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A PAMPHLET
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COMPILED BY
JOSEPH TILLMAN, Editor, and C. P. GOODYEAR, Associate Editor,
Of " WA YCROSS REPOR TER"
1881:
SAVANNAH TIMES STEAM PRINTING HOUSE. BLANK BOOK MANUFACTORY.
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A PAMPHLET
PUBLISHED UNDER AUSPICES OF THE
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Brunswick
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Maeon k Brunswick Rail
COMPILED BY
JOSEPH TILLIAH, Editor, and C. P. GOODYEAR, Associate Editor,
OS"WAYCROSS REPORTER:
VALUABLE INFORMATION TO
Fanners, Naval Stores Manufacturers, Timber Men, Lumber Manufacturers, Fruit Growers, Vegetable Growers, Tourists, Invalids, Pleasure Seekers,
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Travellers, Parties Seeking New Homes,
-AND---
All who desire to better their condition.
\
VI 1881. SAVANNAH TIMES STEAM PRINTING HOUSE,
6 DRAYTON STREET.
-ii
INTRODUCTION.
The undersigned, as editor and associate editor of the Waycross Reporter^ are engaged by the Savannah, Florida Western, Brunswick and Albany and Macon and Brunswick Rail road Companies, which form the railroad system of South Geor gia, in advocating and preparing the public mind for a compre hensive system of immigration from the North, Northwest and Europe. A short time since we conceived the idea of the pre sentation to our visitors at the exposition in pamphlet form of a short description of South Georgia, and with the approval of the railway companies named, present the material in the following pages, which is a hasty condensation of matter appearing in the files of the Reporter and from other sources, lacking in literary finish, but a truthful presentation ofthis section, and the advantages it offers to settlers.
JOSEPH TILLMAN, Editor Waycross Reporter.
C. P. GOODYEAR, Associate Editor Waycross Reporter.
CHAPTER I.
The Railroad System of South Georgia.
The Savannah, Florida and Western, Macon and Brunswick and Brunswick and Albany Railroads constitute the railway com munications of South Georgia.
The Savannah, Florida and Western Railway, starting at Savannah, the second cotton port in importance in the South, traverses the whole of Southern Georgia to Bainbridge on the Flint river, 237 miles, with an Albany branch from Thomasville, 58 miles, a Florida division from DuPont, Ga., to Live Oak, Fla., 48 miles, and a division from Waycross, Ga.j to Jackson ville, Fla., 74 miles long, making a total of 417 miles under its management.
The Florida division will soon be extended south through the whole length of the Peninsula of Florida to a port on the Gulf coast, some 260 miles, and the main line will also soon be ex tended across the Chattahoochee river to western connections with New Orleans and other points. This road has long had the greater portion of the Western travel of pleasure-seekers and invalids to Florida, and offers them the coming season, through its Waycross division, not only the shortest route, but rapid traveling in the finest coaches that modern skill has devised, to Jacksonville, the terminus of the Waycross division, the Metropo lis of Florida, situated upon the lovely St. Johns river, famed far and wide for its ample and excellent hotels, rapidly growing in commercial importance and population, the key to the vast ter ritory drained by the St. Johns and Indian rivers, and contain ing in city and suburbs a population of 13,500.
The Macon and Brunswick Railroad, now a part of the Cole* Seney syndicates vast system of roads, some 2,400 miles in length, starting at Brunswick, traverses Southern Georgia to Macon, 189 miles, with a branch from Cochrane to Hawkinsville, 10 miles long, and is now rapidly being completed to Rome, Ga., where it will connect with the Cole-Seney system of roads to Memphis,
6
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
Selma, Knoxville. Chattanooga, Cincinnati, the Shenandoah Valley, Norfolk and the vast West and Northwest. A large num ber of branch lines as feeders, it is expected, will soon be built in Georgia.
The Brunswick and Albany Railroad, now the property of the Erlanger-Seligman syndicates vast system of roads, which have been purchased and welded into a system through the exertions of Fred. Wolffe, Esq., who occupies the same relation to this system that Col. Cole occupies toward the Cole-Seney syndicate, and Major Haines occupies toward the Savannah, Florida and Western system, the organizing genius of each having made these vast systems of roads a reality. Starting at Brunswick, traverses South Georgia to Albany, Ga., 171 miles, with charter privileges to the Chattahoochee river, and will soon be completed west to Selma, Ala., becoming part of an uninterrupted through line to Vicksburg, thence to the Texas and Southern Pacific system, making nearly an air line to the Pacific coast, the gaps in which are rapidly being constructed, with branches to Memphis, New Orleans, Chattanooga, Cincinnati and other points, with projected branches in Georgia, especially from Albany to Colum bus, Ga?
These three companies control vast amounts of American and foreign capital, and will all build branches as feeders of their main lines whenever the development of the country warrants, and are prepared to aid in hastening such development by active co-operation with the people in any well considered plan for a comprehensive system of immigration.
The rates of freight from the North and West by the Green Line, and the steam and packet communication at Savannah and Brunswick, compare favorably with Northern rates. Local pas senger and freight rates are low also. The roads are never blockaded by ice or snow, seldom obstructed by floods, have easier grades, consequent increased hauling capacity, and have fast mails, ample post office facilities, and an express system admirably conducted by the Southern Express Company, of which H. B. Plant is President, equal to the best express service of the North and West. The Savannah, Florida and Western Railway Com pany, in connection with the Southern Express Company, steamers on the St. Johns river and steamships at Savannah and Charleston, and rail communication North and West, through
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
7
Savannah, Jesup and Albany, makes a specialty of transportation of fruits, vegetables and all classes of perishable agricultural pro ducts to Northern and Western markets, in cars specially adapted to the purpose, by fast passenger trains. Savannah and Brunswick have regular and ample steamship and packet com munication with New York and other Northern cities, and the extension of these lines West, as detailed in a description of these roads, will within the next eighteen months add to the facilities already detailed tenfold.
CHAPTER II.
General Description of South Georgia.
Southern Georgia is almost entirely comprised within the Pine belt, a vast forest of pine one hundred and fifty miles deep, and in Georgia alone, from the Savannah to the Chattahoochee rivers, two hundred and forty miles in length. The timber, lumber and naval stores manufactured from these vast forests are eagerly sought by all the great markets of the world. The land is flat near the coast; rolling, even hilly, in the interior. A chain of islands extends along the coast, described elsewhere, and very fertile. The land on the rivers is very rich ; elsewhere it is a sandy loam, in most sections with a clay subsoil, is easily worked, responds readily to enrichment, and while some portions, especially those on the water courses of the southwest and the red lands are very rich, nearly the whole is tillable, and, with occasional light manuring, continue to produce good crops from year to year. It is, as a general rule, sparsely settled, and the lands are the cheapest in the State. The leading field products are cotton, sugar cane, corn, rice, oats, potatoes and field peas. The country being open, and the pasturage good throughout the year, large numbers of beef cattle and sheep are raised annually for market, at a cost purely nominal, as they require neither to be fed nor sheltered. See elsewhere article on sheep husbandry.
8
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
Cotton is produced generally throughout the section the sea island, or long staple variety, in the counties bordering on Florida and along the coast. This class of cotton is used in the manu facture of the finer fabrics, and in combination with silk, but is less cultivated than in former years, the demand for it having been lessened by the improvement in the staple and quality of the common cotton, and in the machinery for its manufacture.
The rice lands lie chiefly on the tide water, and are among the most valuable and productive on the southern coast. Consider able rice is also grown, chiefly for home consumption, on inland swamps and low lands in Middle as well as in Lower Georgia, though the rice that enters into commerce comes chiefly from the country along the coast. Upland rice is also grown with profit on the pine lands.
Sugar cane is also an important crop of Southern Georgia, and could be made among the most profitable. It grows luxuriantly, an9 yields profitable returns in sugar and syrup. Yet, but little sugar is made for market, the planters usually confining them selves to a sufficiency for home demand, and relying chiefly upon the syrup as a marketable crop. To show the capacity of the soil under high culture, we mention one instance among the many of equal production that are well vouched for. In 1874, Mr. John J. Parker, of Thomas county, produced, on one acre, 694^ gallons of cane syrup, worth seventy-five cents per gallon, or $520 87. The total cost of production was $77 50, leaving a net profit of $443 37.
This section of the State also produces an excellent quality of light tobacco, such as is manufactured into cigars, though the plant will eventually run into the heavy leaf unless the seed are renewed annually from the West Indies.
Except on the Alapaha river where an extraordinarily fine quality of tobacco has been grown for more than a generation from the seed raised on the soil, without deterioration of the quality of the product.
South Georgia is well watered by numerous rivers and creeks, and water is found in inexhaustible quantities everywhere by dig ging a depth of ten to twenty feet. By early planting in January, February and March, which the exceedingly mild climate makes practicable, droughts can be avoided, and a fall crop can always be raised after the hot season of summer with profit. During the
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
9
drought of the past summer, when whole sections of the south and west have been scorched and dried up and their crops ruined, South Georgia has raised fair crops and has been less affected by the drought than other portions of the State. The timber, lumber and naval stores interests, which are gigantic in their proportions, furnish a home market for the products of the soil. There is ample timber, not fit for lumber, left upon the lands cut over by the lumber manufacturers. There are, in-addition to the yellow pine, the chief timber of the country, as many as twenty-five varieties of wood, valuable in the manufacture of furniture, wagons, carriages and other articles of use.
CHAPTER III.
Stations and Points of Interest on the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway.
SAVANNAH, GA
Savannah, Chatham, county, Georgia, the eastern terminus of the road, is the principal city of the State, situated on river of same name, eighteen miles from the sea, with a capacious and well protected harbor, with from seventeen to twenty-one feet of water at high and low tide. Improvements are now being "made in the river with a view to obtaining depth sufficient for any vessel.
Savannah has a population of from 32,000 to 35,000 inhabitants. It is the second largest cotton port in the United States, while its shipments of rice, lumber and naval stores are immense. It is un questionably the handsomest city in the South. Laid out with broad streets, closely shaded by beautiful trees that are green the year round, it has justly obtained the soubriquet of the "Forest City."
The city has ample transportation facilities; the Charleston & Savannah Railroad connecting Charleston and the North; the Central (Georgia) to Augusta, Atlanta and the Northwest,
10
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
while the Savannah Florida & Western Railway opens up the rich and growing sections of South Georgia and the whole State of Florida. The magnificent steamships of the Ocean Steamship Company make semi-weekly trips to New York, while Philadel phia, Baltimore and Boston are connected by weekly lines steam ships of great capacity and elegant accommodations.
It has some manufacturing interests, viz: a cotton factory, cotton batting mill,* paper mill, rice mills, foundries, machine shops and cotton seed oil mills.
The free school system is admirably arranged. Especial atten tion has been given to its sanitary condition. Comparative state ments show it to be one of the healthiest cities in the South. The climate is better suited to some invalids than points further South. With its excellent hotel accommodations, travelers will always find a sojourn here pleasant.
Forsyth Park, twenty acres in area, is an attractive resort; the shade trees in it, composed mostly of pines, are of the natural growth of the forest. In the center is a beautiful fountain, after the style of those in the Place de la Concordie, in Paris. The walks are prettily arranged, and covered with shell.
In the rear of the Park is a large enclosure, known as the Parade Ground, or Park Extension, which has been somewhat improved by planting shade trees, laying out walks, etc. The Confederate Monument recently erected here by the Ladies' Memorial Association, in point of beauty of design and finish, compares favorably with any in the South. The corner-stone was laid on June i6th, 1874, with Masonic ceremonies, Grand Master-Irwin, officiating, all the military force of the city being present. The monument was built after a design furnished by Mr. R. Reid, of Montreal, Canada, It stands about fifty feet in height, from base to crown of bronze figure on top. On the base are appropriate mottoes. The front panel has a figure in relief, representing the South mourning. The rear panel shows another figure of military character. The side panels bear in scription : one is "To the Confederate Dead:" on the other, "Come from the four winds, O Breath, and breathe upon these slain, that may they live."--EZEK. xxxiirg. The whole is sur mounted by an elegant bronze statue of a Confederate soldier, in the attitude of parade rest. The whole beautifully carved, and cost, when completed, $25,000, exclusive of the cost of the bronze
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
II
statue, which latter is the gift of a munificent, wealthy citizen of Savannah.
Bonaventure Cemetery, three miles from the city, only fifteen minutes ride by the Coast Line Railroad, is one of the loveliest spots in the country; long avenues, arched by the branches of great live oak trees, from which an immense quantity of gray moss sweeps, adding much to the solemnity of the place. Bona venture derives its name from the original tract of which it formed a part, and which was settled about 1670 by Col. John Mulryne. By the marriage of his daughter, in 1761, to Josiah Tattnall, "of Charleston, it came in possession of the latter family. This mar riage is said to have been the occasion of the planting of the trees which adorn the place. It is said that they were planted in the forms of the letters M and T, the initials of the brides and grooms respective family names.
Thunderbolt, the terminus of the Coast Line Railroad, four miles from the city, the Scheutzen Platz, on the same line, Isle of Hope and Montgomery, on the Savannah Skidaway and Sea board Railroad, distant seven and ten miles respectively, are pleasant places of resort, much frequented by the citizens of *Savannah.
Tybee Island, at the mouth of the Savannah river, and Beach Hammock, several miles south, are becoming very prominent as seaside resorts.
Fort Pulaski, on Cockspur Island, near the mouth of Savan nah river, was the scene of a weary siege during the late war. The fort was badly battered up by the Federal guns from Tybee Island. Since the war it has been thoroughly repaired.
Millers, No. i, Chatham county, Georgia; 10 miles from Savan nah, 2 miles west of the Little Ogeechee river; post office.
Ways Station, No. i^, Bryan county, Georgia ; 16 miles from Savannah; post office. Just east of this station the road crosses the Great Ogeechee river, on which are situated many of the largest rice fields in the State. At Genesis Point, below the railroad bridge, Fort McAllister is situated, which the Federal fleet made several unsuccessful attempts to pass, to capture the blockade runner "Rattlesnake," formerly the steamship Nashville, which was lying above. They finally succeeded in sinking it with guns. Fort McAllister was stormed from the rear, and captured by a portion of Shermans army, December 20, 1864.
7 ii
12
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
Fleming, No. 2, Liberty county, Georgia; 24< miles~from Savan nah; post and telegraph offices. Sunbury, 15 miles from here, on the coast, is one of the oldest settlements in the State.
Melntosh, No. 3, Liberty county, Georgia; 31 miles from Savannah; post office. This is the nearest station to Flemington, distant 2% miles, Hinesville, the county site, 5 miles, and Riceboro, 10 miles.
Walthourville, No. 4, Liberty county, Georgia; 38 miles from Savannah; post office. The village of same name, ij4 miles from the station; is pleasantly located, and was formerly the home of many of the wealthy planters from the coast, and was noted for the intelligence and refinement of its society; there are a few of the old families still residing there.
Johnstoil, No. 4^, Liberty county, Georgia; 46 miles from Savannah; post office. Six and a half miles from this station, the road crosses the Altamaha river, on a lattice bridge with four spans. This river is one of the largest in the State. It is formed by the junction of the Oconee and Ocmulgee rivers; the former is navigable for steamers to Dublin, and the latter to Macon. Large quantities of lumber, etc., are shipped by this river to Darien, Ga., at its mouth, on the coast.
Doetortown, No. 5, Wayne county, Georgia; 53 miles from Savannah; post office. This station is the site of an old Indian town, and the former abode of a celebrated "medicine man;" hence the name of the place.
Jesnp, No. 6, Wayne county, Georgia; 57 miles from Savannah: county seat; telegraph office and junction of the Macon and Brunswick Railroad; 411 miles from B-iunswick and 146 from Macon. The new and commodious "Altamaha Hotel" here will accommodate 100 guests. The hotel is also the eating house for passengers via the Macon and Brunswick Railroad; trains stop 20 minutes for meals. . A weekly paper, the Jesup Sentinel, is published here. The pi ice is growing rapidly; population 750.
Scpcyen, No. 7, Wayne county, Georgia; 68 miles from Savannah; post and express offices.
Patterson, No. 7^, Pierce county, Georgia; 78 miles from Savannah; post office. On the line of the road in vicinity of this place are located a number of steam saw mills for cutting yellow pine lumber.
Blaekshear, No. 8, Pierce county, Georgia; 86 miles from
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SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
13
Savannah; population about 1,200. This point offers many inducements to those seeking health and winter homes in the South. The society is good, and many evidences are presented of steady, permanent growth. It is situated in the great pine belt of Georgia; land in this, section is slightly rolling, hence is well drained; climate is delightful and healthy the year round ; land is cheap and the inhabitants kindly disposed to settlers. Browns Hotel, recently built, will accommodate 40 to 50. Knowles House will accommodate about 30. Board, per day, $1.50; per week, $6.00; per month, $15 to $20."
Waycross, Ware county, Georgia; 96 miles from Savannah ; county seat; post office; population, 600; junction of Brunswick and Albany Railroad. This town was laid out in 1872. It stands on a sandy ridge, with clay subsoil, and a clear, bold stream of running water on the south. From its advantageous position, it bids fair to become a place of some note, and has already attracted the notice of a colony from New Jersey, many of whom have recently made their homes here, attracted by the advantages of good land, cheap homesteads, and the general thrifty appearance of the town.
Tebeauville, No. 9, Ware county, Georgia; 97 miles from Savannah; post and telegraph offices. This is a place near the * northern portion of the celebrated Okefenokee Swamp, which abounds with game of all descriptions.
Glenmore, No. 10, Ware county, Georgia; 108 miles from Savannah; post office.
Argyle, No. 10%, Clinch county, Georgia; 116 miles from Savannah.
Homerville, No. n, Clinch county, Georgia; 122 miles from Savannah; post office; county seat; population, 350; academy . Methodist and Baptist churches.
DnPont, No. 12, Clinch county, Georgia; 131 miles from Savannah; telegraph and post offices; junction with the Florida division of the Savannah, Florida and Western Railroad. Located on heavy timbered pine lands. The health of DuPont and surrounding country is unparalleled; no typhoid or other miasmatic sickness. As a farming country, it is pronounced by experienced planters to be superior to Virginia or Carolina; the range is good for cattle and hogs. Cheap lands in abundance for emigrants, much of it from fifty cents to one dollar per acre.
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SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
. No. 13, Clinch county, Georgia; 138 miles from Savannah; post office; population, 150. The village is pleasandy located in an elevated pine region. There is a pottery located here, which makes a superior article of earthen ware for domestic use.
Savior. No. 14, Lowndes county, Georgia ; 144 miles from Savannah ; population, 100 ; post office, one church, one hotel, one academy, one saw mill, and three stores ; healthy locality. Lands sell from $1.00 to $5.00 per acre. The productions of surrounding country are long and short cotton, corn, rice, oats, sweet potatoes, sugar cane, and all kinds of vegetables. The Alapaha river, two miles distant, abounds in fish. Milltown, a village ten miles distant, and near the famous Banks Mill Pond ; area of pond ten square miles ; water sufficient to drive a large amount of machinery. Nashville, county seat of Berrien county, 27 miles distant ; excellent section for farming, hog, sheep and cattle raising.
Yaldosta. No. 15, Lowndes county, Georgia: 157 miles from Savannah ; post and telegraph offices ; county seat ; population about 2,000. This is a place of considerable importance in this section. Surrounded by a very fertile country, entirely free from malaria, it offers many inducements to settlers. Cotton, grain of all kinds, (especially corn, wheat and oats,) sugar cane, potatoes, and the products of this section are abundantly produced. The winters are mild and pleasant, and the invalid may here find a cheap and comfortable home. The town is finely situated and neatly laid off, containing many brick store houses, and a new brick court house. There are four churches Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian and Christian several schools, a well-kept hotel, and a bank. The Valdosta Times, a weekly newspaper, is pub lished here. The trade of the place supports some 26 stores. Good farming lands in the vicinity can be bought at from $i .00 to $5.00 per acre, depending upon improvement. At this point the "cotton belt" of Georgia begins. To parties seeking invest ment in lands, or permanent homes in the South, or a place to spend a winter pleasantly, Valdosta presents many inducements. Name of hotel Stuarts Railroad House, C. T. Stuart, pro prietor; accommodation for fifty; opposite Savannah, Florida and Western Railway depot. Rates of board, $2.00 per day ; $18.00 to $25.00 per month. Board can be had in private houses
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
15
at $10.00 to $15.00 per month. There are three livery stables
here, which furnish good teams at moderate rates.
Onsley, No. 15^, Lowndes county, Georgia; 166 miles from
Savannah; post office. One and a half miles west of this station
the road crosses the Withlacoochee river, near which is the
Boston or Blue Springs. These Springs have quite a reputation,
and are much frequented by the people of the adjacent country.
