in the peculiar richness of its rural scenery. About three-quarters of
the total area is under cultivation. Oats and wheat are grown in
almost equal quantities, barley being of rather less importance. A
considerable acreage is under beans, and in Thanet mustard, spinach,
canary seed and a variety of other seeds are raised. But the county is
specially noted for the cultivation of fruit and hops. Market gardens
are very numerous in the neighbourhood of London. The principal
orchard districts are the valleys of the Darent and Medway, and the
tertiary soils overlying the chalk, between Rochester and Canterbury.
The county is specially famed for cherries and filberts, but apples,
pears, plums, gooseberries, strawberries, raspberries and currants are
also largely cultivated. In some cases apples, cherries, filberts and
hops are grown in alternate rows. The principal hop districts are the
country between Canterbury and Faversham, the valley of the Medway in
mid Kent, and the district of the Weald. Much of the Weald, which
originally was occupied by a forest, is still densely wooded, and
woods are specially extensive in the valley of the Medway. Fine oaks
and beeches are numerous, and yew trees of great size and age are seen
in some Kentish churchyards, as at Stansted, while the fine oak at
Headcorn is also famous. A large extent of woodland consists of ash
and chestnut plantations, maintained for the growth of hop poles.
Cattle are grazed in considerable numbers on the marsh lands, and
dairy farms are numerous in the neighbourhood of London. For the
rearing of sheep Kent is one of the chief counties in England. A breed
peculiar to the district, known as Kents, is grazed on Romney Marsh,
but Southdowns are the principal breed raised on the uplands.
Bee-keeping is extensively practised. Dairy schools are maintained by
the technical education committee of the county council. The
South-eastern Agricultural College at Wye is under the control of the
county councils of Kent and Surrey.
_Other Industries._--There were formerly extensive iron-works in the
Weald. Another industry now practically extinct was the manufacture of
woollen cloth. The neighbourhood of Lamberhurst and Cranbrook was the
special seat of these trades. Among the principal modern industries
are paper-making, carried on on the banks of the Darent, Medway, Cray
and neighbouring streams; engineering, chemical and other works along
the Thames; manufactures of bricks, tiles, pottery and cement,
especially by the lower Medway and the Swale. A variety of industries
is connected with the Government establishments at Chatham and
Sheerness. Ship-building is prosecuted here and at Gravesend, Dover
and other ports. Gunpowder is manufactured near Erith and Faversham
and elsewhere.
Deep-sea fishing is largely prosecuted all round the coast. Shrimps,
soles and flounders are taken in great numbers in the estuaries of the
Thames and Medway, along the north coast and off Ramsgate. The history
of the Kentish oyster fisheries goes back to the time of the Roman
occupation, when the fame of the oyster beds off _Rutupiae_
(Richborough) extended even to Rome. The principal beds are near
Whitstable, Faversham, Milton, Queenborough and Rochester, some being
worked by ancient companies or gilds of fishermen.
After the cessation in 1882 of works in connexion with the Channel
tunnel, to connect England and France, coal-boring was attempted in
the disused shaft, west of the Shakespeare Cliff railway tunnel near
Dover. In 1890 coal was struck at a depth of 1190 ft., and further
seams were discovered later. The company which took up the mining was
unsuccessful, and boring ceased in 1901, but the work was resumed by
the Consolidated Kent Collieries Corporation, and an extension of
borings revealed in 1905 the probability of a successful development
of the mining industry in Kent.
_Communications._--Railway communications are practically monopolized
by the South Eastern & Chatham Company, a monopoly which has not
infrequently been the cause of complaint on the part of farmers,
traders and others. This system includes some of the principal
channels of communication with the continent, through the ports of
Dover, Folkestone and Queenborough. The county contains four of the
Cinque Ports, namely, Dover, Hythe, New Romney and Sandwich. Seaside
resorts are numerous and populous--on the north coast are Minster
(Sheppey), Whitstable and Herne Bay; there is a ring of
watering-places round the Isle of Thanet--Birchington, Westgate,
Margate, Broadstairs, Ramsgate; while to the south are Sandwich, Deal,
Walmer, St Margaret's-at-Cliffe, Dover, Folkestone, Sandgate and
Hythe. Tunbridge Wells is a favourite inland watering-place. The
influence of London in converting villages into outer residential
suburbs is to be observed at many points, whether seaside, along the
Thames or inland. The county is practically without inland water
communications, excluding the Thames. The Royal military canal which
runs along the inland border of Romney Marsh, and connects the Rother
with Hythe, was constructed in 1807 as part of a scheme of defence in
connexion with the martello towers or small forts along the coast.
_Population and Administration._--The area of the ancient county is
995,014 acres, with a population in 1901 of 1,348,841. In 1801 the
population was 308,667. Excluding the portion which falls within the
administrative county of London the area is 974,950 acres, with a
population in 1891 of 807,269 and in 1901 of 935,855. The area of the
administrative county is 976,881 acres. The county contains 5 lathes, a
partition peculiar to the county. The municipal boroughs are Bromley
(pop. 27,354), Canterbury, a city and county borough (24,889), Chatham
(37,057), Deal (10,581), Dover (41,794), Faversham (11,290), Folkestone
(30,650), Gillingham (42,530), Gravesend (27,196), Hythe (5557), Lydd
(2675), Maidstone (33,516), Margate (23,118), New Romney (1328),
Queenborough (1544), Ramsgate (27,733), Rochester, a city (30,590),
Sandwich (3170), Tenterden (3243), Tunbridge Wells (33,373). The urban
districts are Ashford (12,808), Beckenham (26,331), Bexley (12,918),
Broadstairs and St Peter's (6466), Cheriton (7091), Chislehurst (7429),
Dartford (18,644), Erith (25,296), Foots Cray (5817), Herne Bay (6726),
Milton (7086), Northfleet (12,906), Penge (22,465), Sandgate (2294),
Sevenoaks (8106), Sheerness (18,179), Sittingbourne (8943), Southborough
(6977), Tonbridge (12,736), Walmer (5614), Whitstable (7086), Wrotham
(3571). Other small towns are Rainham (3693) near Chatham, Aylesford
(2678), East Mailing (2391) and West Mailing (2312) in the Maidstone
district; Edenbridge (2546) and Westerham (2905) on the western border
of the county; Cranbrook (3949), Goudhurst (2725) and Hawkhurst (3136)
in the south-west. Among villages which have grown into residential
towns through their proximity to London, beyond those included among
the boroughs and urban districts, there should be mentioned Orpington
(4259). The county is in the south-eastern circuit, and assizes are held
at Maidstone. It has two courts of quarter sessions, and is divided into
17 petty sessional divisions. The boroughs having separate commissions
of the peace and courts of quarter sessions are Canterbury, Deal, Dover,
Faversham, Folkestone, Gravesend, Hythe, Maidstone, Margate, Rochester,
Sandwich and Tenterden; while those of Lydd, New Romney, Ramsgate and
Tunbridge Wells have separate commissions of the peace. The liberty of
Romney Marsh has petty and general sessions. The justices of the Cinque
Ports exercise certain jurisdiction, the non-corporate members of the
Cinque Ports of Dover and Sandwich having separate commissions of the
peace and courts of quarter sessions. The central criminal court has
jurisdiction over certain parishes adjacent to London. All those civil
parishes within the county of Kent of which any part is within twelve
miles of, or of which no part is more than fifteen miles from, Charing
Cross are within the metropolitan police district. The total number of
civil parishes is 427. Kent is mainly in the diocese of Canterbury, but
has parts in those of Rochester, Southwark and Chichester. It contains
476 ecclesiastical parishes or districts, wholly or in part. The county
(extra-metropolitan) is divided into 8 parliamentary divisions, namely,
North-western or Dartford, Western or Sevenoaks, South-western or
Tunbridge, Mid or Medway, North-eastern or Faversham, Southern or
Ashford, Eastern or St Augustine's and the Isle of Thanet, each
returning one member; while the boroughs of Canterbury, Chatham, Dover,
Gravesend, Hythe, Maidstone and Rochester each return one member.
_History._--For the ancient kingdom of Kent see the preceding article.
The shire organization of Kent dates from the time of Aethelstan, the
name as well as the boundary being that of the ancient kingdom, though
at first probably with the addition of the suffix "shire," the form
"Kentshire" occurring in a record of the folkmoot at this date. The
inland shire-boundary has varied with the altered course of the Rother.
In 1888 the county was diminished by the formation of the county of
London.
At the time of the Domesday Survey Kent comprised sixty hundreds, and
there was a further division into six lests, probably representing the
shires of the ancient kingdom, of which two, Sutton and Aylesford,
correspond with the present-day lathes. The remaining four, Borowast
Lest, Estre Lest, Limowast Lest and Wiwart Lest, existed at least as
early as the 9th century, and were apparently named from their
administrative centres, Burgwara (the burg being Canterbury), Eastre,
Lymne and Wye, all of which were meeting places of the Kentish Council.
The five modern lathes (Aylesford, St Augustine, Scray, Sheppey and
Sutton-at-Hone) all existed in the time of Edward I., with the
additional lathe of Hedeling, which was absorbed before the next reign
in that of St Augustine. The _Nomina Villarum_ of the reign of Edward
II. mentions all the sixty-six modern hundreds, more than two-thirds of
which were at that date in the hands of the church.
Sheriffs of Kent are mentioned in the time of Æthelred II., and in Saxon
times the shiremoot met three times a year on Penenden Heath near
Maidstone. After the Conquest the great ecclesiastical landholders
claimed exemption from the jurisdiction of the shire, and in 1279 the
abbot of Battle claimed to have his own coroner in the hundred of Wye.
In the 13th century twelve liberties in Kent claimed to have separate
bailiffs. The assizes for the county were held in the reign of Henry
III. at Canterbury and Rochester, and also at the Lowey of Tonbridge
under a mandate from the Crown as a distinct liberty; afterwards at
different intervals at East Greenwich, Dartford, Maidstone,
Milton-next-Gravesend and Sevenoaks; from the Restoration to the present
day they have been held at Maidstone. The liberty of Romney Marsh has
petty and quarter sessions under its charters.
Kent is remarkable as the only English county which comprises two entire
bishoprics, Canterbury, the see for East Kent, having been founded in
597, and Rochester, the see for West Kent, in 600. In 1291 the
archdeaconry of Canterbury was co-extensive with that diocese and
included the deaneries of Westbere, Bridge, Sandwich, Dover, Elham,
Lympne, Charing, Sutton, Sittingbourne, Ospringe and Canterbury; the
archdeaconry of Rochester, also co-extensive with its diocese, included
the deaneries of Rochester, Dartford, Malling and Shoreham. In 1845 the
deaneries of Charing, Sittingbourne and Sutton were comprised in the new
archdeaconry of Maidstone, which in 1846 received in addition the
deaneries of Dartford, Malling and Shoreham from the archdeaconry of
Rochester. In 1853 the deaneries of Malling and Charing were subdivided
into North and South Malling and East and West Charing. Lympne was
subdivided into North and South Lympne in 1857 and Dartford into East
and West Dartford in 1864. Gravesend and Cobham deaneries were created
in 1862 and Greenwich and Woolwich in 1868, all in the archdeaconry of
Rochester. In 1873 East and West Bridge deaneries were created in the
archdeaconry of Canterbury, and Croydon in the archdeaconry of
Maidstone. In 1889 Tunbridge deanery was created in the archdeaconry of
Maidstone. In 1906 the deaneries of East and West Dartford, North and
South Malling, Greenwich and Woolwich were abolished, and Shoreham and
Tunbridge were transferred from Maidstone to Rochester archdeaconry.
