About Pickens County progress. (Jasper, Ga.) 1899-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 19, 2019)
Continued From 1A THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 19. 2019 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 3A 35 Years things didn’t go well, “but the store started going real good so he closed the machine shop down and here we are.” Hancock recalls those first years. “Ricky bought a farm off the Hamricks over here and since he lived so far away we watched his cows,” Hancock said. “He had a cow that had a calf, and that’s when I first met him. I was 16. He and his wife came up and we got to talking that night and that’s when he told us he was going to buy the store from the Hamricks. It was just empty buildings at that time. We were hauling hay, and he came and bought hay from the Petersons one day and we were talking and he said to me if you got any time, come on over.” Hancock’s very first day as an employee was a Sunday morning when he helped put a roof on one of the build ings. He pulled out an old photograph of what the store would have looked like about the time Baxter purchased it. The buildings at one time had been used to sell trucks and had a gas pump out front “way back when [Highway] 53 was dirt.” Photos kept in albums in the back office show images of those first few days of Hinton Milling from the mid 80s - tools were being hung on walls, some of the five buildings now at the business were just under construction. In those early years, their biggest money maker was hay, Hancock said. They scored a contract when High way 515 was being built. The hay was used for erosion control. “We bailed hay year- round, and that really helped cash flow and helped us get started,” he said. Business today They still sell hay, most of which comes from local farmers, and while hay is a big seller farm supplies and pet food, and heaters and propane also top the list. “We’re really getting into the pet food, especially the all-natural stuff,” Hancock said. He walked over to a cooler that has frozen Blue Ridge Beef for dogs, and shelves are stocked with name brands like Victor. “But we’ve always got to be adding and changing what we do.” They also specialize in feed, fencing, fertilizer, bail ing equipment, horse sup plies and tack, plumbing, small tools, drill bits, chemi cals, twine, fishing supplies, and seed. They have also held “Chick Days” and rabies clinics in spring, and rabies clinics and customer appreci ation days in fall for many years. They sell between 3,000 and 4,000 chicks dur ing Chick Days, and always vaccinate over 100 animals for the rabies clinics, but have vaccinated up to 300 during their busiest years. Business is seasonal, and Hancock said winters are sur prisingly some of their busier months. “Our worst time is June, July and August, then De cember is never great,” he said. “By summer, seeds, fer tilizer, lime, and extra stuff is over with for the gardens. When it gets hot people are gathering stuff and not feed ing animals because there’s plenty of grass and in sum mer animals eat less. It’s too hot. After this month grass will start going away so that’ll pick up.” They also sell and trade a lot of larger foul - chicken, turkey, guinea and ducks in the spring. September and October are good for deer plots and fence repairs. When asked what they offer that most people don’t realize is available, he said, “Pocketbooks,” pointing to the glass showcase at the front counter. “We sold over 30 pocket- books the first month,” he said, laughing. “Men will come by and get it for their wives.” Looking ahead, they will be adding apiary supplies next February. He was on the phone the morning of the in terview with a man who at tended a beekeepers’ meeting in Jasper the previous day and was interested in bee keeping. “Everyone who gets into it absolutely loves it,” Han cock said. “It’s very interest ing how big that’s become - seems like every one out of 20 people have bees.” Customers for life Over the years Hinton Milling has developed life long, loyal customers who come in almost every day. He listed local families that have shopped, and socialized, with them for decades. “We used to have chairs where the heaters were at, and the guys would come every day all day and talk,” he said. “It’d be 10 or 12 of us in the evenings sitting on the porch. We used to have the big sycamore tree and we had benches around, but we took it out about 10 years ago.” When asked how things have change in Hinton over the years, he said there is less foot traffic along the road these days. “Use to we’d walk every where before we got old enough to drive,” he said. “You’d always see kids on their bicycles, pulling wag ons. We’d play ball, but now you never see kids walking on the road. Never. Used to, all these kids would come here, especially in the sum mer, from the Mosses to the Chastains to the Bamses, you’d always see someone walking. They’d come help me, like when we were build ing the mill, they’d hang out.” Hancock said many years ago Baxter installed some lights and a basketball goal in the hay bam and they would play until 1 or 2 in the morn ing. Things are different now, with traffic at the Highway 53 and Highway 136 inter section moving quickly, but Hancock is still holding down the fort, providing cus tomers with farm and garden needs. In his downtime, he likes to spend time in his man cave at home or fishing - his favorite is salt water like Amelia Island - but you can visit him six days a week at the same business he’s ran for 35 years. Hinton Milling is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Passionate about history: Mule houses of Jasper photo from Photos of Pickens County Georgia Facebook group The new Old Mulehouse on the comer of Main Street and Highway 53 was originally a Chevrolet dealership operated by the Lawson family. The Lawson family did originally operate a mule house in Jasper, but not at this site. it being adopted all over the nation, but primarily in the hot and humid south. During the Western ex pansion of the nineteenth century, healthy mules were some of the most vital assets one could have. Many pio neers joked saying the mule selection process "required more thought than choosing a wife." While mules couldn't travel as far in a day only making around twenty miles, to a