| ||||||||||
 
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details 
  
Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig 
Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... 
|
Mike Watson: A little Big Tree history and historic photo The Forest industry has played a major role in Adair County history. and some huge trees have been harvested here. Mike Watson, whose family includes great lumberman George Washington Cape, has dug out the records of the biggest ones. He dedicates this column to 'Billy Joe Fudge, Great Wooded South, PhD.' Click on headline for story with photo(s) A Little Tree History When Kentucky was first talked about in the annals of our nation's history, most referred to the abundance of game and the vast expanses of woodland. The first men to come into the region, not withstanding the Native Americans, there was a certain awe associated with the fertile wilderness. Hunting was wonderful and stories of the forests spread. It was often said that "a squirrel can cross Kaintuck without ever touching the ground." Except for the Barrens, most of the territory was certainly covered with trees. This made settlement easier in some ways--timber was easy to obtain for homes, fences, flatboats, and household fires and cooking. It also made travel by wheeled vehicle difficult for many years. Judge Rollin Hurt wrote the following of his grandfather, William Hurt, Sr., Revolutionary War veteran, who settled in what is now Adair County in the year 1793. "Hurt...returned from Bourbon County, bringing his family...in transporting them, he used his cart, which was drawn by a yoke of oxen. This was the first wheeled vehicle ever used or brought into the county...to Greensburg and, thence, to his place of settlement...several men accompanied him...from Greensburg...and cut out a road for the cart where it was needful." For many years the Wilderness Road, so well known to Kentucky students today, was nothing more than a track, with tree stumps nearly knee high, cut off just enough so that high-wheeled carts could pass over them. Big Trees in the early Adair County News: 29 April 1903: Ozark news--Mr. Wm. Montgomery sold a very large poplar tree to Alvin Young for $6 per 1,000 feet. The tree will probably scale 5,000 feet. 3 June 1903: Luther Conover has taken the contract to move the "big tree" that Alvin Young bought of Rev. Tim Montgomery. He says it will take eight mules to the log. 27 November 1912: The Largest Log Known Here--The largest log that ever went out of Adair County was hauled to Campbellsville last week by J.N. Atwell, Vester Deal and John Young. The tree was cut on a farm owned by one of the Tupman boys, lying on Green River. The cut hauled weighed 22,083 pounds and contained 22,028* feet of lumber. It was hauled by twelve horses hooked to an Old Hickory wagon bought by Mr. Atwell from the Buchanan Lyon Company, Campbellsville. The cut belonged to Mr. Whitney, the well-known lumber man. The team and its load was a great attraction as it entered Campbellsville, and also to many people while enroute. [*The following week, 4 December 1912, the News made a correction to the above story--...the big log reported contained...1,228 feet (of lumber). George W. Cape: Our great-grandfather, George Washington Cape, spent his life in the lumber business, in addition to other pursuits. He and three of his four sons, Woodie A., Willie Wolford, and John Edd, logged most of their lives. He would purchase tracts of land for the timber, cut the trees, clear or partially clear the land, then sell to someone else to farm. The fourth son, George Allen, ran a store and mill on the Adair-Russell County line, and was first post master at Cape, Adair County. A photograph, handed down in our family, from circa 1910 to 1915, shows a double-yoke team pulling a log wagon with three good, but not huge logs. On the wagon are, left to right: Woodie Cape, our grandfather, Edd Lee Huddleston, Will Cape, and one of the Morgan men, first name not certain. -Mike Watson, 2012 This story was posted on 2012-05-21 04:38:23
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know.
More articles from topic Mike Watson - History:
Mike Watson history: Christine, Ella and Eunice Mike Watson: Time & Memory are Fickle... Mike Watson: Memories of the Henry Gadberry house Mike Watson: More research on McFarland Canterberry MIKE WATSON: A brief history of two Adair County jails Mike Watson History: The (other) Bank of Columbia 50 cent note Mike Watson, History: A Remarkable Family, X 2 Mike Watson: One scene fits all places - way to hawk postcards Mike Watson: Oh, for Names, Places and Pronunciation! Mike Watson first to pledge to Camp Boyle marker View even more articles in topic Mike Watson - History |
 
115 Jamestown St. Columbia, KY. 270-384-2496 
  
   
 Provided by the Adair Co Fiscal Court and the Adair Co. Emergency Mgt. Agency 
|
||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
|
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
| ||||||||||