Between the Conquest and the 14th century the earldom of Kent was held
successively by Odo, bishop of Bayeux, William of Ypres and Hubert de
Burgh (sheriff of the county in the reign of Henry III.), none of whom,
however, transmitted the honour, which was bestowed by Edward I. on his
youngest son Edmund of Woodstock, and subsequently passed to the
families of Holland and Neville (see KENT, EARLS AND DUKES OF). In the
Domesday Survey only five lay tenants-in-chief are mentioned, all the
chief estates being held by the church, and the fact that the Kentish
gentry are less ancient than in some remoter shires is further explained
by the constant implantation of new stocks from London. Greenwich is
illustrious as the birthplace of Henry VIII., Mary and Elizabeth. Sir
Philip Sidney was born at Penshurst, being descended from William de
Sidney, chamberlain to Henry II. Bocton Malherbe was the seat of the
Wottons, from whom descended Nicholas Wotton, privy councillor to Henry
VIII., Edward VI., Mary and Elizabeth. The family of Leiborne of
Leiborne Castle, of whom Sir Roger Leiborne took an active part in the
barons' wars, became extinct in the 14th century. Sir Francis Walsingham
was born at Chislehurst, where his family had long flourished; Hever
Castle was the seat of the Boleyns and the scene of the courtship of
Anne Boleyn by Henry VIII. Allington Castle was the birthplace of Sir
Thomas Wyat.
Kent, from its proximity to London, has been intimately concerned in
every great historical movement which has agitated the country, while
its busy industrial population has steadily resisted any infringement of
its rights and liberties. The chief events connected with the county
under the Norman kings were the capture of Rochester by William Rufus
during the rebellion of Odo of Bayeux; the capture of Dover and Leeds
castles by Stephen; the murder of Thomas à Becket at Canterbury in 1170;
the submission of John to the pope's legate at Dover in 1213, and the
capture of Rochester Castle by the king in the same year. Rochester
Castle was in 1216 captured by the dauphin of France, to whom nearly all
Kent submitted, and during the wars of Henry III. with his barons was
captured by Gilbert de Clare. In the peasants' rising of 1381 the rebels
plundered the archbishop's palace at Canterbury, and 100,000 Kentishmen
gathered round Wat Tyler of Essex. In 1450 Kent took a leading part in
Jack Cade's rebellion; and in 1554 the insurrection of Sir Thomas Wyat
began at Maidstone. On the outbreak of the Great Rebellion feeling was
much divided, but after capturing Dover Castle the parliament soon
subdued the whole county. In 1648, however, a widespread insurrection
was organized on behalf of Charles, and was suppressed by Fairfax. The
county was among the first to welcome back Charles II. In 1667 the Dutch
fleet under De Ruyter advanced up the Medway, levelling the fort at
Sheerness and burning the ships at Chatham. In the Kentish petition of
1701 drawn up at Maidstone the county protested against the peace policy
of the Tory party.
Among the earliest industries of Kent were the iron-mining in the Weald,
traceable at least to Roman times, and the salt industry, which
nourished along the coast in the 10th century. The Domesday Survey,
besides testifying to the agricultural activity of the country, mentions
over one hundred salt-works and numerous valuable fisheries, vines at
Chart Sutton and Leeds, and cheese at Milton. The Hundred Rolls of the
reign of Edward I. frequently refer to wool, and Flemish weavers settled
in the Weald in the time of Edward III. Tiles were manufactured at Wye
in the 14th century. Valuable timber was afforded by the vast forest of
the Weald, but the restrictions imposed on the felling of wood for fuel
did serious detriment to the iron-trade, and after the statute of 1558
forbidding the felling of timber for iron-smelting within fourteen miles
of the coast the industry steadily declined. The discovery of coal in
the northern counties dealt the final blow to its prosperity. Cherries
are said to have been imported from Flanders and first planted in Kent
by Henry VIII., and from this period the culture of fruits (especially
apples and cherries) and of hops spread rapidly over the county.
Thread-making at Maidstone and silk-weaving at Canterbury existed in the
16th century, and before 1590 one of the first paper-mills in England
was set up at Dartford. The statute of 1630 forbidding the exportation
of wool, followed by the Plague of 1665, led to a serious trade
depression, while the former enactment resulted in the vast smuggling
trade which spread along the coast, 40,000 packs of wool being smuggled
to Calais from Kent and Sussex in two years.
In 1290 Kent returned two members to parliament for the county, and in
1295 Canterbury, Rochester and Tunbridge were also represented;
Tunbridge however made no returns after this date. In 1552 Maidstone
acquired representation, and in 1572 Queenborough. Under the act of 1832
the county returned four members in two divisions, Chatham was
represented by one member and Greenwich by two, while Queenborough was
disfranchised. Under the act of 1868 the county returned six members in
three divisions and Gravesend returned one member. By the act of 1885
the county returned eight members in eight divisions, and the
representation of Canterbury, Maidstone and Rochester was reduced to one
member each. By the London Government Act of 1892 the borough of
Greenwich was taken out of Kent and made one of the twenty-eight
metropolitan boroughs of the county of London.
_Antiquities._--As was to be expected from its connexion with the
early history of England, and from its beauty and fertility, Kent
possessed a larger than average number of monastic foundations. The
earliest were the priory of Christ's Church and the abbey of St Peter
and St Paul, now called St Augustine's, both at Canterbury, founded by
Augustine and the monks who accompanied him to England. Other Saxon
foundations were the nunneries at Folkestone (630), Lyminge (633;
nunnery and monastery), Reculver (669), Minster-in-Thanet (670),
Minster-in-Sheppey (675), and the priory of St Martin at Dover (696),
all belonging to the Benedictine order. Some of these were refounded,
and the principal monastic remains now existing are those of the
Benedictine priories at Rochester (1089), Folkestone (1095), Dover
(1140); the Benedictine nunneries at Malling (time of William Rufus),
Minster-in-Sheppey (1130), Higham (founded by King Stephen), and
Davington (1153); the Cistercian Abbey at Boxley (1146); the Cluniac
abbey at Faversham (1147) and priory at Monks Horton (time of Henry
II.), the preceptory of Knights Templars at Swingfield (time of Henry
II.); the Premonstratensian abbey of St Radigund's, near Dover (1191);
the first house of Dominicans in England at Canterbury (1221); the
first Carmelite house in England, at Aylesford (1240); and the priory
of Augustinian nuns at Dartford (1355). Other houses of which there
are slight remains are Lesnes abbey, near Erith, and Bilsington priory
near Ashford, established in 1178 and 1253 respectively, and both
belonging to the Augustinian canons; and the house of Franciscans at
Canterbury (1225). But no remains exist of the priories of Augustinian
canons at Canterbury (St Gregory's; 1084), Leeds, near Maidstone
(1119), Tunbridge (middle of 12th century), Combwell, near Cranbrook
(time of Henry II.); the nunnery of St Sepulchre at Canterbury (about
1100) and Langdon abbey, near Walmer (1192), both belonging to the
Benedictines; the Trinitarian priory of Mottenden near Headcorn, the
first house of Crutched Friars in England (1224), where miracle plays
were presented in the church by the friars on Trinity Sunday; the
Carmelite priories at Sandwich (1272) and Losenham near Tenterden
(1241); and the preceptory of Knights of St John of Jerusalem at West
Peckham, near Tunbridge (1408).
Even apart from the cathedral churches of Canterbury and Rochester,
the county is unsurpassed in the number of churches it possesses of
the highest interest. For remains of a date before the Conquest the
church of Lyminge is of first importance. Here, apart from the
monastic remains, there may be seen portions of the church founded by
Æthelburga, wife of Edwin, king of Northumberland, and rebuilt, with
considerable use of Roman material, in 965 by St Dunstan. There is
similar early work in the church of Paddlesworth, not far distant.
Among numerous Norman examples the first in interest is the small
church at Barfreston, one of the most perfect specimens of its kind in
England, with a profusion of ornament, especially round the south
doorway and east window. The churches of St Margaret-at-Cliff,
Patrixbourne and Darenth are hardly less noteworthy, while the tower
of New Romney church should also be mentioned. Among several
remarkable Early English examples none is finer than Hythe church, but
the churches of SS. Mary and Eanswith, Folkestone, Minster-in-Thanet,
Chalk, with its curious porch, Faversham and Westwell, with fine
contemporary glass, are also worthy of notice. Stone church, near
Dartford, a late example of this style, transitional to Decorated, is
very fine; and among Decorated buildings Chartham church exhibits in
some of its windows the peculiar tracery known as Kentish Decorated.
Perpendicular churches, though numerous, are less remarkable, but the
fine glass of this period in Nettlestead church may be noticed. The
church of Cobham contains one of the richest collections of ancient
brasses in England.
Kent is also rich in examples of ancient architecture other than
ecclesiastical. The castles of Rochester and Dover are famous; those
of Canterbury and Chilham are notable among others. Ancient mansions
are very numerous; among these are the castellated Leeds Castle in the
Maidstone district, Penshurst Place, Hever Castle near Edenbridge,
Saltwood and Westenhanger near Hythe, the Mote House at Ightham near
Wrotham, Knole House near Sevenoaks, and Cobham Hall. Minor examples
of early domestic architecture abound throughout the county.
AUTHORITIES.--A full bibliography of the many earlier works on the
county and its towns is given in J. R. Smith's _Bibliotheca Cantiana_
(London, 1837). There may be mentioned here W. Lambarde,
_Perambulation of Kent_ (London, 1576, 1826); R. Kilburne,
_Topographie or Survey of the County of Kent_ (London, 1659); J. and
T. Philipot, _Villare Cantianum_ (London, 1659, 1776); J. Harris,
_History of Kent_ (London, 1719); E. Hasted, _History and
Topographical Survey of Kent_ (4 vols. folio, Canterbury, 1778-1799;
2nd ed., 12 vols. 8vo, Canterbury, 1797-1801); W. H. Ireland, _History
of the County of Kent_ (London, 1828-1830); C. Sandys, _Consuetudines
Kantiae_ (London, 1851); A. Hussey, _Notes on the Churches of Kent_
(London, 1852); L. B. Larking, _The Domesday Book of Kent_ (1869); R.
Furley, _History of the Weald of Kent_ (Ashford, 1871-1874); W. A.
Scott Robertson, _Kentish Archaeology_ (London, 1876-1884); Sir S. R.
Glynne, _Notes on Churches of Kent_, ed. W. H. Gladstone (London,
1877); J. Hutchinson, _Men of Kent and Kentish Men_ (London, 1892);
_Victoria County History_, "Kent." See also _Archaeologia Cantiana_
(translations of the Kent Archaeological Society, London, from 1858).