Qnitman, No. 16, Brooks county, Georgia; 174 miles from
Savannah; post office, money order and telegraph offices ; county
seat; population about 2,000. This town is situated in the midst of
one of the finest farming sections of Southwestern Georgia. The
principal productions of the county are corn, cotton, oats, rye^
ground-peas, field-peas, sugar cane, potatoes, Irish and sweet,
and rice. Some wheat has been raised in the county, but has not
been generally sown, owing to the want of flouring mills. Almost
all kinds of vegetables are grown here. Peas, beets, squashes,
cucumbers, onions, radishes, cabbages, tomatoes, strawberries,
etc., are grown in great quantities. Watermelons, muskmelons,
cantelopes and pumpkins do remarkably well. In fact, every and
all kinds of common products for which the human family find
a relish are grown here in bountiful supply. Some of these
products can be made to yield two and three times a year, such
as Irish potatoes and field-peas.
./
The average yield of corn is 10 bushels per acre, though it has
been increased to 90 bushels per acre. Improved farming has
increased the yield, in very many instances, to 30 and 40 bushels
to the acre. The average yield of oats is 15 bushels per acre,
cotton a bale of soopouuds to three acres, rye 8 to 12 bushels,
ground-peas 20 to 30 bushels. Sugar cane yields from 300 to
to 55 gallons syrup per acre, and other things in the same pro-
portion. Attention is now being directed to fruit, and vegetable
market gardening, and whenever it has been tried,. success has
been the result, the railroads offering every facility for shipping
these early products. Taxes are exceeding moderate the
average aggregate State and county tax being about 7^ mills.
Land is readily purchased in desirable quantities, and at prices
varying from $1.00 to $20.00 per acre, according to quality. The
climate is delightful, and free from malarial diseases. The in
habitants of this section are progressive and intelligent, and alive
to the importance of immigration. The town of Quitman is
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SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
eligibly situated, and contains five churches three white and two colored; also, a flourishing school. Seven miles east from Quitman, in said county, is a large, bold, limestone spring, about one hundred feet in circumference, and fifteen feet in its deepest part. This is quite a resort as a watering place, there being near just across the county line, but within a few hundred yards a fine sulphur spring of efficacious medicinal qualities.
Dixie, No. 17, Brooks county, Georgia; 181 miles from Savannah; post and express offices. Grooverville is 6 miles distant.
Boston, No. 18, Thomas county, Georgia; 188 miles from Savannah; 9 miles from the Florida line; i mile from the Aucilla creek; 2 miles from Piscola creek; population 500; post and express offices, and Masonic Lodge and Patrons of Husbandry. Five churches in this place, Baptist, Presbyterian and Methodist, and colored Baptist and Methodist; also, good male and female schools. Boston is pleasantly situated, and extremely healthy. Water good, in wells, and plenty of spring water in the incorpo rate limits. Boston is entirely surrounded by the best average farming lands in the State; very productive of corn, peas, potatoes, oats, highland rice, sugar cane and cotton, and ad mirably adapted to fruit, when cultivated, especially grapes, pears, peaches, plums, apples and tropical fruits. The very finest water melons abound in all parts of the country, in their season. These lands can be bought at prices ranging from $5.00 to $8.00 per acre for improved, and from $1.00 to $4.00 per acre for grazing.
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
(Contributed by JOHN TRIPLET, Editor Thomasville Times.)
THOMAS COUNTY, GA.
A Fair Sample of the Interior Counties of South Georgia.
The natural advantages for mans sustenance and enjoyment are more equally distributed throughout the earth than is generally supposed; but when the climate, the seasons, the water courses, the soil and its varied productions, the proximity to the great highways of commerce, and the topography of
THOMAS COUNTY, GEORGIA,
are duly considered and compared with the advantages of other sections, nature will be found to have expended here more than an average share of her blessing.
LOCALITY.
Thomas county lies in the southwestern portion of the State, being bounded on the south by Florida, and having only one county (Decatur) on the west between it and Alabama. The Savannah, Florida and Western Railway, from Savannah to Bainbridge, runs through from east to west, dividing the county into two nearly equal sections, and touching its county site, Thomasville, exactly two hundred miles westward from Savannah. The South Georgia and Florida Railroad, fifty-eight miles long, starts at Thomasville and connects at Albany with the South western Railroad, and the entire railway system of the State, and of Alabama by way of Eufaula and Montgomery.
Arrangements are being made to extend the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway so as to make an direct connection with New Orleans. Thus this section will be on the great high way between New Orleans and the nearest Atlantic pert. 'Over this route will, necessarily and naturally, flow a large portion of the productions of the Mississippi ^valley.
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
THE CLIMATE.
Lying, as it does, but a few degrees north of the tropics, snow is seen only about once or twice hi an ordinary liletime,and the ground never freezes enough to prevent the entrance of the plow; while in summer, the heat of an almost vertical sun is tempered by breezes from the Gulf and the Atlantic that the thermometer rarely ever registers more than ninety degrees in the shade, and the nights are never oppressively, nor even uncomfortably warm. The disagreeable "Northers" of the western plains in the same latitude are never known in this section, nor the sudden changes from heat to cold so common in the Atlantic States a few degrees north of this section. Laboring men can work twelve months in the year in this county and have perfect health at the same time. It is as free from malaria and all climatic diseases as any portion of the west or northwest.
ITS SALUBRITY
is in fact not surpassed by that of any section of the whole country. Those dreadful scourges, cholera and yellow fever, have never yet penetrated to this section; lung diseases are very rare, and usually of a mild type; and typhoid fevers are com paratively unknown and much less severe than in more northern and elevated regions.
THE SEASONS.
As there are no extremes of heat or cold, so there is an exemption of such floods or droughts as sometimes visit the northern and western sections of the Union. No such thing as a general failure of crops has ever been known in Thomas county. Small grain may be sown whenever convenient, from September to February. Potatoes will produce good crops planted any time during the first six months of the year, and two crops are often made on the same ground. Sweet potatoes are planted from February to July and from May to July; the "draws" or cuttings from the vines already growing "being set out" instead of planting the seed potatoes. Turnips are sown in July, August and Septmeber, and also in February and March for spring crop. Corn is planted from February to June, cotton, generally in April; sugar cane, in February and March.
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
There is not a month in the year that a farmer may not plant some crop and gather some other.
WATER COURSES.
The Ocklockonee River in the west, and the Aucilla in the eastern portion of the county, with their numerous tributaries from4iving springs, furnish an abundance of good, pure freestone water for all purposes. Good freestone water can also be had from wells in any part of the county at an average depth of twenty-five feet.
THE SOIL. 4
The surface of the county is undulating with a variety of soil adapted to almost any and all kinds of agricultural and horticul tural products. Cotton and corn are the principal productions, but rice, sugar-cane, oats, rye, pindars, and peas are as profitably grown. From ten to fifty bushels of corn are produced to the acre; from ten to fifty bushels of rice, from fifty to two hundred bushels of Irish potatoes, from one to three hundred bushels of sweet potatoes, from one to three hundred bushels of turnips, from two to four hundred gallons of good syrup from sugar-cane, and from one bale of cotton to five acres, to one bale per acre.
Under the intensive system of farming, the soil is capable of *
producing very large crops. One hundred and nineteen bushels of corn, ninety-five bushels of oats, seven hundred and five gal lons of syrup, eighty-four bushels of rice, each, have been made to the acre.
STOCK.
and poultry, of almost every kind, are easily raised here. Of the former, horses, cattle, hogs, sheep and goats, with proper at tention, can be ruade very profitable; the large area of unculti vated lands being specially adapted to the purpose.
MELONS AND FRUIT.
Melons of every variety and of superior size and quality arc grown throughout the county, while fruits, such as peaches apples, pears, figs and plums, grow luxuriously and bear bounti-
20
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
fully. Among the small fruits, such as raspberries, strawberries, etc., as fine specimens may be seen here as can be found any where.
Here may be seen some of the finest orchards in existence of the famous LeConte pear. It is one of the most rapid growers of the pear family, yields largely and compares in size and flavor with the standard varieties. Thomas county and the whole of South Georgia is the home of this prolific fruit. A specimen of the trees a five-year-old will be set out on the Exposition grounds.
GRAPES.
Recent experiments have fully demonstrated the fact that the growing of the grape, both for table use and the manufacture of wine, is a complete success, and promises, ere long, to become a source of considerable profit. All die leading varieties, Scuppernong, Hartford, Concord, Delaware, etc., etc., are grown in the highest perfection in the vineyard, while the woodlands abound with the wild varieties.
THE MORALS
of the people of Thomas county are decidedly good. Schools and churches are well attended, and are so numerous as to afford every community the advantage of both. In addition to the usual number of private schools, there are several public schools in successful operation.
LABOR
is plentiful, cheap and easily controlled. Field hands command usually from $7 to $10 per month, and, when properly directed, pay a handsome profit to the employer.
PRICE OF LANDS.
Lands can be bought at from $i to $10 per acre, according to quality and location, and are accessible to the county site (Thomasville) and the railroad depots, over public roads that can not be surpassed in the Southern country.
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
THOMASVILLE, GA.
Having gone over, in brief, some of the Agricultural resources
and advantages of the County, we now come to the fast growing
town of Thomasville, the metropolis of Southern Georgia. The
town is situated within ten hours run of Georgias Great Atlantic
seaport towns, Savannah and Brunswick, and within sixty miles
of the Gulf of Mexico, from whose broad expanse of waters come
wafted to us a sea breeze robbed of its humidity by its passage
inland and laden with the rich aroma of the vast pine forests lying
between this and the coast.
*.
To the stranger seeking a home, health is one of his first and
highest objects. We can not throw more light upon this subject
than by incorporating herewith the report of one of Georgias
most distinguished physicians to the late Medical Association of
the State of Georgia at their last annual meeting. This body is
distinguished alike for the high professional standard attained by
its members stnd the wisdom of its deliberations as a body.
In reference to Thomasville as a winter resort for invalids, we
quote the following from the report of Doctor T. S. Hopkins,
Chairman of the Committee on the practice of Medicine, second
Congressional District, on " The Pine Forests of Southern Geor
gia, its Climate and Adaptability to the Consumptive," read be
fore the Medical Association of Georgia, at its twenty-fifth an
nual convocation, on the second day of April, 1874, at Thomas
ville, Georgia:
,.
" A professional experience of nearly thirty years in that portion
of the Pine Belt of our State, lying between the Flint and Alta-
maha rivers, has afforded me ample evidence of its peculiar
adaptability to the consumptive. It is of rare occurrence, in our
travels through that entire district, to find a case of consumption,
and when found, it can be, in almost every instance, traced to
hereditary transmission. I doubt if there is on the globe any
region of country, of the same extent, more exempt from all dis
eases of the respiratory organs. I have often been surprised, at
the rapid improvement in my consumptive cases, after removal
22
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
from the seaboard into that region. I have never seen a case of Pulmonary Tuberculocis in that section of country that could be attributed to climatic influence. While I do not hestitate to rec ommend the entire district as a safe resort for the consumptive, I must admit that certain localities therein possess advantages superior to others. With my knowledge of the country, if an invalid, seeking a winter resort, I would select Thomas County, and preferably the town of Thomasville, on account of its elevavation, its thorough natural drainage, its pure and delightful free stone waters, its dryness, its equability of temperature, and its remotenessfrom the sea. This town, with a population of three thousand, is situated in latitude 30 deg. 40 north, and longitude 8 degi 40 east. It occupies the greatest elevation of any town between the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, at the dividing point of the waters flowing into them two hundred miles from the former, and sixty miles to the nearest point on the latter, in the midst of a vast pine forest of almost unlimited extent. Thus sit uated the winds from the ocean reach it sifted of all saline vapor and moisture, comparatively warm and innoxious. The natural drainage of the town is excellent, fully adequate to the speedy removal of all the water that falls, fn a few hours after the heaviest fall of rain the streets are dry and the atmosphere as clear and balmy as though no rain had fallen. In consequence of the rapidity with which the water is carried off, there is but lit tle absorption, hence but little evaporation, and,- as a conse quence, less moisture than at other points less favorably situated* There are no bodies of water within eighteen miles of the town, and the nearest river is four miles distant Fogs, which are the rule on the coast, are the exceptions here. During the past win ter the mercury was at the freezing point but three times, and then only for a few days.
"Some months since I addressed a circular letter to all the physicians with whom I was acquainted, as well as to those whose names were furnished me, practicing in the district of country referred to in this report, requesting them to furnish ine the number of cases of Phthisis Pulmonalis coming to their knowledge in their respective counties during the year 1873. Twenty physicians were kind enough to respond: The total number of cases reported is three, two of which are attributed to hereditary transmission; cause of the other not given. Thus, in a popula-
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
tion of fifty thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven, we have
but three cases of consumption reported for the year 1873. I am
satisfied that no other section of country can make a more favor
able report. Surely, a climate where consumption so rarely "oc
curs must be a safe climate for those in whom that disease exists/
Immediately after the reading of the report, Dr. H. V. M.
Miller, of Atlanta, offered the following resolution, which was
unanimously adopted by the association:
:....-,-
"Resolved, That this association earnestly and folly endorse
the opinions and statements contained in the paper just read by
Dr. T. S; Hopkins, and in view of its importance to the whole
country, desire to give to it the widest possible publicity." -'"'
As an evidence that the facts set forth above are true, and are
being widely disseminated and appreciated, it is only necessary
to refer to the hundreds from the North and West, who have for
several winters past sought this place as an asylum from the
rigors of a Northern climate. The Mitchell House, erected with
a special view of accommodating Northern visitors, is one of the
largest, most modern and well arranged hotels in the South. It
was first opened in 1876, and has been crowded every season
since. Although large and extensive in its original construction,
the proprietor has found it necessary to add over sixty rooms,
in order to accommodate the increasing patronage. The hotel
has been leased for a term of years by M. A. Bower, who is run
ning the house in a style which will compare favorably with any
first-class hotel North or South. Col. J. E. Bradford, one of the
most popular and well known hotel men in the North, is general
manager of the house.
In addition to the Mitchell House, there is the Gulf House,
situated near the depot, also well kept and weir conducted.
Another new hotel, near the center of the town, is being erected,
and will be ready for guests the coming winter. Besides these
there are many boarding houses, both public and private, where
board can be obtained at reasonable rates.
Thomasville is fast growing into an educational center. The
Young Female College, and the South Georgia Agricultural Col
lege (male) are located here. The latter is a branch of the Uni
versity of Georgia, and the tuition is free. Both institutions are
ably officered and well conducted. The following denominations
are represented in the place: Methodists, Baptists, Presbyteri-
24
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
ads, Episcopalians, Christians and Catholics. The latter two
have no church, but hold regular services in commodious build
ings.
The society of the town is equal to any in the State. The
place is noted for its morality, and the reputation of its citizens
for attending to their own business.
Strangers who come here to settle, or upon pleasure, are
treated kindly and cordially. The people gladly welcome any
who come for the purpose of locating and developing the coun
try. They want good citizens, come they from whatever section
they may.
.
The citizens of Thomasville are liberal in their views. Con
scientiously holding and practicing their own views, religious
and political, they accord the same right to others. They are
always ready and willing to grant that to others which they
daim for themselves. In no section of the South are visitors
met with more genuine Southern hospitality. To complete the
foregoing sketch the following letter is appended. It was written
by a Northern gentleman who settled in Thomasville:
*
Thomasville, Georgia, May 30,1876.
H. S. L. MORSE ESQ., Boston, Mass,
Dear Sir: In reply to yours of the 22nd inst, making enquiries about this place, and asking my advice in relation to coming here to live, per mit me to say that I do not like to advise you about your business affairs, but I will freely give you the benefit of my experience and im pressions after nearly two years residence in this place. I traveled through nearly every Southern State, including Florida, in search of a pleasant home in a mild climate, more especially on account of my health, and this place suited my ideas, as a Massachusetts man, more perfectly than any other one that I saw. First of all on account of its healthful advantages and locality, next in the intelligence and public spirit of the people, also its religious and educational advantages. We have here six churches in all, a female college, and a boys seminary,
both of a high order, and several superior private schools, and one or more supported by public funds.
Thomasville is a lively thriving town, handsomely laid out, containing a city hall, court house, and jail, a large hotel that would be a credit to any city, wide streets, beautifully shaded with evergreen oaks, mag nolias, etc. To me the climate is charming, the summers are long but no warmer tha* the wannest weather of New England; the winters are the crowning glory of all, with week after week of bright sunshine, and bat a few days tha make a fire necessary, particularly adapted to the
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
comfort of invalids. This town is becoming a favorite resort to such
persons during the winter. The water is good and plentiful. The soil
is very generous in its productions with only moderately good cultiva
tion ; the staple products are rice, cotton, sugar-cane, corn, oats, sweet
potatoes and pea-nuts; almost all of the Northern fruits and vegetables
do well here; two crops a year are easily produced; in fact one can
plow, plant, hoe, and harvest every month in the year; there is no rest
for the farmer. The semi-tropical fruits and flowers are almost indig
enous. Oranges, lemons, figs, bananas, pomegranates are easily pro
duced with a little protection against an occasional frost, Grapes and
small fruits are cultivated very successfully. Sheep husbandry might
be carried on with great profit; cows, hogs, and sheep sustain them
selves in vast numbers on forest grass all winter. I think a little care
and feeding would add to the profits. Land can be purchased for one
dollar an acre, and upwards, according to location and quality; the lim
ber is yellow pine, oak, hickory, poplar, cypress, bay, beech, maple, mag
nolia, etc., etc. Northern people are treated with much respect and cour-
tesy.and welcomed as citizens; and contrary to a too prevalent Northern
notion, ladies will be welcomed into good society. Georgia ladies are
not excelled by any others in politeness, a kind disposition and ability
to do the agreeable. We have most excellent neighbors, kind and social
as could be desired. To satisfy yourself on these points come here and
judge for yourself; you will find everything new to you, all very diner-
ent trom New England life. I like Georgia, her government and her
people, and only regret that*! did not come here at an earlier date.
Truly yours,
WM. P. HOMER.
Cairo, No. 20, Thomas county, Georgia; 214 miles from Sa vannah ; post office.
Widgham, No. 21, Decatur county, Georgia; 221 miles west of Savannah; is very pleasantly situated on high, rolling land. The healthfulness is unsurpassed, being almost entirely exempt from the malarial diseases which infest many Southern localities. The water in this section is unequaled, both for abundance and quality. A never-failing spring, equal in its character to the farfamed water of the hill country, is near the depot, discharging daily ten thousand gallons of pure cold water. The town is regularly laid out and incorporated) containing two good board ing houses, six stores, two churches, a good academy, post office and express office. Two miles west is a large turpentine distill ery. The land around this place is well adapted to agricultural purposes both pine and hammock Kes well, and is of full average grade of fertility. It surpasses any region around as a fruit growing section. Price of land ranges in price from $1.00
26
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
to $S.oo per acre. Six miles north is a remarkable natural curi
osity, known as the " Lime Sink," where a creek suddenly fells
over a perpendicular precipice, descending into the bowels of the
earth about 100 feet. It then disappears mysteriously under
ground. This channel has been explored for a distance of 200
yards from the point of its wonderful disappearance. Further
exploration was prevented by a large river. About two miles
from the " Lime Sink " is. another remarkable natural curiosity,
called the " Blowing Cave." Through an opening hi the earth,
nearly twelve inches in diameter, a strong current of air is ever
passing. During the morning, or first half of the day, the air es
capes from the opening, but throughout the afternoon, or latter
part of the day, the direction of the current is reversed, and is
drawn into the opening by some unseen power of suction, said
to be sufficiently strong to draw into the cave a handkerchief or
any other light body. This village offers to the immigrant seek
ing a desirable location many inducements.
(Jlinax, No. 22, 227 miles from Savannah, in Decatur county,
Georgia; post office.
Bainbridge, No. 23, Decatur county, Georgia; the present
terminus of the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad; telegraph, post and
express offices; county seat; population, 1,800. Situated on the
east bank of the Flint river, about fifty feet above the stream,
beautifully shaded with oaks; average annual temperature, 65,
healthful, and climate in winter particularly favorable to the
Northern invalid. This place does a thriving business with the
various landings on Flint, Chattahoochee, and Apalachicola
rivers. Steamboats, making semi-weekly trips on these rivers,
bring a large amount of cotton to Bainbridge, for shipment to
Savannah. The Weekly Democrat is published here. . Hotel,
Sharon House; accommodations for 75; rates $2.00 per day,
$8.00 per week, $25,00 per month; reduced rates to families.
Oekloeknee, Thomas county, Georgia; 211 miles from Savan
nah ; post and express offices. Within 2^ miles is the finest
water-power in Southwest Georgia, amply sufficient for a cotton
factory. Within five miles is a fine mineral spring; it is large
and perfectly transparent, beautifully situated, and with a small
outlay of capital could be made a popular summer resort; it is
situated opposite the 216 mile post, and about 500 yards from
r
the line of road. The health of this place cannot be surpassed.
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
Pelham, Mitchell county, Georgia; 224 miles from Savannah. This section of country offers superior inducements to manufac turers of naval stores. Timber plentiful and convenient to line of railroad. Only one man engaged in the business here. Plenty of room for more. Hands are easily had that understand work ing the trees, such such as cutting boxes, hacking, etc.
Camilla, Mitchell county, Georgia; 232 miles from Savannah; telegraph office; county seat. This is a pleasant little village, well located in a fine cotton growing country. Population, 800.
Baconton, Mitchell county, Georgia; 242 miles from Savan nah ; post office.
