Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-06-18
HICKMAN COUNTY.

Dratu0ge-SGEeams- sand barS-Huga
Volume of water Water-EbO " err
SPFings-Farm NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. and
Wafer-PRsturaEe-W Of Land
COR Land-PlmewOOd Farm-Fime
Mules-Sheep-AOgs -PeR-nuts--GOt-
ton Factory - Social QuaIitieS-
ChuFches-FRrnIer'S Iife-A Pleas
log Picture-SchOOIs.
Cores pOndence Of the Union and American.i
The county of Hickman is a succession
of high, rolling, rocky ridges, with intervals
more or less wide. The drainage in every
part Of the county is perfect. The main
artery, Duck river, a cleer, swift stream,
Astounding in fish of delightful flavor, flows
ina westerly direction entirely through the
county. Its tributaries, Sugar creek, Bes-
yer Dam, Piney, Swan, Lick creek and
LeatherWOOd, flowing northeast and south
west, supply every portion of the county
with living water. One other stream, Cane
GEEK, rises in Lewis county, passes through
the southwest corner of Hickman,
and empties into Buffalo, in the county
Of Perry. These streams ara remarkably
clear and their beds are filed with immense
piles of gravel which, shifting with every
rise, often destroy the fords and roads
which run on their banks. For manufac-
turing, these steams win not DO TO rely up
on, for several very good reasons. Their
banks are unusually low and composed for
the most part of gTavelly beds which are
cut away by the action of the stream, and
wide sandbars are constantly forming on
the opposite side. Il is almost impossible
TO construct dam that win not in the
course of few years be undermined.
Another reason is that the undulaling sur
face of the county makes the descent of
water from the surface very rapid, and after
hard rains, the water with its accumulated
force rushes down with Alpine fury, sweep
ing away trees, fences, houses and every
thing, and subsidies with as much rapidity
as il rises.
There is, however, some fine water power
in the county. McClarin's mills, sixteen
miles from Centerville, are situated upon
stream that flows in large volume from
the side of bluff with descent so rapid
that, within forty yards of its exit from the
bluff, it has capacity enough to drive an
oYershot wheel twenty feet in diameter.
Several manufacturing establishments have
been driv II by this stream without con-
Stunning more than half its available force.
Another fine power is to be found about
eight miles west of the county seat and
where the old Montgomery mills were stu
ated. A nile above the mills the waters of
the Piney disappear under bluff and reap
pear after passing under farm of eonsid-
cradle extent upon the face of bluff one
hundred and fifty feet high, and falls per-
pendicularly about ten feet. No dam is
wanted. The construction of a fOrebay is
all that is necessary to utilize the stream.
Perhaps in the State no finer uncurbed
water power can be found.
II may readily be inferred from the num-
Der of streams in the county that springs
are numerous. The people use very little
we'll water, and there is probably not half
dozen cisterns in the county. All the
houses are built convenient to a spring,
generally Of logs near the margin Of a
stream, the valleys upon which are used for
making the crops. The houses are Of an
antique pattern, stoUtly built, with rock and
sometimes brick chimneys. The out build
ings are bad, stables open, and uncomfort-
able in winter, and situated
for the most part on a declivity, from
which the manures are washed down with
the streams and lost to the farm. There
seems TO have been but two prevailing ideas
with the early settlers; one was to have
plenty Of wood and water, and the other
was TO have good range for stock and
small bottom to cultivate. There has been,
with a few exceptions, no attention paid to
the improvement Of the lands. The pas
turage which the barren grass supplies, has
kept the inhabitants from sowing clo-
yer, and a great part of the tillable land
has washed away, and become unfit for any
purpose whatever.
The land in the county outside Of the
bottoms is very poor and rocky, and will
not paw the cost Of cultivation, An eXcep-
tioh to this is 10 be found in and around
PinewOOd, and extending as far as Vernon.
l. ,F 10 a
other uplands. IL has a deep red terTugin-
GUS clay for subsoil, and the upper soil is
Ioauy and rich. IL is of the same charac-
ter as the chocolate colored lands of Christ
ian Souny, Kentucky, and where well kept
is very productive. Mr.. Graham, the en-
ergetic proprietor of PinewOOd, has eight
hundred acres of this land in cultivation,
and We have nowhere seen more thrifty
crops, or better kept farm. His habit
i, to keep one third Of his farm
in clover, one third in corn sud one third
I'm small grain. lie raises oats, barley and
wheat, tie yield of the latter averaging one
year with another, twelve bushels; though
we should judge from the appearance Of
his wheat fields that he viii get from fifteen
to eighteen bushels this season per acre.
Having a large population TO provide for,
OF which we shall speak hereafter, he rare
" ever sells from his place anything but
mules. and we can say truthfully, that we
have never seen any where, in any State,
four finer teams Of mules than We saw at
Pinewood. They were broad shouldered,
deep chegted, tall without being lanky,
sDrigh!ly without being wild, and so well
trained that even the tall hills and deep
sands of Hickman are rarely able to stop
them.
But to return: Not more than One-tifth
of the land of this county can be cultivated.
The uplauds are usually well timbered, and
in the iron regions this timber has been
used in the burning Of coal for the manu-
fscture Of iron. Thousands Of acres In the
neigbborhood Of 1Etna and Morley furnaces
have been stripped Of their timber.
These places furnish native grasses
enough 10 keep ten thousand head
of cattle and sheep all through the
summer months. Horses, sheep, COWS and
hogs arc turned out and the woods are me-
lodious with the Naturalization OF the
bells.
Sheep are driven up twice during the
year. May and September, and sheared, and
the owners, after marking the lambs, pay
no more attention TO them. They live on
the wild grasses ia summer aid on the farm
IN winter. 1ncy NAY NC DOu6h0 ~ OAiS
woods for one dollar each. Many OF them
are destroyed by dogs, but large numbers
roam the Gods and may be seen upon every
road. Under the protection of a good
shepherd, sheep could be made very pro-
dlable. The native breeds are scruOby
but haTdy,aud crossed with the SOuthdOwn
would yield very fair quantity of wool.
The average yield at present is only about
one pound each sheaTing.
Hogs are of poor quality of the "king
fisher" or "razor back" species. They are
raised in the woods with but little attention
from their owners. Many Of them so wild
and caucealing themselves in the impene-
trable thickeLs of the old Co2lings are never
seen by day, and only venture from their
linking places when darkness covers the
land. The wild bears Of Ar
dannes viii no doubt be repro
dqc i in the thick woods Of Hickman, and
the hunting of him with all the accompany
inc danger may, in time, become as favOrite
an amusement with our people as it was
with king, lord and esquire in the fifteenth
century.
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