KENTIGERN, ST, or MUNGO ("dear friend," a name given to him, according
to Jocelyn, by St Servanus), a Briton of Strathclyde, called by the
Goidels _In Glaschu_, "the Grey Hound," was, according to the legends
preserved in the lives which remain, of royal descent. His mother when
with child was thrown down from a hill called Dunpelder (Traprain Law,
Haddingtonshire), but survived the fall and escaped by sea to Culross on
the farther side of the Firth of Forth, where Kentigern was born. It is
possible that she may have been a nun, as a convent had been founded in
earlier times on Traprain Law. The life then describes the training of
the boy by Servanus, but the date of the latter renders this impossible.
Returning to Strathclyde Kentigern lived for some time at Glasgow, near
a cemetery ascribed to St Ninian, and was eventually made bishop of that
region by the king and clergy. This story is partially attested by Welsh
documents, in which Kentigern appears as the bishop of Garthmwl,
apparently the ruler of the region about Glasgow. Subsequently he was
opposed by a pagan king called Morken, whose relatives after his death
succeeded in forcing the saint to retire from Strathclyde. He thereupon
took refuge with St David at Menevia (St David's), and eventually
founded a monastery at Llanelwy (St Asaph's), for which purpose he
received grants from Maelgwn, prince of Gwynedd. After the battle of
Ardderyd in 573 in which King Rhydderch, leader of the Christian party
in Strathclyde, was victorious, Kentigern was recalled. He fixed his see
first at Hoddam in Dumfriesshire, but afterwards returned to Glasgow.
He is credited with missionary work in Galloway and north of the Firth
of Forth, but most of the dedications to him which survive are north of
the Mounth in the upper valley of the Dee. The meeting of Kentigern and
Columba probably took place soon after 584, when the latter began to
preach in the neighbourhood of the Tay.
AUTHORITIES.--_Lives_ of St Kentigern; Fragment used by John of
Fordun, and complete "Life" by Jocelyn of Furness in Forbes's
_Historians of Scotland_ (Edinburgh, 1874), vol. v.; _Four Ancient
Books of Wales_ (Edinburgh, ed. W. F. Skene, 1868), ii. 457; _Myvyrian
Archaeology_ (London, 1801), ii. 34; D. R. Thomas, _History of Diocese
of St Asaph_ (London, 1874), p. 5; Index of Llyfr Coch Asaph,
_Archaeologia Cambrensis_, 3rd series, 1868, vol. xiv. p. 151; W. F.
Skene, _Celtic Scotland_ (Edinburgh, 1877), ii. 179 ff.; John Rhys,
_Celtic Britain_ (London, 1904), pp. 145, 146, 174, 199, 250.
KENTON, a city and the county seat of Hardin county, Ohio, U.S.A., on
the Scioto river, 60 m. N.W. of Columbus. Pop. (1900), 6852, including
493 foreign-born and 271 negroes; (1910), 7185. It is served by the
Erie, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St Louis, and the Ohio
Central railways. It is built on the water-parting between Lake Erie and
the Gulf of Mexico, here about 1,000 ft. above sea-level. There are
shops of the Ohio Central railway here, and manufactories of hardware.
The municipality owns and operates its waterworks. Kenton was named in
honour of Simon Kenton (1755-1836), a famous scout and Indian fighter,
who took part in the border warfare, particularly in Kentucky and Ohio,
during the War of American Independence and afterwards. It was platted
and became the county seat in 1833, and was chartered as a city in 1885.
KENT'S CAVERN, or KENT'S HOLE, the largest of English bone caves, famous
as affording evidence of the existence of Man in Devon (England)
contemporaneously with animals now extinct or no longer indigenous. It
is about a mile east of Torquay harbour and is of a sinuous nature,
running deeply into a hill of Devonian limestone. Although long known
locally, it was not until 1825 that it was scientifically examined by
Rev. J. McEnery, who found worked flints in intimate association with
the bones of extinct mammals. He recognized the fact that they proved
the existence of man in Devonshire while those animals were alive, but
the idea was too novel to be accepted by his contemporaries. His
discoveries were afterwards verified by Godwin Austen, and ultimately by
the Committee of the British Association, whose explorations were
carried on under the guidance of Wm. Pengelly from 1865 to 1880. There
are four distinct strata in the cave. (1) The surface is composed of
dark earth and contains medieval remains, Roman pottery and articles
which prove that it was in use during the Iron, Bronze and Neolithic
Ages. (2) Below this is a stalagmite floor, varying in thickness from 1
to 3 ft., and covering (3) the red earth which contained bones of the
hyaena, lion, mammoth, rhinoceros and other animals, in association with
flint implements and an engraved antler, which proved man to have been
an inhabitant of the cavern during its deposition. Above this and below
the stalagmite there is in one part of the cave a black band from 2 to 6
in. thick, formed of soil like No. 2, containing charcoal, numerous
flint implements, and the bones and teeth of animals, the latter
occasionally perforated as if used for ornament. (4) Filling the bottom
of the cave was a hard breccia, with the remains of bears and flint
implements, the latter in the main ruder than those found above; in some
places it was no less than 12 ft. thick. The most remarkable animal
remains found in Kent's Cavern are those of the Sabre-toothed tiger,
_Machairodus latidens_ of Sir Richard Owen. While the value of McEnery's
discoveries was in dispute the exploration of the cave of Brixham near
Torquay in 1858 proved that man was coeval with the extinct mammalia,
and in the following year additional proof was offered by the implements
that were found in Wookey Hole, Somerset. Similar remains have been met
with in the caves of Wales, and in England as far north as Derbyshire
(Cresswell), proving that over the whole of southern and middle England
men, in precisely the same stage of rude civilization, hunted the
rhinoceros, the mammoth and other extinct animals.
See Sir John Evans, _Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain_
(London, 1897); Lord Avebury's _Prehistoric Times_ (1900); W.
Pengelly, _Address to the British Association_ (1883) and Life of him
by his daughter (1897); Godwin Austen, _Proc. Geo. Soc. London_, 111.
286; Pengelly, "Literature of Kent's Cavern" in _Trans. Devonshire
Association_ (1868); William Boyd Dawkins, _Cave-hunting and Early Man
in Britain_.
KENTUCKY, a South Central State of the United States of America,
situated between 36° 30´ and 39° 6´ N., and 82° and 89° 38´ W. It is
bounded N., N.W., and N.E. by Illinois, Indiana and Ohio; E. by the Big
Sandy river and its E. fork, the Tug, which separates it from West
Virginia, and by Virginia; S.E. and S. by Virginia and Tennessee; and W.
by the Mississippi river, which separates it from Missouri. It has an
area of 40,598 sq. m.; of this, 417 sq. m., including the entire breadth
of the Ohio river, over which it has jurisdiction, are water surface.
_Physiography._--From mountain heights along its eastern border the
surface of Kentucky is a north-western slope across two much dissected
plateaus to a gracefully undulating lowland in the north central part
and a longer western slope across the same plateaus to a lower and
more level lowland at the western extremity. The narrow mountain belt
is part of the western edge of the Appalachian Mountain Province in
which parallel ridges of folded mountains, the Cumberland and the
Pine, have crests 2000-3000 ft. high, and the Big Black Mountain rises
to 4000 ft. The highest point in the state is The Double on the
Virginia state line, in the eastern part of Harlan county with an
altitude of over 4100 ft. The entire eastern quarter of the state,
coterminous with the Eastern Kentucky coal-field, is commonly known as
the region of the "mountains," but with the exception of the narrow
area just described it properly belongs to the Alleghany Plateau
Province. This plateau belt is exceedingly rugged with sharp ridges
alternating with narrow valleys which have steep sides but are seldom
more than 1500 ft. above the sea. The remainder of the state which
lies east of the Tennessee river is divided into the Highland Rim
Plateau and a lowland basin, eroded in the Highland Rim Plateau and
known as the Blue Grass Region; this region is separated from the
Highland Rim Plateau by a semicircular escarpment extending from
Portsmouth, Ohio, at the mouth of the Scioto river, to the mouth of
the Salt river below Louisville; it is bounded north by the Ohio
river. The Highland Rim Plateau, lying to the south, east and west of
the escarpment, embraces fully one-half of the state, slopes from
elevations of 1000-1200 ft. or more in the east to about 500 ft. in
the north-west, and is generally much less rugged than the Alleghany
Plateau; a peculiar feature of the southern portion of it is the
numerous circular depressions (sink holes) in the surface and the
cavernous region beneath. Kentucky is noted for its caves, the
best-known of which are Mammoth Cave and Colossal Cavern (qq.v.). The
caves are cut in the beds of limestone (lying immediately below the
coal-bearing series) by streams that pass beneath the surface in the
"sink holes," and according to Professor N. S. Shaler there are
altogether "doubtless a hundred thousand miles of ways large enough to
permit the easy passage of man." Down the steep slopes of the
escarpment the Highland Rim Plateau drops 200 ft. or more to the
famous Blue Grass Region, in which erosion has developed on limestone
a gracefully undulating surface. This Blue Grass Region is like a
beautiful park, without ragged cliffs, precipitous slopes, or flat
marshy bottoms, but marked by rounded hills and dales. Especially
within a radius of 20 m. around Lexington, the country is clothed with
an unusually luxuriant vegetation. During spring, autumn, and winter
in particular, the blue-grass (_Poa compressa_ and _Poa pratensis_)
spreads a mat, green, thick, fine and soft, over much of the country,
and it is a good winter pasture; about the middle of June it blooms,
and, owing to the hue of its seed vessels, gives the landscape a
bluish hue. Another lowland area embraces that small part of the state
in the extreme south-east which lies west of the Tennessee river; this
belongs to that part of the Coastal Plain Region which extends north
along the Mississippi river; it has in Kentucky an average elevation
of less than 500 ft. Most of the larger rivers of the state have their
sources among the mountains or on the Alleghany Plateau and flow more
or less circuitously in a general north-western direction into the
Ohio. Although deep river channels are common, falls or impassable
rapids are rare west of the Alleghany Plateau, and the state has an
extensive mileage of navigable waters. The Licking, Kentucky, Green
and Tradewater are the principal rivers wholly within the state. The
Cumberland, after flowing for a considerable distance in the
south-east and south central part of the state, passes into Tennessee
at a point nearly south of Louisville, and in the extreme south-west
the Cumberland and the Tennessee, with only a short distance between
them, cross Kentucky and enter the Mississippi at Smithland and
Paducah respectively. The drainage of the region under which the
caverns lie is mostly underground.
[Illustration: Map of Kentucky.]
_Fauna and Flora._--The first white settlers found great numbers of
buffaloes, deer, elks, geese, ducks, turkeys and partridges, also many
bears, panthers, lynx, wolves, foxes, beavers, otters, minks,
musk-rats, rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, woodchucks, opossums and
skunks, and the streams were inhabited by trout, perch,
buffalo-fish, sun-fish, mullet, eels, and suckers. Of the larger game
there remain only a few deer, bears and lynx in the mountain
districts, and the numbers of small game and fish have been greatly
reduced. In its primeval state Kentucky was generally well timbered,
but most of the middle section has been cleared and here the blue
grass is now the dominant feature of the flora. Extensive forest areas
still remain both in the east and the west. In the east oak, maple,
beech, chestnut, elm, tulip-tree (locally "yellow poplar"), walnut,
pine and cedar trees are the most numerous; in the west the forests
are composed largely of cypress, ash, oak, hickory, chestnut, walnut,
beech, tulip-tree, gum and sycamore trees. Locust, pawpaw, cucumber,
buck-eye, black mulberry and wild cherry trees also abound, and the
grape, raspberry and strawberry are native fruits.