Hardaway, Dougherty county, Georgia; 250 miles from Sa vannah ; post office.
Albany, Dougherty county, Georgia; 258 miles from Savan nah ; terminus of the Albany division of the Savannah, Florida & Western Railway, and connected with Macon, Ga., by a branch railroad from Smithville to Arlington, 106 miles from Macon ; with Brunswick by the Brunswick and Albany Railroad. Telegraph office, county seat. Population, 3,500. From the central location of this town, it bids fair to become a prosperous city. Surrounded by the best cotton lands of the State, quite a trade is done in this staple. From 25,000 to 30,000 bales cotton are shipped from this point annually. There are several foun dries and mills here, and large warehouses for the storage :arid sale of cotton. Hotels: Albany House and Bogen House; rates per day, $2.00; per week, $u.oo; per month, $3 .00. Albany possesses in the Flint river a source of unlimited water-power, which, when utilized in the establishment of cotton and other factories, must prove a source of wealth and prosperity, while its transportation facilities, in being a junction point of three rail roads, makes it a competitive commercial center, from which it derives considerable advantages.
28
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
CHAPTER IV.
Stations and Points of Interest on the Macon and Bruns wick Railroad.
BRUNSWICK, GA.
An incorporated city the eastern terminus of the Macon and Brunswick and Brunswick and Albany Railroads 189 miles from Macon, 171 from Albany, and 97 by rail from Savannah.
It is situated on a peninsula running north and south, sur rounded on all sides but the north, which joins the main land, by salt water. To the south and west lie the waters of Brunswick harbor, a magnificent roadstead, with depth and capacity to safely accommodate the largest fleets. To the eastward is St. Simons Sound and the entrance from the Atlantic ocean. The distance from the light-house at the entrance to the eastern side of the city is only seven miles.
The bar and harbor of Brunswick are unsurpassed by any other port south of the Chesapeake. The entrance is between the two islands, St. Simons and Jekyle, and forms a wide, deep chan nel, easy of approach in any weather, day or night; having no sharp points, eddies, or dangerous currents, and presenting not the slightest difficulty of navigation even without the assistance of a pilot and vessels often dispense with the services of one. The distance across the bar is about one-fourth of a mile, and the channel is of sufficient width for a vessel to beat over it if the wind should be adverse.
After several thorough surveys by the United States Grvernmentat different periods, of the entire coast, an admirable site for a Navy Yard was purchased in Brunswick harbor. The average rise of the tide is seven feet, which gives at high water on the bar 24.feet. The place is unusually healthy, and vessels visit it at any season with impunity. No case of yellow fever is known to have ever originated in Brunswick, and the absence of fresh water streams and morasses exempts it from miasmatic fevers they pro-
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
duce in so low a latitude. The temperature is very equable; the mercury seldom rises to 94 or falls below 30 , the mean temper ature being 67 Fahrenheit. The sea-breeze from the ocean tempers the heat of summer, and renders the atmosphere more cool and pleasant than in interior towns of higher latitudes. In winter the weather is mild, the air soft, and the climate considered by visitors as unsurpassed.
The whole peninsula is healthy, has beautiful sites for residences, and excellent water. It is high and dry, and the entire plateau covered with a beautiful and luxuriant growth of live-oak and cedar. The walks and drives along the salts and through the woods are very attractive. On the eastern side of the city and beyond is a beautiful drive for miles near the water, in full view of St. Simons and Jekyle islands, the light-house on the former, and between these islands out to the ocean.
To those fond of yachting and hunting, the inducements offered by the beautiful rivers, adjacent sounds and ocean and numerous islands in the immediate vicinity, are unequaled. The greatest abundance of finest varieties of fish, oysters and other shell-fish are to be found in the surrounding waters.
There is scarcely any difference in the productions of this neighborhood and those of Florida. The soil is light, easily worked and very productive of fruits and vegetables, and one may usually have strawberries and green peas at Christmas in a well-tended garden. The olive grows readily, and with sufficient attention might prove of great value. The oil it yields is so superior that there is a demand for it at $8.00 per gallon. Oats, peas, corn, cotton, rice, sweet potatoes and sugar-cane are the main farming products of this section. There is no reason why the orange should not be successfully cultivated,, as was the case before the war; and there still exists a valuable and productive orange grove on Butlers Island, some fifteen miles to the north.
Property can be had in the city and adjoining country at very low figures, and much below the prices in Florida. The pirncipal business of the place is in lumber and naval stores, and has increased rapidly within a few years.
The wharf room available is sufficient for any city in the Union, and the railroads extend to the wharves, allowing transfer of freight from car to ship at minimum cost.
Brunswick is admirably situated for a great cotton mart, by
30
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
reason of its shorter lines of communication with the cottongrowing districts, and superior advantages as a port of shipment, but the place as yet has not had sufficient capital to attract busi ness in that staple.
By the two railroads terminating at Brunswick, daily commu nication is had with all points north and west and to Florida. A line of ocean steamers for New York touch at the port weekly, and, by an inland passage between the chain of beautiful coast islands and main land, communication is had by steamboat with Florida or Savannah.
Great advantages are offered for the location of manufactories and other industries. Among them are the fine climate, the cheapness with which all needful supplies can be furnished, and the accessibility to other points, including the extensive coal and mineral beds that are being developed in Georgia and Alabama.
Hardly any other point along the Atlantic, from Maine to Florida, affords such facilities for ship building, with an unlimited supply of the finest material at hand.
The place is regularly and tastefully laid out witfi alternate squares, and the walks and streets are shaded with beautiful liveoaks, festooned with draperies of hanging moss.
The whites have five churches, and the colored people fully as many. Some of the edifices are well built and attractive. Hotel accommodations are limited, there being but two small ones; but these are supplemented by several private boarding houses, which furnish comfortable and pleasant quarters.
Population about 3,500. .
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
EASTM/N, DODGE COUNTY, GEORGIA, .
STATION No. 13, MACON & BRUNSWICK R. R.
A Sample of what may be done on the Pine Lands of South Georgia.
A pretty town of some six hundred inhabitants, and growing more rapidly than any other place upon the line of the road. In the center of- a vast tract of lands, one-half of which has been owned by Northern capitalists since the days of the Indian pos session, fifty years ago, and held by them for investment. Thus, for half a century, one of the most prominent parts of the State has been largely closed to the farmers of this and other States, and its true development retarded by the value of the pine lim ber growing on these lands.
The building of the Macon & Brunswick Railroad for fifty miles through this most attractive region has opened a market for the pine timber, and arrangements have been made to rapidly clear and open the lands to intending settlers. .Eastman is the county town of Dodge county, and has a promising basis for future growth. For ten miles east and west up. and down the railroad, and for fifteen miles north to the Oconee river, and fifteen miles south to the Ocmulgee river, lies a region of beauti fully undulating or rolling prairie land, well watered with springs and small clear streams, embracing several hundred thousand acres, all of which is commercially tributary to this rising town. Within the next ten years one-half of this territory should be under the control of the farmer, and furnish traffic enough to support a town of several thousand inhabitants. The location of the town from a*sanitary point of view is probably unsur passed by any town in jfce Southern States. Situated from 500 to 600 feet above the level of the sea, on ground marked by in equalities of surface sufficient to provide ample drainage without being either hilly or level, with water unusually pure and good, and a climate free from sudden changes of moisture and temper-
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
32
attire, it is especially adapted for those who are suffering from bronchial or pulmonary affections, and is considered one of the
healthiest places for residence in the United States. By the advice of distinguished physicians and well-known
hotel proprietors, a company of gentlemen have here located one of the most attractive hotels in the South, with accommodations for over 100 guests, and an addition soon to be made to accom
modate as many more. The beautiful grounds, containing about 10 acres, are divided
by the railroad from the city park; on which, embowered in trees, stands the stately court-house, built at a cost of some $20,000, and a gift to the county from the Hon. William E. Dodge, of New York city. These grounds united form a fitting center to the town. Avenues to the number of eight are laid out at right angles from the railroad, while parallel with the rail road are other streets, named from the native forest trees.
The village already contains a dozen or more stores, a wagonfactory, turpentine-still, two considerable saw-mills, and two or three well-kept boarding-houses, where invalids and other comers
may secure cheaper board than at the hotel. The Eastman High School building is prettily situated on the
fifth avenue, and has from 50 to 70 scholars. Mr. Harrison, a teacher of some note in the State, of liberal education and cul ture, and a Christian gentleman, has charge of the school, and it is all one could desire for a new place. The Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian denominations have regular services, and a Union Sunday School, with over 100 on its rolls, is one of the principal attractions on Sunday. The village is governed by a mayor and four aldermen. The authorities have planted trees along some of the principal avenues, and efforts are made to keep the streets in good order. The land for a mile in each di rection from the court-house square has been laid out under the supervision of Mr. Ayres, of Macon, and the utmost advantage has been taken of all the natural beauties of the landscape. The main roads from the town wind around the: elevations, furnishing large numbers of desirable sites for villas and cottages. Village lots, or plots of from i to 5 acres, can be purchased at reasona
ble prices, as shown upon the map of the town. The west end of the town is beautified by the residences, of
Judge Bishop, Wright Harrel, Esq., and others, and by the ele-
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
33
gant residence of Hon. William Pitt Eastman, from whom, the
town takes its name. The last, situated upon a rising knoll, in
the midst of 60 acres of grounds, .with ample lawn, flower gar
dens, fruit and shade trees, and with extensive outbuildings,
would be considered a beautiful home anywhere on the Hudson
or in New England.
; , .,.' "/
For particulars as to the hotel, etc., we refer to article below. :; ..
The country about Eastman is slightly rolling, with plenty of
drainage. The soil is a sandy loam, and with proper cultivation
and treatment, is susceptible of great fertility. The subsoil is
clay, strongly impregnated with lime. Experiment has proved
that by gradually mixing this subsoil with the top soil, the crops
are greatly benefited. Mr. Eastman has produced a bale of cot-^
ton or 62 bushels of corn to the acre. He has experimented
with sugar-cane, and had a crop of 1,500 gallons of syrup.
.Fruits, vegetables and flowers are raised to perfection. Numer
ous farms in the county can be shown intending settlers, which
will this year average from 30 to 50 bushels of corn per acre, afcd
a bale of cotton to the acre; from 200 to 500 bushels of sweet
potatoes (the delicious yam of the South, far more palatable and
nutritious than the Irish potato), and from 50 to 100 bushels of
the Irish potato have been raised to the acre. Turnips yield
several hundred bushels per acre, and hundreds of gallons .of
syrup are frequently made from an acre of sugar-cane. Field-
peas, the clover of the South, oats, rye, and various kinds of millet
are certain and most prolific crops.
ni
The railroad company is offering unusual facilities and encour
agement in freights for the production of early vegetables and
melons, and market gardeners can compete successfully with
Florida and other points in shipments to the West
., ; .
Strawberries, raspberries and currants grow well, and in* the
season blackberries and whortleberries are daily brought to the
village market by the children, affording an abundant supply.-; < ,
Grapes grow wild in great abundance throughout this region,
and the prediction is often made, that in time, this sunny land
will vie with the best portions of France and Italy, in grape-cult
ture. This region has long been known as favorable for stockt
raising, on account of the universal profusion of native grass
throughout the pine forest lands. In the spring and early sura*
mer, the miles of English-park-like land, free from undergrowth,
34
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
is covered with a young and tender grass, and as far as the eye can reach, presents a beautiful appearance, and affords the most desirable pasturage for cattle and sheep.
Hundreds of thousands of stock are now owned in this ;<nd die adjoining counties^ and are very profitable to their owners. With proper care, there is room for ten where now there is one, and with herds and flocks carefully shepherded as in other coun tries, the injury from dogs and other enemies would be greatly lessened. Wool is probably the most profitable product of this section; a number of residents are owners of flocks of sheep of several hundred each, producing from 2 to 4 pounds of wool per head, and the whole cost to the owners is the trouble of driving them up annually, shearing them, and marking the lambs. A. little care and attention would much improve the breeds of both sheep and cattle. Cattle are constantly sold at fair prices for Sa vannah and the sea-board markets. Sheep-raising will return a dividend of from 60 to 70 per cent, annually oh the outlay.
No effort has been made to regularly feed and fatten hogs for market, though thousands upon thousands of half-wild pigs live and roam the woods without care, and furnish meat to the farm ers. With half the care taken in Ohio, Tennessee, and other States, pork-packing could be made profitable; so also could the business of raising goats, and furnishing Eastern dealers with kid skins, which are in great demand. After visiting almost all parts of the West, Canada, Australia and South America, a resident here says that with ordinary industry, no part of the world pre sents a fairer field for the intending emigrant.
It is pre-eminently the country for men of moderate means to come to. For eight months in the year, the climate is the superb climate of the South of France and Northern Italy. Hundreds of days are like the best days of October and early June in the North, when with the balmy breezes and clear skies, it is simply a pleasure to live.
Northern people talk of Eastern and Middle Georgia as .if it was under the equator, but even the four hottest months of sum mer are not more trying to the Anglo-Saxon than the same months in New York or even Canada. As fine specimens of men physically can be produced from this region as from any part of the United States. Not one-half the real labor is here required for a comfortable support as in the North and Canada,
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
35
where people struggle all summer to supply food and warmth
for the long winters. Here their time and thoughts can be given
to gaining a surplus, and to comfort and culture. Many South
ern persons now believe if it had not been for the peculiar insti
tution of the South, Middle and Western Georgia, Tennessee,
Kentucky, Northern Alabama and Arkansas would have been to
day the richest, happiest and most populous part of America.
Most native persons here begin to realize this, and after years of
residence in the South since the war, the writer of this article,
who is a Northern man, has yet to hear the first man wish this
peculiar institution back. Notwithstanding the wicked howlings
of interested politicians, I affirm that emigrants from all parts of
the world, who honestly desire to take part in the development
of the vast future wealth of this section of our common country,
will be welcomed with warm-hearted Southern courtesy and kind
ness. .
This is especially true in the case of the new colonies in Dodge
county. In the town of Eastman, one-third of the people are
from the North, and the most cordial feeling exists between them
and the older citizens.
A favorable feature in the culture of the soil in this county is
the ease with which it can be plowed and worked. Two or three
acres can be cultivated with as little manual labor as one acre of
stiff clayey or heavy bottom lands, and thus the results of toil
are as great in quantity produced as on the best bottom lands.
The contrast with lands in the West and Texas, where corn is
worth only 15 to 20 cents per bushel, so far from market that
transportation consumes the life of the farm and farmer, is
marked. Here corn is selling freely at $i per bushel, and within
100 to 150 miles to the Atlantic coast, this locality has the benefit
of the best market and prices.
.
In the heart of Georgia, one of the old thirteen States, Dodge*
Telfair, Montgomery, Pulaski, Laurens, and their adjoining coun
ties, offer home privileges and opportunities that few, if any, of
the Western States can give.
Lands can now be bought as cheap as in Texas or the West,
and the country once fairly populated, farms now bought must
ere many years double and treble in value.
.,
There are in this vicinity, along the line of the railroad, six
other towns.
.,
36
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
Lumber City, or Station No. 9, Macon and Brunswick Rail road, is the site of a considerable timber traffic, near the junction of the three rivers, and a promising place. Numbers of fine bot tom-land farms can be had near this place. The mail for Jack sonville, the former county town of Telfair, goes from here, dis tance eight miles.
Towns, or Station No. 10, M. & B. R. R., is a village with a saw-mill, grist-mill, turpentine works, and several stores. Within one and a hah0 miles from the station is the Clemens Institute, a seminary under the auspices of the Methodist Church, where over ico students have excellent opportunities for obtaining an education. The seminary building is surrounded by twenty or more cottages and boarding-houses.
McVillc, or Station No. 10^, is one of the best business centers in the region, with turpentine works, and several busy stores and shops. It is pleasantly situated, and likely to become a consid erable place.
MeRae, or Station No. n, is the county seat of Telfair county, the most populous county in this part of Georgia. It has many excellent farms, and is largely settled by good old Scotch stock. McRae has an excellent farming country around it, now just being opened by the axe of the timber-cutters. The place contains two public houses, court-house, shops and stores, and during courtweek is full of life.
Chauneey, or No. 12, M. & B. R. R., is named after the late William Chauncey, Esq., of New York city, one of the oldest and best merchants of that city, who was largely interested in pine lands near the town, and whose family will be interested in the growth of a village here. There are now four or five stores here, and the extensive shingle-mill of Sumner & Mullen. Enterprising turpentine men from North Carolina have secured 3,000 acres of choice lands, and are erecting extensive works for the manufac ture of naval stores at Maunds, No. nj, M. & B. R. R.
The Georgia Land and Lumber Company, of New York city, Hon. W. E. Dodge, President, for whom the county is named, has its headquarters at Eastman. This company controls from 300,000 to 400,000 acres of choice lands, and is preparing rapidly to get its lands into market Within the last year or two it has commenced extensive lumbering operations on its lands, and is offering excellent opportunities to immigrants who are used to
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
37
the axe, who may desire contracts for hauling, or who have farm produce to sell. It has invested within the last year $80,000 in the finest saw-mill on the coast, at St. Simons Island, the timber supply for which must come from these lands. Settlers, while preparing homes and farms, probably can obtain work at fair wages in their lumber camps, or could pay for their farms by the delivery of timber on the railroad.
This company has prepared and ready for sale at low rates, ten excellent farms, near the towns and railroad. These farms have from 10 to 50 acres under cultivation, are neatly fenced, and pro vided with an excellent farm-house (of several rooms), painted white, with green blinds, on each place. Very advantageous terms will be made to the right kind of settlers, to induce them to come among us, and these homes will prove very attractive to them. Uncleared lands can be had at from $2.00 to $5.00 per acre near the railroad, and at cheaper rates farther back; 5o-acre farms, with residences as above, with 10 acres cleared and fenced, can be purchased at from $600 to $800 each. Payments part cash, and the balance on favorable terms. These farms should pay for themselves in a few" years, besides affording a good sub sistence for a family. Farms can be bought from other parties also. Good bottom lands, near the rivers at Lumber City, can be had for about $5.00 per acre. Every effort will be made to give intending purchasers satisfaction.
For many reasons, therefore, no part of the South is more favorable for those who wish to escape the hardships ,and rigors of less hospitable and colder climates.
38
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
CHAPTER V.
Towns and Points of Interest on the Line of the Brunswick and Albany Railroad.
Brnnswifk, the terminus of both the Macon and Brunswick and Brunswick and Albany roads, having already been described, in chapter four, descriptive of points of interest on the line of the Macon and Brunswick Railroad, it is only necessary to add that there has been since that sketch was written, in 1876, very great improvement in business. The lumber and naval store business has more than doubled. Seventy new business and dwelling houses have been erected since January ist, 1880, and a number of new buildings are now in course of erection. Chess, Carley <fc Co., the largest dealers in oils and naval stores in the South* have established a branch house and are doing a heavy business, which they will rapidly increase. This firm, with A. F. Franklin & Co., Forrester & Co., and Duck & Co., are doing a large busi ness in wholesale groceries, hay, grain and ship supplies. New merchants are coming in, and the lumber and naval store busi ness for this year will beat last 20 per cent, higher than a table of exports elsewhere given (see tabular statement) shows for 1880. There have been as many as sixty-six vessels in port at one time this year loading with lumber and naval stores. The Macon and Brunswick Railroad Company are rapidly completing deep water wharves, and the Brunswick and Albany Railroad is contemplat ing improvements of like character. The cotton season has opened with considerable shipments. Col. Schlatter, whose re lations to the Brunswick and Albany Railroad are the same as Maj. Haines* relation to the Savannah, Florida and Western, who has watched over this road for over 25 years with unswerving fidelity to its interests, and to the interests of Brunswick, and whose careful management has made the sale to the ElangerSeligman Syndicates a fact, and insured a bright future for Bruns wick, with his assistant, Mr. Meador, an able railroad officer, is
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
39
sure to make of Brunswick in the next five years a terminus worthy of the great through route to the Pacific which Mr. Wolffes geniusJias cemented together out of detached portions of the road, and Brunswick and Savannah the Georgia outlets of four great systems of Western railway communication, will grow and prosper in generous rivalry, each having enough to do. There are a large number of Northern men engaged in business in Brunswick, all of whom are doing well. St. Simons mills, on the island of that name, eight miles from Brunswick, is the largest on the coast, and saws as high as a half million feet of lumber per week. It is owned by Dodge, Meigs & Co., of New York, and managed by Warren A. Fuller, a Northern man, from whom a letter written years ago appears in this book, (see chapter 8); Cook Brothers & Co., a firm of Northern men, also operate a mill for the manufacture of lumber in Brunswick. J. Wilder, Esq., has an 8,000 acre turpentine farm near Brunswick and is doing a heavy business. Jamaica, 12 miles from Brunswick, is the depot from which Hon. J. W. Tison, our late Senator, and his neighbors get their goods. He is one of the heaviest cattle owners and most successful agriculturalists in the State. At Waynesville, 23 miles from Brunswick, which boasts a splendid Sulphur spring, and is a delightful summer resort, there are three turpentine farms owned by J. H. Allison, Covington & Gleason and B. Barnes. Some distance above Mr. Buck has an extensive turpentine farm. Still further up the Brunswick and Albany road, at Nahunter, Messrs. Burbage & Leary have a fine turpen tine farm, and at Hoboken, in Pierce county, W. E. Burbage has another turpentine farm. At the crossing of the Satilla river in Wayrie county, Prentice & Son, from Michigan, have a fine mill, procuring their logs by rafting on the river, and by purchase. Reppard & Walters had a fine mill at Dixonia, in a body of tim ber of about 150,000 acres, which was destroyed by fire in July last. This was the largest mill on any of the lines of road, and was ably managed by probably the ablest mill manager in the State, Nicholas Dixon, Esq. The company, with their usual energy and promptness, have put the loss behind them and are building a still larger mill near Waycross, the rapfd completion of which is insured by the fact that Dixon is in charge of the work. Upland rice yields largely along this line of road, as it does indeed all through South Georgia, and is cultivated for profit. Joseph A.
