The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-10-27
THE GROWTH OF EMANUEL.
PROSPERITY OF THE COUNTY DIS
CUssED By COL. j. II, ESIILL'

Made of Recent Years by the
Couptv. Col. EstiH Says, Is Its
Railrood~-County Has More Rail-
way Mileage Than Any other In
the nsbOro, the county
site, j. a Prosperous and progress
sive Professionalism of the HIS
tory of Emanuel.
The growth ana develcpr4ent OF
Emanuel county Of recent years have
been marked and the strides that It
has made have been greatly aided by
the railroads. Col. J. II. Estill has
lust returned from a visit to the coun-
~. and his story Of its progress and
something Of its history are interest
ing.
zone who has not been TO Emanuel
county in recent years" said Col Is
till "stul thinks Of it as a far-of land.
That idea was correct years and years
ago. when it was covered by immense
forests. with only here and there a
settlement. and when a farmer thought
he was crowded II man settled
within five or ten miles Of him All
this has changed. The forests have
disappeared before the hack and still
OF the turpenune operator and the
saw mill OF the lumber man. and have
left behind them clearings for cotton,
corn and pasture lands, and last but
not least, those lighthouses Of civiliza-
tion. the railroads which traverse the
county.
IT is difficult to get it through ones
noodle, but the new maps show that
this county has more railroads than
any other in the state, If those that
cross ii and skirt its boundaries are
counted Emanuel county's railroads
are the StllmOre Air Line. from Collins
TO Wadley, via Swainsboro; the Wad-
ley and Mount Vernon Railroad; the
Midwife and Red Bluff, from SWANS
boro to Wadley, and the Millen South
ern, from Millen TO Sullmore. Then
there are the Seaboard Air Line, the
Central Railways Bruton and Pineora
branch. and the main line Of the Cen
trail. II is no surprise, therefore. that
Emanuel is d growing and prosperous
county, and that il is the twentieth
county in population in the state, as
shown By the last census.
An old statistical work states that
Emanuel county had in 1850 a popula-
ton Of 1858. There was at that time
only one postofice in the county, which
was at Swainsboro, which had a court
house and a jail, and two or three
families residing there or Whereabouts.
That reads comically to any one who
knows Swainsboro of to-day, with its
handsome hosiery, rejoicing in the
sweet-sounding title Of Hotel Mar
guerite. and a court house that is bet
ter than that in some of our larger
cities, besides other fine edifices, that
ghnuy rGrEOpa1 thrift local rrfde
Emanuel county was laid off from
BulOch and Montgomery counties in
1872; it Is forty-hve miles in length by
forty-one in breadth. with an area Of
1S45 square miles. Its population, by
the census Of 1900. was 21,Z79, against
1903 in 1890 an increase Of 6,576, or
AL per cent. in a decade. The predom-
inant religious sect in old times was
the Anti Missionary Baptist, a people
who believed in living clean lives,
working hard, and paying their debts.
but now there are all kinds of religions.
A merchant Of Swainsboro in referring
to business conditions regretted that
the Anti missionary Baptists, or, al
least, their debt paying proclivities
were not still the fashion.
Besides swainsboro," said Col. Es-
till which, by the way, has two
banks, the Citizens Bank Of SWANS
boro and the Bank of SWANS boro,
there are a number of other flourish
ing towns, among them Stillmore,
Adrian and Summit. Public educa ton
is receiving considerable attention in
Emanuel, and If the same progress is
made in this decade as in the last. the
county will make an excellent showing.
There are 30 teachers employed, 81
white and Is colored, and the number
of pupils enrolled last year were 1886
whites and 1876 colored.
THE surface Of the country is roll
ing and the soil fertile and the climate,
like that OF all of Lower Georgia. is
equable, there being not over sixty
days in the year that one can't go in
his shirt sleeves. There is a great fu-
ture for Emanuel county, when its ag-
Ticultural resources are more diversi-
fed, and its people give their attention
to cattle. sheep and hogs. There is no
telling what can not be raised or grown
in Emanuel. 1t seems to me that 1 re-
member the time when the farmers of
Emanuel Bulloch and adjoining coun-
ties brought fine peaches to Savannah.
THE people Of the country beyond
the Ogeechee came from sturdy stock,
the men and women who. more than a
century since, crossed the river and
settled in the land of the Creeks, what
is now the counties Of Emanuel, Bull
loch, Bryan, Tattnall and Montgom-
cry. Their descendants are TO be found
in every county in South and South
west Georgia. The time will come
when this favored land will be the
most thickly populated part of the
state.
Emanuel county received its name
from David Emanuel, a soldier of the
Revolution. who was president of the
Senate, and for a time acting Gov
ernor He came to Georgia just before
the war of independence and settled
near Waynesboro, and in the struggle
that followed was an active participant
in It's scenes. He and two companions
were captured by a party of loyalists
and sentenced to be shot. The gun of
one Of the firing party missed fire. and
Emanuel, taking advantage OF II, es-
capped His two friends fell under the
guns Of their foes.
Those who are pessimistic." Col. Es-
TIL declared. Should occasionally visit
this older part Of Georgia, which has
in recent years attracted so much at
tention. It would do them good. 1t is
only a few hours journey from Sa-
Vannah, and such visitors would notice
a steady advancement at every visit,
which in a few years Is destined to
make II a land teeming with popula-
ton and rich in products. This de-
velopment is but the beginning of what
Savannah has long wished for name
~ a prosperous nearby territory,
which will furnish IL with its products
and in return give the city its trade.
Emanuel has its share OF newspa-
pers. The Pine Forest and Wire Grass
Blade at Swainsboro and the Budget