Newspaper Page Text
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We cordially invite you to iiiake our Store yotir Headquarters when in on* City. Always a fine and full Stock ol Best Groceries and Provisions, * Best^Croods, Best Prices, And every thing Guaranteed as Bepresented, Talmadge
1 *— — 11 1 1 ii . ■■■• ‘
Bros.
NaiMBartofAta
ATHENS, GEORGIA,
A. I. CtUARa, Jais Hite, Cask
CAPITAL, 100,000.011
SURPLUS, 100,000.00.
Established In 1888 being over twen
ty yean In existence.
A General Banking badness tram-
f Banka, Bankers.
toted. Accounts of Banks, Bankers,
Corporations end Individuals Solici
ted. special at<entlea give to oollev-
lion In an nartof tbs United 8tates and
proceeds remitted on day of payment
at lowest rates. We al«o have a Safe
deposits for the safe keeping of valua
tion of all kinds entirely under tbe
,ontrol of the Awner. both fire and
burglar proof, with fine lock attach
ment. Boxes rented on reasonable
terms.
' HC.
‘ ' • ■■■■
ATHENS, GEORGIA, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21* 1886
OUR JACKSON COUNTY EDITION.
C. K COLLINS,
(Successor to W. A. Talmadge,) dealer in
Fin® Watches, Biamsads, Jewelry,
Silver and Plated Ware,
Clocks, fancy China, &e.
' TINE WATCH AM JEWELRY
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
TO ALL OF OUR JACKSON COUNTY FRIENDS.
We are at onr old stand on College Avenue, and would like for one and all to call onus and see our stock.
We have 4 stores adjoining, stocked with complete lines of
-A. SPECI^LT-2 - .
Corner of Broad and Wall Streets,
ATHENS, GEORGIA.
Also, the ONLY CARPET STORE IN ATHENS.
We lave a Beautiful Une of Christmas anl flolMay Goods.
(MAX JOSEPH’S OLD STAND.)
“ Ephram, my son, mind what your fad-
der says: Bar’s no use talkin’, dem
Roots ami Mmm
-Branded-
is do best in de worl’. I knoze what I’se
tollin’ you am true. ALWAYS BIJY DE
BEST, shun all de outside brans, and
you ait de wot f of your money shor’s you
iib.
BALDWIN & FLEMING,
Athens, Georgia.
A.. 3. kong. “
DRY GOODS &> CIOTHING,
fancy ooooe Atm notion©,
O T ® -A. ZEE - 33
E. I. Smith & Co.
THE FINEST STOCK OF
SHOE
(?F ail kinds is at
THE NEW SHOE STORE.
Our G-oods are o± the Best, and Brices to Suit the Times.
1>£. X17EBS da CO.
Jackson County.
GENERAL NOTES OF THE
COUNTRY— PHYSICAL
FEATURES ALONG
THE WAY.
THE WATER COURSES, IN
DUSTRIES, CROPS AND
PEOPLE—BRIDGES AND
PUBLIC ROADS.
A FEW GENERAL NOTES
BEFORE TOUCHIG UP JEF
FERSON AND TOWNS
ON THE ROAD.
elsewhere, and although Jackson says
her crop is short, it is easy to sec that
she has not-suffered as others hare done.
M. Taylor.
LUNG & TIM#,
DRUGGISTS AND SEEDSMEN.
ATHENS, GEORGIA.
E\A.:tsTC"3r articles.
Celluloid Cases, Brushes, Combs, Mirrors, Cologne Bottles, etc
"We are the headquarters on Buists Seeds.
and be convinced.
Gives us a call
ST. LOUIS LEAD,
PAINTS, OILS AND WINDOW GLASS.
Jackson county is one of the origins
Counties which gave birth to Clarke
Madison, Banka and Oglethorpe—just as
Virginia gave birth to Kentucky, Indiana
and Illinois. According to White’s Sta
tistics of Georgia, in 1849 it was 23
miles long and 18 wide, covering 414
square miles, and forming the watershed
of the Oconee and the Savannah rivers.
