The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1910-07-05
TIN. OLD TITGN FORK.
4 Land OF "Good People and Much
Bread" Where Patriotism and
Love of Home are Strong.
(Sy T. H. Dreher.)

COlumbla) and the line dlVldlng Lex
ington and Newberry counties, as the
base, is popularly known as The
/ Dutch Fork" The recital OF lew
facts bearing upon this region, OF l4O
square miles, will, it is believed, prove
interesting to the Idle Sunday reader
and reveal few unique features,
probably unusual in the annals OF the
y State. Hedged off, as it was, from the
outside world, for upwards OF CEN
tury, without railroad or telephone
lines, and inhabited by quiet, indus
trious and unobstrusive citizenship,
little was known or written about it
81 until recent years.
Like the waters of the Gulf Stream
"the wandering summer of the sea-
it has retained it's distinct individual
ity to degree almost inconceivable, in
=, an age of shifting scenes and diverse
conditions. It's population is almost
as peculiarly Germanic, in origin and
tastes, today as it was one hundred
years ago. To philosophize over the
effects of this lack Of heterogeneous
\ racial elements does not fall Within
lthe purview of this letter. There is
= (hardly a name in this Fork" which
does not betray it's origin, but her peo-
!, pie are proud to trace their ancestral
lineage back in a straight line to the
wooded forests of Germany, along the
beautiful Rhine, where the intrepid
-Arivistus made his bold, daring but
bootless stand, in battle, against the
Roman conqueror, Julius Caesar. They
are of the same Palantinate stock,
whose people We're. driven from their
peaceful and happy homes by the cruel
and blood-thirsty Louis XIV, during
"The War of the Spanish Succession,'
and who sought, by the aid OF the
good Queen Anne of England, an asy-
lum in the New World, where they
could worship their God according to
the dictates of their own judgment
and conscience.
Germans Proud History.
The hard experiences Of these retu-
gees across the broad Atlantic, in
search of their new. homes, need not
be recorded here. Many landed in
Charleston, some of whom 'wended
their way up the State along the
banks of the Edisto, Congaree, Board
and Saluda rivers, where they nero
ically felled the forests, amidst almost
insnperable obstacles and difficulties,
in order. to meet the necessities OF
precarious existence. History has
never been prodigal in giving these
!. people their true place in the picture,
but they have made good, just the
same, and added much to the COM
n mercial, educational, social and reli-
gious development of the Common
wealth. z
Let him who is disposed to ignore
n and hidea his German parentage, re-
member that this branch of the great
esltonic family played a mighty part
the drama of the worlds history
hid after the, fasl of the Roman En-
pire largely shaped the destiny OF
Z modern European civilization. Let
y him remember that Gutenberg, Ger
man, and Roster, a Hollander, preced-
ed Caxton, of England, with printing
by 36 years; that a German monk,
Berthold Schwartz, invented gun
powder, and that John Reuchlen,
German, and Desiderius Erasmus,
Hollander, were most instrumental in
introducing the study of Greek into
European universities.
Such is the blood which flows in the
veins of practically every man, wo-
man and child in '"The Dutch Fork Of
Lexington county, and they are
proud to claim it. The same patriotic
love and devotion for home and its
traditions which characterized their
ancestors when ruthlessly driven
from their fresides, is still ruling
characteristic of their progenitors,
Thus it was that, when a movement
, was set on foot to connect "The Dutch
O. Fork y with. Richland county last year,
the sentiment of its people was SO
pronounced against in that the matter
was never put to a vote.
4 White Mans Country.
The old Dutch Fork is pre-enln-
4 emily white mans country. The ne
i gro is negligible quality-numerl-
Il cally and otherwise. With barely
= more than third of its territory, ana
"a no town of any consequence, its White
voting strength exceeds the whole OF
# Calhoun county, and has a white rural