Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1900-06-13
The farmer used the sickle, the scythe

The farmer used the sickle, the scyth'
and the fail. His plow was home
made-of wood covered with a thil
sheet of iron. Seeds were scattered By
hand; the hoe was the cultivator
Grain was gathered by hand, threshet
on the floor during the winter, ant
crushed beneath a stone pestle init
-four, or ground in the neighborins
-four mill. The mower, the reaper
and the self.binder were unheard of.
To go to New York from Philadel
phia meant two days by the swiftes
stage today it is done in two hours
To 90 from New England to Oregon i
took Doctor Atkins eight months, ever
in 1847. Today one can 90 from New
York to San Francisco in one hundred
and two hours.
There was not mile of railroad ir
1900. The first line built was the Bal
timore and Ohio, in 1880. 1t was
fourteen miles long. Three years later
when the South Carolina Railway line
of 1876 miles was finished, it was the
longest railroad in the world. Today
in the United States alone there are
1876, 900 miles of railroad, or more than
a third of the mileage of the entire
world. In 1888 there were but 16 pas.
senger locomotives in the United
States today there are 10000.
No steamboat existed in the world
q hundred years ago. Sailing vessels
crossed the Atlantic ocean and took
from two to three months for the voy,
age. Bullet-proof packet boats, pro
PEELED by sails, horses and poles, at
tended to most of the commerce be-
tween river towns. Passage from
New Orleans to Louisville cost $125
1t was not until 1907 that Robert Full
ton built his "Clermont," and the first
steam propelled boat in the world
steamed up the Hudson river.
The street car was unknown in 1900
The century was third over before
the first horse car appeared-in New
York city. The trolley car came only
twelve years ago. Now we have 49,.
900 miles of trolley roads in America,
running 60, 900 cars.
The newspaper had hardly started.
There were about one hundred and
fifty publications of all kinds in the
United States. About one-tenth ol
them were newspapers, and were is.
sued daily. Not one of them sold
more than a thousand copies a day
Today. we have $4,000 different peri.
odicals of all kinds.
There were 903 post-ofices in 1900
Today we have 75,000-that is, in
America alone. 1t took letter six.
teen days to 60 from Philadelphia to
Lexington, Kentucky; twenty-five
days to Nashville, Tennessee. The
cheapest letter postage was eight cents.
and to send letter more than hun.
dred miles cost shilling. Three mil.
lion letters and papers were then sent
in year. At the present time the
post.office handles about $4,000, 600
pieces of mail in single day.
The telegraph was unheard of. Not
until 1874 did Morse send his first
telegram. When the battle of Water.
loo was fought, in 1916, unusual meas.
ures of haste were adopted to get the
news to London, where it was received
three days later. The guns of Dewey's
feet were hardly quiet before the re.
suit of the battle was known. in New
York. To-day we have 1000, 900
miles of telegraph wire in America,
and 10000, 900 messages are sent over
them each year. There are 10000
miles of cable on ocean beds, but none
of this was laid until the century was
sixty six years old.
This is how the people lived in 1900.
Every community was isolated from
every other community. New York
was farther removed from Philadelphia
than Africa is now. 1t was New
Years Day before Boston knew what
had happened in New York on Christ
mas Day. There were practically no
conveniences; people of those early
days knew nothing whatever of COM
forts. And yet by the people of those
days was laid the basis of the country
which we enjoy to-day-a hundred
years later. .
An interesting thought. What will
the people of hundred years hence
think of how we lived in 1900.