Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1888-06-20
THE TOWN OF YORKVILLE.

THE TOWN OF Y0RKVILLE.
AN ENTERPRIsING PLACE WITH BRIL-
.... LIANT PROSPECTS. ...
Travelling Correspondent Of the Detroit Free Press
For more than a century quietand peace
full Yorkville has slept under the shade OF
her many grand old trees. The wealth at
her doors and under her very feet has been
upcared for and undeveloped. She has
known but little of the outside world, and
outsiders have scarcely heard of her.
But she is beginning now to wake up
with start of surprise from ber "Trip
Van Winkle" sleep, and the resuIt will be
surely and speedily felt Her people are
becoming filled with energy. and anthusi-
asm, and are preparing to lay hold of the
"God- -giveilo opportunities whtM lie all
around them. Yorkville has grand fu-
ture before her, and it is for her people to
work out the high destiny for which ma
turel lsassos abunaaatly fstsstsheF 7-5&s4
location. ~
Yorkville is the seat of justice for York
county, which is situated on the northern
boundary line of South Carolina, and in
the famous Piedmont section of the State.
It was settled about the year ITO, princi-
pally from Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Its name may be traced to York, in Penn
sylvania, from whence many of the first
settlers came. The Broad river bounds
the county on the west, the CataWba on the
east, Chester county, S. c., on the south,
and CASTOR, Cleveland and Mecklenburg
counties, n. c., on the north. The average
width from east to west is about thirty
three miles length from north to south,
twenty-one miles. 1t contains 443, 500
square acres, and had in 1880 a population
of 3O,713, about equally divided between
whites and blacks.
THE PEOPLE.
Whatever else may be said of Yorkville
her people are moral, hospitable and full
of kindness. 1t is community in which
the stranger is welcomed and made to feel
at home-in which the people vie with
each other in efforts to render his stay in
their midst pleasantand profitable-a COM
munity in which man can come and seek
home, feeling that all is well, and that
his children will be brought up under
moral, social, religious and educational in
'huences of the highest and purest order.
1t is represented by all the churches, some
of them having really handsome build
ings, and while there are no colleges or
large schools in operation just now there
are several excellent private schools where
the children are thoroughly instructed.
Two splendid college buildings which, be-
fore the war, were famous throughout the
State, but have not recently succeeded for
want of proper management and concert
of action, are now standing vacant. There
is an opening here for some "Yankee''
school teacher with little money and a
big head to come and take charge OF one
of these colleges and build up high grade
school. He will be offered every facility
and encouragement by the people, who
are thoroughly alive to the Importance
and necessity of such all institution, and
will find home in the most delightful
and pleasant section of the glorious Sunny
Southland.
HEALTH AND CLIMATE.
Here is town 720 feet above the sea.
1t is built on ridge, from which the wa
ter shed flows to the Broad river in one
direction and to the Catawba in the other.
1t has clear, pure atmosphere, backed by
the finest water in the world. "Chills and
fever'-the disease so much dreaded in
the South-has never been known to orig
mate here. A case of catarrh, rheuma-
tism or consumption would be as hard to
find in York county as the traditional
"needle in haystack." There has never
been anything approaching an epidemic
physicians of the town Of whom there are
only five, draw their practice from remote
districts, and several of them follow other
vocations in order to obtain the means of
support. The solitary dealer in monu-
ments and tombstones is forced to run a
grocery store and farm or he would die OF
starvation, and the undertaken is in the
same condition. The number of hale and
hearty old men, who confess to being from
80 to 80 years of age, is truly remarkable,
and the elderly ladies, whose ages mod
estly forbear to inquire, all look ruddy and
happy. 1t is greatly to be regretted that
reliable vital statistics are not obtainable,
for verify believe that the health record
of Yorkville could not be surpassed in the
world. The records of the United States
army bear me out in this assertion. Five
companies of United States troops were
stationed here from the years 1871 to 1876,
and Surgeon J. F. Head, Sanitary Inspect
or of this department, by comparison of
the sanitary reports of the various militia
nv posts, ascertained and officially report
ed that Yorkville was the. healthiest post
in the United States. The location for
miles around is noted for its healthfulness,
and the climate is as near perfect as any
on the globe. The Thermometer rarely
goes above 900 in summer or falls below
2O0 in winter. The hottest days in sum-
mer are followed by nights which are de-
liciously cool and refreshing, and the cold
snaps of winter never last longer than a
day or two. Here, on this Goth day of
April, there are many varieties OF flowers
in blossom, the fields are green with grain
and clover, the trees have donned their
verdant dress of spring and everything is
as far advanced as it will be in Michigan
by the first of June.
AGRICULTURAL.
York is one of the counties that has
suffered from the over production of cotton
to the exclusion of other and more profit
able crops. The average farmer has been
content to plod along in the old, old, paths
with an immense and unWieldy farm and
crude and imperfect cultivation. But,
while candor compels me to make this
statement, still l could not, in justice, do
less than to say that I have found much
here to praise. A number of farmers have
crossed the Rubicon and are diversifying
their crops. They are growing their own
hay and raising their own corn and oats
and other necessary supplies, and in every
case they are getting ahead of the world,
and right royalty has Dame Nature pro-
vided them with the means for the work.
Nowhere in all my travels have I seen
soil that is better fitted for the purposes of
nanaral anricultnre It is mostly red CLAW.