xt7sj38kdt8p https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7sj38kdt8p/data/mets.xml Shaler, Nathaniel Southgate, 1841-1906. 1880  books b92-264-31852113 English Printed for the Company by W.H. Wheeler, : Cambridge [Mass.] : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Natural resources Virginia. Natural resources Kentucky. Preliminary report concerning the resources of the country adjacent to the line of the proposed Richmond and Southwestern Railway  / by Nathaniel Southgate Shaler. text Preliminary report concerning the resources of the country adjacent to the line of the proposed Richmond and Southwestern Railway  / by Nathaniel Southgate Shaler. 1880 2002 true xt7sj38kdt8p section xt7sj38kdt8p 
PRELIMINARY



           CONCERNING THE



RESOURCES



REPORT



OF THE COUNTRY ADJACENT TO THE
LINE OF THE PROPOSED



RICHMOND    AND   SOUTHWESTERN     RAILWAY.



            Br v. S. SHfALER, S.D.
                State Geologist of Aelmacky.



         CAMBRIDGE:
PRINTED FOR THE COMPANY BY W. 11. WHEELER,
            I Sso.

 


INDEX.



   As the resources of the country adjacent to this proposed railway have
been considered by districts, it seems desirable to give a brief summary of
them in a classified form. The reader will find below, in the form of an



Index, reference to each of the important
of this road.

ASBESTOS.
       James River District, .
BUILDING STONES.
       Granite of James River,
          i'1. " Western Kentucky,
CLAYS.



        Tide-water Section,
        Kentucky River,
        Madison County, Ky.,
        Western Kentucky,
COAL.
        Alleghany basins,
        Western Kentucky,
        Near Richmond, Va.,
        Semi-Bituminous,
        Eastern Kentucky,
        Western Kentucky Cannel,
                         BitMir
CLIMATE.
       Virginia and Kentucky,
COPPER.
       James River district,
       Blue Ridge district,
FORESTS AND TIMBER SUPP
       Alleglhany Mountains,
       Central Kentucky,
       James River,
       Kentucky Valley,
       Western Kentucky,



resources that will affect the future



                            23


                            21



21
34
36
44



                                 7
                                 10
                                 23
                                 27
                       . 29,31, 32
                                39
IOUs,    .    .   .    .    .   40

                          I 1  2, 1, 13



2.3
26



          5
          9
          24
     34, 35
  43, 44, 45

 This page in the original text is blank.

 

INDEX.



GOLD.
       Virginia gold district,
GYPSUM.
       In Washington and Wythe Counties,
IRON.
       James River district,
       Blue Ridge    "
       Dyestone ore,
       Ores of Kentucky valley,
       Western Kentucky,
LEAD ORES.
       Wythe County,



MARLS.
       Tide-water section in Virginia.
       Western Kentucky,
PETROLEUM.
       Kentucky River valley,
       Devonian shale,
POPULATION.
       Virginia and Kentucky,
PLUMBAGO.
       James River section,
SOILS.



Allegliany Mountains,
Kentucky,
James River Valley,



SALT.
       Saltville in Wythe County,
       Kentucky River valley,
       Western Kentucky,
SLATE.
       James River section,
TOBACCO.
       James River,
       Kentucky River,
       Western Kentucky,



        28
        34
   .   39


        23



             24
       .  35
         35



27



27



   23
   2.6
2z, 29
   33
   41'



.  27



21
39


34
36


14


23



8, 9
24



H.s

 

                      PRE FACE.



  The following report has been prepared in some haste to
set forth in a brief way, the general conditions of the dis-
trict it is proposed to traverse by the Richmond and South-
western Railway. It should be regarded as a mere prelimin-
ary statement, which is to be followed up by a very detailed
final report for which the field work is now well under way,
but which cannot be finished before the end of the year.
  It is but just to myself and to the reader to give some ac-
count of the opportunities I have had of becoming personally
acquainted with the country adjacent to the line of this road.
Some service as geologist in the Coast Survey in the Virginia
district, and later, several summers in charge of the work of
the Harvard Summer School of Geology, in central and west-
ern Virginia, have served to make me pretty familiar with the
districts it is proposed the road shall pass through in that State.
A service of over six years in charge of the geological survey
of Kentucky has brought me into every county of that State
which the road will enter. I may fairly say that I have seen
a good deal of every natural division of the line. Others have
made more detailed studies on particular divisions' of the belt
than I have been able to make, but my opportunities for see-
ing the whole line have been better than have fallen to the lot
of any other one person.