_Climate._--The climate is somewhat more mild and even than that of
the neighbouring states. The mean annual temperature, about 50° F. on
the mountains in the S.E., and 60° W. of the Tennessee, is about 55°
F. for the entire state; the thermometer seldom registers as high as
100° or as low as -10°. The mean annual precipitation ranges from
about 38 in. in the north-east to 50 in. in the south, and is about 46
in. for the entire state; it is usually distributed evenly throughout
the year and very little is in the form of snow. The prevailing winds
blow from the west or south-west; rain-bearing winds blow mostly from
the south; and the cold waves come from the north or north-west.
_Soil._--The best soils are the alluvium in the bottom-lands along
some of the larger rivers and that of the Blue Grass Region, which is
derived from a limestone rich in organic matter (containing
phosphorus) and rapidly decomposing. The soil within a radius of some
20 m. around Lexington is especially rich; outside of this area the
Blue Grass soil is less rich in phosphorus and contains a larger
mixture of sand. The soils of the Highland Rim Plateau as well as of
the lowland west of the Tennessee river vary greatly, but the most
common are a clay, containing more or less carbonate of lime, and a
sandy loam. On the escarpment around the Blue Grass Region the soils
are for the most part either cherty or stiff with clay and of inferior
quality. On the mountains and on the Alleghany Plateau, also, much of
the soil is very light and thin.
_Agriculture._--Kentucky is chiefly an agricultural state. Of the
752,531 of its inhabitants who, in 1900, were engaged in some gainful
occupation, 408,185 or 54.2%, were agriculturists, and of its total
land surface 21,979,422 acres, or 85.9%, were included in farms. The
percentage of improved farm land increased from 35.2 in 1850 to 49.9
in 1880 and to 62.5 in 1900. The number of farms increased from 74,777
in 1850 to 166,453 in 1880 and to 234,667 in 1900; and their average
size decreased from 226.7 acres in 1850 to 129.1 acres in 1880 and to
93.7 acres in 1900, these changes being largely due to the breaking up
of slave estates, the introduction of a considerable number of negro
farmers, and the increased cultivation of tobacco and market-garden
produce. In the best stock-raising country, e.g. in Fayette county,
the opposite tendency prevailed during the latter part of this period
and old farms of a few hundred acres were combined to form some vast
estates of from 2000 to 4000 acres. Of the 234,667 farms in 1900,
155,189 contained less than 100 acres, 76,450 contained between 100
and 500 acres, and 558 contained more than 1000 acres; 152,216 or
64.86%, were operated by owners or part owners, of whom 5320 were
negroes; 16,776 by cash tenants, of whom 789 were negroes; and 60,289
by share tenants, of whom 4984 were negroes. In 1900 the value of farm
land and improvements was $291,117,430; of buildings on farms,
$90,887,460; of livestock, $73,739,106. In the year 1899 the value of
all farm products was $123,266,785 (of which $21,128,530 was the value
of products fed to livestock), including the following items: crops,
$74,783,365; animal products, $44,303,940; and forest products,
$4,179,840. The total acreage of all crops in 1899 was 6,582,696.
Indian corn is the largest and most valuable crop. As late as 1849,
when it produced 58,672,591 bu., Kentucky was the second largest
Indian-corn producing state in the Union. In 1899 the crop had
increased to 73,974,220 bu. and the acreage was 3,319,257 (more than
half the acreage of all crops in the state), but the rank had fallen
to ninth in product and eleventh in acreage; in 1909 (according to the
_Yearbook_ of the United States Department of Agriculture) the crop
was 103,472,000 bu. (ninth among the states of the United States), and
the acreage was 3,568,000 (twelfth among the states). Among the
cereals wheat is the next largest crop; it increased from 2,142,822
bu. in 1849 to 11,356,113 bu. in 1879, and to 14,264,500 bu. in 1899;
in 1909 it was only 7,906,000 bu. The crop of each of the other
cereals is small and in each case was less in 1899 than in 1849. The
culture of tobacco, which is the second most valuable crop in the
state, was begun in the north part about 1780 and in the west and
south early in the 19th century, but it was late in that century
before it was introduced to any considerable extent in the Blue Grass
Region, where it was then in a measure substituted for the culture of
hemp. By 1849 Kentucky ranked second only to Virginia in the
production of tobacco, and in 1899 it was far ahead of any other state
in both acreage and yield, there being in that year 384,805 acres,
which was 34.9% of the total acreage in the continental United States,
yielding 314,288,050 lb. As compared with the state's Indian corn crop
of that year, the acreage was only a little more than one-ninth, but
the value ($18,541,982) was about 63%. In 1909 the tobacco acreage in
Kentucky was 420,000, the crop was 350,700,000 lb., valued at
$37,174,200; the average price per pound had increased from 5.9 cents
in 1899 to 10.6 cents in 1909. The two most important tobacco-growing
districts are: the Black Patch, in the extreme south-west corner of
the state, which with the adjacent counties in Tennessee grows a black
heavy leaf bought almost entirely by the agents of foreign governments
(especially Austria, Spain and Italy) and called "regie" tobacco; and
the Blue Grass Region, as far east as Maysville, and the hill country
south and east, whose product, the red and white Burley, is a
fine-fibred light leaf, peculiarly absorbent of licorice and other
adulterants used in the manufacture of sweet chewing tobacco, and
hence a peculiarly valuable crop, which formerly averaged 22 cents a
pound for all grades.[1] The high price received by the hill growers
of the Burley induced farmers in the Blue Grass to plant Burley
tobacco there, where the crop proved a great success, more than twice
as much (sometimes 2000 lb.) being grown to the acre in the Blue Grass
as in the hills and twice as large patches being easily managed. In
the hill country the share tenant could usually plant and cultivate
only four acres of tobacco, had to spend 120 days working the crop,
and could use the same land for tobacco only once in six years. So,
although a price of 6.5 cents a pound covered expenses of the planter
of Burley in the Blue Grass, who could use the same land for tobacco
once in four years, this price did not repay the hill planter. The
additional production of the Blue Grass Region sent the price of
Burley tobacco down to this figure and below it. The planters in the
Black Patch had met a combination of the buyers by forming a pool, the
Planters' Protective Association, into which 40,000 growers were
forced by "night-riding" and other forms of coercion and persuasion,
and had thus secured an advance to 11 cents a pound from the "regie"
buyers and had shown the efficacy of pooling methods in securing
better prices for the tobacco crop. Following their example, the
planters of the Burley formed the Burley Tobacco Society, a Burley
pool, with headquarters at Winchester and associated with the American
Society of Equity, which promoted in general the pooling of different
crops throughout the country. The tobacco planters secured legislation
favourable to the formation of crop pools. The Burley Tobacco Society
attempted to pool the entire crop and thus force the buyers of the
American Tobacco Company of New Jersey (which usually bought more than
three-fourths of the crop of Burley) to pay a much higher price for
it. In 1906 and in 1907 the crop was very large; the pool sold its
lower grades of the 1906 crop at 16 cents a pound to the American
Tobacco Company and forced the independent buyers out of business; and
the Burley Society decided in 1907 to grow no more tobacco until the
1906 and 1907 crops were sold, making the price high enough to pay for
this period of idleness. Members of the pool had used force to bring
planters into the pool; and now some tobacco growers, especially in
the hills, planted new crops in the hope of immediate return, and a
new "night-riding" war was begun on them. Bands of masked men rode
about the country both in the Black Patch and in the Burley, burning
tobacco houses of the independent planters, scraping their
newly-planted tobacco patches, demanding that planters join their
organization or leave the country, and whipping or shooting the
recalcitrants. Governor Willson, immediately after his inauguration,
took measures to suppress disorder. In general the Planters'
Protective Association in the Black Patch was more successful in its
pool than the Burley Tobacco Society in its, and there was more
violence in the "regie" than in the "Burley" district. In November
1908 the lawlessness subsided in the Burley after the agreement of the
American Tobacco Company to purchase the remainder of the 1906 crop at
a "round" price of 20½ cents and a part of the 1907 crop at an average
price of 17 cents, thus making it profitable to raise a full crop in
1909.
Kentucky is the principal hemp-growing state of the Union; the crop of
1899, which was grown on 14,107 acres and amounted to 10,303,560 lb.,
valued at $468,454, was 87.7% of the hemp crop of the whole country.
But the competition of cheaper labour in other countries reduced the
profits on this plant and the product of 1899 was a decrease from
78,818,000 lb. in 1859. Hay and forage, the fourth in value of the
state's crops in 1899, were grown on 683,139 acres and amounted to
776,534 tons, valued at $6,100,647; in 1909 the acreage of hay was
480,000 and the crop of 653,000 tons was valued at $7,771,000. In 1899
the total value of fruit grown in Kentucky was $2,491,457 (making the
state rank thirteenth among the states of the Union in the value of
this product), of which $1,943,645 was the value of orchard fruits and
$435,462 that of small fruits. Among fruits, apples are produced in
greatest abundance, 6,053,717 bu. in 1899, an amount exceeded in only
nine states; in 1889 the crop had been 10,679,389 bu. and was exceeded
only by the crop of Ohio and by that of Michigan. Kentucky also grows
considerable quantities of cherries, pears, plums and peaches, and,
for its size, ranks high in its crops of strawberries, blackberries
and raspberries. Indian corn is grown in all parts of the state but
most largely in the western portion. Wheat is grown both in the Blue
Grass Region and farther west; and the best country for fruit is along
the Ohio river between Cincinnati and Louisville and in the hilly land
surrounding the Blue Grass Region. In the eastern part of the state
where crops are generally light, Indian corn, oats and potatoes are
the principal products, but tobacco, flax and cotton are grown. The
thoroughbred Kentucky horse has long had a world-wide reputation for
speed; and the Blue Grass Region, especially Fayette, Bourbon and
Woodford counties, is probably the finest horse-breeding region in
America and has large breeding farms. In Fayette county, in 1900, the
average value of colts between the ages of one and two years was
$377.78. In the Blue Grass Region many thoroughbred shorthorn cattle
and fine mules are raised. The numbers of horses, mules, cattle and
sheep increased quite steadily from 1850 to 1900, but the number of
swine in 1880 and in 1900 was nearly one-third less than in 1850. In
1900 the state had 497,245 horses, 198,110 mules, 364,025 dairy cows,
755,714 other neat cattle, 1,300,832 sheep and 2,008,989 swine; in
1910 there were in Kentucky 407,000 horses, 207,000 mules, 394,000
milch cows, 665,000 other neat cattle, 1,060,000 sheep and 989,000
swine. The principal sheep-raising counties in 1905 were Bourbon,
Scott and Harrison, and the principal hog-raising counties were
Graves, Hardin, Ohio, Union and Hickman.
_Forests and Timber._--More than one-half of the state (about 22,200
sq. m.) was in 1900 still wooded. In 1900 of the total cut of 777,218
M. ft., B.M., 392,804 were white oak and 279,740 M. ft. were
tulip-tree. Logging is the principal industry of several localities,
especially in the east, and the lumber product of the state increased
in value from $1,502,434 in 1850 to $4,064,361 in 1880, and to
$13,774,911 in 1900. The factory product in 1900 was valued at
$13,338,533 and in 1905 at $14,539,000. In 1905 of a total of 586,371
M. ft., B.M., of sawed lumber, 295,776 M. ft. were oak and 153,057 M.
ft. were "poplar."