40
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
Baker & Co., are largely engaged in the manufacture of naval stores at Schlatterville, 50 miles from Brunswick, and W. F. Bailey has a fine steam saw mill and is doing ra good business. These are the industries outside of agriculture between Waycross and Brunswick. As the name implies, Waycross, the county . seat of Ware county, is the point where the Savannah, Florida - and Western and Brunswick and Albany roads cross each other, and although laid out as late as 1872 has a population of about 700 and is rapidly growing. Healthily situated and easy of access, it has already attracted a number of settlers from New Jersey. More are coming, and it is destined to become a thriving town, an educational center, and a resort for invalids and
tourists. Waresboro, on the line of the Brunswick and Albany Rail
road, was formerly the county seat of Ware county, is the center of a thriving agricultural settlement, and sells many goods. J. C. McDonald & Co. have a fine mill at Red Bluff, and in common with all other mill men are making money. Space and want of dates forbids that we should refer to all the locations and busi ness enterprises, from Waresboro to Albany, and we therefore next notice Rosendale, which is 108 miles from Brunswick, Here Saturn & Bro. have a turpentine farm of 30 crops, including the crops of neighbors. They employ 75 hands, have finely tim bered lands, 6,000 to 7,000 acres tapped, the yield good. The Alapaha river is crossed at the 109, crops are green and growing, and a general air of promise and prosperity pervades the place.
BERRIEN COUNTY.
Alapaha, 112 miles from Brunswick, is a lively and business like little village. It has six stores with mixed stocks, and three bar-rooms; the aggregate sales reach about $100,000 per annum; they have two physicians, two lawyers and one dentist. The population is three hundred. It has also a sprightly weekly newspaper, the Berrien County News, W. H. Lastinger editor and proprietor, who "hews to the line" and is clearing the way for settling and building up one of the finest sections of the State. He is putting in some good strokes for the development of the
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
41
country. There is considerable trade here, some heavy stocks, and the people enjoy the advantages of post, exp ess and tele graph offices, fierrien is regarded the best agricultural county on the line of this road. The lands are rolling, free from saw palmetto, easily cleared and cultivated, and highly productive. Sheep raising is successful and profitable here, and the pasturage being rich and ample but little labor and expense is involved beyond watching the sheep. The winters are so mild that shelter is scarcely needed. Wool is always in demand, at remunerative prices, and to many of the land owners along this route is a rich source of revenue. The culture of high land rice is attracting considerable interest here; it is a paying crop, and the planters are increasing the average of rice each year. Bee culture is also profitably carried on; the honey is as rich and pure as that from California. The writer has paid here in city drug stores in South ern Georgia as much for four ounces of honey from Los Angelos as was charged at that time for a. gallon of honey made here in our own fields and forests ours being equally as good for table and medicinal purposes.
This is a land of promise, a place of refuge for all strangers with pulmonary affections. Consumption among the natives is almost unknown. But here the wearied invalid from Northern lands finds the odorous pine forests freighted with healing balm in every breath, with broad acres of peach orchards producing the brandy which mixed with honey is known to be a cure for diseased lungs. Given the mild climate, the dry atmosphere, the bright sunshine, the gentle breezes, the pure water, the resinous odors, peach and honey, fat beef and mutton, and the chances are largely in favor of the cure of pulmonary affections. In sight of the railroad there is but little cotton growing; other products are found as profitable and less laborious. Agriculture and horticul ture are progressive. We heard, in passing through Ware county, of an orange tree at Mr. Styles Murrays home which bore seven hundred oranges last year. It is not an old tree, but our informer could not be exact as to its age. Orange groves would be valuable here. The tree flourishes and produces abund antly the whole length of the road, and even at this end, in Albany, is rarely injured by frost. The labor and expense of sheltering them is but trifling, compared with the monied value of the trees. The scuppernong grape vine flourishes hi all
42
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
his country. The yield of grapes is large and unfailing. The writer has been familiarwith grape culture from childhood, and from North Carolina to Florida has never seen a diseased scup^pernong vine. The wine of this grape is the most delicious of all domestic wines, and has fine medicinal properties.
* Fruit in great variety grows in perfection in Berrien county, reaches, apples, pears, quinces, grapes, oranges, figs, cherries and various kinds of berries grow side by side, while the melons are exceptionally fine.
The finest water-power in this region of country is in Berrien county, one mile from the beautiful little village af Milltown, about twenty miles from the line of the Brunswick and Albany railroad and fourteen miles from the Savannah, Florida and Western rail road. Milltown, by the way, is a most desirable place. It is situated on a high, dry, sandy knoll, shaded with oaks; has pure freestone water, good society, churches and schools.
At the 115 mile post F. F. Woodburn has a turpentine farm. This is the first year of working it. They have twenty crops, and 6,000 acres of virgin forest, except what is tapped for turpentine. Their postoffice is Enigma, at the 117 mile-post, where J. W. .Ball & Co. have a turpentine farm in its second year. They have -thirty crops and 5,000 acres of finely timbered lands.
At Brookfield, 122, Mr. Wood has a turpentine farm of thirty crops. Here are four stores, a postoffice, and a small village. These lands are rolling and elevated; the timber well cut away, ,the farms productive. Rice is successfully grown here; sheep husbandry is remunerative, and bees a source of large profitCorn, potatoes, and small grains thrive, and the people can live, and live well, at home. It has been said of Berrien county that if a Chinese wall surrounded it the people would be comfortably independent of the outside world.
Vaneeville, at the 125 mile-post, is a new and bright looking little settlement. Here Furlong Bros, have a sawmill which cuts 15,000 feet of lumber per day. They have a tramway started, the engine and iron on the ground. The country is rolling and beautiful. There are many lovely building sites on this roadNature has made them beautiful, and in a few short years our eyes may be permitted to see beautiful gardens, vineyards and orchards, where now the wiregrass flourishes. Lawrence & Guest have here a turpentine farm. Vaneeville is their- post office.
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
43
*
They run twenty crops. Mayo & Sons have also a turpentine farm of twenty crops.
Tifton. H. H. Tift is at the head of this large establishment. Seventy-five hands are employed and the mill cuts 18,000 feet per day, or about eighty logs. They run seven four-mule teams. This mill has already used the mill timber from 15,000 acres and the firm has 75,000 yet to cut. They have a steam tramway five miles long, and a store the sales of which amount to about $20,000 annually. They have also a stave mill and a planing mill.
Brown's Mill, at 133 mile-post, is owned by W. J. Brown. It cuts 10,000 feet per day. He has also a store. Here B. C. Hutchins has a turpentine farm of fourteen crops. It is entirely new, this being the first year.
Then comes Ty-Ty swamp and Little River, the head-waters of the Suwannee river, which form the line between Berrien and Worth counties.
Hillsdale, at the 137 mile-post, is the first turpentine farm on the road in Worth county. Here E. Haley has twenty crops. At Hillsdale Mr. T. S. Graves has a large establishment. The mill cuts 20,000 feet of lumber per day. Other data could not be obtained at this point. Mr. Graves is a gentleman of businesss habits and fine intelligence and will no doubt furnish any infor mation that may be desired.
Ty-Ty, at 139, has a postoffice and express office, six stores with general stocks, and two turpentine distilleries. Coleman & Bishop have a turpentine farm which runs twenty-two crops, employs thirty-eight hands, and has 3,000 acres of finely timbered land. W. E. Williams also has a turpentine farm of eighteen crops.
Here they have a pleasant little village of two or three dozen families. They have a good school and have the building mate rial for a Methodist church. The crops look well and promising.
At Cyms, 142, are the Magnolia Mills, owned by Messrs. Moss & Graves. The capacity is 20,000 feet of lumber per day. This is a fine rolling country, good lands, susceptible of a high degree of cultivation. Corn, rice, sugar cane, small grain, potatoes, and every desirable crop that can be raised in this latitude does well here; and here let me remark that, though late in mentioning it, sugar cane is a valuable and profitable crop all along this line of
44
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
road. The farmers make syrup and sugar in abundance, and of excellent quality, and it can generally be bought at reasonable prices. The syrup these South Georgians sell at 30 or 40 cents per gallon is far superior to the beautiful chemical syrups we call golden and silver drip, and for which we pay 80 and 90 cents a gallon. It is clean, free, and wholesome, and to our taste far preferable to these adulterated foreign mixtures.
Snttmer, is at the 145 mile-post. Here C. A. Alford has a turpentine farm of thirty crops, a steam planing and grist mill, and a store. A. J. Alford also has a store here. It is a nice little village containing in all four stores. We wished to obtain further information in regard to water mill and sheep farm, and we heard something of a wool factory in Colquitt on the Ocloconee, but could not learn anything definite.
Weston & Co. have a huge mill at 146. At Poolavia, 149, they have a store, two turpentine farms and distilleries. McFall & Co. run thirty-five crops. They are enterprising men and do a large business. Isabella has a good depot and side track, a postoffice and express office. At 152 Mr. Williamson has a fine turpentine farm. Albany has already been described in an account of Points of Interest on the line of the Savannah, Florida and Western road, (see chapter 3) but the large business it now does, as detailed there, will be largely increased when the Brunswick and Albany road compktes its branch to Columbus and its extension to Selma. There is no finer agricultural region in Georgia than in and around Albany, and in the next ten years there is every reason to hope it will double or treble its population and wealth.
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
45
CHAPTER VI.
A Description of Pierce County, Written for the
Waycross Reporter,
,
L
We embody this sketch entire because Wayne county is natu rally a fair sample of the pine woods country along our lines of road. The timber has been cut closer than in most counties, and the people have turned their attention to agricultural pursuits, with results that may be attained in any county on the three lines of road, and has been attained in some which we have no space to describe. There are sketches of other counties which will be published in the Reporter and distributed during the Exposition.
PIERCE COUNTY PHOTOGRAPHED.
A BANNER COUNTY SELF-SUSTAINING AND PROSPEROUS ALL
INTERESTS AND INDUSTRIES CONSIDERED.
Pierce is a neat little political division carved out of the old counties of Appling, Wayne and Ware, and is claimed by its en terprising inhabitants to be the " banner county" of that portion of the wiregrass domain designated as Southern Georgia, and in some essential respects they maintain their boast with gratifying proofs.
The county is most favorably situated, and has important nat ural advantages as well as abundant railroad facilities. It is nearly centrally traversed by the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway, while the southwest corner is traversed by the Waycross and Jacksonville Railroad, and its southern portion by the Brunswick and Albany Railroad. The Satilla river skirts its western border, dividing it from Ware county for about twenty miles, and then bends to the eastward towards the center of the county, forming a junction with the Alapaha river, near the south ern boundary. This stream runs through a heavily timbered belt and is navigable for rafting. The Alapaha is a small river, and only open fpr rafting for a few miles. There are quite a number of creeks and some valuable water power in the county. These
46
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
creeks and rivers furnish a never-failing- water supply for stock, while pure, sweet water for all other wants is found everywhere at a depth of from ten to twenty feet. The soils are light, sandy and poor in the northwestern portion bordering the Satilla; loose, dark, flat and generously productive east of the Alapaha, and a reddish clayey soil, mixed with dark reddish gravel in the gently rolling pine fields of the center, extending north and south nearly the entire length of the county. This portion of the county is remarkably productive, and is admirably adapted to horticulture, as well as to the production of corn, oats, rice, sugar cane, pota toes, and black seed or long staple cotton. Here, too, the peach, the pear, the apple, plum, cherry, pecan, quince, fig, mulberry, sand pear, scuppernong, and all the varieties of grapes, grow most luxuriantly and to great perfection. The other portions ol the county are scarcely less remunerative in these products, when the proper care and labor are bestowed.
At the eighty-seven mile post on the Savannah, Florida and Western Railroad, on an elevated plane, stretching across this gravel formation, is situated the beautiful and flourishing little
village of
BLACKSHEAR,
the county site and the pride of every man, woman and child in the county. It contains -a population of about eight hundred, mostly whites, and is one of the most prosperous villages on the line of this great iron highway. Its merchants are men of enter prise, and stand high in commercial circles. They have a good country trade and are enjoying the fruits of legitimate traffic and honest industry. The twelve business houses of the place aggre gate annual sales of a minimum of $200,000, and their loss, by non-paying customers, was last year less than two per cent.
Mr. B. D. Brantley, who has accumulated a handsome fortune since the war, is probably the largest dealer. He sells about forty thousand. J. W. Strickland also commenced poor, and now has a comfortable competency selling about thirty thousand annu ally. Mr. A. N. Smith commenced some years later, and now sells twenty thousand. He also commenced at the bottom, and is now independent and nearly happy. Dr. H. J. Smith, a Mexi can veteran, and a comrade of the writer, takes the world easy, and, though the possessor of a fine estate, is content with selling
I
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
47
twelve to fifteen thousand a year. His son, Dr. C. H. Smith, does a business of eight to ten thousand, and has beside a lucrative practice. Messrs. Jas. A. Harper, R. C. Cannon, S. S. Carter, M. M. Cohen, R. W. Carpenter, E. J. Acosta, and a few others complete the list, and are all men of energy and business integrity,
THE BROWN HOUSE
". .
j ( <; .
is a handsome, well kept hotel, capable of accommodating fty
guests. It is presided over by Mrs. Alien Brown, the estimable,
wife of Dr. Alien Brown, a dentist of high reputation. . -
CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS.
There are six churches in Blackshear, three white and three
colored. The whites have a Baptist, a Methodist, and a Presby
terian church; the colored people one Baptist and two Methodist
churches.
The white people have an academy and two private schools^
neither of which was reported as being well- attended. When
will the parents of this once benighted and still bedarkeried region
wake up to the importance and the duty of educating their chil
dren ? The colored school was reported as being admirably con^- '
ducted and largely attended.
. ? x;,
One newspaper, the News, a small weekly, conducted by Mr.
Bird. A good medium for advertising in the county, but is mod
est in its pretension and circumscribed in its enterprise.
There are two Masonic lodges in thevillage, one of which has
colored memberships only.
";
. , .-./ ;!.,:
INDUSTRIES.
*
-
:
'' '
Mr. E. B. Coates has a wood and blacksmith shop, where he
manufactures wagons and buggies and does town work generally.
This and a small steam grist mill and turpentine distillery com
prise the mechanical and manufacturing industries. -. ..-... =. r; , ;.
The court house is a. wooden building, very neat .and suffi
ciently commodious for the business of the county. .
-,..
There is no Jail in. the county. To an inquiry, Enoch Hendiy
replied: "We never have any prisoners; when we closed* the
liquor shops we burnt the jail." "What? You have ho liquor
shops in Pierce county?" "Not one; we put the license up to
48
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
, and the boys sold out and quit. Since then crime has nearly disappeared, and we have no use for a jail."
MATERIAL STATISTICS.
Population : 1868, 1,973 J l87 2778 ; 1880, 4,500. Polls : 1868, 450; 1880, 819. Taxable valuables: 1860, $160,000; 1868, $260,400; 1880, $544,283. The county tax last year was 100 per cent. on the State tax, making seven-tenths of one per cent, in all. Being now out of debt and having a surplus of $733 in the Treas ury, there will be no occasion this year to levy a greater tax than six-tenths of the State tax. The insolvent list for 1880 shows but $3.60.
It is upon this rapid increase of population and wealth and the general prosperity of the people that the claim of "banner county" is based, and it is hardly probable that a larger percent age of increase will be found in the statistics of any other county in the wiregrass country.
There is still some game in the county, and hunters seldom foil to get venison. The watercourses abound in fish of many varieties, and it is not doubted that the German carp would flour ish in the same waters.
There are only eleven professional men in Pierce, which proves that litigation and sickness give the people but little concern.
The climate is salubrious, and the temperature equable all the year round. Out-door labor may be carried on every day in the year, it being neither too cold in winter nor too hot in summer The atmosphere is dry, highly ratified, and lung diseases are un known among the natives.
TURPENTINE FARMS.
This has grown to be a vast interest in Georgia, and the turpen tine farmers of the Carolinas are still seeking eligible fields for op erations in our pine forests. They already cover large areas, and the industry is not likely to slacken till the pine is exhausted. A crop is 10,000 boxes, The trees average two boxes. Tapping is die cutting of the tree at the base. The lands will average two and one-half to three crops to the lot of 490 acres, or about thirty trees to the acre.
Mr. B. D. Brantley, Blackshear, has a distillery.
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
J. W. Strickland, five miles east of Blackshear, on the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway, owns 4,500 acres, runs eighteen crops (180,000 boxes) with thirty-five hands.
John W. Carter, four miles east of Patterson, on the same road. A. J. Lee & Bro., also east of Blackshear. Wash Watson, colored, two miles west of Blackshear, on same road, taps 2,500 acres and runs ten crops. Joseph A. Baker & Co., at Schlatterville, on the Brunswick and Albany Railroad, have exhausted 14,000 acres, and now run ten crops on about 2,000 acres, with twenty hands.
MILLING INTEREST.
Mr. J. Y. Colcord has a magnificent mill on the banks of the Satilla at the railroad bridge, and also a stave, lath and shingle mill. At this point there is a bold sand bluff, and high ridges slope back to level lands. The atmosphere here is dry, and the locality is one of the healthiest on the continent. It is called Exeter, and a lively little village is springing up around the mills. Mr. Colcord, though a Northern man by birth, has been in Geor gia for twenty years/and is one of our most enterprising and suc cessful mill men. This mill has a capacity of 30,000 per day. Twenty-five hands are employed in running it. The timber cut is drifted down the Satilla from the rich pine forests above. Mr. Colcord is his own manager.
The stave, lath and shingle mill is leased to Mr. C. C. Buchanan, who manages the same, and produces 5,000 htaves, 5,000 laths, and 5,000 shingles per day.
Mr. Colcords success in this business has emboldened him to additional enterprises, and he is now establishing a mill on the Macon and Brunswick Railroad near Eastman.
This mill cuts an average of about one hundred trees per day, which culls the timber from four acres. There is a post office, a store, and a number of cottages at Exeter.
\
AGRICULTURE.
The agricultural interests are in a most flourishing and prosper ous condition. The tillers of the soil have determined to improve their methods, and many of them have adopted the modern ap pliances for cultivating and the most approved modes of fertiliz-
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
ing. From Mr. Joseph A. Harper, who took the census, who knows every man in the county, and who is perfectly reliable, the statement was received that industry prevails everywhere, that improvement is perceptible on every farm, that the young men are taking the lead, and that all are thoroughly self-sustaining.
Nor are they confining their attention to the production of field crops. They are studying and engaging in horticulture and fruit growing to a most gratifying extent. In these branches of indus try many of them are succeeding admirably. In the neighbor hood of Blackshear truck farming is absorbing the attention of planters, and a few places were visited that afforded the amplest evidence of the capabilities of the soil and its adaption to the growth of vegetables and fruits of all kinds.
This is the home of Hon. John C. Nicholls, ex-Congressman from this district, and a superb home he has. Indeed, it is diffi cult to conjecture why a gentleman should desire to leave and neglect such a beautiful home and such a princely estate for.a seat in the American Congress. His fields, and lands, and gar dens, and orchards are artistically planned and in a high state of cultivation. He is a lover of fine stock, and has in his stables sev eral beautiful colts. He makes his own fertilizers, and produces an average of about 35 bushels of corn per acre, and oats, potatoes and everything else in proportion. He has vineyards and young jorchards, and has not neglected the LeConte pear. Mr. B. D. Brantley has a magnificent estate adjoining Col. Nicholls, and having remained at home while the Colonel was away at Wash ington, is somewhat ahead of him in his horticulture and fruit growing experiments. He, too, makes his own fertilizers, and seldom fails to make forty bushels of corn to the acre, and mil lions of melons. He has fine orchards and many varieties, includ ing the LeConte pear. .
Adjoining Mr. Brantley, Mr. J. M. Shaw, formerly a mill man on the Brunswick and Albany Railroad, has a scientific truck farm. He plants, fertilizes and cultivates by the card, making his own fertilizers, and a more beautiful garden farm is not often seen. He has four acres in Irish potatoes, two or three in watermelons, as many more in small vegetables, and a large area in fruit trees, the LeConte pear having the preference.