 
PREFACE.



  In the published and unpublished reports of the Kentucky
survey, I have repeatedly urged the building of a railway
through this belt of country, for the purpose of opening up this
region, which, considered from the point of view of its mineral
resources, is the very heart of the continent. It has long been
clear to me that we have here a remarkable combination of
the resources best calculated to make the foundations of
rzch and prosperous communities: an admirable climate, fer-
tile Soil, forests rich in manufacturing woods, and a singularly
varied store of mineral wealth. On either side of the great
Appalachian mineral and forest belt we have states with large
and growing populations, which are just shaking off the leth-
ergy that their old conditions imposed on them. These condi-
tions insure to the road the large traffic that has been given to
every railway that has yet been built across the Appalachian
mountains. This road will, it seems to me, enjoy especial ad-
vantages from the fact that it not only gives access to a region
rich in mineral resources, but also affords a very short line from
the Mississippi to the sea, over a country where grades are
easy, construction timber cheap, and fuiel very accessible to
the road. The rapid growth of the export trade of Baltimore
shows that circumstances are not unfavorable to the shipping
of produce from ports at this distance south of New York.
The port of Gloucester is one hundred and forty miles nearer
the sea than Baltimore, and is very much easier and cheaper
of access. With the line completed from the Mississippi to
the sea this railway would, it seems to me, enjoy peculiar
advantages for the export of a very great range of American
products.



lW.

 
PREFACE.



  I have not ventured to say very much concerning the ad-
vantages of the narrow gauge system of railways. This is a
matter on which I cannot consider my opinion of value. I can
only say that this system is peculiarly well suited for the pur-
pose of developing the mineral resources of the Appalachian
district. It is, also, clear to me that the valley of the Ohio has
many and is to have many more of these roads, and any trunk
line that gives them access to the sea, will, as long as it is the
only line of this description, enjoy the monopoly of their trade.
  In closing, I wish to affirm my conviction that the belt of
country lying between the parallels of 360 and 400, and from the
Atlantic west to the Mississippi, contains the greatest and most
varied mass of mineral resources of any equal area on this
continent - resources destined to play a very great part in the
future industries of this country. This proposed road will have
the advantage of following, perhaps, the best possible line
through this belt.
                                         N. S. SHALER.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY,
    CAMBRIDGE, MASS., May I, ISa.

 This page in the original text is blank.

 

             PRELIMINARY REPORT.




                            L

  GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE PHYSICAL CONDITIONS OF
          RAILWAYS ACROSS THE APPALACHIANS.

   Some understanding of the general conditions to which
railway lines from the Mississippi to the Atlantic coast are
subjected should precede the study of the economic resources
of the line now under consideration. This understanding can
only be obtained by glancing, first, at certain general struc-
tures of the continent.
  The continent of North America consists, in part, of a wide
inland basin occupied in its central and southern portions by the
drainage systems of the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence. This
basin, containing the largest connected body of arable land in
the temperate zone, is separated from the oceans that border
the continent on the east and the west, by great mountain
systems. That of the Appalachians, on the east, though less
difficult to cross than the Cordilleras on the west, is still one
of the most continuous mountain systems in the world. On
the north, the valleys of the Hudson and the Mohawk give
free passages through its wall, but these passages are into
the valley of the great lakes and not into the main area
of the continental basin. It is only by a considerable detour
that access is had to the central regions of the Mississippi
valley. South of Albany and north of Chattanooga there
there is no break in this line, where the traveler can pass from
the Atlantic to the Mississippi waters, without rising about
two thousand feet above the sea.

 
4RICHMOND AND SOUTHWESTERN RAILWAY.