The planing mill industry is increasing rapidly, as it is found
cheaper to erect mills near the forests; between 1900 and 1905 the
capital of planing mills in the state increased 117.2% and the value
of products increased 142.8%.
_Manufactures._--Kentucky's manufactures are principally those for
which the products of her farms and forests furnish the raw material.
The most distinctive of these is probably distilled liquors, the
state's whisky being famous. A colony of Roman Catholic immigrants
from Maryland settled in 1787 along the Salt river about 50 m. S.S.E.
of Louisville and with the surplus of their Indian corn crop made
whisky, a part of which they sold at settlements on the Ohio and the
Mississippi. The industry was rapidly developed by distillers, who
immediately after the suppression of the Whisky Insurrection, in 1794,
removed from Pennsylvania and settled in what is now Mason county and
was then a part of Bourbon county--the product is still known as
"Bourbon" whisky. During the first half of the 19th century the
industry became of considerable local importance in all parts of the
state, but since the Civil War the heavy tax imposed has caused its
concentration in large establishments. In 1900 nearly 40% and in 1905
more than one-third of the state's product was distilled in
Louisville. Good whisky is made in Maryland and in parts of
Pennsylvania from rye, but all efforts in other states to produce from
Indian corn a whisky equal to the Bourbon have failed, and it is
probable that the quality of the Bourbon is largely due to the
character of the Kentucky lime water and the Kentucky yeast germs. The
average annual product of the state from 1880 to 1900 was about
20,000,000 gallons; in 1900 the product was valued at $9,786,527; in
1905 at $11,204,649. In 1900 and in 1905 Kentucky ranked fourth among
the states in the value of distilled liquors.
The total value of all manufactured products of the state increased
from $126,719,857 in 1890 to $154,166,365 in 1900, or 21.7%, and from
1900 to 1905 the value of factory-made products alone increased from
$126,508,660 to $159,753,968, or 26.3%.[2] Measured by the value of
the product, flour and grist mill products rose from third in rank in
1900 to first in rank in 1905, from $13,017,043 to $18,007,786, or
38.3%; and chewing and smoking tobacco and snuff fell during the same
period from first to third in rank, from $14,948,192 to $13,117,000,
or 12.3%; in 1900 Kentucky was second, in 1905 third, among the states
in the value of this product. Lumber and timber products held second
rank both in 1900 ($13,338,533) and in 1905 ($14,539,000). Distilled
liquors were fourth in rank in 1900 and in 1905. Men's clothing rose
from tenth in rank in 1900 to fifth in rank in 1905, from $3,420,365
to $6,279,078, or 83.6%. Other important manufactures, with their
product values in 1900 and in 1905, are iron and steel ($5,004,572 in
1900; $6,167,542 in 1905); railway cars ($4,248,029 in 1900;
$5,739,071 in 1905); packed meats ($5,177,167 in 1900; $5,693,731 in
1905); foundry and machine shop products ($4,434,610 in 1900;
$4,699,559 in 1905); planing mill products, including sash, doors and
blinds ($1,891,517 in 1900; $4,593,251 in 1905--an increase already
remarked); carriages and wagons ($2,849,713 in 1900; $4,059,438 in
1905); tanned and curried leather ($3,757,016 in 1900; $3,952,277 in
1905); and malt liquors ($3,186,627 in 1900; $3,673,678 in 1905).
Other important manufactures (each with a product value in 1905 of
more than one million dollars) were cotton-seed oil and cake (in 1900
Kentucky was fifth and in 1905 sixth among the states in the value of
cotton-seed oil and cake), cooperage, agricultural implements, boots
and shoes, cigars and cigarettes, saddlery and harness, patent
medicines and compounds, cotton goods, furniture, confectionery,
carriage and wagon materials, wooden packing boxes, woollen goods,
pottery and terra cotta ware, structural iron-work, and turned and
carved wood. Louisville is the great manufacturing centre, the value
of its products amounting in 1905 to $83,204,125, 52.1% of the product
of the entire state, and showing an increase of 25.9% over the value
of the city's factory products in 1900. Ashland is the principal
centre of the iron industry.
_Minerals._--The mineral resources of Kentucky are important and
valuable, though very little developed. The value of all manufactures
in 1900 was $154,166,365, and the value of manufactures based upon
products of mines or quarries in the same year was $25,204,788; the
total value of mineral products was $19,294,341 in 1907. Bituminous
coal is the principal mineral, and in 1907 Kentucky ranked eighth
among the coal-producing states of the Union; the output in 1907
amounted to 10,753,124 short tons, and in 1902 to 6,766,984 short tons
as compared with 2,399,755 tons produced in 1889. In 1902 the amount
was about equally divided between the eastern coalfield, which is for
the most part in Greenup, Boyd, Carter, Lawrence, Johnson, Lee,
Breathitt, Rockcastle, Pulaski, Laurel, Knox, Bell and Whitley
counties, and has an area of about 11,180 sq. m., and the western
coalfield, which is in Henderson, Union, Webster, Daviess, Hancock,
McLean, Ohio, Hopkins, Butler, Muhlenberg and Christian counties, and
has an area of 5800 sq. m. In 1907 the output of the western district
was 6,295,397 tons; that of the eastern, 4,457,727. The largest
coal-producing counties in 1907 were Hopkins (2,064,154 short tons)
and Muhlenberg (1,882,913 short tons) in the western coalfield, and
Bell (1,437,886 short tons) and Whitley (762,923 short tons) in the
south-western part of the eastern coalfield. All Kentucky coal is
either bituminous or semi-bituminous, but of several varieties. Of
cannel coal Kentucky is the largest producer in the Union, its output
for 1902 being 65,317 short tons, and, according to state reports, for
1903, 72,856 tons (of which 46,314 tons were from Morgan county), and
for 1904, 68,400 tons (of which 52,492 tons were from Morgan county);
according to the _Mineral Resources of the United States_ for 1907
(published by the United States Geological Survey) the production of
Kentucky in 1907 of cannel coal (including 4650 tons of semi-cannel
coal) was 77,733 tons, and exclusive of semi-cannel coal the output of
Kentucky was much larger than that of any other state. Some of the
coal mined in eastern Kentucky is an excellent steam producer,
especially the Jellico coal of Whitley county, Kentucky, and of
Campbell county, Tennessee. But with the exception of that mined in
Hopkins and Bell counties, very little is fit for making coke; in 1880
the product was 4250 tons of coke (value $12,250), in 1890, 12,343
tons ($22,191); in 1900, 95,532 tons ($235,505); in 1902, 126,879 tons
($317,875), the maximum product up to 1906; and in 1907, 67,068 tons
($157,288). Coal was first mined in Kentucky in Laurel or Pulaski
county in 1827; between 1829 and 1835 the annual output was from 2000
to 6000 tons; in 1840 it was 23,527 tons and in 1860 it was 285,760
tons.
Petroleum was discovered on Little Rennick's Creek, near Burkesville,
in Cumberland county, in 1829, when a flowing oil well (the "American
well," whose product was sold as "American oil" to heal rheumatism,
burns, &c.) was struck by men boring for a "salt well," and after a
second discovery in the 'sixties at the mouth of Crocus Creek a small
but steady amount of oil was got each year. Great pipe lines from
Parkersburg, West Virginia, to Somerset, Pulaski county, and with
branches to the Ragland, Barbourville and Prestonburg fields, had in
1902 a mileage of 275 m. The principal fields are in the "southern
tier," from Wayne to Allen county, including Barren county; farther
east, Knox county, and Floyd and Knott counties; to the north-east the
Ragland field in Bath and Rowan counties on the Licking river. In 1902
the petroleum produced in the state amounted to 248,950 barrels,
valued at $172,837, a gain in quantity of 81.4% over 1901. Kentucky is
the S.W. extreme of the natural gas region of the west flank of the
Appalachian system; the greatest amount is found in Martin county in
the east, and Breckinridge county in the north-west. The value of the
state's natural gas output increased from $38,993 in 1891 to $99,000
in 1896, $286,243 in 1900, $365,611 in 1902, and $380,176 in 1907.
Iron ore has been found in several counties, and an iron furnace was
built in Bath county, in the N. E. part of the state, as early as
1791, but since 1860 this mineral has received little attention. In
1902 it was mined only in Bath, Lyon and Trigg counties, of which the
total product was 71,006 long tons, valued at only $86,169; in 1904
only 35,000 tons were mined, valued at the mines at $35,000.
In 1898 there began an increased activity in the mining of fluorspar,
and Crittenden, Fayette and Livingston counties produced in 1902,
29,030 tons (valued at $143,410) of this mineral, in 1903 30,835 tons
(valued at $153,960) and in 1904 19,096 tons (valued at $111,499),
amounts (and values) exceeding those produced in any other state for
these years; but in 1907 the quantity (21,058 tons) was less than the
output of Illinois. Lead and zinc are mined in small quantities near
Marion in Crittenden county and elsewhere in connexion with mining for
fluorspar; in 1907 the output was 75 tons of lead valued at $7950 and
358 tons of zinc valued at $42,244. Jefferson, Jessamine, Warren,
Grayson and Caldwell counties have valuable quarries of an excellent
light-coloured öolitic limestone, resembling the Bedford limestone of
Indiana, and best known under the name of the finest variety, the
"Bowling Green stone" of Warren county; and sandstones good for
structural purposes are found in both coal regions, and especially in
Rowan county. In 1907 the total value of limestone quarried in the
state was $891,500, and of all stone, $1,002,450. Fire and pottery
clay and cement rock also abound within the state. The value of clay
products was $2,406,350 in 1905 (when Kentucky was tenth among the
states) and was $2,611,364 in 1907 (when Kentucky was eleventh among
the states). The manufacture of cement was begun in 1829 at
Shippingport, a suburb of Louisville, whence the natural cement of
Kentucky and Indiana, produced within a radius of 15 m. from
Louisville, is called "Louisville cement." In 1905 the value of
natural cement manufactured in the state (according to the United
States Geological Survey) was only $83,000. The manufacture of
Portland cement is of greater importance.
There are mineral springs, especially salt springs, in various parts
of the state, particularly in the Blue Grass Region; these are now of
comparatively little economic importance; no salt was reported among
the state's manufactures for 1905, and in 1907 only 736,920 gallons of
mineral waters were bottled for sale. Historically and geologically,
however, these springs are of considerable interest. According to
Professor N. S. Shaler, state geologist in 1873-1880, "When the rocks
whence they flow were formed on the Silurian sea-floors, a good deal
of the sea-water was imprisoned in the strata, between the grains of
sand or mud and in the cavities of the shells that make up a large
part of these rocks. This confined sea-water is gradually being
displaced by the downward sinking of the rain-water through the rifts
of the strata, and thus finds its way to the surface: so that these
springs offer to us a share of the ancient seas, in which perhaps a
hundred million of years ago the rocks of Kentucky were laid down." To
these springs in prehistoric and historic times came annually great
numbers of animals for salt, and in the marshes and swamps around some
of them, especially Big Bone Lick (in Boone county, about 20 m. S.W.
of Cincinnati) have been found many bones of extinct mammals, such as
the mastodon and the long-legged bison.[3] The early settlers and the
Indians came to the springs to shoot large game for food, and by
boiling the waters the settlers obtained valuable supplies of salt.