In 1845 the return ot the polls was 6.265
whites and 2,728 blacks—a total of 8,993
and gave in State taxes to the amount of
$2,500. Jefferson then had a trade of
about $15,000 a year,was made the coun
ty site in 1806 and was incorporated in
1812. This well-known author (George
E. White) went on to say that the cli
mate of Jackson county was healthful,
but the soil unproductive—that while
some newspapers circulated in the coun
ty there was “a great lack of the spirit of
enterprise and inquiry.” The county
was named for Maj. Gen. James Jack-
son, of Georgia, who illustrated the State
in its early life upon the field and in the
executive chair, and who stamped on the
great Yazoo fraud. With such
the county deserved a better destiny
than “White's Statistics’” promisid, and
time has developed the fertility of her
soil and improved the resources of her
people.
Jackson county to-day is not the
county of Forty-Nine. The old county
has been dismemhered and drawn upon,
but in wealth and population has kept
pace- with the growth of the Common
wealth. Its industries are numerous.
Its lands are unusually well watered, its
business is driving, its railroads are
growing and its people are advancing
phenomenally in the cause of education.
VALUE OF LAND.
Land is the basis of wealth. Land in
Jackson county is worth more than in
any county in Northeast Georgia. The
public sale here the other day, brought
out prices which averaged from ten to
twelve dollars an acre. Two years ago
real estate mounted a boom and lands
ran up to $15 and $20 an acre. Short
crops, settling value* and scarce money
have shaken them down to $12, hut the
material strength of the county is carry
ing land along with it. Jackson is phe
nomenally rich in bottom lands. The
county is a system of water courses. The
head waters of the Oconee string through
the county in perfect network. There
are the Pond Fork, Allen Fork, Walnut
Fork and Mulberry Forks of the Middle
Oconee River. Then the trail of creeks,
Sandy, Big and Little Curry, Crooked
Creek, Cabin Creek, Turkey, Candler,
Pond vnd Hurricane creeks form the
North Oconee, and these two branches of
the river drain the ladns for 10 miles
and join just below Athens. The wealth
of bottoms is prodigious as will be seen
from this. The early floods of a wet
spring have brought sorrow in the low
grounds this year, but the rich bottoms
are assuredly bonanzas. 1 thought I
had never seen a more beautiful stretch
of country than Judge Colquitt's place
around Apple Valley. The farms around
Pendergrass are considered among the
country,
in the
the
is sinew
FOHESTS.
Another thing is impressive as we
ride through the county. Although one
of the oldest counties in the state over
one-third of the land is in original forest.
The rich timbers of the virgin growth are
ripe for the axe and saw. Senator Pike
says Jackson “grows too much timber.”
The impression seems to be that more
careful cultivation of acres already clear
ed will pay, and that there is wealth in
the unsplintered forests just as thore is
mineral store in the unruffled earth.
There arc no very large plantations in
Jackson The Martins raise 300 bales a
year—about the largest. I heard of a ne
gro who makes CO bales this year on his
own farm.
Gen. Wilson assures me that
there nad been great improvement
in planting methods in the last decade,
and that all the signs are progressive. I
believe it. .
Judge Bell, the popular Ordinary,
turned over the digest to me. The last
record shows 3,266 polls—2,372 white,
826 colored. There are in the county
248,407 acres. The value of the land re
turned on the tax books is $1,406,436;
value of stock $300,000, and the aggregate
of the wealth of the county . as returned
is $2,645,157. But tax receivers’ returns
sre scarcely adequate sources. Fcr in
stance, the return of city and town prop
erty is given at only $175,000. The
return of stock is small. A few years
will see a great revival there. Stock
and grass farms promise to be plentiful
and profitable here.
WATER POWER.
The presence of so many water courses,
suggests plenty of water powi
there is. The number of industi
Jackson count) is great. It is hard to
ride five miles without encountering
mill. I passed three in the nine miles
from Harmony Grove to Jefferson—
Hood’s Jackson's and McCleskey’s. The
great side-wheels turned drowsily
through the ice, while the sparks flew
from the burr stones within. Ross &
Story have a flour and grist mill—with
gin and planing mill; F. S. Smith has
tannery and grist mill; J. G. McCleskey
has a patent roller flour mill—this is the
site of the famous old wool hat factory.
