water,
and one bored in Winchester to a depth of 1000
feet, developed a stream of what closely resem-
bles the far-famed Blue Lick. Fine quarries of
gray and blue limestone of the best variety for
building purposes abound throughout the county
and have made the construction of macadam-
ized roadways cheap and easy.

AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES.

  With her great variety of soil, Clark County
produces all the fruits that grow in temperate
climates, and rich yields of the various gaias
that serve as fbod for man and beast. The land



"VINEWOOD --HOME OF J. l. azaunDw, FOUR MILES NO5TrEAST OF WtNOHE5Tl..



the land, a few year.s ago, to believe that he had
found coal; but none exists in, Clark. In the
same region, tiore than fifty years since, an
officer of the United States Engineer corps, en-
gaged in surveying the Kentucky River with a
view to its improvement, found a great bed of
hydraulic cement which he pronounced superior
to that which has been worked so successfully at
Louisville. Lying near Lulbegrud creek, near
the eastern border, is an interesting portion of
the county. where thet oil springs are located.
Here m..ay be found, within half a mile of the
Kentucky Union Railroad and in the midst of
beautiful surroundings, ehalybeate and several
kinds if -sulphur water in abundance, and a com-
stant flow of oil from which the springs take
their name. This oil was formerly used by many
persons in that regiufn for its supposed medic-
inal properties, Not far from here there is a



mouth of Howard's Lower creek, on the Ken-
tucky River, there has been a 'fault" or drop-
ping down of the rock strata of about three
hundred feet. This brings to the surface the
beds of the Kentucky River marble, which pre-
sent a vertical cliff of about ninety feet; on the
south side of this fault are the ordinary blue
limestone ledges. There are also, in this im-
mediate section, beds of magnesian limestone,
interstratified with the marble, about one hun-
dred feet above the water-level, which make
excellent durable building stone. These are in
layers of from eighteen to forty inches in thick-
ness, and are of variegated and buff colors.
These rocks are soft and easy to cut when first
quarried, but harden by exposure to the atmos-
phere, a quality highly advantageous in materi-
als for construction purposes. These stones,
located in the center of population, and with the



lies so well that the soil is not wasted by wash-
ing, and thus affords opportunity for continuous
cultivation. When it becomes tired, rotation of
crops restores its pristine vigor, or if it really
begins to be worn, a resort to clover and blue
grass is a sure remedy for its abuse. Within the
same enclosure, and close together, grow the
cherry and walnut, the mulberry and the oak
tree; showing its depth and strength of soil, and
adaptation to a variety of crops.
                  TOBACCO.
  It is in what is known as the White Burley
tobacco belt, which embraces the otily region in
the world where this valuable variety of the
weed canl be successfully cultivated. Seventy-
five years ago, Clark County produced a great
deal of tobacco, which was shipped down the
Kentucky River, and on the waters of the Ohio
and Mississippi to New Orleans. Great ware-



I



 




CLARKI COUNTY, KENTUCKY.



TOBACCO WABRRHOtSTE or H. P. THOMSON, "MWOUNDALES HOME."



houses were at one time numerous along the   ceased for many years, and was not revived until
banks of the Kentucky, where the tobacco was  the planting of White Burley, begun by General
stored until the flat-boats on which it was ship-  John S. Williams and Colonel A. W. Hamilton,
ped were ready to start. A great freshet in 1817 in Montgomery, gave the crop new favor, be-
swept away a number of these houses with much  cause of the enormous profits it brought. Cor-
loss to the dealers. The culture of the plant  mandimg, as it now does, on good land, about



ten cents per pound nil round, it will each year
produce a crop worth double the value of the
land on which it is grown. It yields, on the best
soil of Clark County, from sixteen hundred to
two thousand pounds per acre, without the use
of fertilizers. The demand for the White Bur



H. P. THOMSON'S " MOUNDALE HOME."



 





CLARK COUNTY, KENTUCKY.



