Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1905-04-19
FROM THE ocoxsE HILls.
The Brave Mountain People and tie Ever
lasting "MountaIn Dow

moutSou, ApTu lO.sr dIfuluS III
Oconee is progressing rapidly. The
favorable spring weather has brought
the spring sown oats to stand, of
which larger crop than usual hss
been planted. The general senti-
mentof farmers is to reduce the cot
ton acreage and the use of fertilizers.
Madison is small town on the
Southern Railway, just one mile
from the Tugaloo River. This is
one of the greatest lumber and
shingle markets in the up-oountry.
The Genet Lumber Co., of Tennes-
see, is located here. Their plant cuts
10000 feet of lumber per day. The
logs are foated down the river for
twelve and fifteen miles,. The output
of the mill is poplar lumber, which
is shipped toNorthern markets and
to the export trade. Pines range
from twenty to eighty dollars per
thousand feet.
The limit of the cotton belt is
about eight miles from this place.
Within few miles may be found
the typical mountaineer and with
him the proverbial "mountain dew"
which is as much fixture in these
parts as the everlasting hills. Neither
the vigilance of the dispenssry con-
stables nor the relentless judgments
of the Supreme Courts have yet sue
ceeded in convincing these sturdy
mountaineers that they must give up
the moonshining instinct landed
down to them by their fathers.
Even the great Southern Railroad,
with it's fast flying trains and its tons
of freight reverberating with the
echoes of progress and civilization
into these mountain recesses, has ac-
complished little in winning these
sturdy mountaineers away from their
simple habits and customs.
These people have soant praise for
the frills and fashions of city folks.
Their chief luxuries are corn cob
pipes and coffee, both of which are
strong enough to raise crop Of hair
on baldheaded Cbarlestonian in one
night. A typical mountaineer, with
his homespun clothes, may be seen
in any of the up-country towns, with
his covered wagon drawn by yoke
of oxen, almost any day in the year.
He is a type of citizenship as dis
ti1ct from the cultured Charlestonian
as the furrowed mountains Of the
Western border which raise them
selves in sublime contrast to the
broad blue sea that washes the
Eastern border Of the State. Yet
he is good citizen, honest and in
dustrious, brave and fearless, given
to hospitality and behind whom is a
history worthy of our best writer's.
Mountain scenery is always grand to
the lovers of nature, especially SO at
this season of the year when forest
fires guild the bold peaks with undu.
lating chains of natures fireworks.
This is one bit of scenery that has
yet to be duplicated by modern "fre-
opogist," and which one rarely sees
save in winter.
The Southern Railway is making
wonderful strides in developing the
Piedmont section through which it
finds its winding way. The heavy
steel rails which are being placed and
the iron trestles supplanting wooden
ones are evidences of the increasing
amount of business being done by
this road. Lands within ten or twelve
miles are bringing $50 per acre,
which could easily be had a few years
back for $5 per acre. There is almost
one continuous hum of machinery
from the Tugaloo basin to Charlotte,
N. c., where but few years ago
was a wide stretch of black ridges.
On the sunny slopes of these foot
hills there are some of the finest
farming lands in the State. With
pure sparkling water and climate
which surpasses any, you will find a