Mr. Shaw commenced this farm last fall, and it now looks as if it might have been under the care of a skilled gardener for a de
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
cade. It would be difficult to estimate the value to a community pf farmers of one such enterprise as this, and the time will come, and early, too, when Mr. Shaw will be revered for his example and honored for the.great lesson he is teaching.
'Mr. Downs, near by, has a model truck farm, but on a smaller scale. He was born in the Bahamas, and followed the sea for some years. , Was residing in Pierce at the opening of the war, arid entered the Twenty-sixth Georgia, and followed the fortunes of the confederacy to Appomatox. Returning penniless, went to work for a living, and now, after a few years of hard labor and devotion to his truck farm, he shows results that might gladden the heart of a king, and is quite as independent as a millionaire. Last year, on a measured one-eighth of an acre he made and sold $75 worth of cabbages, and then planted the patch in potatoes and gathered seventy-two bushels. He adopts the intensive system, makes his ground rich, and never fails to get good returns.
Among the enterprising planters who have been primely in strumental in placing Pierce on its present high plane of prosper ity, may be mentioned Chas. S. Youmans, J. T. McThain, James M. Johnson, Ben. C. Davis, Dan R. Johnson, Russell Raulerson, Berry Henderson, John Aspinwall, Henry I. Strickland, Mike Henderson, Leslie Raulerson, John Donaldson, Martin Sweat, Dread Byrd, Thomas Woods, Mrs. Mary Walker (a widow lady), A. P. Wade, W. T. Sweat, J. J. Henderson, Joseph Dixon, Joseph E. Green, James Brown, James S. Youmans, James A. Waters, H. McKeever, J. M. Reynolds. The last two are recent immi grants from South Carolina.
Schlatterville, another pretty little village, and thrifty withal, adorns their gem of the forest. It is situated on the Brunswick and Albany Railroad, forty-nine miles from the city of Bruns wick and ten miles from Waycross. Here are two stores, a post office, two churches, a school, a turpentine farm and a steam saw" mill. Messrs. Lee & Rawles and W. F. Bailey & Co. are the mercantile firms, and are doing a very good business. Baileys mill has a capacity of 20,000 feet per day, cuts 20,000 acres, and and employs fifty hands, and ships to Brunswick.
Hoboken is in the southeast corner of Pierce county, and is sit uated on the Brunswick and Albany Railroad, forty-three miles from Brunswick. Here Mr. W. E. Burbage has an extensive tur pentine farm, owning and controlling 107 lots of 490 acres each.
LIBRARIES
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
He runs 56 crops, 700,000 boxes, and employs ninety hands. Mr. Burbage tapped this farm five years ago, and is therefore about ready to turn it over to the axe and the circular saw. He has a store and sells a large quantity of merchandise.
Here also Messrs. Reppard & Walter have recently located a mammoth saw mill, and are following the tappers with an army of axemen. This mill has a capacity of 50,000 feet of lumber per day, works ---- employes, ships to Brunswick, and is regarded as one of the leading mills of the country. These gentlemen own vast tracts of pine land and a number of mills, and as they will come more prominently to the front next week, when Ware county will be heard from, further reference to their minor enter prises is deferred.
The lands about Hobokenand Schlatterville have been turpen tined and partially denuded by cutting for the mill, but there is still a superabundance of timber for all practical and desirable purposes. The country along this line is flat, but easily drained into the Satilla; the soil is light, easily cultivated, and responds profitably to industry, skillful labor and liberal fertilizing.
c. w. s.
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
53
CHAPTER VII.
Articles upon a few Special Industries in South Georgia, from Waycross Reporter.
SHEEP HUSBANDRY.
At the risk of repeating some statistics already given we quote from an official compilation of statistics and facts in relation to sheep farming in Georgia, published in 1875, the following: Of those who have tested crosses in Georgia 98 per cent, report cross of the Spanish Merino and native most profitable. Aver age annual profit on capital invested, 63 per cent. Average total annual cost of keeping, 54 cents per head. Average cost of rais ing a pound of wool, six cents. Average price of unwashed wool 33^ cents, or 27^ cents net profit. An average of 74 lambs are raised every year for ico sheep, notwithstanding care less raising, neglect, ravages of dogs, eagles, wild cats, and other enemies. Average yield of wool per sheep is 3 44-100 pounds, which, at 27^ cents, gives average clear income per sheep, from wool, of 94 cents. Average price of lambs sold the butcher is $1.87 per head. Average price of stock sheep, per head, is $2.58. Average price of muttons, $2.75 per head. Dogs are the chief enemy of the sheep. There were in Georgia in 1860, 512,618 sheep; in 1870, 419,465; in 1875, 319,323, or a decrease in fifteen years of 193,295, or 38 per cent. There are 99,415 dogs in the State. They destroyed between April, 1874, and April, 1875, 28,265 sheep. Fifteen .per cent, of the sheep in the State are annually destroyed by dogs; six per cent, only die by disease and other causes. There are thirty-one dogs to every one hundred sheep, or nearly one dog to three sheep. They destroy yearly 28,265 sheep, worth $73,852, or nine per cent, of the value of all the sheep in the State. Notwithstanding this loss the annual profit is 53 per cent Remove this cause of loss and the annual profit will be 73 per cent.
One hundred sheep regularly folded will fertilize so as to double
54
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
the yield of crops eight acres per year, and the present number
in Georgia would fertilize and double the crop-growing capacity
of 25.544- 3cres annually. If that number of acres produced
without enrichment a half bale of cotton, with such enrichment
it would produce a bale per acre worth at $50 per bale $538,600.
If there were two million sheep in Georgia the increased produc
tion from enrichment by folding would be $4,000,000 per year.
The climate of Georgia corresponds with that of the best wool
growing regions of the world. Spain, once so famous for its Meri-"
nos, is warmer on its southern coast than Southern Georgia. Aus
tralia, now one of the principal wool growing regions of the
world, embraces the latitude of Georgia; but a maximum tem
perature in December, their midsummer month, of 112 degrees
Fahrenheit.
;
In 1810 the export of wool from Australia and Van Demens
land was 167 pounds. In 1833 it was 3,516,369 pounds. In 1843
it was 16,226,400 pounds. In 1848 it was 30,034,567 pounds.
In 1871 the crop of Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand was
168,785,993 pounds.
The effects of warm climates and their perrenial herbage on
wool bear a marked analogy to the effect upon vegetation, giving
increased vigor of growth, length, uniformity and strength of
fibre, and consequently greater weight to the wool.
It costs scarcely anything to keep a sheep in Georgia. It costs
about the value of one of our sheep to winter a sheep in Pennsyl
vania, giving to warm climates a decided advantage.
Listen to a South Georgian: Mr. David Ayers, of Camilla*
Mitchell county, (a fair sample of Southern Georgia) where the
original pine forest is carpeted with native grass, says his sheep,
3,500 in number, cost him annually 14 cents per head; clip three
pounds per head of unwashed wool, which sells at 30 cents, per
pound, giving a clear profit on the money and labor invested of
90 per cent.
Lands suited to sheep and agricultural purposes can be pur
chased in Southern Georgia for from 25 cents to $5.00 per acre.
Mr. Ayers does not feed his sheep at any time during the year,
nor has he introduced the improved breeds. Of course a cross
of the Spanish Merino would give better results. His sheep
receive litde care except to be gathered up once a year to be
sheared and marked.
/
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
55
Mr. Richard Peters, the leading sheep owner of North Georgia, says the cross of Spanish Merino is the best. (Indeed, that is the verdict the whole country gives.)
It is hoped, and believed, that the Legislature will adopt such measures as will remove the present obstacles to sheep husbandry in Georgia. If this is done thousands of farmers in Georgia will at once embark in sheep husbandry, and millions of acres cf land now idle, and an expense to their owners, will be rendered profitable as sheep walks, and gradually improved in fertility. It will open the way for a tide of immigration into Georgia of thou sands of the best, most quiet, peaceable, industrious and profitable laborers, who nearly double their number annually, demand no wages, do not steal or commit other crimes, labor assiduously throughout the year, feed and clothe themselves and their owners, make no strikes, utter no complaints, and never "die in debt to man." Even their death brings a profit, and they pay 63 per cent, on the investment per year.
CONCLUDING REMARKS.
The most remarkable fact developed in the foregoing paper (the above are only substantial extracts) is the handsome profit de rived from sheep husbandry in the face of the most adverse circircumstances. It is a notorious fact that very few of those who keep sheep in Georgia pay more attention to them than to mark and shear them, except in the northern portion of the Statey where they are fed a little in the severe weather of winter. In view, too, of the fact that so large a per cent, are annually de stroyed by dogs, the profits under the "let alone" system so generally adopted is unparalleled. What other investment will declare such dividends under similar circumstances; we add, under any circumstances ?
NATURAL PASTURES.
There are about 10,000,000 acres of practically unoccupied lands in Georgia, nearly all of which might be profitably utilized as sheep walks. A vast region in Southeastern and Southern Georgia, extending from Savannah to the Chattahoochee rivers, is a natural pasture, on which a million sheep could be raised with trifling expense, on the native wire grass which grows up
56
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
I
luxuriantly, affording excellent pasturage in summer, and a sub-
j1-
sistence on te underneath, which remains green in winter. The
:
most valuable spontaneous grass, however, is the Bermuda, which
is peculiarly adapted to the purpose of sheep pasturage, forming
an impenetrable sod of exceedingly nutritious grass, equal to the
best blue grass pastures of Kentucky, from early spring until
frost. It will also supply winter pasturage, where partially pro
tected by pine trees, under which it remains green the entire
winter, and is relished by all kinds of stock. A sod of Bermuda
grass on lands, unprofitable for cultivation, will support five sheep
per acre for nine months in the year, and the sheep will make the
land rich.
The above is a substantial quotation from a manual on sheep
husbandry published in 1875, by our Agricultural Bureau. No
compilation of statistics since that time have been made; but the
data obtainable in the Comptroller's reports, and in agricultural
magazines, indicates that there has been a very large increase in
the number of sheep in the State. Who shall say that this
manual hns not had an important effect in the right direction ?
It is out of print. We have the only copy obtainable at the
Agricultural Bureau. Could Commissioner Henderson do a
nobler work than to re-publish it, with the additions, giving the
data since 1875?
Whatever the increase since 1875 for the whole State may be,
the increase in Southern Georgia has been very great, as demon
strated by the increase of the sale of wool at Alapaha, Albany,
Brunswick and Savannah, which has nearly doubled, and yet
there is not one sheep in Georgia where one thousand could be
profitably raised.
You may travel on our lines of road for hundreds of miles and
it is the rarest of occurrences to see a flock or even a bunch of
sheep.
The statistics and facts above given furnish food for thought
to the South Georgian, to all who are thinking of a change of
location and a profitable investment of capital from other States.
The statistics from the whole State do not begin to show all
the special advantages for sheep husbandry of Southern Georgia.
It will be noticed that the average cost of keeping a sheep for the
State is 58 cents per head. In Southern Georgia by Mr. Ayers
figures but 14 cents. It is believed that the loss from dogs is
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
57
nothing like as great in Southern Georgia as it is in other portions of the State.
SPECIAL ADVANTAGES OF SOUTH GEORGIA.
South Georgia does not suffer so .much from drouths as other portions of the State. Her wiregrass and Bermuda, growing under trees, does .not suffer from heat and drouth as in the open fields of older communities, where lands have been almost denuded of timber. Her vast forests offer refreshing shade to the sheep patiently bearing its heavy load of wool. The whole country is threaded by rivers and creeks and perrennial springs, furnishing ample water. The burrs which in many sec tions of the country get in the wool and injure it, necessitating tearing of the fibre to get rid of them, are not found with us. Our pasturage is what may properly be called a clean one. It is grass, and nothing but grass, for hundreds of miles. We never have snow to cover the vegetation and prevent the sheep from securing a supply of feed the year round. Our climate is mild in winter, and is still more mild than it otherwise would be by rea son of the breeze from the ocean and the vast forests of pine. Our climate is healthy both for man and beast. Our sheep re quire little care in winter, escaping all the vicissitudes of a cold climate, the thousand and one diseases that a cold climate brings, the loss of tender young lambs, etc.
We are not obliged to house and care for our sheep in winter as in the great sheep States of the North, or to drive them hun dreds of miles to the mountains during the dry season, as in California; and yet, with all these drawbacks, Ohio, Pennsyl vania and New York in the North, California, on the Pacific, Missouri, in the West, all make heavy profits from sheep hus bandry.
We challenge the production of a man in Southern Georgia who has a bunch of sheep or flock who has not made money out of them, and who has not made it easier than he could in any other occupation whatever.
We announce what may seem startling propositions, but are prepared to prove them:
ist. That Southern Georgia will readily support at once one million sheep, and in ten years two million. That for every 1,000 sheep pastured per year, the capacity of the land to support
58
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
sheep can be increased so that 365 more can be raised to the
thousand the next. 2nd. That one million sheep will double the crop-bearing
capacity of 75,000 acres of land per year, and that in twenty years a million sheep would make of South Georgia the richest agricultural portion of the State.
3rd. That two million sheep would increase the productiveness of our lands by combining sheep husbandry with farming $4,000,ooo per year.
4th. That the capital invested in one million sheep would be $2,580,000, and that it would bring yearly a net profit of not less than $1,548,000, or 60 per cent., and in Southern Georgia prob ably at least 15 per cent, in excess of this, and that this is true of sheep farming, as at present conducted, without care, without effort, without protection of the sheep from their enemies, with out folding, without combining sheep husbandry and agriculture, which would double the profit here estimated.
This estimate is based on hard facts and figures obtained by patient enquiry from all portions of the State Obtained not upon what can be done, but what has been done; not based on figures from other States, but based solely upon figures obtained in Georgia from men actually engaged in sheep husbandry. They show that we are in the infancy of a business more important than our naval stores and mill business combined; a business which will enrich our soil, add to our agricultural productions in an ever increasing ratio bring us wealth, prosperity and power.
And this is but one of the many advantages South Georgia oners to her own people and to industrious immigrants and capi talists from abroad.
We invite a careful perusal of this article. We invite you to compare the facts and figures and estimates here given with the actual experience of the men engaged in sheep husbandry in your neighborhood.
We invite capitalists and immigrants from abroad to give this matter the fullest investigation, for investigation is all that is needed to demonstrate the manifold advantages of Southern Georgia.
We invite the press of Southern Georgia to investigate and write up their section faithfully, truly. Let in the flood light of information which a free use of printing ink and a faithful pre-
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
59
sentation of the facts wijl do. Disseminate this information in all quarters of this country and in Europe, and our word for it, you shall see capital, energy and muscle transforming this section of Georgia so that it shall become one of the brightest sections of the bright new South which is coming, which is here, which sings the song of a new era of material development in the hum of machinery upon our watercourses, in our mills and factories, in the tune of a thousand new industries growing from infancy to strength, in the white winged sails of commerce filling our ports, in the railroad trains thundering through our forests and reaching out to gather in for shipment at our ports the varied products of the North and Southwest, in the steamers from our countrys great business centers and from Europe ploughing our waters and bringing us wealth, in the work of thousands of men extend ing our railroad system and building feeders to them and opening up new sections to the markets of the world.
Let us be wise in our day and generation. The world is moving with unexampled rapidity in the race of material develop ment. Let us not. lag behind, but rather with might and main strive ever to make our section, so long neglected, so long mis understood, bright with the sunshine of prosperity.
VALUE OF PINE LANDS OF SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
We met a man the other day of mature years, broad intelli gence, general reading, and practical business habits. We may add that he was outside the limits of any insane asylum, was born in Southern Georgia, and has spent a long and useful life in the pine woods, and he announced the proposition that the pine lands were worth more per acre with the timber off than with it on.
We asked him his reasons, which he readily gave. Said he: "The timber once cut from these lands cannot be replaced. It is the growth of centuries. To utilize the land for agriculture the timber must be cut off. That is the timber and lumbermans mission. It is fortunate that our timber has a great commercial value, because the process of clearing the land brings a handsome return to the land owner; but if the timber was commercially valueless, we should then be forced to cut it down and burn it,
60
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
for our pine lands have an intrinsic value for agricultural purposes not dreamed of by their owners.
" The population of this country is increasing wonderfully. In 1830 it was only"17,000,000. In fifty years it has trebled. The wealth per capita is increasing fester than the population. The great cities of the country are becoming wealthy, and able to purchase luxuries. Among the luxuries they are able and willing to purchase are early vegetables of all kind, and fruits small and large. The wealthy residents of New York, Boston, Philadelphia and the great cities of the Northwest care nothing for the price: they want them out of season.
" We have the soil and climate calculated to produce them. We have the vast marl and phosphate deposits on our coasts, vast bodies of vegetable matter in our swamps, the manure made by our cattle and sheep, with which to enrich this soil. It answers promptly and with rich harvests to such treatment. It is what may with propriety be called quick land. It will raise two crops a year, even more,-and only asks for the same process of enrich ment that the truck farmer and horticulturist of the North well understands must be given to any land to raise fruits and veg etables with profit.
" We want to disabuse our own minds of the idea that there is nothing in our lands except timber. We cut and ship from Brunswick and Savannah some of the finest yellow pine timber in the world. Land which produces these trees must be valuable. The tree is essentially an air plant. It returns to the soil in veg etable matter far more than it takes from it.
" But you may say this is all theory. Let me give you a few facts. The Glynn County Agricultural Society was organized in 1871 by Judge Harris, P. M. Nightingale and others. In 1877 they undertook to have a fair. At that time it was accepted as an axiom that cabbage and onions could not be grown successfully here. All of both vegetables were imported from the North. The display was very meagre. Next year other counties were invited, viz: Wayne, Appling, Ware, Clinch, Pierce, Camden and Charlton. The cabbage and all other vegetables were larger, until in 1879, 1880 and 1881 the display from these counties has become not only creditable but extraordinary. Cabbage by the wagonload have been displayed, as hard as any ever raised in the North and weighing eighteen pounds average all round, and single
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
6l
specimens weighing thirty-five to thirty-nine pounds. Onions six inches in diameter and five inches deep. Beets of enormous size. Celery of good quality; and all through the vegetable lists the display has been fine. More significant than that, the same sort of cabbage #nd onions and other vegetables are found in our markets of Brunswick, almost displacing the importations from the North. I have seen eighteen pound cabbage, hard as a rock, white and beautiful as the finest Northern cabbage, selling by the load in Brunswick; Irish potatoes as fine as mortal man could desire; beets, onions, and other vegetables. In Pierce and other counties fine vegetables are being raised. Corn on land without enrichment has yielded as high as twenty-five bushels per acre; with enrichment from forty to one hundred and three bushels per acre, and this upon the much despised lands of Southern Georgia. Oats are a success wherever planted, and are being planted more widely every year. Albany, Alapaha, Hazlehurst, Brunswick and other points are important wool markets, and the production is increasing every year; hundreds of men are making a handsome income from it on the lines of road. Dry rice culture is profitable, and the acreage is constantly increasing. Sugar cane can be and is profitably cultivated. The truth is, that taking the healthfulness, mildness of climate, and nearness to the great markets of the country into consideration, this is as fine a section for truck farmers, horticulturists, sheep owners, and- even for the general farmer, as can be found in the country.
" What we need is a crop of men. Give us these, and the wil derness will lose its wildness. Green crops will greet our eyes the whole length of our lines of road; farm houses, barns, and all those improvements which indicate a prosperous farming country will be seen on every hand; the change will be seen on our tax digests, in our census reports, in our boys and girls faces, in their remaining at home instead of leaving so soon as they get an edu cation." -
BY THE EDITOR. Was this man insane, or was he speaking the words of soberness and truth ? Is it true that we have been hugging a delusion when we have repeated the oft told tale that our pine woods are valueless ?
If this man was insane, so are we. And we hope this insanity, if such it be, may permeate this country until all appreciate the glorious heritage which is ours, and until every individual in
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SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
% Southern Georgia shall become a committee of one, and all shall
form a committee of the whole to make this country all that
energy, intelligence, work and immigration can make it.
Everything is propitious. Our railroads are all in strong hands
in the hands of broad-minded men anxious to develop the material interests of the country through which their roads run and willing
to spend money to bring the muscle and energy here which can
aid us in such development. Our timber is bringing us fair
returns. The markets are growing better each year for our agri
cultural productions, and the facilities to reach them greater.
Let us then, mill men and farmers, merchants and doctors,
lawyers and preachers, men and women everywhere, arouse from
our lethargy, spread the truth, open our eyes and then the. eyes
of others to our grand opportunities, and joining the railroads in
the liberal policy they have inaugurated, march on to that era of
prosperity, happiness and wealth which are the sure goal of earnest effort.
UPLAND RICE.
TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN BUSHELS FROM SIX ACRES.
Is there money in the cultivation of rice on the uplands ? This is an important question for the people of the pine lands, and its solution depends upon the practical application of facts in experiment, and intelligence in culture. One good solid feet resulting from experiment is worth a world, of theory, and the planter who disregards it stands in his own light, and will fall behind his more progressive and more enlight ened neighbors.
A reliable statement comes to us from Coffee county, that Henry Peterson, Jr., who plants in the vicinity of Douglas, last year planted six acres of uplands in rice and fertilized it with half a ton ofguano only; that from these six acres he harvested two . hundred and twenty-seven bushels of rough rice, and sold it; for one dollar and five cents per bushel at home. This was a yield of thirty-eight arid a half bushels to the acre, or $46.42.