Hurricane Shoals has a famous fall for
water power. It was here that the old
iron works ran during the war. This is
now the site of the flour and grist
mills— : with a gin and saw mills. Cedar
creek and Tallassee are fine water pow
ers. Williams’ Mill is rnn by C. W
Shackelford. J. G. Justice has a large
mill and superb fruit nursery near Jef
ferson—one o f the most interesting spots
and profitable industries in Jackson
county. Speaking of fruit reminds me
that there is a broad table land near
Harmony Grove, where a general fruit
blight was never known. Mr. Hood says
he frequently loses peaches from frost
which are not cut off a few hundred
yards across the railroad. This is
freak of the climate. Some of the peo
ple here insist that in twenty years the
seasons have undergone a total change,
and they would not be surprised to see
them take up a new procession.
But we digress. Maddox’s Mill, John-
son’s Mill, Griffeth’s, Fowler’s, Lyle's,
Bonner’s, White’s and Duke’s are well
known—most of them turned by water,
and most of them in successful opera
tion. They work a few months in the
year and do the grinding for the neigh
borhood. This would argue that much
grain is raised in the county. There is
considerable, but still not enough. Too
much flour and meal is sold. ■ One mer
chant in Jefferson says that 6,000 bushels
of meal have been bought there in one
season. The grain crops were failures
from the floods of last spring; hut the tax
J collector, who has just made the round
‘ of the county, says that the fall sowing
this year has been very large, and that
the spring oats will be heavily planted.
This is encouraging. Judging from the
number of fine hogs hanging cold and
white in the late freeze, I should judge
that there will be some choice home-
raised meat in his vicinity—at least du
ring Christmas time. Pity it will not
last longer.
are a short distance down on the narrow
gauge railway.
THE ROADS.
While speaking of the county at large,
I must commend the roads. They are
well kept One small bridge between
Jefferson and Harmony Grovels a dan-
r trap. An iron bridge across the
conce was a revelation.- It reminds
one of a Kentucky turnpike. There are
three of these in Jackson county. There
is an iron bridge over South Oconee, oh
the road between Jefferson and Monroe.
This is a high truss bridge, resting on
piers of wrought iren tubes filled with
concrete—something not often encoun
tered on a country road. There
iron bridge over the
Pond Fork of the Oconee. The county
paid $7,000 for the three bridges. Be
side, there are covered latticed wooden
bridges over Middle and North Oconee
rivers. After looking at these bridges
and the handsome new court house at
Jefferson, I concluded that Jackson must
he an extravagant county.’ I was snr-
prised to find that the tax for county
purposes was but 35 cents on the hun
dred dollars. Ordinary Bell gave the
figures from his book. This shows good
management all around.
OEN. WILSON AND COUNTY EDUCATION.
Before writing of Jefferson 1 wish to
say a few words on county education.
One of the most interesting men in
Jackson county is Gen. G. J. N. Wilson.
He is school commissioner of the county,
and lives in a unique little cottage just
across the branch. I visited him at his
home which he has built himself, and
which he is gradually finishing with his
own hand. The walls and windows bear
artisiic evidences of his own skill. His
book cases are handsome models of his
own cabinet work. A welt stored libra
ry is matched by a well filled workshop
in the yard, and when not engaged with
his schools, Gen. Wilson is at work in
one or the other. For 30 years he was a
teacher. At 56 we find him full of
amiabilty and general information—de
veloping a system of general education
and building over his “good gray head”—
a home of his own workmanship. Since
1871 Gen. Wilson has been school com
missioner. He tells us that there are 75
white public schools in the county and
32 colored schools.
There are 44 private elementary
schools in the county for white children
and 23 private high schools. There are
4,174 white pupils in the public schools,
and 1,403 colored. There are 5,419 chil
dren attending the private schools in Jack-
son county—making a total attendance of
9,500 whites and 1,403 colored.
Martin Institute has 77 male pupils
and 81 females—total 158.
Jackson county this year raised $6,-
604.69 for public schools—which were
opened 3>£ months. The private schools
averaged 8}£ months—Martin Institute
being open 10 months. The increased
attendance over last year is'724. There
were 2,087 pupils advanced from the
spelling book to reading and writing;
3,800 advanced to grammas, geography
and arithmetic and 572 left in their B,me
grades. There is 75 per cent improve
ment in school houses, being to.r
47 good school houses in the county, and
others talked of.