  On the Atlantic face of this system is a wide border of
plain and low table lands which will always contain a large
population that must be closely dependent on the agricultural
peoples in the central valley.
  The mountain belt that lies between these regions averages
about two hundred miles in width. It consists of two essen-
tially different portions,-an eastern and a western section.
The eastern is commonly known as the Appalachian range
and consists of very old, much altered rocks, granites, syenites,
mica schists, etc.; the western and wider section is composed
of much newer beds, which extend from the coal measures
downwards.
  These parallel mountain belts differ in their forms as well as
in their rocks. The eastern range is narrow and wall-like, the
ruined line of one of the oldest mountains. In it, are many
low gaps that give ready passage to roads and streams.
In a given distance of a few miles it is generally possible to
pass this range, at least north of the Carolinas, without rising
more than a few hundred feet above the sea. Between the
western flank of the old range and the eastern face of the
newer mountains on the west, there is a broad mountain trough,
-one of the noblest upland valleys of the world. In New
York it is called the Hudson valley, in Pennsylvania the valley
west of the South Mountain, in Virginia the valley of the Shen-
andoah, and in Tennessee the valley of the upper Tennessee.
Except when crossed by rivers that cut the eastern range, this
valley is a continuous trough, with its floor, in good part, of
beds of limestone which furnish a very deep rich soil.
  The western range of mountains is much broader than the
eastern range. It consists of a great number of parallel ridges
that rise to a height of about four thousand feet above the sea.
These have but one break, through which water runs, in the
whole line from New York to Georgia, and this, the New
river, practically affords no line of passage through this chain
on account of its tortuous and northward course.
  In Pennsylvania and the northern part of Virginia these
mountains are only rounded in form, like overturned boats: as



4

 
PRELIMINARY REPORT.



we pass south from the Potomac, however, these ridges begin
to be broken by long faults, the rocks on either side of the
break being forced out of their original positions. As we
pass further to the southward these breaks increase in impor-
tance, so that from southern Virginia southward, all semblance
of distinct folds is lost, and in their place we have a succession
of long wall-like ridges that run in the same N. E. and S. W.
direction as the ordinary ridges in the northern section.
These ridges are much more nearly parallel to each other
than in the more northern range of mountains. They are
oftener cut through by streams, as, for instance, by the branches
of the New River and the Tennessee; and through their num-
erous gaps it is easy to make a general easterly and westerly
roadway, with less tunnelling than in the ordinary mountains of
Pennsylvania.
  Although these two mountain ranges are a considerable
obstacle to water communication between the coast region and
the Mississippi valley, they are, in the physical resources they
afford, of immeasurable value to the whole country. It is
well known that mountains differ much among themselves in
the extent to which their soils are barren, though the Appa-
lachian mountains, from the Potomac southwards, have less of
the disabilities ordinarily found with mountains than any other
such structures that are known to me. North of the Potomac,
where these mountains have been recently (in a geological
sense) ground over by the glaciers, their surface is generally
too rude for agriculture, owing to the small amount of soil
upon them and the coating of boulders that lies upon their
surface; but as we pass south of Maryland the ice sheets only
crowned the highest hills, and along the line of the Richmond
and Southwestern Railway there is scarcely a trace of this ice
work. The slow decay of many geological periods has accu-
mulated a deep coating of soil upon the highest, and often upon
the steepest hills. This soil bears heavy forests of varied hard
wood timber, with some areas of yellow pine upon the higher
ridges, and of hemlock along the mountain streams. Not one
per cent of all this mountain surface is without a forest cover-
ing except where it has been removed by man.



5

 
RICHMOND AND SOUTHWESTERN RAILWAY.



  The salme quality of soil that gives heavy forests on this
belt makes the greater part of its surface fit for tillage. All
through this region extensive settlements of farmers may be
found, on the very tops of the highest ridges, at heights of two
to four thousand feet above the sea. In this regard the region
south of the Potomac is in marked contrast with the region
to the north of that line, for the mountains are generally
untillable, either from the poverty and thinness of the newly
made soils, or from the thick covering of boulders that lies
upon them. The same cause diminishes the size of the for-
ests, which are not nearly as good in that region as in the
country to the southward.
  I am satisfied that the average agricultural value of the
mountain belt between the Potomac and the North Carolina
line is nearly as great as the average of the Ohio valley.
  Although the food producing capacity of this district is a
matter of importance in considering the prospects of its future,
it is not in the resources of this character that we find the ele-
ment of greatest interest to the economist. Its economic
future lies in the fact that it is the richest field of mineral
wealth known in any country. Placed between the agricul-
tural districts of the Atlantic slope and the Mississippi valley,
these vast stores of coal, iron, copper, zinc and other mine
products are admirably situated for the use of the populous
states that are now growing up in those sections. No one can
doubt that this peculiarly fortunate relation of rich mineral re-
sources to the rich tillage soils of this continent will lead to a
great commerce between the two.
  The two elements of these mountains, the old Appalachian
axis and the newer Alleghany chain, are very happily com-
bined for the commercial future of the regions where they lie
and for those adjacent to them. In the older eastern axis and
upon its foot hills on the east, we have the metallic products
characteristic of the older rocks. Gold bearing rocks occupy a
wide area there, and even with the older mining processes
in use from 1820 to i86o many million dollars worth of
bullion was produced from them. Iron ores of the magnetite



6

 
PRELIMINARY REPORT.