Suppose his guano cost $30, or $5 per acre, and the labor $5 per acre more. There would still be left a clear net profit of $30.42 per acre. Now, if this be true, and no one has a right to doubt its authenticity, the problem is solved, and all men of com-
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
63
mon understanding in this section will accept the fact and put in
less cotton and more rice for the crops of 1881. There is no
danger of overstocking the market. We are importing 75^000,000
bushels annually from foreign countries to supply the demand in
the States, whereas we should be exporting hundreds of thou
sands of bushels to feed the outside world.
> - - : ; ^
Plant .rice! Plant it in rows two feet and a half apart; plant a
great many rows; plant the big field and the little field, and dont
neglect to encourage the seed or cultivate the plants. There is
money in it
<
CHAPTER VIII. Islands on the Southern Coast of Georgia.
The coast of Georgia is lined by a succession of islands, inter
sected by numerous navigable channels, which afford good inland
navigation all along shore. They are generally separated from
each other by wide bays or sounds which bear their names. The
principal islands, beginning on the northern extremity of the
coast of Georgia are St. Catherines, Sapelo, St. Simons, Jekyle,
and Cumberland. They were once covered with rich plantations
which produced the valuable long staple cotton, called from1 the
place of its growth, sea-island cotton.
- r
These islands, like the neighboring mainland, are cbvered
(when not cleared for cultivation) with forests of live-oak, water-
oak, pine, cedar and palmetto. As the traveler glides by these
shores in a steamboat, he is enchanted by the prospect of their
lively verdure, interspersed with their thick forests. The live-oak,
which is so called on account of its being an evergreen, is a noble
tree, with a trunk sometimes twelve feet in girth; its long branches
are spread horizontally, and festoons of moss hang from them,
almost sweeping the ground. The magnolia is here seen, covered
with large white blossoms shaped like a lily, and a foot incir
cumference; and the cabbage palmetto scattered throughout these
forests gives to them a truly tropical appearance.
\
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SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
These islands offer to the emigrant every inducement that can be asked for in climate and soil. Having the ocean for an eastern boundary, the never-failing sea breeze renders the summer tem perature delightful and invigorating, the thermometer seldom reaching 90; from the same cause the winters are moderate and mild, and 25 of cold is of very rare occurrence.
They have a gray, sandy soil, easy to cultivate, producing cot ton, corn, peas, potatoes, cane, oats, rye, etc. Among the fruits that thrive well, especially on the islands of St. Simon's and Cumberland, are peaches, pears, figs, oranges and bananas. Other tropical fruits which have been acclimatized grow to great perfec tion.
Olives are successfully cultivated, and oil made from the olives grown on St. Simon's Island has been pronounced by competent judges not inferior to the best productions of France or Spain. The suitableness of the soil and climate of this portion of the coast of Georgia to the olive tree admits of no doubt. The experment has been successfully made, and trees have yielded regular crops since 1835, and during all that time have never been injured by cold. It thrives on every soil that is not wet. That the sandy lands of our seaboard are adapted to the olive tree needs no better proof than the luxuriant growth of the trees on St. Simon's and Cumberland Islands. The oil crop from these islands is annually sold at from $6 to $8 per gallon.
The scuppernong grape thrives as well as in its native State. The soil and climate of the islands are peculiarly adapted to its perfect development. White, in his description of this grape* says:
" We consider this very peculiar grape one of the greatest boons to the South. It has very little resemblance to any of the grapes of the other sorts. It is a rampant grower and requires little, if any, cultivation. It blooms from the i5th to the last of June, and ripens its fruit the last of September or beginning of October. It has no disease in wood, leaf or fruit, and rarely, if ever, fails to produce a heavy crap. We have never known it to fail. Neither birds nor insects ever attack the fruit.
"It will produce a greater weight of fruit than any other variety in the world. The clusters vary in size from two to twenty ber ries, and the berries in size from three-fourths to one inch and a quarter in diameter.
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
65"
"Vines, six years transplanted, have this year given an average of three bushels to each vine. We are credibly informed that a vine of this variety is growing near Mobile which has produced .two hundred and fifty bushels of grapes in a year, and we know that vines ten years old have given and will give thirty bushels per vine. A bushel of these grapes will give from three to three and a half gallons of juice, according to ripeness.
"It is the sweetest and most luscious of any grape we have ever seen or tasted; makes a fine, heavy, high-flavored, fruity wine, and is peculiarly adapted to making foaming wines.
" We do not hesitate to recommend this variety to our friends at the South, and pledge our reputation as a pomologist that he who plants it will never regret having done so."
On the Island of St. Simons, truck-forming for the Northern and Western markets has grown rapidly in the last three years, and it is on this branch of agriculture, in connection with fruit growing and a pleasure resort, that the future development of the island will depend. The cheap and quick transportation now offered by the railroads and steamships removes the only obsta cle in the way to a steady and rapid increase in this.branch of industry. Crops can be continually grown both winter and sum mer. Two and even three crops may be gathered from the same land in the course of the year. The facilities for heavy manur ing, such as is required for truck-farms, can be had in abund ance from the salt marshes that form the western boundary, lying between the island and mainland. The vast quantities of vege table matter and muck from these marshes, composted with oyster-shell lime, form a never-failing and cheap supply of fer tilizers. These marshes are drained by numerous rivers and creeks, which abound in fish, oysters, dams, shrimps, crabs, and other products of the salt water.
Desirable locations on these islands can be procured, either by purchase or lease, on favorable terms. Large estates that were formerly devoted to the culture of sea-island cotton can now be cut up into truck farms, and used to better advantage than could be done in cultivating cotton. The uncultivated lands afford excellent pasturage for cattle and hogs, both summer and winter, and there can be no doubt that sheep would thrive well.
On the southern end of St. Simons Island are extensive saw mills, giving employment to over one hundred and fifty hands,
66
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
and affording to the surrounding country an abundant supply of lumber for building, fencing, etc.
To the tourist in search of pleasure or health, these islands will be found both pleasant and healthy. During the summer months the atmosphere is kept cool and at an even temperature by the never-felling sea-breeze. This breeze is looked for with almost as much certainty as the sunrise*; and seldom or never fails. Cumberland has a sea-beach of sixteen miles; St. Simon's, of five miles. They afford delightful drives, being hard and smooth. Sea-bathing is attended with no risk, and can be enjoyed without the fear of accident from the under-tow, which is so often the cause of accidents at the Northern watering places. Nothing of the kind is known on this coast. Fishing and hunting afford ample amusement to the sportsman. The rivers and woods afford abundance of game.
The mild and even temperature of the winters of St. Simon's and Cumberland Islands renders these islands desirable localities for those suffering from pulmonary complaints, and persons so affected visiting Florida would find these islands pleasant stop ping places on the long route from the Northern or Western States to Florida.
The proximity to the sea, with its refreshing breezes, makes them most healthy and agreeable residences in summer; and in winter the same influence is felt in the reduction of the frigidity of the atmosphere, coming in contact with the warmer winds of the ocean. In no place hi the whole State can there be found a more salubrious climate than is to be found on the sea islands of Georgia.
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
67
CHAPTER IX.
Letters from Northern Settlers on Lines of Road in Southern Georgia, and from Natives of South Georgia.
From Letters to Commissioner of Agriculture of Georgia in 1878-79.
From Letters to H. M. Drane, Macon and Brunswick Railroad, in 1876.
Andfrom Letters to Waycross Reporter in 1881.
Eastman, Dodge Co., Ga., July 10, 1876. COL. H. M. DRANE,
M. & B. R. R., Macon, Ga. . DEAR SIR : In reply to your request to give you a statement in regard to this section of Georgia, generally known as the " piney woods" or " wiregrass" country, I beg to submit the fol lowing: I have been acquainted with the counties of Telfair, Montgomery, Pulaski, and Dodge since 1861, and have lived in this section and traveled over the above-named counties and Laurens since the first of 1868. I have run a farm in Dodge county for three years, and am now farming. In the year 1874 I kept an account of all expenses and proceeds. Had upon the farm four mules, but did not use them more than two-thirds of the time, consequently had more expense than was necessary in surplus stock; hired three regular hands, and hired day labor to bring the cotton to4 a stand, replant corn, pull fodder, and pick cotton. Expenses for guano, labor, rations for mules and hands, and all other expenses, with interest added at the end of the year, amounted to nearly $2,000. Had about 120 acres hi cultivation, and raised from this 30 bales of cotton averaging over 500 pounds, which netted a little over $2,200; 1,200 bushels of corn, worth $1.25 per bushel, making, $1,500; fodder, worth by sales $150; 1,000 bushels cotton seed, worth as fertilizer 25 cents per bushel, making $250; 450 bushels potatoes, worth 50 cents per bushel, making $225; also a fine crop of peas among the corn,
68
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
worth at least $150, besides oats, etc. Whole product of farm, $4,475. These facts can be substantiated by reference to the sale-bills, etc. I had employed a negro farmer, and was most of the time absent from the farm, and did not work a day on it, but hired all the labor done. This year I am cultivating 75 acres in corn and cotton, and SPacres in sugar cane and potatoes, with two mules; have plowed the entire crop over four times, and have a better prospect for a crop than any year previous, although I have only spent $75 for guano to put to corn and cotton.
There is a market right at the door for everything that the farm raises, as over half the people are engaged in sawing lumber or cutting timber from the fine yellow-pine forest, which is equaled by none in the United States. The land is easy to clear; nothing to do but to chop around the trees, cut up, pile, and burn the logs, build a fence, and go to plowing. The land is well adapted to raising corn, cotton, sugar cane, oats, potatoes, peanuts, and all kinds of vegetables; and all it lacks is plenty of good, industri ous, honest people, to make it the best poor mans country in the world, as they can get houses here so very cheap that any industrious man can soon pay for it and make a good living and to spare. While there is a good chance for capitalists to invest in pine-timbered lands and develop the same, it is also a good stock raising country, especially for sheep, as they do well all winter without being fed at all. Colts do Veil most of the year, and keep pretty fat upon the range, and will live through the winter without being fed at all, but get very poor. Hogs can be raised here as cheap as anywhere, but have to be fed if they grow large. Very respectfully, etc.,
JOHN W. GRIFFIN.
The following letter from Mr. Clemens written for other par ties is the more important, as he used no fertilizers. In truth, with improved plows and tools, good seeds, and improved modes of cultivation, this land could be made to do much better.
LETTER OF JACOB A. CLEMENS, ESQ.
Lot No. 135, 8th District, Telfair Co., Ga., Dec. 13, 1869. DEAR SIR :
In reply to your questions relating to the quality of soil and the products of my plantation, I will make the following state-
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
ment. It has no better soil than the average quality of the pine wood soil of this part of Georgia.
My average crops are as follows:
Corn, shelled, . . . . . . . 20 to 30 bushels per acre.
Sweet potatoes, ...... 200 to 300 "
"
Ginned cotton, ...... 400 to 500 pounds "
Peanuts, ............ 20 bushels "
Cane syrup, .......... 400 gallons "
One man and a boy, with a mule, usually cultivate thirty acres
of this land. I also raise as fine Irish potatoes, turnips, beets,
peas, and oats as I ever saw grown anywhere; in fact, this is just
the place for all kinds of garden vegetables, and a great variety of
fruits. I herewith send samples of corn, cotton, and potatoes
raised this year.
Respectfully yours,
* JACOB A. CLEMENS.
Near Douglas, Coffee Co., Ga.,
August 7, 1876.
MR. H. M. DRAKE,
G. T. & P. Agent.
Dear Sir: Yours of July 17, asking information in regard to
sheep-raising in this section of Georgia, is to hand. Will answer:
First, we clip about 3^ pounds per head of wool, per sheep;
price of ewes is $2, the lambs $1.50 per head; mutton sheep, $2
per head. As for the produce from the fold, we realize nothing, as
we never put them in fold at all only while we are shearing, as we
let them roam at large over a large section of country. A dry, hilly,
broken country suits them best. Very seldom there is any dis
ease among sheep in this country. Sometimes a few have sore
heads, which is easily cured by the use of tar, grease and sulphur.
The cost to maintain sheep is nothing as to feeding. We use
large woods pasture. Sometimes we fence the ewes and lambs
when very young, to protect the lambs from the ravages of hogs.
I have about 2,000 head, the profit of which is about $2,500 a year.
The greatest trouble is gathering to shear and mark the lambs.
Any other information will be given at any time.
Very respectfully,
1
HENRY PETERSON.
70
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
Copy of Letter WrittenbyJ. W.Sheldon to Friends in New York.
Eastman, Dodge Co., Ga., January 9,1876. Dear Sir:
On the isth of December, 1875,1 started with my family from Rockland, county, New York, for Augusta, Ga., but on the steamer Magnolia, en route for Savannah, I made the acquaintance of Mr. Henry Niemann, a German gentleman, going to Eastman, Dodge county, Ga., to make arrangements for settling a colony upon a tract of land lying mostly in that county, and known as the lands of the Georgia Land and Lumber Company. The lands are em braced by the Ocmulgee andOconee rivers, and is nearly bisected by the Macon and Brunswick Railroad. This tract of land, Mr. Niemann assured me, upon good Authority, was fine rolling land, and covered mostly with the long-leaf yellow pine; was in as healthy a location as could be found in Georgia, and possessed as many advantages for the settlers as any location to be found any where in the State. He told me that if I would go with him to Eastman, he would guarantee me a house to live in and good society, with every advantage he could render me when there. After consulting my family, we concluded to go, and so became the first family in his colony. We arrived in Eastman December 24th, and got our house, and found everything as good as it had been recommended to us, and many better than we looked for.
The country about Eastman lies as fine for agricultural pur poses as any land could, just rolling enough for natural drainage and not enough to be broken. The soil, like most yellow pine lands, is sandy, and at first view appears to be too much so, but the whole region is underlaid with a day subsoil, rendering it impossible for the land to leach, and enabling the farmer to bring his land to a high state of cultivation, while the sand renders the soil light and warm, also easily cultivated at once after rain with out injuring it, as in clay soil. Cotton, sugar-cane, corn, oats, sweet potatoes, and melons grow here luxuriantly. The water of this region is pure and as soft as warm water, obtained easily by digging from 20 to 30 feet in the clay, and the clay is of that nature that the well requires no walling, as the clay will not cave, but stands for any length of time firm as a brick wall. The climate since I came has been delightful, and I am assured by the people
SOUTHERN-GEORGIA.
of the place that it is a splendid climate, equal in every way t3 any in the United States. The people here can have their garden vegetables fresh from the garden any day in the year without housing them. The lumber of this region is as good for building purposes as ever need be, and is worth on an average about $9 per thousand feet, thus enabling settlers to build cheap, good buildings. Grass grows all through the woods in this part of the State, and while it is not like the Northern tame grass, it is good for cattle and sheep, and sheep especially can be kept to great profit and in great quantities. Any one wishing to confer with Mr. Henry Niemann can do so by addressing him in person or by letter at 294 Broadway, room 13, New York. I cheerfully recommend him as an honest, careful business man, of good judgment, warm-hearted and sympathetic.
J. W. SHELDON, Formerly of Tompkins Cove, N. Y.
* Copy of Letter front J. W. Sheldon to Friends in New York.
Eastman} Dodge Co., Ga., July 26, 1876.
Dear Sir:
A little over seven months ago, I came to Dodge county, Ga.,
and have consequently witnessed a greater part of winter, all
of the spring, and am now witnessing the hot season, and can
truly say that this is by far the finest climate I have ever found*
after having lived in seventeen States of this Union. The winter
and spring here are so mild and pleasant and so healthy that
both man and beast can fully enjoy life, instead of simply endur
ing it, as they do much of this part of the year at the North. The
summer or heated term is longer, and in this region the hot
weather is more constant than in New York, New Jersey or Penn
sylvania, but the degree of heat is not <%o high, and the lassitude
produced not so great. There is almost always a breeze which
so tempers the heat of the sun that sun-stroke is a thing scarcely
known in that region. I have worked constantly in the open
air for three months past, exposed to the full heat of the sun, and
y
can say in truth that I have not experienced any more inconve
nience from heat than I have done during the same part of the
year in New York, Ohio, Illinois, or Missouri. I am disappointed
in the crops of this region, but the disappointment is a happy
72
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
one. I see good crops on land which has had no fertilizing for years and very poorly cultivated, while on lands fertilized and well cultivated the crops are remunerative to a degree I had not expected. The lands in Dodge county are easily worked, and after they are cleared and properly cultivated can be made to pay a better per cent, on the cost of land and cultivation than any other region I know of, either North or West. However, this region is not one where a man may sit down and fare sumptuously on the bread of idleness. Industry and economy are necessary to suc cess here as elsewhere, only they pay a larger per cent, than else where. Finally/to sum up, we have in this part of Georgia as delightful a climate for nine months in~"the year as is had in any part of the United States, and can get a good living for as little wear and tear as can be had in any other part of our country. Come and try it, all who want a good home in a good place.
Respectfully, J. W. SHELDON.
COL. HENRY M. DRANE,
Eastman, Ga., July 19, 1876,
G. P. & T. Agent,
Macon, Ga.
Dear Sir: I have lived in this vicinity for forty-seven years,
-and twenty-five of that number have been devoted to the practice
of medicine, and, in my opinion, it is one of the healthiest coun
tries to be found anywhere. The climate is salubrious, having
very few sudden changes. Is free from causes which produce
violent and dangerous attacks of sickness. Those who are vic
tims of lung or throat disease would be greatly benefited by a
residence here, and perhaps our mild climate would afford them
a final cure. The types of disease common to this country are
mild and easily controlled, and it is entirely free from epidemics
of a serious nature. Formerly, little attention was given to agri
culture, but of late years it has become an industry of much
value. The soil is very productive. Vegetables grow in abund
ance both winter and summer. For sheep and cattle raising it
is not surpassed in the Southern States. They increase rapidly,
and support themselves upon the natural grasses which cover the
entire woods. The fleece of the sheep is free from all burs and
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
73
quite large. They receive but little attention, yet yield a hand some profit The water is cool and wholesome free-from lime stone and all other impurities. The people are social and hospi table, showing great kindness to strangers, and generally, the morals of the country are very good. Those who have worked have shown signs of great prosperity, and offer open hands and hearts to any who wish to join them in developing the resources of this favored land.
I am, respectfully yours,
JAMES M. BUCHAN, M. D.
DOUCHE RTY COUNTY.
You ask for my experience as an immigrant I must say that
it has been very pleasant both socially and politically; and as for
health, I could not have found a more favorable climate. I am a
farmer, and I think as an agricultural State, Georgia, and particu
larly the southern part of it, is more favored both in soil and cli
mate than almost any other section of America. One great ad
vantage to immigrants is that we have every facility in the way of
cheap transportation, by rail and by water. The productions of the
soil are almost unlimited in variety and amount. Still, there is
room for choice in selecting lands, and one should not be too
hasty in selling. The best time to visit this country is from Sep
tember to June, for then you see the State at its best and worst.
Lands from $3 to $8 per acre. Taxes very low. Stock of all
kinds are raised here, and it is a great fruit country. I came from
Maine in 1869.
F. L. BRIDGE, Albany, Ga.
I immigrated from England to Georgia in 1878, and am en gaged as a clerk. My family and I have suffered less from heat
than in Massachusetts. The soil is a sandy loam, capable of a high degree of improve
ment. Have had better health than in Massachusetts. Society is good, and I consider life and property as safe as in the Northr ern States. The feeling toward immigrants is all that could be desired. The white people gladly welcome settlers from the other States, and give them every assistance in their power. Too much
74
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
praise cannot be awarded them. Land is very low much below its actual value. One or two farms adjoining me are for sale at a price much less than the cost of improvement thereon. The profits in good seasons will almost pay for a farm. A much better opportunity is offered immigrants here than at the West
THOS. KIRKE, Albany, Ga.
LOWNDES COUNTY.
New Jersey is my native State, whence I came to Georgia in 1969, and engaged in farming and lumbering. The climate is healthy, if the diet be suited to the latitude, as is proven by the fact that the people are able to live on corn bread, bacon, coffee, and syrup. It is not so hot as the Middle States in summer. The natural soil is much better, but does not retain manure so well, on account of evaporation in winter. It is easier to work, being free from stones. I have raised i6j bushels of Irish po tatoes on one-twentieth of an acre. The second crop yields well, if of an early variety, furnishing a supply during the year. Not good for fruit, except figs, grapes and pears.
Honied cattle can be raised at one-fifth the expense required in the Middle States, requiring but a very small amount of nutritious food in winter, when the grass is tough. Life and property are as safe as in any country of mixed races. Negroes here, as else where, are given to pilfering. Whites are easily angered, but not revengeful. Settlers are treated with kindness, both in social and business circles. Lands worth fe per acre here would sell for $50 in New York, Pennsylvania or New Jersey.
L. A. HAYNES, Valdosta, Ga.
THOMAS COUNTY.