Gen. Wilson says that there is a grow
ing desire fir schools which but shows
the progress of the people. He favors
dog tax for the school fund. His board
of education is composed of J. A. B. Mr-
haffey, President, W. F. Stark, C. B.
Erwin, T. H. Niblack, B. 8. McGarrity.
The colored people were making good
progress in the schools, he said. No
less than 20 teachers worked on tho
farms, and Gen. Wilson encouraged the
colored people of the county to educate
themselves for teachers, so as to avoid
bringing in teachers from the outside.
He does not think the schools interfered
with farm or manual labor in the county.
bow in the North. The Gainesville,Jef
ferson & Southern skirts it en the the
North, and there remains but the Athens
& Jug Tavern line in the South to com
plete this solid setting: •
The route from Athens to Harmony
Grove is substantially the old stage
line to Clarkesville—But how different.
We leave Athens in the morning with
the aid of the locomotive headlight and
a little after sunrise the Banner-Watch
man is read by fifty people in Harmony
Grove—before one third of our Athens
readers are astir.
CENTER AND NICHOLSON.
The Danes of Center and Nicholsan,
stations on the line, recall two familiar
personages in Athens. Possibly no two
men were more identified with the busi
ness revival of Athens than these. Both
arc now dead. One man died rich and
intestate. The business houses closed
doors with respect as his body passed
through town—but no relative rode to
his funeral. He was without family
here, but had plenty of friends. His
wealth was sent from Athens between
the seals of a single envelope, with the
certificate of the National Bark. One
niece, a little girl in Arkansas, was the
beneficiary. The other man was the
head of a large family, stood high in the
community and in the church. An inter
esting generation comes after him to
bear his name, and his large estate has
been cut upbyjhis executors, and scatter .id
LOW PRICES!
FOB BEADY MONEY.
W. I. LOWRY,
, ;■ DEALER IN
Shoes, Groceries, Provision, Etc.
Corner Broad and Wall Streets,
▲THEN'S, ospstan-fc.
not be undersold.
E. I. SMITH & CO.,
TALMADGE’S OLD JEWELRY STORE,
ATHENS, GEORGIA.
than for his wealth.
It is said that at the opening of the
Mr. Hood owed some New York parties
for goods. After the.struggle he hunted
up his creditors, who had lost all vestige
of the debt, and paid them in full. This
act started him with a fine credit, and
after merchandising a few years in Ath
ens, he returned to Harmony Grove.
Here he has made hia money. He
was asked about the prospects of the
Chattanooga Air-Line, but said that he
knew nothing definite of the enterprise.
It might improve the freight facilities of
the place; but then rival towns would
be built in neighboring counties. Mr.
Hood said ho made more money before
the railroads came at all. Facilities for
freight and travel were increased with
railroads, but competition was quickened,
large markets sent goods to the field and
the margins of profit were greatly re
duced. It took a large volume of busi
ness and harder work to make money
now than ever before.
Mr. Hood said the increase in cotton
area was remarkable. The cotton belt
extended now to the Blue Bidge. The
fertilizer had done the businesa. The
people were cotton crazy,
“Formerly,” said he, “it was unusual
for a planter here to get out of corn and
meat. If he did, he could buy of hia
neighbor next door. Now they try to
make cotton at 8 cents pay for tneir pro
visions and their mules and for all ex
penses. It will not do it. The experi
ment is disastrous. What Mr. Stephens
said is true: ‘The body of the people
are growing poorer every year.’ '
T. FLEMING & SONS,
Wholesale and Retail
HARDWARE
to the world.
“AU^oSorlT^ enterprise of these > W ’°" ld ^e'b^st crop, Mr.
men who opened for others anewgateway ^ o WhelUnd Thi. up country
is abundantly suited for pasturing and
stock farming. Some of my neighbors
post offices and trading
people in Clarke and Madtson.
The places which bear these names for pasturing
have each one or two stores and h»Te S °“ e «ny ne.ghl
the post offices and trading stores of'S? S om 8 lnt ° stock ! have n
HARMONY QROVE.
IRON AND GRANITE.
But Jackson county’s wealth is not all
above ground. Iron ore is planted large
ly in her rocks. Bold ledges of granite
lift their shoulders here and there and
give evidences of quarrying material as
solidly as if piled into a stone mountain.