7



and specular groups abound here. Extensive deposits of
copper, such as those which further south, in North Carolina,
are now yielding great profits to the miners, occupy a large
field along the main axis of the range. Other metallic pro-
ducts and a great variety of building stones, such as are found
among our older or hypogene rocks, abound in this moun-
tain system. In the western, or Alleghany mountains, we
have the mineral resources of the newer rocks of the geologi-
cal series. Coal of fair quality and in great quantity exists
along this range, nearly fifty thousand square miles of it, an
area at least seven times as great as that of Great Britain -
lying in this system, between New York and Alabama.
This coal varies from the non-flaming anthracite to the torch-
like cannel coal. In the section proposed to be traversed by
this railway, the amount of anthracite is quite small and may
not be of great relative value, but the less changed coals are
practically limitless in quantity and of such varied qualities as
to fill all the needs of the arts that depend upon them. In
this western belt there are also great quantities of iron ores
belonging to the group Qf clay iron stones (limonites, sider-
ites, etc.), which though lower in their per cent of metal than
the older ores, are yet, on account of their close proximity to
the coal and of certain peculiar properties they possess, of
great value.
  This Alleghany range of mountains also contains in its
folds and on its flanks, great areas of petroleum, and several
levels where waters thickly charged with salt are found. There
are also abundant deposits of fire and pottery clays in the
coal series. Taken in its entirety, this coal bearing belt is, by
the quality of its coals and their fitness for use in all the
arts that demand fuel, the richest field in either America or
Europe.
  Thus we see that the Appalachian system of mountains,
while it seems to form a barrier between the plains of the
the east and west, is, in fact, a most beneficial arrangement of
surface for the whole adjacent region. But for these fold-
ings of the earth's crust, the mineral resources of its deeper
beds could not have been made accessible to man.

 

8RICHMOND AND SOUTHWESTERN RAILWAY.



  The peculiar advantage promised by railways across the
Appalachians, one that will secure them a certain basis of large
profits, is found in these conditions of the mountains they trav-
erse. At either end of the route are vast districts occupied
by agricultural and manufacturing populations, which will
afford a large and constantly growing market for the prod-
ucts of the mines as they are opened up along the lines.
This advantage is shared to a greater or less degree by all the
roads that cross both these mountain ranges, from New York
southward. The line of the Richmond and Southwestern road
has, it seems to me, certain especial advantages over any other,
in that it crosses the coal and iron belt at its widest part,
where there is the heaviest timber, and where, moreover,
the peculiar configuration of the surface is most favorable to
the construction of a road with low grades at smnall cost.
Other advantages afforded by this mountain region will be
made evident in the further consideration of the subject.
  Beyond the Appalachian mountain belt, the line of this
road enters into the great plain of the Mississippi river system,
and in the five hundred miles of its proposed course in Ken-
tucky, it traverses the eastern half of those rich lands that
characterize the Ohio valley.
  To show the peculiar advantages of this section, it will be
necessary, first, to notice that the regions north and south of the
Ohio differ widely in the character of the rocks that come
to the surface, and consequently in their soils as well as in
their underground productions. North of the Ohio, we have
rocks of a tolerably uniform character, lying in perfectly hori-
zontal positions; but from a point a little north of Cincinnati,
southward to Alabama, we have a distinct geological ridge
that passes through the central portions of Kentucky and Ten-
nessee. This ridge, though it does not appear as a mountain
ridge, lifts the whole district of central Kentucky into a table
land that averages one thousand feet in height above the sea.
It also exposes a lower series of rocks than those that appear
on either side of it.
  North of the Ohio, the soils have generally been affected by



8

 
PRELIMINARY REPORT.



