Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1898-11-03
Kentucky.

| iHe Finplre Oh the bOutn Is tnt
comprehensive title of the volum,
just published by the Southern Rail
way. 1t contains nearly two hundred
octave pages and four hundred beau.
tiful illustrations. Every State and
every particular interest of the coun-
try east of the Mississippi and south
of the Potomac and Ohio rivers is
treated in a broad, vigorous and in
teresting manner. The author, Franl,
Presbrey, has been for months en-
gagged in the preparation of the book
and has had the cooperation of the
officials of the Southern Railway. Ii
is a volume which is sure to do the
South an incalculable amount OF
good. From advance sheets we have
pleasure in quoting from the chapter
devoted to Kentucky, which is ex-
tensive and comprehensive, and
covers not only the States interest
as a whole, but gives an interesting
sketch of many of the important
places.l
From the days, over century ago.
when the hunters rifle first startled
the timid deer feeding by her rivers,
up to the present, Kentucky has been
u veritable horn of plenty. The
lapsing years, of course, has seen a
change in the kind of abundance but
never in the degree. Instead of the
rowing game that gave meat in plenty
for her pioneers, there are now herds
and fiocks and the sleek thorough
bred, the finest the world has seen.
The nuts and fruits of the forest have
been supplanted, or rather supple
mented, for they are still plentiful,
by the rich harvests of fields and the
mellow bounty of orchards. Ken
lucky has ever been a synonym of
plenty; her progress it may be truly
said has rythm to the music of the
harvest song.
TO the early settlers coming over
the mountains from the eastern col
Onies, she lay across the track of
their tired feet an oasis of hope and
richness. Canaan could not have
seemed fairer to the eyes of Caleb
than did her verdant stretches of for
est and valley to the wistful gaze of
these travel-worn pioneers. A glance
told them they had indeed reached a
promised land" and they eagerly
possessed themselves of it.
Their settlement created a union
of compliments. 1t was coming
together of fertility and productive
power. For ages possibly Kentucky
had lain hidden i'm her rich soil and
had slept beneath her shining rivers,
waiting to become actual Kentucky
under the Transforming hand of man.
This human element i'm just the right
fiber and temper came with the first
settlers. What has since been
wrought all the world knows. For
ests have become farms, Indian
camping grounds cities, and will
derness has been changed into Il
commonwealth.
In I79S the first trails were being
blazed through her forests; III 1895
3,0i6 miles of railways gridiron the
State, bearing the commerce OF
1900, 900 people. This commerce has
grown to vast aggregate, having an
annual value of hundreds of millions
of dollars. In its component parts
are included every crop raised in
America, products of the mine, forest
and factory, and blooded stock from
scores of farms. In the production II
and manufacture of tobacco and
whisky Kentucky leads the Union as
she does i'm thOrOughbreds. In every
branch of industry and production
the States history for a century
shows a reliable return can be look ed
for from effort and investment. This
assurance of results i'm the fact t.
which Kentucky proudly points as
her warrant for her invitation to al
who desire a sure return for capita
or labor. That her invitation i,
hearty no one will doubt, for Ken
tucky's hospitality is proverbial.
But the States fame rests not alon,
on her record of progress, notable al
that has been. 1t rests quite as mucl
on the men and women who hav,
had the privilege, for as such the,
have always and everywhere es
teemed it, Of calling themselves Ken
tuckians.
This State that has been SO pro
ductive in human and material for
ces has an area of &c, 600 square miles
or 25,600, 900 acres, stretching frou
J .sst to west nearly 80 miles. IL