Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1886-04-29
''YORK DISTRICT"

Ou luC uISl page VI ChAS papa W. ~
print from NILS &atstcs-a book which is
now very scarce-an interesting sketch of
York district, as the facts were presented to
the author in 1926, the year in which the
volume was printed. The sketch is of in
terest, not alone on account of its re-
mote date-taking US back to another gen.
eration-but also for purposes of COMPARE
son..
1t seems that sixty years ago the atten-
ton of the planters was devoted chiefly to
the cultivation of cotton. The writer also
informs us that "fine wheat, corn, rye, and
sometimes tobacco are also raised" While
there has been a vast improvement in
methods, about the only change in the
agricultural progress of the county could
now be indicated by a slight transposition
of the word we have italicised, so as to
read, "the attention of the planters is de-
voted chiefly to the cultivation of cotto. {,
and sometimes fine wheat, corn and rye are
also raised"
Tobacco, which then was only an adjunct
and cultivated somewhat rs the cereals are
at the present time, only that the planter
was careful to raise a full supply of the
weed, was found to be admirably adapted
to our soil and climate, and it may yet be
a staple production of the county. The av-
erage production Of cotton is larger than it
wa sixty years ago, though this is owing to
improved methods and more intelligent di-
rection of labor.
The population of Yorkville, which was
then the only town in the "district," is put
down by the census of 1923 at 451-of whom
292 were white and 159 black. The popu-
lation of the district in 1920 is given as fol-
lows: 1O,251 whites, 1880 slaves, and So
free blacks, or a total of 1896. The pop
ulation of Yorkville has not increased pro-
portionate with the material advancement
of the county, it now numbering about
1900; but this slow growth may be attrib-
uted to the development of the county by
three railroads and the springing up along
their lines of near a dozen prosperous towns,
some of even the smaller of which are OF
as much commercial Importance as was the
court house town six decades ago. The
population of the county has increased
from the figures above given to a total in
1880 of 3O,713, of whom 4,033 were whites,
I6. 500 colored, and 60 Indians. From 1920
to 1860, the last census taken during the ex-
istence of slavery, the number of slaves
had increased to 1918. During the period
of which Mr.. Mills writes, the native pop
ulation of York was depleted annually by
emigration. This has been the case almost
every year since, but not to such an extent
of more recent years as formerly.
The court house referred to in the sketch
is the present building, though it has been
remodeled since Mr.. Mills wrote. The
gallery referred to was taken down about
the year 1852, and an addition was made to
the main building, which addition includes
the offices of the County Treasurer and
the Clerk of the Court, on the first floor,
and the jury rooms over them. The Jail
referred to is the building now occupied
by Mr.. Owen, Immediately opposite the
court house to the east. The present Jail
was built about the year 1854, and the old
jail was sold by the county and bought by
the late w. A. Latta, and is still owned by
members of his family.
By intermixture the CataWba Indians,
who numbered 80 families or 10 individu-
ais, among them 80 warriors, have now be-
come practically extinct. The Indian Ma
ton is still in existence, and perhaps 1t
numbers so souls, but there are now no full
blooded Indians among them.
While York paid annually into the State
treasury upwards of $4,000 in taxes" from
which sum a large portion of the district ex-
penses were paid by the State, the county
paid in taxes the last fiscal year the muniti-
cent sum of 500, ISL J in State and county
taxes-igures that would have been appal-
ing in those primitive days when the wants
of the people were few and the luxury of a
State government came cheap. But these
figures indicate more clearly than any other
standard the material growth and prosperl-
ty of the county and the Advancement OF
the people in enterprises calculated to devel-
op their natural resources.
Those of our younger readers who have
been accustomed to railroad facilities all
their lives, would think it slow work to
haul cotton on wagons from Yorkville to
Columbia; yet their grandfathers did SO
and sold it for from S to 7 cents per pound.
The relative proportion of the religious
denominations is now in about the same
ratio as in 1926.
The reference to Kings Mountain notes
some important historical facts, while there
are other points in the sketch to which it is
unnecessary here to refer.