Several of the Kentucky springs have been somewhat frequented as
summer resorts; among these are the Blue Lick in Nicholas county
(about 48 m. N.E. of Lexington), Harrodsburg, Crab Orchard in Lincoln
county (about 115 m. S.E. of Louisville), Rock Castle springs in
Pulaski county (about 23 m. E. of Somerset) and Paroquet Springs (near
Shepherdsville, Bullitt county), which was a well-known resort before
the Civil War, and near which, at Bullitt Lick, the first salt works
in Kentucky are said to have been erected.
Pearls are found in the state, especially in the Cumberland River, and
it is supposed that there are diamonds in the kimberlite deposits in
Elliott county.
_Transportation._--Kentucky in 1909 had 3,503.98 m. of railway.
Railway building was begun in the state in 1830, and in 1835 the first
train drawn by a steam locomotive ran from Lexington to Franklin, a
distance of 27 m. Not until 1851 was the line completed to Louisville.
Kentucky's trade during the greater part of the 19th century was very
largely with the South, and with the facilities which river navigation
afforded for this the development of a railway system was retarded. Up
to 1880 the railway mileage had increased to only 1,530; but during
the next ten years it increased to 2,942, and railways were in
considerable measure substituted for water craft. The principal lines
are the Louisville & Nashville, the Chesapeake & Ohio, the Illinois
Central, and the Cincinnati Southern (Queen & Crescent route). Most of
the lines run south or south-west from Cincinnati and Louisville, and
the east border of the state still has a small railway mileage and
practically no wagon roads, most of the travel being on horseback. The
wagon roads of the Blue Grass Region are excellent, because of the
plentiful and cheap supply of stone for road building. The assessment
of railway property, and in some measure the regulation of railway
rates, are entrusted to a state railway commission.
_Population._--The population of Kentucky in 1880[4] was 1,648,690; in
1890, 1,858,635, an increase within the decade of 12.7 %; in 1900 it was
2,147,174; and in 1910 it had reached 2,289,905. Of the total population
of 1900, 284,865 were coloured and 50,249 were foreign-born; of the
coloured, 284,706 were negroes, 102 were Indians, and 57 were Chinese;
of the foreign-born, 27,555 were natives of Germany, 9874 were natives
of Ireland, and 3256 were natives of England. Of the foreign-born,
21,427, or 42.6 %, were inhabitants of the city of Louisville, leaving a
population outside of this city of which 98.4 % were native born. The
rugged east section of the state, a part of Appalachian America, is
inhabited by a people of marked characteristics, portrayed in the
fiction of Miss Murfree ("Charles Egbert Craddock") and John Fox, Jr.
They are nearly all of British--English and Scotch-Irish--descent, with
a trace of Huguenot. They have good native ability, but through lack of
communication with the outside world their progress has been retarded.
Before the Civil War they were owners of land, but for the most part not
owners of slaves, so that a social and political barrier, as well as the
barriers of nature, separated them from the other inhabitants of the
state. In their speech several hundred words persist which elsewhere
have been obsolete for three centuries or occur only in dialects in
England. Their life is still in many respects very primitive; their
houses are generally built of logs, their clothes are often of homespun,
Indian corn and ham form a large part of their diet, and their means of
transportation are the saddle-horse and sleds and wheeled carts drawn by
oxen or mules. In instincts and in character, also, the typical
"mountaineers" are to a marked degree primitive; they are, for the most
part, very ignorant; they are primitively hospitable and are
warm-hearted to friends and strangers, but are implacable in their
enmities and are prone to vendettas and family feuds, which often result
in the killing in open fight or from ambush of members of one faction by
members of another; and their relative seclusion and isolation has
brought them, especially in some districts, to a disregard for law, or
to a belief that they must execute justice with their own hands. This
appears particularly in their attitude toward revenue officers sent to
discover and close illicit stills for the distilling from Indian corn of
so-called "moon-shine" whisky (consisting largely of pure alcohol). The
taking of life and "moon-shining," however, have become less and less
frequent among them, and Berea College, at Berea, the Lincoln Memorial
University, and other schools in Kentucky and adjoining states have done
much to educate them and bring them more in harmony with the outside
community.
The population of Kentucky is largely rural. However, in the decade
between 1890 and 1900 the percentage of urban population (i.e.
population of places of 4000 inhabitants or more) to the total
population increased from 17.5 to 19.7 and the percentage of
semi-urban (i.e. population of incorporated places with a population
of less than 4000) to the total increased from 8.86 to 9.86 %; but
48.3 % of the urban population of 1900 was in the city of Louisville.
In 1910 the following cities each had a population of more than 5000.
Louisville (223,928), Covington (53,270), Lexington (35,099), Newport
(30,309), Paducah (22,760), Owensboro (16,011), Henderson (11,452),
Frankfort, the capital (10,465), Hopkinsville (9419), Bowling Green
(9173), Ashland (8688), Middlesboro (7305), Winchester (7156), Dayton
(6979), Bellevue (6683), Maysville (6141), Mayfield (5916), Paris
(5859), Danville (5420), Richmond (5340). Of historical interest are
Harrodsburg (q.v.), the first permanent settlement in the state, and
Bardstown (pop. in 1900, 1711), the county-seat of Nelson county.
Bardstown was settled about 1775, largely by Roman Catholics from
Maryland. It was the see of a Roman Catholic bishop from 1810 to 1841,
and the seat of St Joseph's College (Roman Catholic) from 1824 to
1890; and was for some time the home of John Fitch (1743-1798), the
inventor, who built his first boat here. The Nazareth Literary and
Benevolent Institution, at Nazareth (2 m. N. of Bardstown), was
founded in 1829 and is a well-known Roman Catholic school for girls.
Boonesborough, founded by Daniel Boone in 1775, in what is now Madison
county, long ago ceased to exist, though a railway station named
Boone, on the Louisville & Nashville railroad, is near the site of the
old settlement.
In 1906 there were 858,324 communicants of different religious
denominations in the state, including 311,583 Baptists, 165,908 Roman
Catholics, 156,007 Methodists, 136,110 Disciples of Christ, 47,822
Presbyterians and 8091 Protestant Episcopalians.
_Administration._--Kentucky is governed under a constitution adopted in
1891.[5] A convention to revise the constitution or to draft a new one
meets on the call of two successive legislatures, ratified by a majority
of the popular vote, provided that majority be at least one-fourth of
the total number of votes cast at the preceding general election.
Ordinary amendments are proposed by a three-fifths majority in each
house, and are also subject to popular approval. With the usual
exceptions of criminals, idiots and insane persons, all male citizens
of the United States, who are at least 21 years of age, and have lived
in the state one year, in the county six months, and in the voting
precinct sixty days next preceding the election, are entitled to vote.
The legislature provides by law for registration in cities of the first,
second, third and fourth classes--the minimum population for a city of
the fourth class being 3000. Corporations are forbidden to contribute
money for campaign purposes on penalty of forfeiting their charters, or,
if not chartered in the state, their right to carry on business in the
state. The executive is composed of a governor, a lieutenant-governor, a
treasurer, an auditor of public accounts, a register of the land office,
a commissioner of agriculture, labour, and statistics, a secretary of
state, an attorney-general and a superintendent of public instruction.
All are chosen by popular vote for four years and are ineligible for
immediate re-election, and each must be at least 30 years of age and
must have been a resident citizen of the state for two years next
preceding his election. If a vacancy occurs in the office of governor
during the first two years a new election is held; if it occurs during
the last two years the lieutenant-governor serves out the term.
Lieutenant-governor Beckham, elected in 1900 to fill out the unexpired
term of Governor Goebel (assassinated in 1900), was re-elected in 1903,
the leading lawyers of the state holding that the constitutional
inhibition on successive terms did not apply in such a case.
The governor is commander-in-chief of the militia when it is not
called into the service of the United States; he may remit fines and
forfeitures, commute sentences, and grant reprieves and pardons,
except in cases of impeachment; and he calls extraordinary sessions of
the legislature. His control of patronage, however, is not extensive
and his veto power is very weak. He may veto any measure, including
items in appropriation bills, but the legislature can repass such a
measure by a simple majority of the total membership in each house.
Among the various state administrative boards are the board of
equalization of five members, the board of health of nine members, a
board of control of state institutions with four members (bipartisan),
and the railroad commission, the prison commission, the state election
commission and the sinking fund commission of three members each.
Legislative power is vested in a General Assembly, which consists of a
Senate and a House of Representatives. Senators are elected for four
years, one-half retiring every two years; representatives are elected
for two years. The minimum age for a representative is 24 years, for a
senator 30 years. There are thirty-eight senators and one hundred
representatives. The Senate sits as a court for the trial of
impeachment cases. A majority of either house constitutes a quorum,
but as regards ordinary bills, on the third reading, not only must
they receive a majority of the quorum, but that majority must be at
least two-fifths of the total membership of the house. For the
enactment of appropriation bills and bills creating a debt a majority
of the total membership in each house is required. All revenue
measures must originate in the House of Representatives, but the
Senate may introduce amendments. There are many detailed restrictions
on local and special legislation. The constitution provides for local
option elections on the liquor question in counties, cities, towns and
precincts; in 1907, out of 119 counties 87 had voted for prohibition.
The judiciary consists of a court of appeals, circuit courts,
quarterly courts, county courts, justice of the peace courts, police
courts and fiscal courts. The court of appeals is composed of from
five to seven judges (seven in 1909), elected, one from each appellate
district, for a term of eight years. The senior judge presides as
chief justice and in case two or more have served the same length of
time one of them is chosen by lot. The governor may for any reasonable
cause remove judges on the address of two-thirds of each house of the
legislature. The counties are grouped into judicial circuits, those
containing a population of more than 150,000 constituting separate
districts; each district has a judge and a commonwealth's attorney.
The county officials are the judge, clerk, attorney, sheriff, jailor,
coroner, surveyor and assessor, elected for four years. Each county
contains from three to eight justice of the peace districts. The
financial board of the county is composed of the county judge and the
justices of the peace, or of the county judge and three commissioners
elected on a general ticket.
The municipalities are divided into six classes according to
population, a classification which permits considerable special local
legislation in spite of the constitutional inhibition. Marriages
between whites and persons of negro descent are prohibited by law, and
a marriage of insane persons is legally void. Among causes for
absolute divorce are adultery, desertion for one year, habitual
drunkenness for one year, cruelty, ungovernable temper, physical
incapacity at time of marriage, and the joining by either party of any
religious sect which regards marriage as unlawful. A homestead law
declares exempt from execution an unmortgaged dwelling-house (with
appurtenances) not to exceed $1000 in value, and certain property,
such as tools of one's trade, libraries (to the value of $500) of
ministers and lawyers, and provisions for one year for each member of
a family. Child labour is regulated by an act passed by the General
Assembly in 1908; this act prohibits the employment of children less
than 14 years of age in any gainful occupation during the session of
school or in stores, factories, mines, offices, hotels or messenger
service during vacations, and prohibits the employment of children
between 14 and 16 unless they have employment certificates issued by a
superintendent of schools or some other properly authorized person,
showing the child's ability to read and write English, giving
information as to the child's age (based upon a birth certificate if
possible), and identifying the child by giving height and weight and
colour of eyes and hair. These certificates must be kept on file and
lists of children employed must be posted by employers; labour
inspectors receive monthly lists from local school boards of children
receiving certificates; and children under 16 are not to work more
than 10 hours a day or 60 hours a week, or between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.
