Jackson County AlArchives History .....Jackson County 1888
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VII.
JACKSON COUNTY.

    Population: White. 21,074; colored, 4,040. Area, 990 square miles, woodland
all. Valley lands, (of which 190 square miles are in the Valley of the
Tennesse), 500 square miles. Coves and slopes, 310 square miles. Mountain lands,
490 square miles. Acres in cotton, approximately, 19,685; in corn, 60,285; in
oats, 8,241; in wheat, 10,051: in rye, 347: in tobacco, 99; in sweet potatoes,
592. Approximate number of bales of cotton. 6,984.

    County Seat—Scotsborough; population, 1,500. Located on Memphis & Charleston
Railroad, forty-two miles from Huutsville, and fifty-five miles from
Chattanooga. Newspapers published at county seat: Citizen, Progressive Age and
Alabama Herald, all Democratic; at Stephenson, The Chronicle, democratic.

    Postoffices in the county—Atto, Bass Station, Bellefonte, Berry's Store, Big
Coon, Bridgeport, Coffey's Store, Dodsonville, Dorans Cove, Dry Cove, Emmert,
Estill's Fork, Fabius, Fackler, Fern Cliff, Francisco, Garth, Gray's Chapel,
Greerton, Hannah, Higdon, Holly Tree, Kirby's Creek, Kosh, Langston, Larkin's
Fork, Larkinsville, Lime Rock, Long Island, Maynard's Cove, Paint Rock, Park's
Store, Pisgah, Press, Princeton, Samples, Santa, Scottsborough, Stevenson,
Trenton, Tupelo, Wallston. Wamsville, Widows, Woodville.

    This county takes its name from the hero of New Orleans. It was organized in
1819, the same year of the admission of Alabama into the Union. Jackson County
is the extreme northeastern county in the State. It is bounded on the north by
the State of Tennessee; on the east by the State of Georgia and De Kalb County,
Ala.: on the south by DeKalb and Marshall Counties, on the west by Marshall and
Madison Counties. It is about sixty-five miles long, by thirty miles wide.
Scottsboro is the county seat of Jackson, and is a pleasant little town,
situated on the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, about the center of the county,
and four miles from the Tennessee River. It is a new town, built up since the
county seat was located at that point, which was done in the year 1868. It has a
population of about 1,000; has a new courthouse and jail, which cost §37,000,
and are of good architectural design. The town is regularly laid out, and has
many commodious business houses, built around the court house square, and on
other streets, with many new and attractive residences, besides five comfortable
churches, and two commodious hotels, a college building, which is quite
sufficient to accommodate from 300 to 400 pupils, with college ground of six
acres, on which the building is situated, which for beauty of location and
grounds, cannot be surpassed in the South. Scottsboro is also noted for the
healthfulness of its location, being situated at the highest point of the
Memphis & Charleston Railroad, between the eastern boundary line of the State of
Alabama and the city of Memphis, Tenn., and at a distance of 285 miles from
Memphis, Tenn.; indeed, the entire county of Jackson has an elevation above any
other county west of it toward Memphis, its valley lands being at the highest
point 602 feet, and at the lowest point, at Paint Rock, 595 feet above Mobile
Bay. The altitude diminishes gradually toward the west, until you reach Memphis,
Tenn., where it is only 245 feet; add to the elevation in Jackson, from 600 to
1,000 feet, and you have the elevation of our mountain lands above the
sea-level; for this reason people living west of us often speak of our county as
High Jackson. The destructive malarial fevers and epidemic diseases, such as
yellow fever, cholera, etc., which are so common in the warmer temperatures and
low lands south and southwest of us, have never been known in this county, and
in all human probability, never will be. The general appearance of this county
is much more broken, and its scenery greatly diversified. It is made up of high
mountain tracts of level lands, extending for many miles. These mountains are
cut back into by many beautiful coves and valleys of level and fertile lands,
some of which arc three or four miles wide, shut in by steep mountain slopes,
covered with forest growth of valuable timber; indeed, the whole of the valley
lands are said by geologists to have been cut out of what was at one time, a
level mountain surface, by the flow of the Tennessee River and its numerous
tributaries. This mountain surface at that time was all the Cumberland Mountain,
but is now cut in two by the river, at the point known as the Boiling Pot, this
side of Chattanooga, and has cut out the Tennessee River Valley in which this
county is situated; leaving that part of the mountain north of the river known
as the Cumberland Mountain, and that part of the mountain south of the river,
known as the Raccoon Mountain, or Sand Mountain, as it is called by the natives.
Both these mountains extend through north Alabama, and have an average width of
about twenty miles; hence the main valley lands lie along the Tennessee River,
and are as fine farming lands for all kinds of farming purposes, as can be found
in the South. Cotton, corn, oats, wheat, rye, tobacco, sweet potatoes, wool,
sorghum, honey, and butter are chief among its manifold productions. Pears,
apples, peaches, grapes, and berries grow almost to perfection.

    Along the slopes of the hills of Jackson county are found splendid orchards
of peaches. There is a steady growth of interest in stock-raising. Along the
high table lands of the county are numerous small farms which are surrounded
with all the evidences of plenty and contentment. The streams are the Tennessee
and Paint Rock rivers, and Big and Little Raccoon, Mud. Wido, Big Crow, Jones'
Santa, Big Lanne, and Williams' creeks, and Hurricane and Larkins' forks.
Besides these, numerous mountain springs abound, the water of which is pure and
perpetual. The county is unexcelled in its water supply. The hills and mountain
flanks are densely wooded, while some of the alluvial valleys are still
uncleared and are covered over with valuable timber. On the uplands are found
black and red oaks, pine, cedar and hickory. Along the valleys are found poplar,
ash, maple, beech, walnut, sweet gum, cherry and giant white oak. Indeed, both
upon the table lands and in the valleys, many of the forests remain in their
virgin state. They extend along the broad and deep streams of the county, and
timber hewn from them maybe easily rafted. The inclination of the different
water course is such as to favor the erection of manufactories, and for local
demands such do exist.

    The mineral products of Jackson are coal and iron, while the supply of
marble and limestone is unlimited. Coal abounds both in the Cumberland and Sand
mountains. These ranges travers the county twenty or thirty miles. From one of
the numerous caves in the county is obtained saltpetre. It was used by the
confedrate authorities during the civil war. In several parts of the county are
mineral springs, containing waters of superior quality.

    There are several industries in the county which have attained considerable
local prominence. Among these are the Belmont mines, situated twelve miles west
of Scottsboro. In the town of Scottsboro are numerous steam and saw mills, and a
hub, spoke and felloe factory. There are facilities of industry afforded in
Jackson county, the variety of which, perhaps, is not surpassed by that of any
other county in Alabama.

    The valuation of property in Jackson county for the year 1887 is
$3,396,283.27, as shown by the abstract of assessment filed with the auditor.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Northern Alabama: Historical and Biographical
Birmingham, Ala.: Smith and De Land
1888

PART III.
HISTORICAL RESUME OF THE VARIOUS COUNTIES IN THE STATE.
CEREAL BELT.


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