The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1874-07-10
Letter fro m Kentucky-The Drouth.

HAwEsvILLE, KY, July 3, 1874.
Correspondence SOMERSET PRESS.
Having consummated our business at
this point, we concluded, whilst We were
waiting for the steamer Tarascon, on
which we expect to leave tomorrow
Saturday for Louisville, to drop you
IA line, to let you know, that We were
still bobbing round. We have travelled
over some fourteen counties in KY,
and find times alarmlngly tough. There
has been no rain in this locality since
about the middle of April, and in south
western KY; the mercury has been
dred, for the last month. The wheat
crop is abundant and the corn crop looks
tolerably well considering the drouth,
tobacco however, is the principal pro-
duciion here, and that cant help but be
failure, from the fact that there is
none scarcely, planted, in consequence
of the dry weather. l was talking to =
gentleman few days ago who. lives in
Muhlenberg county, and he told me
that there was not, at that time twenty
acres of tobacco planted in his county,
and that the average crop for the county
is about three thousand acres. Pastures
are so dry that people who can't let their
stock out on the commons, are actually
cutting off underbrush and hauling it
home for their stock TO subsist on the
leaves. Portions of Indiana, and Illi-
nois are also very dry, but not SO bad as
in Kentucky. We have been down in
the vicinity of Nashville, Tennessee,
and find it very dry there also. We
have had the benefit of visiting several
of the noted watering places of the
south, one or two of which we will notice.
Near Zebra City, KY, are four springs,
which can't help but attract the atten-
ton of an obssrving traveller. One is as
fine White Sulpher spring as ever ran
out of Gods footstool, and within ten
feet of it, is regular lime stone spring,
and within ten feet of that, in the
form of semi-circle is a soft water
spring.. and few rods distant from that
is Chalybeate spring, the Medicinal
qualities of which am told, can't be
surpassed in the world. 1t is not strange
to say that Zebra city, is at this time,
being visited by hundreds of guests dai-
ly. This noted watering place is on the
St. L. & 6. E. r. R., in Webster county,
KY. We also visited what is known as
the Blowing spring. This spring
runs out of mass of rock, or a cave rath-
er, and he who approaches it, can hear
the blowing, similar to whirl-wind at
a distance of, at least quarter of a
mile, and when he approaches within a
hundred yards of the noted spring, he
can feel the cold air, and by the time he
gets to the spring, he begins to feel chill
ly, although the weather may be very
warm. This is purely soft water
spring in Crittenden county, the water
of which Is as cold as ice, and as pure
as can be. We also saw the old cabin, in
Spencer county, Ind, where Abraham
Lincoln was raised, and where he learned
the art of splitting rails, very many of
which are still on the farm, and in the
same locality of the Lincoln farm, we
conversed with one of Lincoln's school
mates who told me that he had had ma
ny fight with Abe, in their boyish
days, and said he, sometimes got the
better of Abe, and sometimes Abe, he
said, licked him like the d-l. This
same old veteran informed me that he
had never in his life, been out of Spen-
Ger county, Indiana, and that he had
never been on a rail road car, or steam
boat, in his life, but that he intended tc
go to Rockport on the 4th to take ride
on the cars. He lives in sight of new
rail road which has just got in opera
ton. We expect to turn up in Cinein
natl in about two or three weeks. Elk.
pect our next trip to be somewhere els
of course. We have not seen old Som
erset for eight months to day, but w
may, sometime, during the course of hu
man events, dodge back, to the old town
and help fence it in,
Yours as ever,
E s. NJ.