II



kENfLJCKY



=O000gN the Foutrh of July, 1776, the Continental Con-
E        El gress adopted a Declaration of Independence,
O     g    and in December of that same year, Kentucky
07f0=1111 County was established by Virginia. Harrods-
burg was the county seat. The population steadily increased
and in 1780 the Legislature of Virginia ordered the County
of Kentucky to be divided into three counties, Jefferson,
Fayette and Lincoln. In February, i791, the Congress of
the United States agreed to admit Kentucky into the Union
as an independent State, to take effect June I, 1792. Ac-
cordingly a convention assembled at Danville and a consti-
tution for the new Commonwealth was adopted.
   Everybody hears of Kentucky. One chief reason per-
haps, is the fact that in the affairs of the Nation its men
have figured so bril-
liantly. The first Re-
publican President of



the United States, he
who is coming m. ire
and more to be con-
sidered the greatest
man of modern times,
was born in Hardin
C o u n t y, Kentucky,
Abraham Lincoln.
   A statesman wise,
just and brilliant, who
said he would rather
be right than Presi-
dent, lived all his life
in Kentucky, and rep-
resented her in the
Congress of the Unit-
ed   States,  Henry



NEW STATE CAPITA



Clay.
   Daniel Boone, the nation's path-finder, said with pride,
I am a Kentuckian.
   David Crocket, the hero of the Alamo, the man who said
"Be sure you are right, then go ahead," was a Kentuckian.
Fitch, who invented the steamboat, was born in Nelson
County, and Ephriam McDowell, one of the world's greatest
surgeons, was a native of Danville.
   No greater journalist ever lived than George Dennison
Prentice; no greater preachers than Lard or Willetts or
Broaddus or Moses, no more profound Senator than James
Beck. John G. Carlisle, William Lindsey, John Mason
Harlan all loved to claim Kentucky as their home, and the
list is endless. Through, Zachary Taylor, whose grave is
just outside of Louisville, John Morgan, the intrepid raider
of the South, General John Lewis of the Orphan Brigade,
John C. Breckinridge, General Simon Bolivar Buckner and
a host more from this land of inspired men and deeds.
   The average altitude of Kentucky is about 8oo feet slop-



ifig from a height of from 2ooo to 3000 feet in the Alle-
ghenies on the East to the Mississippi River on the West
where the altitude is about 300 feet. The State has ex-
tensive drainage system including a number of important
navigable rivers as well as many small streams.
    Probably the most fertile farming territory in the whole
 country is to be found in the rich Blue Grass Region which
 produces a fine quality of grass, corn, hemp, tobacco and
 fruits. This vast territory is underlaid by lime stone strata
 whose gradual disintegration supplies the necessary elements
 to maintain a high degree of fertility even with exhausted
 cultivation. Outside of this section are found large stretches
 of highly productive bottom lands along the many streams
 which rival the Blue Grass.
                                        The absolute area
                                     of improved farm
                                     lands has increased
                                     every decade between
R                                  t183o and ig9o to the
WI                                  extent of 65 per cent.
                                     During the last twen-
                                     ty years the average
                                     size of farms decreas-
                                     ed from 119.4 to 93.7
                                     acres. The farms op-
                                     erated by owners are
                                     67.2 per cent of the
                                     total number which is
                                     a much greater per-
                                     centage than is found
                    t . in States far t he r
                                     South, the difference
-                                  being largely due to
L AT FRANKFORT                       the insignificance of
                                     cotton raising in Ken-
tucky and the small number of negro farmers.
    For a number of decades Kentucky's annual tobacco crop
has ranged from one-third to one-half of the total raised in
the United States.
    The Kentucky thoroughbred is known all over the civil-
ized world as the highest type of horse flesh. It is interest-
ing to note that as early as 1783 a race course was established
near Harrodsburg, known as Hoggins Rade Pass. In 1776
John Harrison brought from Virginia a thoroughbred which
ran over the Jefferson Street track in Louisville and beat all
the local horses. Lexington did not have a race track until
I789, but it grew rapidly in popularity and importance, and
many of the fastest of American horses were bred and
trained in this world famous Blue Grass region. During
the last ten years the raising of blooded horses has given
away in a measure to the raising of mules. Cattle, sheep
and swine breeding has steadily grown in importance with
the development of Louisville as a live stock market.



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