My original profession was that of a confectioner, but for the last ten years I have been engaged in growingfruits, having come to this State in 1860. There is but little inducement for mechan ics to settle here, because everything that can be made abroad is brought here for sale*
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
75
The climate is all that could be desired. The soil is of varied character, light soils predominating, but all produce well with a moderate use of manures. The productions include about all those of the temperate and semi-tropical zones. The health and physical development of the people are specially good, and I find that foreigners here enjoy permanent good health. This is the general rule with all those who retain their old habits of using lighter food and drink than are here commonly used. The con dition of society here is very good. The foreign immigrant would perhaps miss the jovial festivals he had so often enjoyed in his old home.
Ten years ago, when I brought here two Swiss families, the head of one, shortly after their arrival, exclaimed: "My God! can you let your hogs run about as they do without their being stolen?" Even my tempting fruits are not trespassed upon by the boys here in town.
Taxes are very light compared to elsewhere. Very kind feel ings are manifested towards the immigrant who settles here as a worker and not as an agitator. His standing in society will be equal to his reasonable expectations, here or elsewhere.
JOHN STARK, Thomasville, Ga.
I am a native of the United States (North); settled in Thomas ville in 1873. Am a minister of the Gospel. The inducements for immigration are reasonably good. The climate is delightful; the soil, though not naturally rich, is easy of improvement. Pro ductions, cotton, corn, oats, wheat, rye, rice, flax, broom-corn, sugar-cane, sweet and Irish potatoes, strawberries, pears, peaches, grapes, etc. General healthfulness excellent. Condition of soci ety and safety to life and property good. There is a great desire for immigrants, and they are kindly treated. Lands are low hi price, and profits of farming remunerative. Wise investments in farming lands, with suitable management, yield a*nandsome profit, despite the expensive transportation, which in some cases is ruinous, and in all a serious drawback.
JAMES A. McKEE, ThomasviUe, Ga.
[A letter containing substantially the same representations as the foregoing, was received from Mr. Fay Hirshinger, a native of Germany, now merchandising in Thomasville.]
76
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
WORTH COUNTY.
My native country is England, whence I came in 1856 to Irwin county. Have followed school teaching and planting. Men with small capital can do more and better here than anwyhere I know of. Good teachers make a living. Climate is good, soil various, but all will remunerate labor properly directed. Productions are corn, cotton, potatoes, etc., etc. Fruits and vegetables in abund ance. Health good, society coarse, but honest. Life and prop erty are safe. Taxes light. Treatment of strangers is very kind and hospitable. Land is cheaper in this section, according to quality, than anywhere else.
E. COURTOY, Isabella, Ga,
I came from Ohio to Georgia in the month of December, 1872,
and have been engaged in farming ever since. I made two crops
in Fulton county, and one in Fayette county. From thence I
moved to Worth county, where I have purchased a lot of land
and established a permanent home, having my second crop about
ready to "lay by." I am satisfied that I can make farming prof
itable here, simply by leaving off guano and manufacturing my
own manure. The climate surpasses that of any other country I
ever saw. The winters are mild, and I have suffered much less
from heat in the summer season than in Ohio. The soil, in
places, is sandy, while other places are pebbly and solid, and pro
duces well by using but a trifle of manure. The production of
this country is about the same as that of Ohio, with the addition
of much that cannot be raised hi that State. This country is very
healthy, except malarial diseases about the watercourses; society
is about the same as in Ohio; so is the security of life and prop
erty. Taxes are no higher here than in any other country. The
feeling and treatment manifested towards me, wherever I have
lived in tijjp State, have been nothing but friendship and kindness.
Lands here rate from 50 cents to $3 per acre. Thousands of acres
of unimproved lands in this county can be bought at 50 cents per
acre, much better and more profitable to formers than lands in
"Ohio and elsewhere for which you have to pay from $40 to $50
per acre.
JOHN MYGRANT, Warwick, Ga.
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
77
PULASKI COUNTY.
I immigrated from Massachusetts, my native State, to Georgia
in 1877, and have been engaged in the mercantile business and
in farming, almost exclusively the latter the last year. Although
the methods of farming here are different from what I have been
accustomed to, yet such information was readily obtained as
enabled me to make with three plows 24 bales of cotton, 700 to 800 bushels of corn, and a good crop of peas. Labor the
main factor here requires more study than any of the elements
of successful farming. My observation, thus far, teaches me that
by personal attention to business, by patience and strict justice
and fair dealing towards employees, the mutual interests of both
white and colored people may be promoted and prosperity se
cured.
For three months of the year July, August and September
the weather is very warm, though tha thermometer seldom rises above 90 or 95 degrees in the shade. During the remaining
months the climate is delightful. Although not much of the soil is naturally rich, yet it is easily worked, and by intelligent culti
vation, produces profitable crops. It is mostly sandy upon a
subsoil of stiff clay. The forest growth is chiefly pine and oak,
though there are many other species. The staple products are cotton, corn, oats, sugar carte and sweet potatoes, with a great
variety of garden vegetables. Peaches, sand pears, grapes, plums, strawberries, etc., can be raised in abundance. One party here
made 1,200 gallons of wine from three acres of Concord and
Delaware grapes the fourth season after setting. Any industrious, sober man, with a small capital, by accommo
dating himself to the methods of farming suited to this region
(a matter not at all difficult), is almost sure to "get on" here; and in a few years, if he proves himself trustworthy, can work him
self up to actual ownership and independence.
\
B. F. PURSONS, HawkinsviUe, Ga.
78
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
LETTERS FROM ACTUAL SETTLERS.
BRYAN COUNTY.
I came to this county from the North in 1850. The climate
i
hero is delightful, and the soil unsurpassed for rice, corn, peas,
I
cotton, potatoes. As to health, there is some fever on the river,
but very healthy away from it.
The condition of society is good, and there are few disorderly
persons in the part of the county where I live. Taxes are mod
erate, and life and property are as secure as anywhere in the
Union. I think good immigrants would be very favorably re
ceived. The profits of rice culture are large, except when the
crop is injured by storms, which are liable to occur in the river
bottoms.
GEO. LYMAN, Appleton, i^ A. & G. R. R.
I am a native of Massachusetts; lived three years in New York State and two in Connecticut; settled in Bryan county, Ga, in 1867. I am a teacher and farmer. If money is the object, school teaching is not a success though we need teachers, but farming pays. Timber Cyprus, black gum, sweet gum, and especially pine is abundant, and might be utilized in the manufacture of boxes and measures. The climate is delightful, and I think I owe my life to it, for I came here a consumptive and am cured with out medicine. The pine land is light and poor, but yields ample returns when fertilizers are applied. A great deal of swamp land not yet under cultivation is very rich, and will be reclaimed in time. The leading farm crops are cotton, rice, sweet potatoes, sugar-cane, corn, oats, peas, chufas. Have been married twelve years; have six children. None of us have been sick for a day had no occasion to call a doctor. The people are moral and gen erally religious; very few atheists, deists or sceptics. A fine opening for preachers and teachers who dont want much money for their services. I believe that life and property are as safe here as anywhere. The people are law-abiding. Taxes very low
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
79
only one per cent, including State and county. The feeling is very kind towards immigrants; the people are more anxious for immigration than the older States. Land will average about $i per acre, and is capable of a high degree of improvement by proper use of fertilizers, at a much less cost than the soil in New York, Massachusetts or Connecticut.
CAMDEN COUNTY.
I am a native of New York State; did mercantile business for twenty years at Waverly, Tioga county, in that State; came to Georgia for my health in 1869. Since my residence here nearly ten years myself and family have enjoyed uninterrupted health, winter and summer. From my experience and observation, I be lieve the climate of the southern coast of Georgia cannot be sur passed for health and comfort during the entire year.
The soil, with proper culture, will produce every variety of veg etables, and is most grateful for kind treatment Even with infe rior cultivation the soil yields a return that could not be realized in the most favored locality in the North, under the same treatment For growing the orange, or any other semi-tropical fruit grown in Florida (north of the frost line), the southern coast of Georgia for sixty miles has advantages over the orange district one hun dred miles south. . The orange tree is more hardy, less liable to injury from cold, and the fruit has a thinner skin and higher flavor. I have 1,500 trees. Not a single year-old seedling killed by the cold last January, while the trees in Central and Middle Florida suffered serious injury. Farm crops successfully grown are cot ton, corn, sugar-cane, sorghum, peas and beans, Irish and sweet
potatoes, oats, rye, etc. This region is far more healthy than any section of the North
or Westwith which I am acquainted, and we have at St Marys as peaceable and law-abiding class of people white and black as can be found in any section. So far as I have seen, there is less sectional feeling in the South than in the North, and I have never had any fear of personal violence to myself, family or to any Northern man who may desire to settle in Georgia. For nearly ten years that I have lived South, I have, without excep tion, received the kindest treatment and evidences of good will.
80
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
The men who now represent the condition of society at the
South to be such as should deter a Northern man from settling
here are enemies to the poor white and black North and South.
Such men, who still appeal to the passions, were not clothed in
blue or gray (during the civil strife) for honest purposes; if wear-
.ing either color they were the home guards or men seeking
some personal benefit or political position.. I have no doubt the
persistent misrepresentations of the Southern people have de
terred many good men from seeking homes in the South, who,
could they have known the truth, would now be in the posses
sion and enjoyment of free and independent homes in the South,
freed from the anxieties of their present condition North.
Taxes in Pennsylvania and New York where I have real es tate interests are as four to one in Georgia. In Georgia, taxes
are low on a low valuation in the North they are high on a high
valuation.
If all Georgians would work for Georgia as the Floridians work
for Florida, the population would be doubled in ten years.
In my opinion there is no State in the Union that has the un
developed wealth of Georgia. Every variety of fruit and grain
grown in the United States can be successfully grown in Georgia;
its mineral wealth is very great, and its advantages for manufac
turing everything useful are unsurpassed. Every variety of cli
mate, from the balmy air of its southern coast, to its mountains
and snow of winter in the northern portion. I am proud of my native State, New York, but equally as much
interested in the prosperity and full development of my adopted
State South.
SILAS FORDHAM,
St. Marys, Camden county, Ga.
[Very interesting letters were also received from Mr. Joseph Sheppard, St. Marys, a native of Pennsylvania; Mr^ Richard Beally, St. Marys, from England; and Mr. W. A. White, St Marys, from Connecticut. The above covers the points fully" and is concurred in by the others.]
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
81
GLYNN COUNTY,
I am a lineal decendant of the seventh generation of Elder
Wm. Brewster, a native of Connecticut, and have resided here
about ten years. I was educated a physician. . Persons of
various professions have visited and done business in our county
and those adjoining, and are now settled and doing business here,
apparently for life.
r .*
According to my knowledge and information, the inducements
for immigration are fully equal to those of any quarter of .the
globe, and surpass those of most localities. The social condition
is better than it is at the North. Better feeling prevails toward
the North than is reciprocated. The South is more humble,
which insures Gods blessing.
,
F. A. BREWSTER, M. D., Brunswick, Ga.
Massachusetts is my native State. I came here in 1865, and engaged in the manufacture of yellow pine lumber. My "pro fession" is pretty well filled up now. This section offers induce ments to farmers, and especially to stock growing. The climate is superior to that of Massachusetts, take it the year round. The soil, with care, is very productive of corn, cotton, vegetables and fruits of all kinds bananas, olives, etc., wheat and all cereals. Health is good where the country is properly drained so that no stagnant ponds are near. This low, flat section miist have drain age to insure health. The condition of society is every way satisfactory, and life is secure as anywhere. Taxes (local :city) are moderately heavy owing to extravagance of officials arid unsatisfactory political condition after reconstruction, while under the temporary control of the negroes. The people are very kind to immigrants, and their social treatment is unexceptionable. Land is very cheap, and good farms are readily obtainable.
WARREN A. FULLER, Brunswick, Ga.
[Reference is also made to Jno. R. Cook, Brunswick, Ga., from whom a letter was received.]
82
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
LIBERTY COUNTY.
It gives me pleasure to answer your questions. I was born in
Rhode Island, and came here last December with my uncle, Mr.
Coe. - Am a farmer, and consider this the best place for a young
former with small capital, on account of the cheapness of land
small cost of living and good prices for farm produce. The
climate is healthy; have never been so well as since I came here.
The soil looks good time will tell how good. Rice, corn and
cotton are the principal crops. Mine is all rice. Society is
refined and agreeable, but very few white people in this section.
It is perfectly safe for any honest man, white or black, to live
here. I was cordially received, and all express a desire for set
tlers to come and "occupy the land." Land is worth from $1.00
to $5.00 per acre.
G. A. BAILEY, Dorchester, Ga.
Not having been in Georgia a sufficient time to answer all your questions, I will confine myself to those which do not require length of time for solution. I am a farmer, came from New England in 1878. The inducements most noticeable to a new comer are cheap lands for farming and grazing. From my brief experience, I consider the climate very healthy and enjoyable, and my life as safe here as in any place in our country. Think the freedmen are not so well able to withstand the temptation to steal as those who have had better opportunities for moral education.
The feeling manifested towards me has been most kind and cordial far more so than I had any right to expect. Found a hearty welcome everywhere.
I cannot refrain from saying that, in my estimation, there is no part of our country that possesses superior conditions for suc cessful enterprise in any branch of farming, whether it be stock raising, forming proper or fruit growing.
JAS. COE, Dorchester, Ga.
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
WAYNE COUNTY.
Am a native of New York; came here in i86g,t and engaged
in merchandising. If goods are sold strictly for casn, I know of
no better opening for well-posted business men than in Southeast
Georgia. Little farming done in this immediate neighborhood,
.though climate and soil favor the production of cotton, rice, corn,
oats, sugar cane, and sweet potatoes. Soil in this county sandy,
with clay subsoil. Crops are two or three weeks ahead of those
across the river, in Liberty county (which is much lower than
Wayne, but the richest and finest county in Southeast Georgia).
Fruits grow in profusion and of elegant quality. This is as
healthy a section as I ever lived in, and that covers a close
acquaintance and sojourn in every State this side of Oregon and
California. There are malarial fevers at times, but they readily
succumb to ordinary remedies, and there is nothing of malignant
type. Of the condition of society, can say nothing in its favor,
but the adjoining county of Liberty has a splendid class of people,
noted for morality.
Life and property are as safe as in any part of the United
States. Taxes are unusually small, and we are out of debt, with
a balance in the treasury. With a few exceptions among the
most ignorant, the great majority of the people, and //the better
classes extend a hearty welcome to Northern immigrants who
are men of energy and industry. Capital, however, is no dis
qualification. With one-fourth the investment ahd one-fourth
the labor here, a good farmer can reap ten times the value of the
same investment North. Land can be bought at from .25 cents
to $3.00 per acre.
-
During a residence often years, I have failed to see or hear of
an instance, in this section, of "intimidation" or "shot-gun policy,"
to white or black. Perfect freedom, of speech political or
religious. We need a fence law (to fence stock) and a dog law
for this country is magnificent for sheep-raising.
JAMES O. CLARKE, Doctor Town, Ga.
[Want of space forbids the insertion of a very interesting letter from Mr. S. S. Moore, who came from Ohio in 1866. His postoffice is Jesup, Ga.]
84
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
LETTERS TO WAYCROSS REPORTER.
EDITOR REPORTER:
Your enterprising efforts for the development of Southern Georgia, your commendable zeal to convert a large part of our State from the extensive pine barrenness, hitherto valuable only for timber, and in the near, future valueless for that, into gardening and farming purposes should give you a strong hold upon the approval and material support of every Georgian, but especially of those of us living in those counties bordering on the Florida line and the Atlantic coast. These Southern and Southeastern counties are now yielding to the demands of the-world at large a value in building materials of which our fathers forty years ago never dreamed. And now that this element of value will soon be removed under the enterprise and laboring hand of the mill man, shall we, as our fathers did in the past, say of these vast tracts of land: they can never be utilized, they are only valuable for the timber, the last and only value attached to them is gone. We will from henceforth turn them over in fee simple to the wiregrass. Such a conclusion is unjustifiable. These lands can and should support herds of cattle and sheep with a value to their owners, or should be marked up into small lots of seventy acres each and made valuable by contributing to the support and maintenance of thrifty and industrious families.
If we turn our attention to the mountainous districts of North ern Georgia and Middle Tennessee, we will there find large num bers of families making decent and substantial support on farms varying in size from seven to fifteen acres at inconvenient dis tances from market, and their small farms frequently washed and marked up by large gullies, or lying along such precipitous hill sides that it is almost impossible to have them traversed by plowhorse or ox. Although these farms are so small and surrounded by many serious inconveniences, yet, when near the towns or cities or along the railroads and rivers, their market value varies from twenty-five to one hundred dollars per acre. The lands lying along the great railroads of Southern Georgia which have been placed at your disposal to be deeded to bona fide immigrants and settlers are far superior to, and more valuable than, the lands
SOUTHERN^ GEORGIA.
85
lying among the mountains of this or any other State, where thousands of people are living and supporting large families.
Those large land owners have shown great wisdom in placing their lands at your disposal, and when the current of immigra tion shall turn in this direction, as it will most certainly do in the near future, they will reap a great harvest in the increased value of the alternate lots retained by them "and thousands will rise up and call them blessed." It is not at all surprising that there should arise opposition to the scheme of immigration, for we have only to reflect for a moment and we are reminded that opposition has always raised its growling head at every reformatory move in church or state. There will always be those who have nothing to do but to lay hold and pull back the car of enterprise and development. There can be in the nature of the case no good reason why the vast tracts of unimproved lands lying immediately on the Savannah, Florida and Western and Brunswick and Al bany Railroads should not be placed in the hands of Northern and- Eastern farmers, and be made cpntributary to the material support of our largely increasing population.
Brooks county to-day can furnish homes and farms for a thousand immigrant families and the present holders have their estates increased in value thirty-three and a half per cent. Not long since, in company with an enterprising man from Fall River, Mass., while riding over a part of this county we heard him say of our undeveloped resources and uncleared lands: All you need in this country is men and money." Nature has placed within easy grasp, to the need of the industrious and nugal farmer, a greater variety of wealth producing products in South ern Georgia than can be found in any Northern or Western State, and if it were not taking too much of your space, it would be a pleasing talk to make the comparison: Here we have no inclement season, the farmer can labor every month of the year, he can make two valuable crops on the same and in one year; here he can with almost a certainty produce corn, cotton, sugar cane, sweet potatoes, pinders, field peas in great variety, Irish potatoes, oats, rye, tobacco, jute, hemp, rice on either low or upland; here gardening for market is fast becoming a great source of wealth, here the dairy and poultry yard yield a handsome profit. In a few short years the lines of railroad entering to Savannah and Brunswick will demand a line of steamships connecting these
86
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
ports with Europe, then we shall have a market for the products
of the farm, the garden, the dairy and the poultry yard on the
continent, as we now have for our yellow pine lumber.
Development is the order of the day, the watchword of the
hour. The car of material prosperity moves, and we must move
with it. Pardon the length of this communication, and believe
me in sympathy with your plans and efforts to improve the
country and benefit the people.
JOHN G. McCALL.
QUITMAN, GA., July 28, 1881.
[NOTE. There is already steam communication between Sa vannah and Europe during the cotton season, and soon will be regular steam lines between both Brunswick and Savannah to Europe.]
JUDGE JOSEPH TILLMAN:
, MASS., August 18, 1881.
MY DEAR SIR:
Your papers have been received weekly and distributed to the
best advantage, and I will continue to distribute what you may
choose to forward me for distribution. The people here are be
ginning to take a lively interest in the South for the last few
months, which will aid you greatly in peopling your country.
The jfi^^tffer is very highly prized by the people of this country,
and you will doubtless get a great many subscribers. Everybody
wants to see the Reporter, from the bankers down to the garden
farmers. It has awakened a great deal of interest and a lively
inquiry about Southeast Georgia, and many excellent families
are looking anxiously in that direction for the doors of your
pooling scheme to be thrown open and they invited to come in
and partake with your people in, as you choose to call it, Gods
country. You seem to be doing all within your power to put life into
your people, and I hope they will soon wake up to a realizing sense
of their situation and invite people to come and help build up their
country and become rich in worldly effects together. South
eastern Georgia is capable of raising and feeding fifty people
where it does one now, and the forty-nine are ready to go if you will
hold out any inducements for them to go and share with you.
Once get the first half of them and the rest are sure to follow and
pay well for the privilege of making a home with you. I hope
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
87
>
to see your people come up to the work at once, as it is now the fall of the year, which is the season Northern people should start in, in the South, to become acclimated. Do not let it pass by this season, as it will carry you one year further along, or, in other words, you will be one year behind.
Most respectfully yours,
C. C SANDERSON.
JUDGE TILLMAN:
WAYCROSS, GA.,August 17, 1881.
