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Bath County
Iron. - Analyses of 14 samples of Bath County limonite ores ranged
from 26.61 to 60.41 in percentage of metallic iron, an average
of 49.10; and of three of carbonate of iron, 27.22%. One or more
furnaces in Bath County were worked about 1790.
Calloway County
The First County Seat, together with the Land Office, was at
Wadesboro, which became a flourishing town of over 300 inhabitants
and was much frequented by emigrants and land speculators for
the purpose of entering vacant lands. The public land sales authorized
by the legislature were largely attended. They were occasions
of great interest and excitement. After the public lands had
been entered and sold, Wadesboro lost its prominence. Many citizens
moved away, the public buildings fell into ruins, and the county
seat was removed to Murray.
Estill County
In 1865 The Red River Iron Manufacturing Company was chartered
and organized with a cash capital of $1,000,000; which sum was
actually expended in the purchase of all the estate belonging
to the Red River Ironworks and in the improvement of that property.
The works at the old forge on Red River were not revived, but
the mills there were rebuilt and improved. Estill Furnace was
put into blast in May 1866; many buildings were erected, turnpike
roads were built, and the iron was wagoned eight miles to Red
River and shipped by flatboats. In 1868 the company began and
in less than two years completed two of the largest charcoal
furnaces in the world; with inclined planes, tramways, macadamized
roads, mills, shops, homes for over 100 families, and employment
for 1,000 men for more than a year. A town was chartered at the
new furnaces called Fitchburg, after the two brothers: Frank
Fitch, the general superintendent; and Fred Fitch, the secretary
and treasurer. In 1869 the iron from Estill Furnace was diverted
from the Red River route and wagoned three miles to Fitchburg;
thence, together with the product of the two great furnaces,
which went into blast March 4, 1870, taken by a new tramway six
miles to Scott's Landing on the Kentucky River, near the mouth
of Miller's Creek. In 1871 nearly 10,000 tons of pig iron were
turned out, valued at $600,000.
In 1871 the Estill Iron Company, a new concern,
in the hands of skilled men and with abundant capital, purchased
the Cottage Furnace property. As soon as either one of the projects
for reaching these works by railroad is completed, the manufacture
will be still more largely increased. The irregularity and uncertainty
of transportation are the great barriers to the development of
the mineral wealth of Kentucky.
Franklin County
The Survey Of The Land Whereon Frankfort Now Stands was first
made on Friday, July 16, 1773, by Hancock Taylor, a deputy or
assistant of Col. Wm. Preston, then official surveyor of Fincastle
County, Virginia; which county then included a large part of
western (now West) Virginia, together with all of the country
now known as the state of Kentucky. Two, if not all, of Taylor's
regular surveying party were Matthew Bracken (after whom Bracken
Creek was named, and from it, Bracken County), and Jacob Dren-non
(who gave name to Drennon Creek in Henry County). Two surveys
were made embracing together 600 acres, and including most of
the bottom on which Frankfort is built; for Robert McAfee, one
of the McAfee company of five with whom Taylor's party had met
on May 28th, preceding, on the Kanawha River, and had since been
traveling, exploring, and surveying with.
Hopkins County
Baron Frederic Wm. Augustus Steuben, the distinguished (Prussian)
inspector general of the Revolutionary Army, shortly after the
close of the war for independence, visited Kentucky and located
some land. Tradition says that he was wounded by the Indians
at or near a lick in Hopkins County, called (from that circumstance)
Steuben's Lick. He died in Utica, New York, November 28, 1794,
and a copy of his will was sent to Kentucky, and was on file
in the Court of Appeals, but destroyed by fire when the papers
of that office were burned. Among its provisions was a bequest
to Capt. Meriwether Lewis, his former aide-de-camp, of one of
his swords, and a legacy in money of perhaps $2,000; for the
reason that Lewis' salary of $500, as secretary to President
Jefferson, was insufficient to support him in the style his position
demanded. There was also a legacy of perhaps $2,000 each to certain
of his servants, on condition that, at his death, they should
lay him out in his military cloak, and at the expiration of a
designated time, bury his body in a secret place, which he had
pointed out to them, and forever keep the place concealed; any
disclosure of this secret to forfeit the legacy. In attempting
to removed his remains, a few years ago, they were found to be
petrified.
Lincoln County
Springs. - The Crab Orchard neighborhood, in the eastern part
of Lincoln County, is distinguished for the number, variety,
and excellence of its mineral springs. They were known in 1857
as: 1. The two Crab Orchard Springs (Caldwell's), both chalybeate;
2. Brown's Spring, chalybeate, half a mile out, on the Lancaster
Turnpike; 3. Howard's White Sulphur Well, one and one-half miles
out, on the Mt. Vernon Road; 4. Epsom Spring, No. 1, one mile
out, on the Lancaster Turnpike; 5. Epsom Spring at Foley's, half
a mile from the center of Crab Orchard, on the Fall Dick Road;
6. Sowder's Spring, one and one-half miles out, on the north
of the hill toward Dick's River; and 7. Bryant's Springs near
Crab Orchard, seven in number, chalybeate, sulphur, and more.
The "Crab Orchards Salts," obtained by carefully evaporating
the water of the two Epsom or of Sowder's Springs to dryness
in iron kettles, have been sold by druggists throughout the country
and have become an official article. They are less drastic and
more tonic than pure, unmixed Epsom salts, and they are more
likely to act on the liver in the manner of calomel when taken
in small doses. The sulphate of magnesia (Epsom salts) is the
principal saline ingredient of several of the springs.
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