Granite is cut from one of these quarries
HARMONY GROVE.
THE LIVE TOWN OF JACK-
SON COUNTY—WHAT
IT CONTAINS.
qi
red hills. These uplands are strong. | for the new jailor’s house and jail in Jef-
jii
The sprout and store of cotton this year ! ferson, and Louisville experts pronounce
arc above the failure of the grey uplands it is good as the best These stone works
Jackson county is one of the most fa
vored in Georgia with railroad facility,
when we remember that twenty years
ago there was not an iron track in all its
broad limits. Now it is like’s garden
with an iron railing around It The
Northeastern Railroad runs along the
borders where Banks and Madison touch
it, and the Air-Line encircles it like
When old man Butler, way back in the
Fortie-qbuilt his little store at these cross
roads, he did not know he was founding
a town which would became the com
mercial certre of the county and a live
neighbor to Athens. Little is known of
Harmony Grove—how it got ita name
and how it happened to gather such pro
gressive spirits. Bui there were three
men there not born to live in the woods.
They would have built up a town on the
top of Stone Mountain. Those men were
Seaborn M. Shankle, C. W. Hood and
Dr. W. B.J. Hardman. They promptly
came forward when the location of the
Northeastern Railroad was discussed in
1874, and secured the route by a liberal
cash subscription. This one act made
Harmony Grove. It was in 1875. In
1880 the town commenced to build up.
Since then it has gone right along. To
day it has 800 people, $276,000 in taxa
ble property, handles 15.000 bales of cot
ton a year, and controls a volume o'
$300,000 worth of business exclusive of
guano trade.
The visitor to Harmony Grove natural
ly seeks MnC.‘ W.Hood at his Handsome
brick store a few hundred yards up
the railroad from the depot This store
has been built but a few years, and is re
markably spacious and well lighted. I
am surprised to see such an vlatabUsh-
ment in Harmony Grove. It would be
attractive in Atlanta, Athens or Augusta.
The store is filled with people- all day.
Harmony Grove has done a fine businesa
this season, and since the melting of
the snows, cottoQ has been handled and
Shipped extensively by buyers.
Mr. Hood manages to overlook his
book-keeper and salesmen at the same
time, and the man who attempts to en
gage him in conversation must walk over
an acre’of floor before he gets through.-
Mr. Hood came to Harmony Grove in
1849. His father and mother died in
Jackson county, his grandfather, like so
many of this good North Georgia stock,
came from Virginia. He ia a small, dark
looking man, with quiet manners, earnest
brown eyes, and a nose with the stamp
of character. He aeems to have earned
his way up in the same quiet, attentive
earnest way—deliberate in hia motion
and careful in his speech—until he finds
himself at 65, in good health, at the head
of a large business, something like $100,-
OOOayear, and is worth at least $200,000.
Mr. Hood's fire-proof warehouse will
hold 2,000 bales. He ships nearly all
his cotton to Athens, and buys about
5,OCX) bales a year.
tfiis year somo of the finest clover
I ever saw. Why is it that our planters
do not raise their mules? There is more
money in it than in breeding horses, ex
cept fancy stock. Tennessee drovers make
teoneyselHngmules to our people, at $100
Mr. Hood thought there was some
money in sheep. In fact Thurmond’s wool
carding machines, at Harmony Grove,
are bringing wool to this market from
the country all around and are turning
out pretty work. This is an interesting
and successful industry here.
Mr. Hood isUded in his businesa by bis
son. He weans- himself from his store in
the summer, and leaves its conduct with
the _
business
youn ?
ness m
Hood. The
the North is
experience
i that retii
of
P
“OLD HICKORY” Wagons,
Sash, Doors and Blinds,
■I
FAIRBANKS SCALES,
TRY FLEMING S RAZOR AXE.
Call at the Old Reliabkt
OF A. S. MANDEVILLB
AND EXAMINE THE BEAUTIFUL
Jewelry, Wedding Presents
■A-2fl~X3 DECOBA.TEDCBCOiTAmad.-st-Kyr AgGtOOSS
BEAD AND PONDER.