horses thirty. Mules were more self-sustaining being able to survive on occasion ally eating grass found on the roads and had all around bet ter stamina. Mules have also served in every major American war from the Civil War to World War One, although served in a very limited respect in World War Two. General William Sherman on his march through Georgia is said to have had over 80,000 mules constantly carrying supplies to and from his army. The mules never saw action in a cavalry charge sit uation due to their sheepish and stubborn nature, but were more suited to carrying ar tillery, baggage, food and being used as ambulances. The last two active mule based military units that were stationed at Fort Carson, Col orado were disbanded in 1957, well after cars and trac tors had taken over the jobs of the mule in transportation and agriculture. Sources Eliza Cagle Mulemuseum.org Oregonpioneers.org [Blake Moss is a lifelong native of Talking Rock. He is currently a student at Pickens High School. “I like to claim to be one of if not the most, passionate history students at PHS. ” Moss may be con tacted at BlakeMossPHS@gmail. com.] By Blake Moss The much anticipated opening of the Old Mule- house on Main Street has fi nally arrived. It is in the nearly century old Lawson building that once housed au tomotive establishments Lawson Chevrolet and NAPA auto parts, where my grandfather, Wallace "Pop" Moss, worked for many years. The name of the restau rant itself comes from a com mon building found in most small towns around the turn of the century called a mule house. It would be a large barn that when someone would ride into town to do their business, they could stow their mule there and not worry about it wandering off. Like most of the towns, Jasper had one of these build ings near Main Street, but it was actually just across Main Street from the more modem mulehouse. Eliza Cagle, a ninety two year old local res ident, remembers the mule house being just behind the modern day Jasper Drag Store in the lot that Jasper Jeep occupied in the eighties. Mrs. Cagle lived in a house just beside the mule house which was owned by A. W. Lawson, Sr. who also sold lumber from the same lot. The building was de stroyed at some point in the early to mid 1900s when cars Photo posted by Sherry Brendel Reynolds in Photos of Pickens County Georgia, of Albert Brendel with his mules, Anna & Pet. started taking over the roads of Pickens County. A common mistake the media tends to make in movies which leads to confu sion when discussing these mule houses is that horses were nowhere near as com mon they would have you think in everyday use. Horses were effective and larger but going all the way back to an cient times, mules were pre ferred because of their resilience in hard weather conditions and strenuous jobs. Mules were bred by cross ing a male donkey and a fe male horse which created a strong workhorse but it was sterile and unable to breed. In 1785 President George Washington had developed a dream to create an American breed of mule. But due to the small size of the donkeys in 54 Rooster's Way Jasper, GA 30143 706.301.8176 Check Out These Deals Beef Steak Tomatoes 3/$2-48 Vine Ripe Tomatoes 4/$i.g8 Okra $2.25/1# WE HAVE PEACHES & APPLES HOURS Monday - CLOSED Tuesday - Saturday - 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday -10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Bring this AD in to save 10% Expires 9/25/19 Discounts may NOT be combined America, Washington con tacted King Charles of Spain in an attempt to purchase a native Andalusian donkey, which was much larger than normal donkeys. King Charles then sent one of his personal Andalu sians named Royal Gift and two high quality female horses to President Washing ton, making him the first ded icated mule breeder in America. Over time Wash ington would breed a donkey descendant of Royal Gift with a Black Malteese don key creating the American Mammoth Jackstock, which is the largest donkey species in the world. The National Museum of the American Mule estimated by 1786 Washington had around fifty six mules being used in his Mount Vernon plantation in Virginia. His en dorsement of the mule led to 2019 GOLDEN DEED NOMINATION FORM Presented Annually by the Pickens County Retired Educators Association A nominee does not have to be an educator. CRITERIA: A nominee must... • Be living and at least 50 years of age • Have lived in Pickens County at least 5 years • Have made significant contributions towards the betterment of Pickens County without financial compensation Using the criteria above, I nominate For the Golden Deed Award The nominee's mailing address is ; Telephone Cell Phone This nomination is submitted by Nominator's Signature Telephone Cell Phone Date of Submission Please complete this nomination using another page. You are requested not to use the nominee's name. Please refer to "The nominee" "he/she" etc. You are encouraged to use additional pages as needed to present a complete description of the nominee's contributions towards the betterment of Pickens County. Please feel free to ask the person for information needed to complete your nomination. Please let the committee know why you fee! the person named is deserving of the Golden Deed Award because of his/her: A. ORGANIZATIONAL and CHURCH INVOLVEMENT B. VOLUNTEER COMMUNITY SERVICE The form should be completed and mailed by December 27, 2019 to: Joy Fowler 112 Ray Road or Nancy Teague 234 Frontier Road Jasper GA 30143 Jasper GA 30143 Know your State and U.S. officials j U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson I R - Senior Senator for GA ■ 202-224-3643 | www.isakson.senate.gov i 1 U.S. Sen. David Perdue Junior Senator for GA 202-224-3521 www.perdue.senate.gov U.S. Representative Tom Graves R - Georgia District 14 Chairman; Financial Services Subcommittee 202-225-5211 www.tomgraves.house.gov U.S. Representative Doug Collins R - Georgia District 9 Vice Chair of House Repub lican Conference 202-225-9893 www.dougcollins.house.gov State Sen. Chuck Payne R - Georgia District 54 404-463-5402 chuck.payne@senate.ga.gov State Rep. Rick Jasperse R - Georgia District 11 Chairman; Higher Education 404-656-7857 rick.jasperse@house.ga.gov State Sen. Steve Gooch R - Georgia District 51 Majority Whip 404-656-9221 steve.gooch@senate.ga.gov