ley increases continually, while the production
is limited to a small area, beyond which it does
not thrive. It is estimated by those most apt to
know that the crop of 1888 in Clark reached as
much as 8,000,000 pounds, which brought an
average all round of not less than eight cents,
thus bringing into the county the handsome
aggregate of 240,000.  The county has pro-
duced as much as 4,000,000 pounds in a single
year, and this, too, without serious detriment to
the soil. The production of White Burley in
Clark began in 1880, when Col. H. P. Thomson
planted 65 acres near Thomson Station, and sold
it for about 200 per acre. This attracted much
attention, of course, and led to quite a fever of
tobacco planting. Col. Thomson is the largest
single tobacco dealer in the State. In one year



                   wHUAT.
  The wheat that our lands produce is graded in
the market as No. 2 red winter. It is hard and
flinty, possesses a keeping quality to which no
northwestern wheat lays claim, bears a price
considerably in advance of all others, and is
largely taken for export; very often forty bush-
els are produced on well-tilled land, but twenty-
five bushels is a reasonable expectation per acre,
and being of easy culture, it is largely culti-
vated.
                    CORN.
  The lands of Clark County are famous for their
yields of corn, which we grow on an extensive
scale. Very little is shipped to foreign markets,
all being consumed at home by feeding to cat-
tle and hogs, which are more easily converted



in Clark County which is protected by a tariff
duty is hemp. It is a fibre which cannot be
eaten and must be sold. Kentucky hemp is in-
dispensable. It furnishes the twine that binds
up the great wheat crop of the United States,
makes the bags it is shipped in, enters largely
into the manufacture of carpets, and out of it
is made the cordage of the ships that bear to
foreign nations the surplus of Clark County.
It flourishes best in virgin soil, because it de-
mands a rapid growth to make a great yield; it
will grow under trees, where other crops perish;
produce without diminished yield ten successive
crops without detriment to the land; will cleanse
the ground of all obnoxious and hurtful weeds,
and leaves it in fine condition for any other
crop. It grows during the hot summer months,



VXaWs ON "NOMMNDALS BOw," FARM OF B. P. THOEMON.



he handled two and a half million pounds, and
has been quite successful. He has at Winchester
two large re-handling houses, whore he assorts
and re-dries, classifies and puts his stock into
merchantable condition. The White Burley is
used in manufacturing fine plug, and fine-cut
and cigarettes, and some of its lower grades are
used for making smoking tobacco. One hundred
million pounds of it are consumed in America
each year for these purposes, while the demand
for it in foreign countries is rapidly increasing,
as its qualities become known.
  The eastern part of Clark County is believed, by
Col. Thomson and others, to be peculiarly well ad-
apted to the raising of the famous Virginia wrap-
pers, which command from 60 to 75 cts. per pound.
Lands can be bought cheap there, and such a
crop as this would make them very valuable.



into money, and it leaves the manure of the crop
in the land; and thus we raise more corn, and
feed more cattle, and buy more land.
                     XAr.
  Our meadows produce as much and as fine a
quality of timothy hay as can be found in the
world. It is not only valuable for feeding at
home, but when compressed can be shipped
abroad with great profit. It is an easy crop to
raise and handle. Clover is produced equally as
well as timothy, and is one of the best restorers
of worn land that has yet been found. Its roots
sabin to loosen and enrich the soil by a chemistry
which man cannot successfully imitate. As a
food for milch cows, red clover has no equal.
                    BUMP.
 The only raw article of agriculture produced



keeping the ground protected from the scorch-
ing sun. The labor is done by contract; there-
fore a great deal can be grown with but little
trouble. We will give its reasonable yield, cost
and sale: 1100 lbs. per acre cost 20 per acre to
market, and for the last forty-two consecutive
Iyears has had an average sale of 6 per cwt.
The reader can readily see the profit, and we
desire to impress upon him that only three
states in the Union produce hemp, and only a
few counties in each state, and after having in-
quired carefully into the case we give it as our
opinion that Clark County is the best hemp
producing ground in the world. Her farmers
realize from it at least 200,000 per year.
                 BLUE GRAsS.
  The product of the soil, which has made Clark
County most famous, is her blue grass. And it



 




CLARK COUNTY, KENTUCKY.



