NATURAL SETTING 3
A small amount of valuable timber remains in the county and
8 there are areas where second-growth timber is flourishing. The
forest growths include hickory, walnut, sweetgum, sycamore,
, pecan, cypress, cedar, elm, oak, maple, beech, several varieties
i of ash and poplar, locusts, wild cherry, with occasionally a yellow
f button and chinquapin, catalpa, and coffeetree.
- The soil of the uplands is loess, a yellow silt loam, thin where
{ hilly, but deeper elsewhere. The soil of the bottoms is deposited
and of more recent origin. M
I Union County is distinctly an agricultural community, few
1 counties, it is claimed, having greater acreage of highly fertile
{ land, four-fifths of the total acreage being classified as farm
lands. Tobacco and corn, in which the county excels, are staple
[ products, though all other crops usual in the State are cultivated.
. The county is gridironed with well—surfaced highways reaching
, out in every direction. Along these roads are well—kept farms and
_ spacious, comfortable homes which suggest the slow tempo and
, quiet peace of a prosperous, agricultural community. In these
homes is written the story of several generations of men and
women, since their pioneer ancestors followed Indian trails or
floated down the rivers, cleared the forests, built their cabins,
and played their part in founding a commonwealth.
The Islands of the County ‘
Within that length of the Ohio River which forms the sinuous
boundary of Union County lie two inhabited and cultivated
islands: Slim and Wabash. They were somewhat important in
the early years of navigation and doubtless witnessed scenes of
violence and terror, for they were in proximity to up—river
Diamond Island, the haunt of banditti, among whom the more
conspicuous were the Harpes and the Masons, who attacked and
plundered passing boats, frequently murdering both passengers
and crews, until at length a detachment of Kentucky militia shot
or dispersed them in a surprise raid-—as related by Fortescue
Cuming in his Tour to the Western Country, embracing the
years 1807-9.
Slim Island (also known in the past as Eighteen Mile and Elk)
is nine miles north of Uniontown. It is approximately three and
one—half miles long, with an area of 565 acres, Although it was
submerged under several feet of water during the flood of 1937,
it is so high that the 1913 flood, less severe only than that of