Internal Improvements

The wealth of timber, mineral, and farm products of the State was so great as to cause early improvements in the building of macadamized roads or pikes, and as early as 1830 the turnpike from Maysville to Lexington was [pg 27]built to facilitate the movement of freight and farm products from the bluegrass region to the towns along the Ohio River on the northern boundary. A similar road was built from Louisville through Glasgow and Bowling Green to Nashville, Tenn., and this road not only served as a commercial outlet to the South, but has played an important part in the history and subsequent development of the State.

Early in the past century, interest was shown in the making of the water courses of Kentucky navigable throughout the year by the building of locks and dams. These were built on Kentucky, Barren and Green Rivers. Kentucky is said to have a greater number of miles of navigable streams than is owned by any other State. Its territory was supposed, in the early days, to extend to low water mark on the eastern side of the Big Sandy River, to the northern bank of the Ohio River, and to the western bank of the Mississippi on the western border, while the Kentucky, Barren and Green rivers lie wholly within its borders, and the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers cross the State in the western section. Green River is said to be one of the deepest river waterways in the world, and the scenery along its banks is indeed picturesque. The towering walls on either side of the Kentucky River between Frankfort and Beattyville rival in grandeur and majestic beauty the famous palisades of the Hudson or the castellated southern shore of the beautiful Columbia River.

Railroad construction was early commenced in Kentucky. While traveling from Lexington to Frankfort today over the L. & N. railroad, one can see from the car windows the old grade and the cuts indicating the line along which ran the early cars on stones in which grooves were cut for the guidance of the wheels instead of the steel rail and the flange wheel of the present day. [pg 28]These early cars were drawn by mules, after they had been pulled by a windlass up the cliff from the boat landing at Frankfort. The mules and the rock rails were soon replaced by two locomotives and iron rails. One engine brought the train from Frankfort to a point half way, by noon, and after the passengers had eaten dinner at Midway, the other engine took the train on to Lexington.

Kentucky and Slavery

The early settlers from Virginia brought their slaves with them, and when the State was established, no one thought of abolishing the institution of slavery. The melodious voices of the blacks could be heard in the clearing grounds and the “black mammies” and the little pickaninnies were familiar objects about every well-to-do home. For the most part, the Kentuckian was considerate of the welfare of his slaves, and both master and slave were happy in the olden day. Those who are old enough to remember, can tell some stories of the loyalty of the slave to his master, and of the kindly relationship that existed between the two races. About 1829 there began to develop in the minds of many Kentuckians a sentiment which afterward grew into strong opposition to the state of affairs which made it possible for one man to own the body and control the actions of another. In 1831, Cassius M. Clay, while attending Yale College, became thoroughly aroused to the evils of slavery, and when he returned to Kentucky he began to speak and to write in opposition to the institution. He established a paper in Lexington by means of which he was able to arouse sentiment in support of his contention against slavery. He was probably the first pronounced and powerful abolitionist in the State, and became almost as famous in the South as was William Lloyd Garrison in the North.

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The question continued to be one of absorbing interest, and the anti-slavery party gained in strength steadily. When Texas declared her independence from Mexico, and sought admission into the Union of States, the slavery question was discussed in that connection in Kentucky as heatedly as in any other section. General Zachary Taylor, a native Kentuckian, born and reared near Louisville, was placed in command of the American forces when war was about to be declared against Mexico. This and the fact that William O. Butler and Thomas Marshall were commissioned officers under Taylor, and also from Kentucky, served to increase the interest in the approaching struggle with Mexico, and intensified the zeal of both the slavery and the anti-slavery parties. Everywhere the question was, “Shall Texas come to us as a slave or a free state?”

On the third of June, 1808, just about four years before our Kentucky soldiers were called upon to enlist to do battle against the British in the War of 1812, there was born in an old-fashioned log house in that part of Kentucky where the town of Fairview now stands, a boy named Jefferson Davis, who was destined to become one of the conspicuous characters in the nation. As a child, he was mild of manner and rather timid, but possessed a strong and resolute will. He willingly and easily learned the contents of such books as the schools of the time afforded, and at an early age he matriculated as a student at Transylvania Seminary, where he distinguished himself as a gentleman and a scholar. A point of interest in Lexington is the quaint little house where he roomed while he was a