THE preceding article gives a general sketch of the Blue Grass Region from a scientific standpoint, and will be found of peculiar interest to all dwellers in this favored section.  In the pages following, our researches will be confined to the northern belt of the blue grass, comprising Bourbon, Scott, Harrison and Nicholas Counties.  As Bourbon originally embraced the greater part, or this entire section, the history of all of these counties will be given together down to the date of separation of each from the parent stock, when they will be taken up separately and followed in detail, from that period to the present time.  But few finer portions of country may be found; none richer in historical association than the Blue Grass Region of Kentucky, and particularly that part to which this volume is devoted.  More than a century has passed away since the first white man gazed upon this fertile region; since Daniel Boone, from the mountain-summit, like Moses from Pisgah's top, viewed "the landscape o'er," then the home and hunting-ground of rival tribes of hostile savages.  In that hundred years what changes have come over the scene!  The thirteen Colonies that three off the galling yoke of the haughty Briton, have expended into a greater nation than any Caesar ever ruled.  The aboriginal tribes have been driven beyond the great Father of Waters, the wilderness of Central Kentucky has "budded, blossomed and brought forth fruit," and has become the home of a prosperous and intelligent people.
     The Counties of Bourbon, Scott, Harrison and Nicholas - the Northern belt of the Blue Grass Region - embrace within their territory some of the finest lands in the State.  Originally the land was covered with a rich, black, vegetable mold, the accumulation of ages, which made it a perfect hot-bed of fertility.  But, after clearing up of the forests, and as the heat of the sun and the full influence of atmospheric agencies were brought to bear upon the naked earth, this gradually changed, and at the present time we find, in the blue grass lands, "a soil varying from a rich dark brown color, to a light yellowish, or reddish brown, in the upper soil, and a light brownish or reddish yellow in the upper soil, and a light brownish or reddish yellow in the subsoil."  Geographically, the counties we are describing are situated a little north of the center of the State, and are watered and drained by the Licking River, and its numerous tributaries, except Scott, which is mostly drained by tributaries of the Kentucky River.  Farming and stock-raising are the principal pursuits of the people outside of the cities and towns, and some of the finest stock-farms in the State are to be found in these counties, and in a more limited way in Bourbon and Scott.
     One of the most important features of a country is its geological structure, and upon this feature depend the pursuits of its inhabitants and the genius of its civilization.  Agriculture is the outgrowth of a fertile soil; mining results from mineral resources; and from navigable waters spring navies and commerce.  "Every great branch of industry requires for its successful development the cultivation of kindred arts and sciences.  Phases of life and

Page 22 -

---------------
     * Davidson

Page 23 -
 

Page 24 -

Page 25 -

PORTRAIT OF
HENRY CLAY.

Page 26 - BLANK PAGE

Page 27 -

 

Page 28 -

     The following analysis is of soil from Mr. James Miller's farm, three miles south of Cynthiana - woods pasture; forest growth, large black walnut, sugar-tree, white oak, blue ash and poplar.  Dried at 212° Fahr., and had the following composition:

     "On the western edge of Nicholas County, on the slopes of the Hinkston waters, the country is rather broken, but the soil of the upland over the red under-clay, with gravel iron ore, must be productive under an efficient system of farming.  The upper part of the formation on the Hinkston hills is an ash gray, earthy - a kind of marlite.  These strata alternate with dark gray, blue sericea and ceralline beds of limestone, the whole resting about two thirds of the way down the slope on an orthoceras bed of limestone.  The derivative soil in dry weather has the peculiar crisp grain indicative of the rich retentive calcareous clay, but it is stiff and muddy in wet weather.  In some of the slopes near Carlisle, the beds of silicious mudstone crop out, especially on the west and southwest slopes.
     "There is little or no beech timber up the Hinkston, but this kind of lumber is abundant on the east side of the Maysville Turnpike, and on Beaver Creek and east of the line adjoining Harrison County, near Headquarters.  The water that runs off from the slopes of the ridges about seventy feet above the valleys, over the outcrop of the silicious mudstone, where this description of rock has been laid bare by the washing of the hill sides, is highly charged with magnesia, much of which is probably in the state of chloride, as re-agents indicate a large proportion of both ingredients.  This water is also milky from suspended particles of either extremely fine silex or clay.  There are many facts which go to show that this description of water acts injuriously both on man and stock, if habitually used, as explained elsewhere."
     Further facts of a geological character will be given in other chapters of this work upon the separate counties, whose history is given herewith. - W. H. Perrin.

END OF CHAPTER I - Click Here to go to CHAPTER II - Page 28

CLICK HERE to Go to Table of Contents