The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-09-01
OUR STATE AND HER RESOURCES,
ihe County OF Oconee and her Great
Natural Endowments

Tho County OF Oconee and her Great
Natural Endowments.
nc KeOwee Courie, in a thoughtful
ana carefully prepared article, setting
iofth the great e1vantages TO be derived
from full exhibition of the resources
ana products of this State at tho Inter.
national Cotton Exposition which will
DC held i'll Atlanta, Ga, during the com.
ing fall, urges the participation of the
people Of Oconec County and comments
at considerable length upon the resour
ces OF that section Of the State.
Oconce County was formed by q dyis.
ION of Pickens District in 1863 Walhalla
becoming tho county seat. No white
settlement was made within the present
limits OF the county, it is believed, prior
10 the year 1888, and for many years
only the richer bottom lands were occu.
pied. The rest of the country was GOV.
cred with canebrakes and forests, and up
10 the beginning Of the war the people
LOOK lie easy and spent large portions of
their time i'll hunting, fishing and visit.
ing. The present site of Walhalla was
purchased by the German COLONIZATION
society in 1850, and was laid out in lots
and allotted to settlers during the same
year.
THE FIRST BUILDING
was erected by Diedrich Biemanp. in
1921. The town was incorporated in
1885, and the Blue Ridge Railroad was
Duilt to its present terminus in 1861.
lrlor to that time the county was not
possessed of any marketing facilities.
ana the people did the greater part of
their business in Augusta, making the
journey, which consumed about two
weeks, in wagons. With the railroad
new people began to come in, and the
progress of the county since that time has
been steadily onward. Wahalla has now
{! population ofabout eleven hundred, and
is we'll supplied with stores, mechanics,
churches and colleges. There ave in the
county several other towns Seneca City
at the crossing of the Air Line and Blue
Ridge Railroads, Westminster on the
Air Line Railroad, Fort Madison on the
Tugalo River, and Fair Play in the lower
part of the county. In the county there
are upwards of fifty churches, including
Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian and
Lutheran, so that no neighborhood is
destitute of schools and churches.
TIE POPULATION
OF the county is generally German and
English and is thrifty, industrious and
law abiding. The whites out number
tie blacks more than three to one and
the ratio is widening every year. This
insures o healthy local government and
its attendant blessings Crime is of rare
occurrence and confined chiefly to ne
groes. The criminal courts rarely last
above two days, and often at the summer
term not case of crime is tried. In q
period of fifty.two years no white man
residing in the bounds of Oconee County
has been executed and but one negro for
murder. There are in the COUNTY be-
tween four and five hundred thousand
acres of land, nearly four hundred thou
sand of which are in native forest. with
population in 1870 of eleven thousand,
which has increased in 1880 to a little
over sixteen thousand. Land is very
cheap.
TIE TOPOGRAPHY
Of the county is diversified with hill and
valley, with large plats of table lands in
the lower section. The upper part YER
ges to the mountainous and is, except on
the strcams, not valuable except for to-
bacco, grapes, fruits and stock raising.
The large number of streams flowing
through the interior furnish rich valleys
where corn grows luxuriantly. II aud
all other grains can be proitably grown;
also on the table lands. The soil, though
naturally fertile in many places, has un-
derlaying it stiff clay subsoil, render
ing it capable Of the highest productive
power by proper fertilization and drain
age.
THE STAPLE PRODUCTS
grown and adapted TO the county arc
corn, wheat, rye, oats, peas, rice, cotton,
tobacco and barley. Before the war Mr.
J. C. Melville harvested from one acre of
land on Tugaloo River l12 bushels of
corn, without irrigation. DR.. Broyles
was awarded premium by the Pendle-
ton Farmers Society for 10Y bushels of
rice grown on one acre, and Mr.. Max
we'll, on Toxaway above Walhalla,
gathered from two acres of land $500
pounds of cotton in the seed. This
was before the use of commercial fertili-
zers and the improvement in seed and
farming, and shows what may be accom-.
plished by proper manuring and tillage.
The experiment of growing upland rice is
bein. fully tested this year and promi.
ses to be a success in Weld and profit.
In the early settlement of the county
tobacco was grown largely, and 1000
pounds to the acre without fertilizers
was a common yield on fresh hillsides.
The small grains are we'll adapted to this
county, as much rs forty-four bushels of
wheat and eighty-fve bushels of oats
having been harvested from enc acre,
and from experiments on q small scale
uo are satisfied the grasses and with
them stock raising can be made profita-
bic. No section can produce q greater
variety of staple field crops than this, as
also Irish and sweet potatoes, cabbages
and other vegetables.
Wherever apple and peach orchards
have been tried they have proved sue
cess, and other fuits, such rs pears,
plums, cherries, strawberries, &C., re-
turn good yield. Small vineyards in
Walhalla and other sections of the coun-
ty demonstrate the adaptability of the
soil and climate to the growth OF the
grape. This crop has never been known
to fail, and recently several German i'm
migrants have projected vineyards of
considerable extent, so that wine mal--
ing so profitable in France and Germany,
may at an early day become ono of the
leading industries.
Perhaps no country can boast of lar
ger or more valuable variety of timber
than the line counties of upper Carolina.
There is in abundance pine, white oak,
pest oak and other varieties Of the oak,
hickory, poplar, dogwood, &C., and e
good though scattering supply Of maple,
black walnut, black locust, wild cherry
black gum, &c. These timbers, arc of q
tougher and closer texture than those