"ROLLY MOUNT HOMZ -JUDG    W. M. BECKNBS  axswDENCu.



needs no commendation, for wherever civiliza-
tion has extended, the sun shines and the rain
falls, it is known and used. Here it was found
indigenous to the soil by that band of early
pioneers, who were in search of an abiding
place. They saw it here in its perennial beauty,
and here they pitched their tents. It is agreed
on all hands that the western portion of Clark
County produces more and better blue grass



than can be raised elsewhere in the state on an
equal quantity of land.
                 OARDINiN(.
  But, after all, the time will come when these
blue grass lands cannot be spared for anything
but gardening. Our rainfall is so abundant and
uniform, our climate so regular and temperate,
our soil so fertile, and we are so near to Louis-
vile and Cincinnati, to say nothing of Lexing-



ton and Winchester, and the great population
that will soon flock to the mountains of Eastern
Kentucky to mine coal and iron and to bring
out its timber, that our farmers will find it more
profitable to produce small fruits and vegetables
than to raise the crops of grain, hemp and
tobacco, to which they are now accustomed.
An acre of Clark County land will produce from
- 150 to 250 bushels of potatoes, according to the



RESIDHNCZ OF V. W. BUSH.



7



 



8S                                     CLARK COUTNTY, KENTUCKY.



I  ldig L-f 'ITh-c, Del- ill the Stat, Fa-- : ...1 Stck R:,i-,.



  D Au.aSt  a. LISLES.
N .....ati  i'-laie far, 0's,-tyjJllg,



VI4. d          A        c    e

             I'hy'icum a.nd S-ugeon.



RON. THOMAS G. STUABT.
   Real Estate Agent.

 





CLARK COUNTY, KENTUCKY.



                        8. A. OONN,
(f ('.nn RBna., Iap-iktn .. f tile I.g-t Planing  tills il Eastern Kentucky.



Y6    (47            i2 l



   0. B. VENABLZ, X. D.
Practicing Physician and Ocnlist.



IP-  it- Edilj , Nfill-



 




  1()


season and the culture, and is equally as fruitful
of onions and other vegetables. There is no
finer region in the world for canning establish-
ments. The hill lands of the eastern part of the
county are especially adapted to fruit and grape
culture.
               CATTLE BAISINO.
  Clark County has always been famous for its
production of fiLe cattle. This is due largely,
of course, to the grazing properties of its land,
but in some degree to the tastes of its farmers.-
A few years ago a herd of over one hundred
head of fat cattle, averaging 1840 pounds, were
fed and grazed by one man in this county. Im-
proved breeds of beef cattle early received t-l
tention here.  Matthew D. Patton, of Clark,
brought to Kentucky what was known as " the



CLARK COUNTY, KENTUCKY.



interest in this class of stock increased, of
course, and many fine herds in the county were
the consequence. Before the war, B. F. Van-
meter went to England, as agent of an import-
ing company. In 1871, Lewis Hampton and
W. C. Vanmeter selected an importation of ex-
cellent animals; in 1875 and 1876, B. B. Groom
brought to the county choice drafts from  the
best Bates herds in Great Britain, and, in 1883,
B. F. Vanmeter made another importation of a
high order.
  Dr. S. D. Martin, T. G. Sudduth, 0. S. John-
son, Wm. H. Garner, R. H. Prewitt, J. V. Grigs-
by, B. P. Goff, J. W. Prewitt, J. W. Bean, R. P.
Scobee, H. P. Thomson, B. A. and J. T. Tracy,
T. C. Robinson, Dr. Wash Miller, D. A. Gay, T.
C. Vanmeter, A. H. Hampton, Charles Swift, A.



family. It has such excellent qualities, and has
shown such a prepotency that it has more bulls
at the head of herds than any o.'Acr single family
in the world. Shorthorns have made it possible
to produce more beef in two years than could
have been had from the same carcass in three
years before they were known. They do not
bring the prices now that they once commanded,
but they are staples, and will rise in value again,
as they have done in the past. They have had
periods of great depression several times in
their history, but have always come again. We
have seen a calf only six months old sell in
Clark for 17,500. We know that animals of the
same breed now bring low figures, but the de-
cline will have a tendency to weed out the worth-
less animals, to reduce production of the valu-



"ACXLAX TBOEINDALR, PROPUXTT OF ABEAX XUNICX  BaOU., ST0aXORN, NT.



