CHAPTER XV.

CONCLUDING REVIEW.

E will now close our view of the leading incidents in the history of Hardin County. We began with the first settlement at the Altum Spring, in the First District, in the summer of 1861, and will now close with a view which exhibits the county in 1880, with a total population of 14,969, divided among the sixteen Civil Districts as follows: First and Second, 1,344; Third, 1,051; Fourth, 2,659; Fifth and Fourteenth, 970; Sixth, 1,373; Seventh, 670; Eighth, 970; Ninth and Tenth, 1,191; Eleventh and Sixteenth, 1,128; Twelfth, 1,483; Thirteenth, 1,645; Fifteenth, 585. Of the total population, 12,775 are white, the remainder colored; and 7,334 are males and 7,459 females. The average population per square mile is 24. The total number of inhabitants in Savannah at this date was 993, and in Saltillo 250.

Only two of the first settlers are living at this

date to tell the tale-one at the age of 82 and the other at the age of 70.

There are 413 persons in the county who are 60 years old and over, and two over 100 years.

The scholastic population of the county in 1883 was 6,247. Of this number 5,419 are whites and 828 are colored. During this year (1883) certificates of qualification were issued to 78 white teachers and 19 colored teachers. In 1840 the total white population was 7,910; in 1850 it was 9,040; in 1860 it was 9,600, and in 1880 it was 12,775. The colored population in 1840 was 330; in 1850, 1,288; in 1860, 1,650; and in 1880, 2,018.

The census report for 1880 shows that in the year 1879 there were 72,446 acres of land cultivated in the county; and of this number, 12,859 acres were in cotton, which yielded 5,345 bales; and 30,909 acres in corn, which yielded 799,739 bushels; and 3,387 acres in oats, which yielded 35,620 bushels; and 5,445 acres in wheat, which yielded 29,248 bushels. By comparing the above with the report of the county in 1850, we find quite an increase in the amount of produce raised in the county then and in 1879.

Let us now notice the improvement made in two of the largest towns since they were founded. The town of Savannah has a different appearance to what it did in 1821. Instead of gum-pole cabins, we see many fine buildings. This town has ten retail stores, two drug-stores, two hotelsthe East Hotel, near the public square, and the Kendal House, near the river, which was built by John Kendal, a son of the first hotel-keeper in the county. Instead of the gum-log court-house of 1832, we see a ten-thousand-dollar brick building; and in the eastern part of town is the Female College, a commodious brick building.

We

When we return to Saltillo we find it has risen to a beautiful little town of nearly three hundred inhabitants, and has several nice buildings. see large framed Male and Female Academy, one hotel, Masonic Hall, Presbyterian Church, one drug-store, and eight retail dry-goods houses. More cotton and staves are shipped annually from Saltillo than from any town in the county.

Several villages have appeared in the last few years, such as Walnut Grove, in the southern part; Loweryville, on Horse Creek; Olive Hill, on In

dian Creek; Shilohville, in the southern part; New Town, a mile east of Savannah, containing a population of several hundred colored people; and Sibley, in the Twelfth District, is another negro town. In each of the colored villages a regular school is kept up during the year, and well-trained teachers are employed. As a general thing, the colored people all over the county are making rapid progress in education.

Kind reader, you have now seen how the canebrakes disappeared; how the wild huntinggrounds of the savage have been changed into fields of profit in the space of sixty-nine years by the hand of civilized man. You have seen our county for forty-five years rise to the eve of great prosperity, then suddenly convulsed by a mighty Rebellion that spread desolation far and wide and stained the fields with blood; and we have seen. the county struggling upward from that war for twenty years, which brings us to the present time.

Now we must close our History of Hardin County. Hoping that the progress made in the future may be as great as in the past, we bid you a kind good-by.