DEAR SIR:
I read with pleasure your remarks in last weeks issue of the
Reporter on grape culture in this section of country. I will say
to you and your many readers, that I was raised, or, as we
Yankees would say, brought up, in Ulster county, New York,
which is considered as good, if not the best grape growing sec
tion North, and have, since my youth, traveled in nearly every
State in the Union, have lived several years in California, and five
years in South America a good portion .of the time in Peru. I
now come to what I want to say, and will say it, because I believe
it, and that is, that this is, by far, naturally, the best grape grow
ing country I have ever seen. I am much interested on this
subject, and would like to see the experiment tried here by a
dozen or more skilled grape growers from Ulster county, N. Y.,
for I feel well assured yea, I know it would prove out a grand
success. I have weighed bunches of die Concord grape |Jrown
in; this town, gathered from the Lott vineyard, which has never
received a fourth of the attention given to vineyards at home*
which weighed as much as twenty-two ounces -to the bunch, with
every grape properly and uniformly matured. Such a thing as a
mildew and rot has never been known here. Grapes of different
varieties ripen here everyyear, and are very sweet and juicy. I
have never known or heard of the vines or fruit being attacked
by insects of any kind. I regard this immediate section as being
the natural home of the grape, with a congenial soil and climate
combined. What I have said on this subject I believe to be true.
Yours truly,
D. C. TOMPKINS.
NOTE. Mr. Tompkins has located permanently at Waycross.
CHAPTER X. SAVANNAH.
Statement^ by Article's and: Countries) of Commodities^ the Growth) Produce and Manufacture of the United States^
00' 00'
Exported to Foreign Countriesfrom Savannahfor theyear ending August ji) ""
COUNTRIES.
SEA ISLAND COTTON.
UPLAND COTTON.
Bales Pounds. Value. Bales. Pounds. Value.
Great Britain . . . . . 5,183 1,005,881 $487,870 105,370
703 253,556 72,464 87103
118,283
02,700
Spain .........
33,500
Italy ..........
15,368
35,348
1,943
SBwrietidshenAamnderiNcaorw. ay. ..
1,800
Central America . . .
94,600,010 17,003,378 66,005,208 30,024,033 15,780,501 7,441,100 17,040,t76
038,326 852,610
$10,180,000 1,072,297 6,014,146 3,342,290 1,804,40) 771,671 1,800,023 107,716 87,412
,
Portugal ....... Denmark ...... West Indies .....
ROSIN.
TURPENTINB.
LUM BKR.
TIMBER.
Bbls. Value, Gallons. Value. MTFeet Value. Cub.Ft. Value.
73,022 $243,874 932,413 $301,103 000 $12,700 204,000 $40,647
84,013 100,247 7,373 22,400 2,417 6,041
008 7,231 388 146 0,381 112,066 20,040 4,094
3,025 10,710 83,090 35,089 7,030 10,051
10 147 19,316 2,318
1,210 3,315
173 3,292 2,600 301
120 304
72,,110028
1,482 23,649
748 11,859
1,335 3,260
343 5,000
2,001 0.000
2,302 0,351
5
10
83
35 000 18,100
Total ........ 5,836 1,850,430 $600,333 408,501 240,602,200 $20,024,040 185,830 $425,055 1,010,680 $807,333 11,057 $2<3,431 341,027 $47,360
COUNTRIES.
COTTON SEED. ILLUMG OIL.
HAMS.
LARD.
PORK.
FLOUR.
MA
ALL TOTAL VAL
Lbs. Value. Gals. Value.
Lbs. Value.
Lbs. Value.
Lbs.
Value.
Bbls.
Value.
NURES.
OTHER ARTICS
UE TIC
DOMES EXPTS.
Great Britain ..... 001,700 $7,347 France ........ Germany .......
Spain .........
48
BSwriteidshenAamnderiNcaorw. ay. ..
Argentine Republic . . Portugal .......
Denmark .......
West Indies .....
210
$ 0,080 $ 310 $ 11,348,918
480
*
2,046,231
16,200 150 6,030,073
$24 2,389 $292 43,474 $4,441 0,877 $582 1,090 $10,140
00 3,304,760 t 195 1,042,303
771,571
600
*
1,888,787
127,007
90,727
3,683
111
2,279
4,513
* 11,075
,
23,649 150 ... 12,009
8,346
9,<X>0
35 1,274 116
400
29 176 908
i 3,221
6,351 22,522
Total ........ 601,700 $7,347 258 $59 3,003 $407 43,474 $4,441 7,277 $611 1,871 $11,048 $25,360 $8,710 $ 27,716,431
SOUTHERN GEORGIA. .
89
Receipts of Cotton at the Port of Savannah from September i,
1880, to August 31,1881.
" .
Upland. Sea Island.
Centra) RailroalVr"? . ............ .676^707 Savannah, Florida ;ahd Western ......... 155,061 Charleston and Savannah ...;........ 18,517 Augusta steamers. ............... 20,716 Coasters. . .V , .. ..;............ 365 GC**ainrtnsed. .i.n..c ity' ;..--\:; -itI ......:...........;.;.:........,4,,*2.18 Florida steaniers. . . .... ......*... 3,077 Other sources. ................. 1,811
$,?os
,
-
276 450 35?
2,840
':' ' : ..'
870,472
Stock on hand September i, 1881 . ........ 11,588
13,839 . 355
.->'['"
892,060
Exports of Cotton, Foreign and Coastwise, from the .Port of
.,. Savannah, from,Sept. i, 1880, to August 31,1881, inclusive. ,
*
Foreign--
Upland. Sea island.
Liverpool .;........../........ 195,376
&I33
Havre ............ ......... 37,163
703
Ghent ...... ....... ...... , . 1,943
\
Corunna. .;*.. . . .. .. . ........... 628 , ; ,
Malaga. . . -.-.. ........... ...... 1,500, _. ..-,
Barcelona . -, . ^ ................. 29,022. t
Passajes ......................... 1,250
Santander ..............."*... 1,100 ,
Sebastapol ......... ....... .... 5,ooo : /
Reyal...;. .; ....... ......... 48,418.
Cronstadt. . *.;* ......... ......... 9,372
Bremen . . .-.. ...... ............ 115,283
Geneva ..-. k .................. 3,475
Genoa . . ..-.,..;. ............. 11,883
Rotterdam ....*.......... ...... 5,480
Amsterdam.......... ......... 26,868
Helsingfors i ; t ..................... 1,800
Gothenburg. .._............. ... 3,oo
Total. ................... .498,561
**-'
*'-"*
"
x-
*
t ''
-
/*
-
*-
-Coastzvisf-*
, ..
New York ....... , ............. 248,875
Baltimore ... ................. 69,465
Philadelphia. .. ...............: 30,706
Boston .................... . 32,865
5,836
"." " L
5,915 1,823
40 225
Total coastwise. ......... . : . . . .381,911
8,063
Total foreign ... ......; ;*.. . \. . . .498,561
5,836
Total . . . J . ..... . , . . . ... ... .880472
13,839
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
Exports of Lumber and Timber from the Port of Savannah from September ist to date.
Coastwise--
Lumber.
New York .".................. 16416,281*
Philadelphia.................. 6,828,727
Baltimore....... ............ 5,867,506
Boston. . . ...... ....... .... 5,290,587
Marcus Hook................. 193,100
Washington, D. C................ 477,790
Belfast, Me.. ................. 107,672
Portsmouth, N. H . . . ... .......... 168,9^9
Bath, Me.................... 2,221,870
New Haven.................. 623,315
Noank ..... ....... .... .... 11,144 Portland...... ....... ....... 241,634
Cottenville, S. I,................ 162,596
New Bedford................. 129,967 Kennebunk, Me................ 255,000
Fall River....... I ........... 1,056,135
Wilmington, Del................ 193,225
Timber. 3,308,292
116499 315415
120,141 435,573
Total. .................. .40,265,518 Foreign--
Great Britain. ................ 1,305,090 New Brunswick.........'....... 173,278 Spain.. .................... 7,310,705 Portugal ... ...... ....... ... 219,275 Buenos Ayres................. 843,156 Montevideo..... . . . . . ........ 1482,992 Barranquilla.................. 12443 Gaudaloupe.................. 60,000 Greytown......... .......... 120,000 Aspinwall. ....... ........... 179,870 West Indies .................. . 773,358 Santander................... 204474 Germany.... ..... ....... ... 646441 Holland....."...... -,, ........ 10489 Africa..................... 182,962
4,295.920 2,741,651
30,078 312498
... 11,708
231,783 ...
Total foreign ........ ........ 13,524*483 3^27,718 Total coastwise ............... 40,265,518 4,295,920
Grand total................. 53,790,001 7,623,638 Shipments from Darien and Doboy (yellow pine) 85,771,873 . . .
Tabular Statement of Receipts of Naval Stores at Savannah from September i, 1874, to September i, 1881.
September i, 1874, to September September i, 1875, to September September i, 1876, to September September i, 1877, to September September i^ 1878, to September September i, 1879, to September September i, 1880, to September
Spirits Turpentine. Rosin. 1875 ...... 9,55^5 41,707 1876 ...... 15,521 59,792 1877 ...... 19,984 98,888 1878 ...... 31,138 177,104 1879 ...... 14^68 177447 1880 ...... 46,321 231421 1881 ...... 5470 282,38$
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
Stock of Spirits Turpentine on hand September ist% i88it " Actual Count.
Barrels. On Shipboard not cleared .................... 300 Savannah, Florida and Western Railway wharf......... 3,582 Savannah, Florida and Western Railway, depot......... 246 Central Railroad .......... ; ............. 168 Plants wharf .... *................... 40 Katies wharf .......... ^ .............. 50 Jacksons wharf. ....................... 30
Total. . .\ ........................ 4^16
Comparative Table of Receipts from September I, i88o9 to September I,1881.
Turpentine. 1879-80 188081 Wilmington .... .... ... 95,584 82,194 Savannah . . ........ . . 46,321 54,703
Charleston ............ 59,865 51,113
Mobile.............. 25,109 19,622 Brunswick ...... ...... 8,661 13,490
Rosin. 1879-80 1880-81
507,702 231,420 250,940 158,482
36,495
435,290 282,386 231,384 133,816
67,562
Totals ............. 235,540 221,122 1,185,039 1,150,438
An analysis of this statement shows that Wilmington has fallen off in
spirits turpentine 14 per cent., and in rosin 14 per cent.
Charleston has fallen off hi spirits turpentine 14^ per cent., and rosin
per cent.
..
Mobile has fallen off in spirits turpentine 22^ per cent, rosin i8#
per cent.
While the only increase has been at the Georgia ports Savannah
gaining 18 per cent, in spirits turpentine, and 22 per cent hi rosin;
Brunswick 55 per cent, in spirits turpentine, and 85 per cent in rosin.
Tonnage of the Port of Savannah from September I, 1880, to
August jz, 1881.
No. American vessels entered ........... 23 American vessels cleared ........... 32 Foreign vessels entered ....... ..... 292 Foreign vessels cleared . .......... .270
Tons. 13,452
18,728 205,602 191,344
Men.
266 867 4,224
8,977
Total foreign ................ 617 Coastwise arrivals ......... ..... 344 Coastwise clearances. ............ 333
429,126 8,884 469,953 10,432 467,019 10,489
Total coastwise. .............. 677 936,972 20,871 Total foreign ................ 617 429,126 8,834
Qrand total.... ............ 1,294 1,366,098 29,705
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
Statement of Wool received at Savannah,from August, 1874, to August, 1881, inclusive:
1874. ..... . 405,165 pounds. 1875. . . ! . . .413,912 1876. ..... .367,582 1877. ..... .419.446 "
1878 ....... 676,602 pounds. 1879. ..... .644,169 " 1880. ..... .810,983 <c 1881 ....... 724,815
Importsfrom September I, 1880, to August 31,1881.
Articles.
. Quantity.
Cofifee, pounds................. 2,689,804
Kainit, tons................... 3,441
Superphosphate, tons.............. 3,749
Guano,tons. .................. 1,616
Steel rails, pounds. ............... 8,989,328
Steel blooms .................. ...
Cotton ties................... ...
Salt, pounds. ...... ...... .... .26,853,291
Molasses, gallons................ 52,207
Wine, in casks, gall.ns. ............
215
Wine, in bottles, dozens . ............
192
Coal,tons. ................... 2,280
Earthenware and china .............
Bananas ..... ....... ........
Oranges ....... ......... ....
Pine-apples...................
Grape fruit ...................
Sapodillas ....................
Cocoanuts .... ...... .... .....
Shells .....................
Tomatoes ...................
Watermelons...................
Sponges ....................
Tamarinds ...................
Stone ballast. .................
Soda water...................
Spruce pine .................. "
Clothing .......... ..........
Cigars .....................
Sugar. .....................
"
Stationery ......... ....... ...
Oil paintings . ......*..........
Boate......................
Blue mottled soap ................
Garden tiles ..................
Glassware ...................
Gin ......................
Dogs. ..................... Zoedone ....................
Hides .....................
Grain bags ................ ...
Value.
$307,196 22,770 64,712 31,027 154,667 154,549 66,134 41,707 10,185
247 1,057 6,625
2,133 6,918 1,595
62 63 1 6,871 44 47 6 3 10 704 676 7 145 13 480 181 68 77 437 84 65 166 20 24 25 2,731
Total value........................ 1872,401
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
93
BRUNSWICK.
Annual Statement of the Commerce of the Port of
Brunswick.
During the year 1880 341 vessels entered this port. Of these, 55 entered from foreign and 286 from coastwise ports. Two hun dred and eighty-seven carried our own flag, 22 that of Great Britain, 14 of Spain, 10 of Norway, 5 of Sweden, 2 of Germany, and i of Portugal. Of the 341 vessels, 5 were ships, 41 barks, 48 brigs, and 247 schooners. The total tonnage of these vessels was 107,775, and the number of men employed by them 2,717.
There were 332 clearances, 61 for foreign and 271 for domestic ports. The number of vessels in port on January i, i88i,was 21, of which 9 were loading for foreign and 12 for coastwise ports. Of those bound foreign, 4 were destined for United Kingdom, 2 for Montevideo, i for Rio Janeiro, i for Cuba, and i for Spain.
Of the 332 vessels which cleared during the year, 115 were loaded by R. B. Reppard, 73 by Dodge & Fuller, 49 by D. C. Bacon, 28 by J. H. McCullough, 18 by Littiefield & Tison, 13 by Cook Bros. & Co., 5 by James Hunter, 4 by C. H. Dexter, 3 by J. McDonough, 2 by Charles Green & Co., 2 by Tunno & Co., 2 by A. V. Wood, i by J. D. Sprunt, and i by Hilton Timber and Lumber Co. Sixteen cleared in ballast.
Of the 61 vessels which cleared for foreign ports, 12 cleared for Spain, 10 for United Kingdom, 9 for Rio Janeiro, 9 for West Indies, 6 for Uruguay, 4 for west coast of Africa, 3 for Portugal, 2 for Buenos Ayres, and i each for Pernambuco, Bahai, Ger many, Canary Islands, Dutch Guiana and Halifax.
The number of vessels entered in 1879 was 220, the number cleared 225. There were, therefore, 121 more arrivals and 107 more departures of vessels in 1880 than in 1879, an increase of over fifty per cent
In the foregoing statement no account is made of the several steamers making regular trips to and from our jport.
94
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
Comparative Statement of Exportsfor 1879 and 1880.
ARTICLES.
I88O AMOUNT. VALUE.
1879 AMOUNT. VALUE.
Lumber, foreign ....... 12,208,964 feet
* coastwise ...... 56,500,000 feet
Timber, foreign ....... 3,265,060 feet
Cotton, coastwise . ...... 6,074 bales
Spirits Turpentine, foreign . .
602 casks
"
coastwise. 8,165 casks
Rosin, foreign ......... 6,330 barrels
" coastwise ....... 37,039 barrels
Wool, coastwise ....... 78,246 Ibs.
Rough Rice, coastwise .... -8,064 bushels
Whale Oil, coastwise ..... 30,770 gallons
Sundries, foreign (including
floor and provisions) . . . .
Sundries, coastwise (including
bides, tallow and wax) ...
$184,522 16,079,139 feet
860,000 31,000,000 feet
38,787 2,468.536 feet
304,000 5,899 bales
7386 2,720 casks
98,000 6,841 casks
23,637 15,019 barrels
12131,,000000
27.507 barrels 68,000 Ibs.
8,064 8.367 bushels
28,000 21,760 gallons
6,224
10,000
$227,872 465,000
21,059 339.ooo 32,912 102,605 42,776 80,000 21,760
10,450 19,500 6,467 25.000
Tatal Value ........
$1,702,570
*i,394,4oi
[NOTE.--The business statement of Brunswick for 1881 is not yet made up, but the indications are that the increase will average above 20 per cent, on the business of iS8o, and in lumber and naval stores, far in excess of that, while the number of vessels and tonnage has increased in still greater proportion.]
J
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
95
CHAPTER XI.
List of Persons who may be Addressed for Information in Relation to Southern Georgia.
M. & B. R. R. -A. G. Butts .......... Macon, Ga.
"
. Griffin & McArthur, ...... Eastman, i(
" ~ A. G. McArthur, ...... Lumber City,
"
\Vm. Pitt Eastman, ...... Eastman,
"
Maj. Chas. Armstrong, ..... Eastman,
"
A. G. P. Dodge, ........ Eastman,
"
Paul Carter, .......... Baxley,
C. C. Smith, .......... McRae,
"
Hon.* A. Clark, .......... Jesup,
W. H. Whaley & Son, ..... .Jesup,
"
Willis Clary, Esq., ........ Jesup, ft
"
Henry R. Fort, Esq., ....... Gardi,
G.W.Wright,. ....... .Sterling,
"
H. C. Day, ......... Brunswick,
"
J. M. Dexter, ........ Brunswick,
"
Dr. W. B. Burroughs, .... Brunswick,
B. & A. R. R. Hon. John M. Tison, ...... Jamaica,
"
R. M. Tison, ......... Jamaica,
"
Hon. T. W. Lamb, ...... Brunswick.
"
S. Mumford, ........ Waynesville, (C
"
Joseph Tillman-, ...... . Waycross,
"
E. Crawley, ......... Waresboro,
"
Col. W. A. McDonald, .... Waresboro,
"
W. H. Love, ......... Pearson,
"
W. H. Lastinger, ....... Alapaha,
"
Hon. W. A. Harris,....... Isabella,
(I
Warren & Hobbs, . . . ^ . Albany,
96
SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
S. F.&W.Ry. Col. J.L. Sweat, ..... . Homerville, Ga.
Hon. C. A. Smith, ...... Homerville, "
J. W. Leigh, Esq., .... Centre Village, "
"
Hon. John L. Harden, . . . Walthourville, "
H. H. SanfonJ, ....... Thomasville, "
John Stark, EJsq., ...... Thomasville, "
"
Judge A. H. Hansell, .... Thomasville, "
Hon. W. D. Mitchell, f . . .Thomasville, "
R. H. Hardaway, . . . .. Thomasville, "
"
John Triplet, . . . . . .. Thomasville, "
Rev. Jas. A. McKee, ..... Bainbridge, "
Hon. B. A. Russel, ..... Bainbridge, "
ft
Dr. J. A. Butts, ...... .Bainbridge,"
Hon. Maston ONeil, . . . . .Bainbridge, "
R. H.Harris, . . . . ... . . . .Cairo, "
"
Lyon & Bush, . . . . .-. * . . . Camilla, "
"
J. L. Hand, .......... Pelham, "
T. A. Herviant, . . ... . . . DuPont, "
"
S. T. Kingsbury, , /....- . . Quitman, "
f"
A. D. Perham, , ... ... . . Quitman, "
"
John G. McCall, . ."/.-."., . .Quitman,"
" * C R. Pendleton, ^ .-..'-f '. . . .Valdosta,"
"
Hon. Hamp Smith, . - :<- . . . . . Valdosta, "
"
C. A. Stewart, . . < V '< . . . Valdosta, "
T. P. Littlefield, . . .; -. 1 . . . . Jesup, "
Hon. John C. NichoUs, . . . . Blackshear, "
S. W. Hitch, .... , .. . . Blackshear, "
."
R. B. Reppard, . . >. . ;. . .. Sav.annah, "
E. E. Byrd, . r ...... .Blackshear, "
"
Warren Lott, . . . .. . . . * Waycross, "
Camden County Hon. R. N. King, -_...", . .St. Marys, "
"
Silas Fordham, . . ...., . . St. Marys, "
-- !,
*..
"
Hon. Joseph Shepard, . - . - . . St. Marys, "
W. A. White, . . ..... .St. Marys, "
James Bailey, . . ... / '. Baileys Mills, "
INDEX TO CHAPTERS.
CHAPTER
-
PAGE
I. The Railroad System of South Georgia ......... 5-7
II. General Description of South Georgia .......... 7-9
III. Stations, To\vns and Points of Interest on S., F. c \V. Ry. 9-27
IV.
"
i;
"
M. & B. R. R . . 28-37
V.
-
"
"
"
B. & A. R. R . . 38-44
VI. Description of Pierce County, as a sample of South Georgia Counties ..................... 45-52
VII. Articles upon Special Industries in South Georgia Sheep Husbandry, etc. .................. 53-63
VIII. Islands on Southern Coast of Georgia ......... .63-66
I.. Letters from Northern Settlers and others ........ 67-87
X. Statement of Exports, Imports and Tonnage, Savannah and Brunswick ................... . 88-94
XL List of Persons \vho may be Addressed at Points on Lines of Road ...................... 95-96
V3^-
If. ^2*&-f*"*