the drift period, which by mingling the waste of many different
regions gives to the soil a rather uniform character. South of
the Ohio, the soils are derived from the rocks immediately
beneath, and are, on account of the great variety of
the rocks exposed by the tilting action of the Cincinnati
axis, much more varied than in the northern region. The
result is a wide, and   on the whole, an    advantageous
difference in the natural fertility of the various areas of land
in this southern district. This difference is marked in the
variety and distribution of the timber,-the natural crop of the
soil, and also in the tillage crops. The timber along this
section is more varied in its species than that alone any
other east and west line in the district east of the Mississippi.
The subsequent chapters of this Report will give more of the
details of this difference and show that over thirty species of
economic woods arc found, in varying quantities, along this line.
In the tillage crops we find the same variety. The fact that
within the last four decades the United States census show
Kentucky to have been at various times the first of the States
in the production of corn, wheat, tobacco, and hemp, is a
slight indication of the natural variety of the agricultural pro-
ducts within her borders. It is a fact that the variety of
crops in this area is greater than in almost any other State
in this country, though the State itself has not half the climatal
variation that may be found in some others, and its area is
much less.
  In the central region of Kentucky, after passing beyond the
coal bearing series of rocks, the line of this railway descends
quickly upon the limestone rocks that underlie the fertile blue
grass district of that section. This region includes about ten
thousand square miles, an area almost as large as Massachusetts
and Connecticut combined, and is probably the most perma-
nently fertile body of land in this country. Many of the prairies
are, at the outset, as fertile as the best of these limestone soils,
but cultivation soon exhausts their store of phosphates and rap-
idly diminishes their yield. In this central Kentucky region,
the subsoil and the rocks below it contain the same substances



9

 
10    RIcHMOND AND SOUTHWESTERN RAILWAY.



as the soil, and deep plowing will restore worn fields to their
pristine fertility. Though manuring is much neglected, yet the
soils have not been lessened in their fertility by eighty years
of cultivation. I am personally well acquainted with the con-
ditions of the fertile lands of this country and of Europe, and
I have never seen another body of land equal to this for the
purposes of a cheap and varied tillage.
  Passing out of this central belt of the Cincinnati axis, we come
upon the western coal field, which, in a remote day, was con-
nected over the central geological arch with the eastern field,
but has since been worn away from it. This western coal field
is the southward extension of the area commonly known as
the Illinois coal field. It includes in Kentucky, an area of
about four thousand square miles of country, and though, on
the whole, less advantageously placed than the eastern or Alle-
ghany field, it is still the best of the central coal districts of
the Mississippi valley; and on account of its position, may be
regarded as being as valuable as any part of the eastern field.
Owing to the lower level of the surface of the country, which
here falls to about three to four hundred feet above the Mis-
sissippi and to about seven hundred feet above the sea, the
coals of this area are generally below the drainage level of
the country, while those of the eastern field are generally
above that level; but this, as well as other disadvantages, are
compensated for by their close proximity to the waters of the
Mississippi, and to the great centres of population that are
rising along its course. This region contains about twelve
known workable coals, including a total thickness of about
forty feet.  Amongst these we have cannel of excellent
quality, though limited in area, and a considerable variety of
bituminous coals, of both the caking and block varieties.
   In this area we have also several very rich varieties of iron
ore of three main classes, stalactitic, fossiliferous, and black
band. Some of these ores have been proven to be of excellent
quality for the manufacture of a good grade of iron and steel.
They need only transportation to bring them into prominence
and to make them the basis of extensive industries. This

 
PRELIMINARY REPORT.



mineral belt is bordered on either side by a wide extent of
country that must always look to it for those twin staples of
modern industry- coal and iron. This advantage it possesses
in common with other portions of the Appalachian district;
but more fortunate than they, it is swept on the west by all
that immense number of navigable waters included in the
Mississippi system. It also shares, in a fair degree, the agri-
cultural capacities of the whole region, for though the soils are
thinner than those of central Kentucky, yet the majestic
forests of white oak which it carries, and the vast amount of
tobacco it now produces, sufficiently attest its strength and
fertility. Marls, fit for agricultural purposes, are also found in
great abundance, though as yet the beds have never been
worked.
  Compared with other railways, running east and west, across
the Appalachians, it may be claimed that this road, whilst it
shares with any and all others, the general resources of the
Alleghany system of mountains, crosses a wider mineral
belt than any other; that the average soil of this mineral belt
is better, and, furthermore, that the other sections of the coun-
try through which it is proposed to pass, possess a far greater
natural range of agricultural products. These and other
advantages, however, will be treated more in detail in the
subsequent chapters of this Report.



                            I.

         CLIMATE OF VIRGINIA AND KENTUCKY.