Patton stock." It was an improved breed of
Longhorns, resulting from the experiments of
Robert Bakewell, in England, and furnished
good milkers and a great big thrifty carcass.
Some of the Miller and Goff importation, which
was one of the earliest made to America, found
Its way from Maryland to the farm of James
Gay and the earlier Goffs of Clark. Capt. Isaac
Cunningham, his son-in-law  Isaac Vanmeter,
and Dr. S. D. Martin, took an interest in the
Shorthorn experiments which, in their younger
days, were attracting so much attention in Eng-
land. Captain Cunningham and Abram Renick
were purchasers at the sale of the Ohio Import- i
ing Company, at Chillicothe, in 1836. "Young
Mary," "Phyllis," "Illustrious" and "Harriet" were
then brought to Kentucky, and founded families
that have since produced many fine animals. The



F. Duckworth, R. T. G. Bush, Mrs. Anna Bean,
J. L. Wheeler, Robert S. Taylor, Dr. S. W. Willis,
W. C. Vanmeter, B. F. Vanmeter, Lewis Hamp-
ton, B. B. Groom, I. C. Skinner, H. F. Judy and
Abram Renick, are the names of a few of our
citizens that occur to us now as having been en-
gaged in the breeding and rearing of Short-
horns. H. P. Thomson has a carefully bred herd
of Bates cattle, which has in it more high priced
blood than any other in this region. At its head
are two Barringtons and Wild Eyes bulls, as
choice in blood and individuality as any on the
continent. The most noted breeder that Am-
erica has yet produced was Abram Renick, who
lived all his life in Clark. By an intelligent and
persistent course of line breeding,. crossed in
and in until the type he desired was fixed, he
established what is known as the Rose of Sharon



able kind, and finally to bring a rebound of
prices to those who have faith, and look after
the breeding and rearing of their cattle with a
proper regard for the herd book. There are
several fine herds of Jerseys in Clark. H. P.
Thomson has the choicest herd of these animals
in the state, consisting chiefly of pure St. Lam-
brets, and headed by the bull "Kirby of St.
Lambret," a family with the best butter-making
records in the world. The last sales made from
this blood ranged from 1,500 to 2,500 each.
                   HORSEs.
  Interest in fine horses is increasing in Clark.
A trotting association has recently been formed,
and much care is being manifested in the breed-
ing of the fine mares with which the county
abounds. The horses that we now have are not
surpassed by those of any county in the state for



.



 





CLARK COUNTY, KENTUCKY.



style, action, elegance of finish and other quali-
ties that enter into the horse of general utility.
While the attention of our farmers has never,
until within the last few years, been directed to
the breeding of trotters, yet Clark County has
produced, among others, the following, with
records ranging from  2:15 to 2:S0: " Black
Cloud," "lBettie Lumber," "Ashland Kate,"
"Blackwood Jr.," "Jewett," "Winchester Maid,"
"Etta Jones," "Wick," "Little Bell," "Jennie
Smith," "Post Bay," "Clemmie G.,"" Alice
Stoner," "Mystery," "Fannie Stoner," and
"Croxie." Among the most noted sires that
Kentucky has produced was "Clark Chief;"
among others of his descendants may be men-
tioned "Croxie," 2:192; "Phallas," 2:183Y; "Ma-
jolica," 2:15; "Wilson," 2:165; "Kentucky
Prince," who now stands at the head of Stony
Ford Stock Farm; "Guy," 2:17; "J. Q.' 2:17y4;
"Josephine," 2:19, and other good ones. The
capabilities of this as a fine horse-producing



I droves of porkers sent to Cincinnati and Louis-
vile.                                            I



                   POULTRY.
  Those who have seen the great droves of tur-
keys brought to Winchester and shipped each
fall need not be told that poultry thrives in
Clark. Thousands of carcasses are sent to Bos-
ton, New York, Cincinnati and Louisville, while
chickens and eggs flow in a constant stream
from the county. Fowls roost in trees in this
climate, and take care of their own broods with-
out expense or annoyance to their owners.

           POPULATION.

               ITS CHaasRAse.
  And now having noticed its physical features,
its resources and products, let us consider for a
while the people of Clark. In the prehistoric
times, it seems to have had a considerable popu-
lation. Professor Rafinesque, in his appendix



murderous feud or vendetta to terrorize its
quiet, peaceable inhabitants. In several pre-
cincts local option prevails, and no intoxicating
liquors can be had. In every section, sobriety
is the rule. The different branches of the Chris-
tian religion are well represented by prosperous
churches throughout the county, and the provi-
sion for the education of the children is above
the average in the state.
                   OAfDs.
  One great feature of Clark County civilization
is the abundance of good roads. A fine system
of turnpikes is doing much to make the people
happy and prosp