CULTURE AND CURING IN KENTUCKY. 43 



generally prized in hogsheads, hauled to the Cumberland river, and shipped by flatboat or keelboat to New Orleans, 

 sold at low prices, find the proceeds of sale were brought back in coin, there not being sufficient commerce then to 

 afford means of exchange. Some of these persons, howcvi r, found markets for their crops by hauling them loose 

 in wagons a distance of twenty or thirty miles to local buyers, who were engaged to a small extent in manuf'a' > '.nriiig 

 tobacco for supplying the home demand. From 1810 to 1820 other immigrants from the older states, among whom 

 were Hie-hard and William C. Browder and John P. Moore, from Virginia, engaged in the culture of tobfeen as a 

 permanent business. They were soon followed by others, and, being located at some distance from any shipping 

 point on the Cumberland river, these persons manufactured their own crops, with the smaller crops of their 

 neighbors, which they purchased. The manufactured product was then sent to Russellville and Nashville, 

 Tennessee, and other neighboring points, where it was sold to supply the local consumption. The increase in 

 production was small for the first decade, but from 1820 to 1830 there was a marked increase. By 1830 the culture 

 had become established as a leading and permanent industry in Logan county, where it is still the most important 

 staple. 



Simultaneously with the beginning of the growth of tobacco in Logan county it was also commenced in Green, 

 Barren, Hardin, and Warren counties under similar circumstances. Barren county, being convenient to shipping 

 points on Barren river, and having advantages which attracted settlers in large numbers, soon became prominent 

 as a tobacco-producing district. In Ilardiu county Peter McDaniel was one of the first growers. Ills first crop was 

 grown in 1811, and during that year the entire crop of the county did not exceed ten hogsheads. This crop was 

 sold to Allen & Beardslcy, in the hand, at $2 per hundred pounds. Hard in county, being remote from shipping 

 points, made slow progress in the increase of production, and it was not until 1827 that such facilities were available 

 to induce much interest in the business. In that year V. McDaniel became a local dealer in tobacco and bought a 

 few small crops at 75 cents, $2, and $2 50 per hundred pounds for the different grades, prized and delivered at 

 Stephensport, on the Ohio river. From this date the culture of tobacco gradually grew to be an important business. 

 In Adair and Cumberland counties the business seems to have had a somewhat later beginning, and to have 

 commenced in the former county about the year 1817, when two gentlemen from Virginia settled there and engaged 

 in its culture. Their first crops were hauled to the Cumberland river and shipped to New Orleans, where good 

 prices were realized (about $8 per hundred pounds), the close of the war of 1812 having caused a large advance 

 in prices, which was maintained up to the time when these crops were sold. These prices caused a large and 

 rapid increase in the production, and the succeeding crop was a large increase on former ones. It was shipped to 

 New Orleans, and sold for $0 and $7 per hundred. In Cumberland county the culture, as a fixed employment, is 

 traced back to 1820, when the crop was shipped to New Orleans by flatboat out of the Cumberland river and sold 

 for $3 to S5 per hundred. A succeeding season of better prices induced a large increase in the production, which, 

 aided by better and cheaper facilities for shipping, caused by the advent of steam navigation, established tobacco 

 culture as the leading industry of the county. The crops of this county at one time furnished the types most 

 suitable for supplying the orders made by the French government. The date of the first crops of Breckinridge 

 county is uncertain, but it was probably between the years 1810 and 1815, and were sold generally to local dealers. 

 The nearness of the Ohio river, and the shipping facilities afforded by it, caused the establishment at an early 

 day of home markets, which secured for the first crops raised an average of about $3 per hundred pounds. Some 

 planters shipped their crops to New Orleans by flatboat on their own account, but this method involved so much 

 delay in realizing proceeds of sales that most planters preferred to sell in home markets at current prices, although 

 very low. About 1840 better home markets were established by dealers, who stemmed tobacco and put it up for 

 the English markets, and from this time the culture largely and rapidly increased. In Christian county the 

 growing of tobacco was commenced about the year 1815, when one hogshead was shipped by flatboat to New 

 Orleans, supposed to have been the first ever shipped from the county. About 1820 small crops, not exceeding 

 one hogshead in any individual crop, were raised and shipped. Previous to this a few small patches were grown 

 in the county, and the product was sold to a small manufacturing establishment, which was started at Hopkinsville 

 in 1818, for the purpose of supplying the local demand. From this time the production gradually iucreasi d, owing 

 to the advent of new settlers, principally from Virginia, and to the increased area of open lauds. Between the 

 years 1S25 and 1830 the culture became an important branch of industry, and in the latter year it became general, 

 stimulated by the success of previous growers and by better facilities of transportation. The first attempts to 

 grow the crop were so unprofitable that many who engaged in it abandoned it for the culture of cotton and hemp, 

 which, in turn proving unprofitable, was abandoned, and the growing of tobacco was resumed. 



The district bordered by the lower part of the Ohio river was not settled so early as other tobacco-producing 

 sections of the state, and it has not been possible to obtain fully the historical facts in regard to the culture in this 

 section. In Union county the culture was commenced in 183 , from which time to 1850 the tobacco grown in the 

 county was nearly all hauled to Henderson, on the Ohio river, and sold to stemmers at $1 to $4 per hundred on 

 credit, one-half payable in March, and the other half on the 1st of June following. 



These districts were the field of the earliest establishment of this important industry west of the Alleghany 

 mountains 



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