ATHENS PATS MORE forCOTTOU
has outside interests in farms and lands,
however to keep him alive for many
ye "» yeL
There are Baptist and Methodist
churches here. The Presbyterians,
der Rev. Mr. Hoyt, are trying to finish
their pretty little church, the lack of ceil
ing and of a stove prevents them from
worshipping there this winter, however
It is hoped their friends will help them
finish it soon.
Harmony Grove extends abont two
miles along the track, and besides Mr.
Hood's residence are the Bohannon
House, built and owned by Sr. L. G.
Hardman, and the Central Hotel, built
and owned by R. A. Echols, Esq, all
Urge and attractive houses! Besides
these, are numerous evidences of skill
in the builder's line. Harmony Grove
has the outside evidence of fresh emer
gence from the builder, with a business
vitality of an older pLce.
MAYOR QUILL1A1I.
Mr. W. A. Quillian is ndlyor of the
town and has been for two years since
its incorporation. His council are W. S.
Echols, G. W. D. Barber, R. L. Hardman,
T. E. Key. The municipal election
cornea off the first Wednesday in Jan
uary. No whisky is sold in the
and the number of cases before the
mayor last year were 67; this year but 38
hare been arraigned. There hare
no arrests here lately.
Dr. George Eherhart, a premine at
physician in Hart county, settled here
last spring; has made friends and U get
ting a good practice, and Mr. WelU ,from
Stone Mountain, has opened a general
store with good prospects. Mr. W. T.
K. Smith has been in business here
about two years and ia making money,
*" ’ *’ indbuilta
fortable home. There are inquirers still
To the right of his store, U a handsome | for business locations and property,
residence fronting the railroad track, I Harmony Grove, in fact, handles about
which looks as cosy on a winter day as 116,000 bales of cotton annually and pays
it ia airy in summer. Mr. Hood is a na-1 good for the staple,
tire ot Jackson county, and hi* name Most of the sbil is red land, aid the
will be handed down in Jackson county I crop has been better tha> in Clarke,
for hU enterprise and hU industry more Oglethorpe or Elbert Collections haY.
PIANOS AND ORGANS
STRUCK BOTTOM AT LAST.
IFF!©©® XtiwBei ®i G®®d© tepefeii
. MY MTO1G H0U8S THE GAUSS.
I Deal Squarely! Sell on Easy Terms! Sell for Small Profits! and Sell Every Time!
Some of my Leaders: Knabe, Ballet & Davis, Mathnshek &
Son* Emerson Peace Pianos* Smith Americano Shon-
mger, Chicago Cottage, Willcox & White Organs.
-• - iiSuL-lt SXvli I ■' . -»• •
- BtTEKE, -A.tls.ene, Q-eoxg-la.-
STOVES CHEAPER
Than any of the merketi ia thU section.
Jones
Are headquarters In Northeast Gs.;for
Stoves, Tinware and
HOUSEFURNISHING GOODS.
Call and see onr immense stock at No. 6 Broad st., Athens, Ga.
SOUTHERN MUTUAL .
INSURANCE COMPANY.
ito
Organized^ 1847 •
Assets May 1st, 1086, $881,554.45.
Profits Divided Among Policy Holders.
Paid Since Organization .. $3,262,678.
Profits returned to Policy Holders 2,088.397.
OFFICERS OF THE COMPANY.
YOUNG L. G. HARRIS President and Treasurer
STEVENS THOMAS , Seireta^ and GeneST5Se"t
Assistant Secretary and Adjuster
— “ Keeper
WILLIAM W. THOMAS ’
ARTHUR E. GRIFFETH
.Book-1
RESIDENT DIRECTORS-
YOUNG L. G. HARRIS, JOHN H. NEWTON. •
STEVENS THOMAS. ‘ FERDINAND PF*
SriCUTT, LEON H. <
JOHN A. HUNNIi
JAMES 8. HAMILTON,
MARCELLUB STANLEY,
EDWARD 8. LYNDON.
RUFUS K. REAVES.
JACKSON COUNTY!
HOW TO SAVE MONEY.
I Have a New and Fine Stock of
WAtCSIS, CLOCKS, SILVK
AND SILVERWARE,
JEWELRY, Bures* pros,
COME AYD GET PRICES
BEFORE YOU BUY IT WILL PAY
1
. Watohoe and Jvwulry Itipairad.
C. A. SCITDDER, JEWEL
ATHENS, r