_Charitable and Penal Institutions._--The charitable and penal
institutions are managed by separate boards of trustees appointed by
the governor. There are a deaf and dumb institution at Danville
(1823), an institution for the blind at Louisville (1842), and an
institution for the education of feeble-minded children at Frankfort
(1860). The Eastern Lunatic Asylum at Lexington, established in 1815
as a private institution, came under the control of the state in 1824.
The Central Lunatic Asylum at Anchorage, founded in 1869 as a house of
refuge for young criminals, became an asylum in 1873. The Western
Lunatic Asylum at Hopkinsville was founded in 1848. The main
penitentiary at Frankfort was completed in 1799 and a branch was
established at Eddyville in 1891. Under an act of 1898 two houses of
reform for juvenile offenders, one for boys, the other for girls, were
established near Lexington.
_Education._--The early history of the schools of Kentucky shows that
the rural school conditions have been very unsatisfactory. A system of
five trustees, with a sixty-day term of school, was replaced by a
three trustee system, first with a one-hundred-day term of school, and
subsequently with a one-hundred-and-twenty-day term of school
annually. The state fund has not been supplemented locally for the
payment of teachers, who have consequently been underpaid. The rural
teachers, however, have been paid from the state fund, so that the
poorer districts receive aid from the richer districts of the
commonwealth. The rural schools are supervised by a superintendent in
each county. Throughout the state white and negro children are taught
in separate schools. The state makes provision for revenue for school
purposes as follows: (1) the interest on the Bond of the Commonwealth
for $1,327,000.00; (2) dividends on 798 shares of the capital stock of
the Bank of Kentucky--representing a par value of $79,800.00; (3) the
interest at 6 % on the Bond of the Commonwealth for $381,986.08, which
is a perpetual obligation in favour of the several counties; (4) the
interest at 6 % on $606,641.03, which was received from the United
States; (5) the annual tax of 26½ cents on each $100 of value of all
real and personal estate and corporate franchises directed to be
assessed for taxation; (6) a certain portion of fines, forfeitures and
licences realized by the state; and (7) a portion of the dog taxes of
each county. The present school system of Kentucky may be summarized
under three heads: the rural schools, the graded schools, and the high
schools (which are further classified as city and county high
schools). The 1908 session of the General Assembly passed an act
providing: that each county of the state be the unit for taxation;
that the county tax be mandatory; that there be a local subdistrict
tax; and that each county be divided into four, six or eight
educational divisions, that one trustee be elected for each
subdistrict, that the trustees of the subdistricts form division
Boards of Education, and that the chairmen of these various division
boards form a County Board of Education together with the county
superintendent, who is _ex officio_ chairman. This system of taxation
and supervision is a great advance in the administration of public
schools. Any subdistrict, town or city of the fifth or sixth class may
provide for a graded school by voting for an _ad valorem_ and poll tax
which is limited as to amount. There were in 1909 135 districts which
had complied with this act, and were known as Graded Common School
districts. By special charters the General Assembly has also
established 25 special graded schools. Statutes provide that all
children between the ages of 7 and 14 years living in such districts
must attend school annually for at least eight consecutive weeks. In
each city of the first, second and third class there must be, and of
the fourth class there may be, maintained under control of a city
Board of Education a system of public schools, in which all children
between the ages of 6 and 20 residing in the city may be taught at
public expense. There were in 1909 62 city public high schools whose
graduates are admitted to the State University without examination. A
truancy act (1908) provides that every child between the ages of 7 and
14 years living in a city of the first, second, third or fourth class
must attend school regularly for the full term of said school. It was
provided by statute that before June 1910, there should have been
established in each county of the state at least one County High
School to which all common school graduates of the county should be
admitted without charge. Separate institutes for white and coloured
teachers are conducted annually in each county. These institutes are
held for a five or ten day session and attendance is required of every
teacher. The state provides for the issuance of three kinds of
certificates. A state diploma issued by the State Board of Examiners
is good for life. A state certificate issued by the State Board of
Examiners is good for eight years with one renewal. County
certificates issued by the County Board of Examiners are of three
classes, valid for one, two and four years respectively.
According to a school census there was in 1908-1909 a school
population of 739,352, of which 587,051 were reported from the rural
districts. In the school year 1907-1908 the school population was
734,617, the actual enrolment in public schools was 441,377, the
average attendance was 260,843; there were approximately 3392 male and
5257 female white teachers and 1274 negro teachers; and the total
revenue for school purposes was $3,805,997, of which sum $2,437,942.56
came from the state treasury.
What was formerly the State Agricultural and Mechanical College at
Lexington became the State University by legislative enactment (1908);
there is no tuition fee except in the School of Law. The State
University has a Department of Education. The state maintains for the
whites two State Normal Schools, which were established in 1906--one,
for the eastern district, at Richmond, and the other, for the western
district, at Bowling Green. Under the law establishing State Normal
Schools, each county is entitled to one or more appointments of
scholarships, one annually for every 500 white school children listed
in the last school census. A Kentucky Normal and Industrial School
(1886) for negroes is maintained at Frankfort. Among the private and
denominational colleges in Kentucky are Central University
(Presbyterian), at Danville; Transylvania University, at Lexington;
Georgetown College (Baptist) at Georgetown; Kentucky Wesleyan College
(M.E. South), at Winchester; and Berea College (non-sectarian) at
Berea.
_Finance._--Kentucky, in common with other states in this part of the
country, suffered from over-speculation in land and railways during
1830-1850. The funded debt of the state amounted to four and one-half
millions of dollars in 1850, when the hew constitution limited the
power of the legislature to contract further obligations or to
decrease or misapply the sinking funds. From 1850 to 1880 there was a
gradual reduction except during the years of the war. The system of
classifying the revenue into separate funds has frequently produced
annual deficits, which are, as a rule only nominal, since the total
receipts exceed the total expenditures. In 1902 the net bonded debt,
exclusive of about two millions of dollars held for educational
purposes, was $1,171,394, but this debt was paid in full in the years
immediately following. The sinking fund commission is composed of the
governor, attorney-general, secretary of state, auditor and treasurer.
The first banking currency in Kentucky was issued in 1802 by a
co-operative insurance company established by Mississippi Valley
traders. The Bank of Kentucky, established at Frankfort in 1806, had a
monopoly for several years. In 1818-1819 the legislature chartered 46
banks, nearly all of which went into liquidation during the panic of
1819. The Bank of the Commonwealth was chartered in 1820 as a state
institution and the charter of the Bank of Kentucky was revoked in
1822. A court decision denying the legal tender quality of the notes
issued by the Bank of the Commonwealth gave rise to a bitter
controversy which had considerable influence upon the political
history of the state. This bank failed in 1829. In 1834 the
legislature chartered the Bank of Kentucky, the Bank of Louisville and
the Northern Bank of Kentucky. These institutions survived the panic
of 1837 and soon came to be recognized as among the most prosperous
and the most conservative banks west of the Alleghanies. The state
banking laws are stringent and most of the business is still
controlled by banks operating under state charters.
_History._--The settlement and the development of that part of the
United States west of the Alleghany Mountains has probably been the most
notable feature of American history since the close of the Seven Years'
War (1763). Kentucky was the first settlement in this movement, the
first state west of the Alleghany Mountains admitted into the Union. In
1763 the Kentucky country was claimed by the Cherokees as a part of
their hunting grounds, by the Six Nations (Iroquois) as a part of their
western conquests, and by Virginia as a part of the territory granted to
her by her charter of 1609, although it was actually inhabited only by a
few Chickasaws near the Mississippi river and by a small tribe of
Shawnees in the north, opposite what is now Portsmouth, Ohio. The early
settlers were often attacked by Indian raiders from what is now
Tennessee or from the country north of the Ohio, but the work of
colonization would have been far more difficult if those Indians had
lived in the Kentucky region itself. Dr Thomas Walker (1715-1794), as an
agent and surveyor of the Loyal Land Company, made an exploration in
1750 into the present state from the Cumberland Gap, in search of a
suitable place for settlement but did not get beyond the mountain
region. In the next year Christopher Gist, while on a similar mission
for the Ohio Company, explored the country westward from the mouth of
the Scioto river. In 1752 John Finley, an Indian trader, descended the
Ohio river in a canoe to the site of Louisville. It was Finley's
descriptions that attracted Daniel Boone, and soon after Boone's first
visit, in 1767, travellers through the Kentucky region became numerous.
The first permanent English settlement was established at Harrodsburg in
1774 by James Harrod, and in October of the same year the Ohio Indians,
having been defeated by Virginia troops in the battle of Point Pleasant
(in what is now West Virginia), signed a treaty by which they
surrendered their claims south of the Ohio river. In March 1775 Richard
Henderson and some North Carolina land speculators met about 1200
Cherokee Indians in council on the Watauga river and concluded a treaty
with them for the purchase of all the territory south of the Ohio river
and between the Kentucky and Cumberland rivers. The purchase was named
Transylvania, and within less than a month after the treaty was signed,
Boone, under its auspices, founded a settlement at Boonesborough which
became the headquarters of the colony. The title was declared void by
the Virginia government in 1778, but Henderson and his associates
received 200,000 acres in compensation, and all sales made to actual
settlers were confirmed. During the War of Independence the colonists
were almost entirely neglected by Virginia and were compelled to defend
themselves against the Indians who were often under British leadership.
Boonesborough was attacked in April and in July 1777 and in August 1778.
Bryant's (or Bryan's) Station, near Lexington, was besieged in August
1782 by about 600 Indians under the notorious Simon Girty, who after
raising the siege drew the defenders, numbering fewer than 200, into an
ambush and in the battle of Blue Licks which ensued the Kentuckians lost
about 67 killed and 7 prisoners. Kentucky county, practically
coterminous with the present state of Kentucky and embracing all the
territory claimed by Virginia south of the Ohio river and west of Big
Sandy Creek and the ridge of the Cumberland Mountains, was one of three
counties which was formed out of Fincastle county in 1776. Four years
later, this in turn was divided into three counties, Jefferson, Lincoln
and Fayette, but the name Kentucky was revived in 1782 and was given to
the judicial district which was then organized for these three counties.
The War of Independence was followed by an extensive immigration from
Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina[6] of a population of which fully
95%, excluding negro slaves, were of pure English, Scotch or
Scotch-Irish descent. The manners, customs and institutions of Virginia
were transplanted beyond the mountains. There was the same political
rivalry between the slave-holding farmers of the Blue Grass Region and
the "poor whites" of the mountain districts that there was in Virginia
between the tide-water planters and the mountaineers. Between these
extremes were the small farmers of the "Barrens"[7] in Kentucky and of
the Piedmont Region in Virginia. The aristocratic influences in both
states have always been on the Southern and Democratic side, but while
they were strong enough in Virginia to lead the state into secession
they were unable to do so in Kentucky.