  The climatal relations of a district give us some of the most
important elements of its economic conditions. The district
now under consideration consists of several diverse areas, the
differences being produced by the various levels of the land
above the sea. Along the sea shore, we have a belt of country
which may be regarded as extending as far west as Lynch-
burg, where the general level of the country is less than three



11

 
12    RICHMOND AND SOUTHWESTERN RAILWAY.



hundred feet above the sea. This is a region the climatal con-
ditions of which are well known. The mountains in this belt
are on the whole of temperate heat; snow rarely lies on the
ground for more than three or four days at a time, and the
ground rarely remains frozen for a longer period. The springs
are early, fully a month or six weeks earlier than in New Eng-
gland. The summers are long and rather hot, though the heat
of any single days does not exceed that of warm days in northern
New England. That this region is on the whole favorable to
human life and strength is shown by the excellent condition of
the people, who having been for two centuries or more on this
soil, furnished as enduring and valorous a body of infantry as
fought in the Confederate army. Than this there could
be no better test of climatal conditions. In this belt consump-
tion is rather rare. That part near the shore, where there is a
good deal of swamp land is somewhat malarious, but even
throughout this section there are abundant high lands for
residence where settlers can escape this evil. The fever is of
a simple type, not worse than that common throughout the
States of Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas, and settlers
readily become acclimated to it.
  In the higher lands west of the meridian of Richmond, this
disease disappears except in very peculiar positions.  On
this more elevated land, typhoid fever is the prevailing disease,
due probably, in all cases, to carelessness in placing wells near
the house drainage. The disease is generally of a very mild
form, and although somewhat more prevalent than in New
England, does not contribute a larger share to the deaths. No
other types of fever of an epidemic character occur here. This
somewhat greater liability to fever is more than compensated
for by the relative freedom from consumption that charac-
terizes this belt of country. Statistics show that the average
death rate in this section is lower than in equal areas in the storm
belt of New England. At this distance south there is no neces-
sary process of acclimatizing gone through, by settlers from
more northern countries; persons from New England or from
Europe, do not find it more difficult to become accustomed to

 

PRELIMINARY REPORT.



the conditions than do those who settle in Pennsylvania or
New York.
  Beyond Lynchburg the country rises rapidly in height until
we attain an average elevation of from one to two thousand
feet. This brings about two somewhat important changes in
the climate. The rainfall rapidly increases, and the average
temperature is lessened. The climate, by these changes,
becomes admirable in all regards. The greater rainfall causes
a more luxuriant vegetation and a greater abundance of streams
and springs. It is an assertion that any one conversant with the
climatology of this country will warrant, that the elevated level
between the eastern face of the Blue Ridge and the upper part
of the Kentucky and thence, at the same height above the sea,
southward to Georgia, is the most favored region in this country.
I have spent a number of summers in this region in the most
active out-door exercise, afoot, and have always had with me
from twenty to sixty persons, entirely unaccustomed to the
climate, mostly students and teachers from the northern part
of the northern States, and have never had a serious case of
illness in my parties. Twice these expeditions have been in
seasons when the towns in the extreme southwest, along the
Mississippi, were stricken by yellow fever, and when even the
lowlands, exempt from this disease, were suffering from other
high grade malarial fevers. These mountain valleys were
crowded with fugitives from the infected districts, but in not a
single case north of Chattanooga did the pestilence take root,
though many persons who came with the disease died of it
here. It may well be doubted whether such immunity would
have been given to the lowlands of more northern districts
under similar circumstances of exposure.
  This section apparently enjoys a singularly low rate of mor-
tality from consumption. Statistics are not sufficient to show
the full facts, but a long experience in the district and much
questioning of the local physicians have convinced me of this
fact. As a whole the death rate of this district is low. The
State of Kentucky has a mortality assigned to it by the statis-
tics of the last United States census as low as eleven per thou-



13

 
14    RICHMOND AND SOUTHWESTERN RAILWAY.



sand, which seems almost incredibly small, but there is an
apparent justification for the statistics in the large per cent of
very old people in this section.
  The general character of the climate in this region is well
shown by the fact that the section from central Kentucky to
Richmond is peculiarly favorable to the growth of apples,
pears, and peaches. This assemblage of fruits, when grown
as they are here, with peculiar success, is good proof of a
climate of a strictly temperate character. Great excesses of
heat or cold are certain to render one or the other of them
unsuccessful. It is only in a few perfect climates that they will
attain their best growth together. The fact that wheat, maize,
and oats are successfully grown in every county west of Rich-
mond, is also another though less essential proof of the general
goodness of the climatal conditions. But of all the evidence, I
prefer that given us by the admirable physical condition of the
people whose race has been many generations upon th