At the close of the War of Independence the Kentuckians complained
because the mother state did not protect them against their enemies and
did not give them an adequate system of local government. Nine
conventions were held at Danville from 1784 to 1790 to demand separation
from Virginia. The Virginia authorities expressed a willingness to grant
the demand provided Congress would admit the new district into the Union
as a state. The delay, together with the proposal of John Jay, the
Secretary for Foreign Affairs and commissioner to negotiate a commercial
treaty with the Spanish envoy, to surrender navigation rights on the
lower Mississippi for twenty-five years in order to remove the one
obstacle to the negotiations, aroused so much feeling that General James
Wilkinson and a few other leaders began to intrigue not only for a
separation from Virginia, but also from the United States, and for the
formation of a close alliance with the Spanish at New Orleans. Although
most of the settlers were too loyal to be led into any such plot they
generally agreed that it might have a good effect by bringing pressure
to bear upon the Federal government. Congress passed a preliminary act
in February 1791, and the state was formally admitted into the Union on
the 1st of June 1792. In the Act of 1776 for dividing Fincastle county,
Virginia, the ridge of the Cumberland Mountains was named as a part of
the east boundary of Kentucky; and now that this ridge had become a part
of the boundary between the states of Virginia and Kentucky they, in
1799, appointed a joint commission to run the boundary line on this
ridge. A dispute with Tennessee over the southern boundary was settled
in a similar manner in 1820.[8] The constitution of 1792 provided for
manhood suffrage and for the election of the governor and of senators by
an electoral college. General Isaac Shelby was the first governor. The
people still continued to have troubles with the Indians and with the
Spanish at New Orleans. The Federal government was slow to act, but its
action when taken was effective. The power of the Indians was overthrown
by General Anthony Wayne's victory in the battle of Fallen Timbers,
fought the 20th of August 1794 near the rapids of the Maumee river a few
miles above the site of Toledo, Ohio; and the Mississippi question was
settled temporarily by the treaty of 1795 and permanently by the
purchase of Louisiana in 1803. In 1798-1799 the legislature passed the
famous Kentucky Resolutions in protest against the alien and sedition
acts.
For several years the Anti-Federalists or Republicans had contended that
the administration at Washington had been exercising powers not
warranted by the constitution, and when Congress had passed the alien
and sedition laws the leaders of that party seized upon the event as a
proper occasion for a spirited public protest which took shape
principally in resolutions passed by the legislatures of Kentucky and
Virginia. The original draft of the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 was
prepared by Vice-President Thomas Jefferson, although the fact that he
was the author of them was kept from the public until he acknowledged it
in 1821. They were introduced in the House of Representatives by John
Breckinridge on the 8th of November, were passed by that body with some
amendments but with only one dissenting vote on the 10th, were
unanimously concurred in by the Senate on the 13th, and were approved by
Governor James Garrard on the 16th. The first resolution was a statement
of the ultra states'-rights view of the relation of the states to the
Federal government[9] and subsequent resolutions declare the alien and
sedition laws unconstitutional and therefore "void and of no force,"
principally on the ground that they provided for an exercise of powers
which were reserved to the state. The resolutions further declare that
"this Commonwealth is determined, as it doubts not its co-states are,
tamely to submit to undelegated and therefore unlimited powers in no man
or body of men on earth," and that "these and successive acts of the
same character, unless arrested on the threshold, may tend to drive
these states into revolution and blood." Copies of the resolutions were
sent to the governors of the various states, to be laid before the
different state legislatures, and replies were received from
Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode
Island, Vermont and Virginia, but all except that from Virginia were
unfavourable. Nevertheless the Kentucky legislature on the 22nd of
November 1799 reaffirmed in a new resolution the principles it had laid
down in the first series, asserting in this new resolution that the
state "does now unequivocally declare its attachment to the Union, and
to that compact [the Constitution], agreeably to its obvious and real
intention, and will be among the last to seek its dissolution," but that
"the principle and construction contended for by sundry of the state
legislatures, that the General Government is the exclusive judge of the
extent of the powers delegated to it, stop nothing [short] of
_despotism_--since the discretion of those who administer the
government, and not the _Constitution_, would be the measure of their
powers," "that the several states who formed that instrument, being
sovereign and independent, have the unquestionable right to judge of the
infraction," and "that a _nullification by those sovereignties of all
unauthorized acts done under color of that instrument is the rightful
remedy_." These measures show that the state was Democratic-Republican
in its politics and pro-French in its sympathies, and that it was
inclined to follow the leadership of that state from which most of its
people had come.
The constitution of 1799 adopted the system of choosing the governor and
senators by popular vote and deprived the supreme court of its original
jurisdiction in land cases. The Burr conspiracy (1804-1806) aroused some
excitement in the state. Many would have followed Burr in a
filibustering attack upon the Spanish in the South-West, but scarcely
any would have approved of a separation of Kentucky from the Federal
Union. No battles were fought in Kentucky during the War of 1812, but
her troops constituted the greater part of the forces under General
William Henry Harrison. They took part in the operations at Fort Wayne,
Fort Meigs, the river Raisin and the Thames.
The Democratic-Republicans controlled the politics of the state without
any serious opposition until the conflict in 1820-1826, arising from the
demands for a more adequate system of currency and other measures for
the relief of delinquent debtors divided the state into what were known
as the relief and anti-relief parties. After nearly all the forty-six
banks chartered by the legislature in 1818 had been wrecked in the
financial panic of 1819, the legislature in 1820 passed a series of laws
designed for the benefit of the debtor class, among them one making
state bank notes a legal tender for all debts. A decision of the Clark
county district court declaring this measure unconstitutional was
affirmed by the court of appeals. The legislature in 1824 repealed all
of the laws creating the existing court of appeals and then established
a new one. This precipitated a bitter campaign between the anti-relief
or "old court" party and the relief or "new court" party, in which the
former was successful. The old court party followed the lead of Henry
Clay and John Quincy Adams in national politics, and became National
Republicans and later Whigs. The new court party followed Andrew Jackson
and Martin Van Buren and became Democrats. The electoral vote of the
state was cast for Jackson in 1828 and for Clay in 1832. During the next
thirty years Clay's conservative influence dominated the politics of the
state.[10] Kentucky voted the Whig ticket in every presidential election
from 1832 until the party made its last campaign in 1852. When the Whigs
were destroyed by the slavery issue some of them immediately became
Democrats, but the majority became Americans, or Know-Nothings. They
elected the governor in 1855 and almost succeeded in carrying the state
for their presidential ticket in 1856. In 1860 the people of Kentucky
were drawn toward the South by their interest in slavery and by their
social relations, and toward the North by business ties and by a
national sentiment which was fostered by the Clay traditions. They
naturally assumed the leadership in the Constitutional Union movement of
1860, casting the vote of the state for Bell and Everett. After the
election of President Lincoln they also led in the movement to secure
the adoption of the Crittenden Compromise or some other peaceful
solution of the difficulties between the North and the South.
A large majority of the state legislature, however, were Democrats, and
in his message to this body, in January 1861, Governor Magoffin, also a
Democrat, proposed that a convention be called to determine "the future
of Federal and inter-state relations of Kentucky;" later too, in reply
to the president's call for volunteers, he declared, "Kentucky will
furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern
States." Under these conditions the Unionists asked only for the
maintenance of neutrality, and a resolution to this effect was carried
by a bare majority--48 to 47. Some of the secessionists took this as a
defeat and left the state immediately to join the Confederate ranks. In
the next month there was an election of congressmen, and an
anti-secession candidate was chosen in nine out of ten districts. An
election in August of one-half the Senate and all of the House of
Representatives resulted in a Unionist majority in the new legislature
of 103 to 35, and in September, after Confederate troops had begun to
invade the state, Kentucky formally declared its allegiance to the
Union. From September 1861 to the fall of Fort Donelson in February 1862
that part of Kentucky which is south and west of the Green River was
occupied by the Confederate army under General A. S. Johnston, and at
Russellville in that district a so-called "sovereignty convention"
assembled on the 18th of November. This body, composed mostly of
Kentucky men who had joined the Confederate army, passed an ordinance of
secession, elected state officers, and sent commissioners to the
Confederate Congress, which body voted on the 9th of December to admit
Kentucky into the Confederacy. Throughout the war Kentucky was
represented in the Confederate Congress--representatives and senators
being elected by Confederate soldiers from the state. The officers of
this "provisional government," headed by G. W. Johnson, who had been
elected "governor," left the state when General A. S. Johnston withdrew;
Johnson himself was killed at Shiloh, but an attempt was subsequently
made by General Bragg to install this government at Frankfort. General
Felix K. Zollicoffer (1812-1862) had entered the south-east part of the
state through Cumberland Gap in September, and later with a Confederate
force of about 7000 men attempted the invasion of central Kentucky, but
in October 1861 he met with a slight repulse at Wild Cat Mountain, near
London, Laurel county, and on the 19th of January 1862, in an engagement
near Mill Springs, Wayne county, with about an equal force under General
George H. Thomas, he was killed and his force was utterly routed. In
1862 General Braxton Bragg in command of the Confederates in eastern
Tennessee, eluded General Don Carlos Buell, in command of the Federal
Army of the Ohio stationed there, and entering Kentucky in August 1862
proceeded slowly toward Louisville, hoping to win the state to the
Confederate cause and gain recruits for the Confederacy in the state.
His main army was preceded by a division of about 15,000 men under
General Edmund Kirby Smith, who on the 30th of August defeated a Federal
force under General Wm. Nelson near Richmond and threatened Cincinnati.
Bragg met with little opposition on his march, but Buell, also marching
from eastern Tennessee, reached Louisville first (Sept. 24), turned on
Bragg, and forced him to withdraw. On his retreat, Bragg attempted to
set up a Confederate government at Frankfort, and Richard J. Hawes, who
had been chosen as G. W. Johnson's successor, was actually
"inaugurated," but naturally this state "government" immediately
collapsed. On the 8th of October Buell and Bragg fought an engagement at
Perryville which, though tactically indecisive, was a strategic victory
for Buell; and thereafter Bragg withdrew entirely from the state into
Tennessee. This was the last serious attempt on a large scale by the
Confederates to win Kentucky; but in February 1863 one of General John
H. Morgan's brigades made a raid on Mount Sterling and captured it; in
March General Pegram made a raid into Pulaski county; in March 1864
General N. B. Forrest assaulted Fort Anderson at Paducah but failed to
capture it; and in June General Morgan made an unsuccessful attempt to
take Lexington.
Although the majority of the people sympathized with the Union, the
emancipation of the slaves without compensation even to loyal owners,
the arming of negro troops, the arbitrary imprisonment of citizens and
the interference of Federal military officials in purely civil affairs
aroused so much feeling that the state became strongly Democratic, and
has remained so almost uniformly since the war. Owing to the panic of
1893, distrust of the free silver movement and the expenditure of large
campaign funds, the Republicans were successful in the gubernational
election of 1895 and the presidential election of 1896. The election of
1899 was disputed. William S. Taylor, Republican, was inaugurated
governor on the 12th of December, but the legislative committee on
contests decided in favour of the Democrats. Governor-elect Goebel was
shot by an assassin on the 30th of January 1900, was sworn into office
on his deathbed, and died on the 3rd of February. Taylor fled the state
to escape trial on the charge of murder. Lieutenant-Governor Beckham
filled out the unexpired term and was re-elected in 1903. In 1907 the
Republicans again elected their candidate for governor.