Randolph County AlArchives News.....Randolph County Alabama 1887 October 20, 1887 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Linda Ayres http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00031.html#0007674 March 29, 2023, 2:52 pm The Daily Dispatch October 20, 1887 Prepared for the Dispatch by Jas. W. Oliver, Eq., Wedowee. The county of Randolph was created in 1832 and named for the famous John Randolph of Virginia. Its natural advantages are, in a great many respects, superior. Its climate salubrious, lands good, tone of society elevated, and health unsurpassed. During the census of 1880 the census official rendered in his report at Washington only to have it returned to him for correction, the Washington official declaring the death rate to be too small to be true. But the original report was returned to Washington unchanged, as no error had been committed. The area of the county is 610 square miles. The population in 1880 was whites, 16, 575; colored. 3,420. Cultivated land. 81,426 acres. Area planted in cotton. 23,177 acres: in corn, 29,505 acres oats, 4,850 acres, wheat, 10,106 acres; tobacco, 44 acres; and in sweet potatoes 433 acres. Cotton production 7,725 bales, corn 332-406 bushels. The sods of Randolph are of average fertility, and on account of deep clay subsoil and abundant rainfall, are quite reliable for agricultural purposes. Not more than one-fourth of the magnificent forests of Randolph have been cleared, and the fine pine timber here will one day be a feature in itself. The lands are easily worked and produce remarkably well. All the crops that are congenial to the southern climate grow their best here. Fruit growing is gradually expanding, and bids fair ere long to rival all other industries. There has been only one failure of the peach crop in thirty-five years, and the apple crop never fails. The farmers produce nearly-everything they use. at home, and are, as a general thing, well-to-do. Like other counties, the absence of railroad transportation has prevented much attention being given to the minerals of Randolph, but this want is now being supplied. The East Alabama railway bus been extended to Roanoke, in the southern portion of the county, and will soon be completed to Anniston running right through the center of the county and will open up some of the finest timbered and mineral lands in the state. In cold, conner. mica. tin. graphite, kaolin and iron, Randolph is doubtless one of the richest counties in the state. All these abound in the northern portion of the county. Its Kaolin is of superior quality and is inexhaustible. More than one mine is now being worked to advantage. There is scarcely a square forty acres of land in the county that is not penetrated by a rivulet, creek or river. The Tallapoosa and Little Tallapoosa rivers run through the county and have some of the finest shoals on them that nature has ever formed. There will be large cotton factories run by them some time in the near future. As for creeks, Randolph has almost a superfluity of them Wehadkee, Wedowee, Corn-House, Wildcat, Beaver Dam, High- pine, Cut Nose, Piney Woods, Shoal, Crooked, Fox, Chillisada and Hutton creeks are some of the principal streams. There are eight flour and grist mills turned by the waters of Wedowee creek. Randolph has the purest and coldest freestone water in the world, and that in abundance. This accounts for the wonderful health enjoyed here. Wedowee, the county seat, situated as it is, in rich mineral beds of Kaolin ana mica, wilt one day be a large and prosperous city. Leaving out the mineral, the large pine forests that extend for miles and miles around it in every direction will one day make it an interesting town. Brockville. in the north-eastern portion of the county, has a fine school and is building up rapidly. Rock Mills and Roanoke, in the southern portion, are also points of interest. Rock Mills has a cotton factory a tannery, pottery and cabinet establishment, and a line school also. Roanoke has lately arrived at the in importance of being the only railroad station in the County and will doubtless be a flourishing village There is a flourishing and well-established college there. Lands may be purchased for from $2 to $20 per acre, according to locality, fertility, and improvements. The people are fully alive to the importance of immigration and will give a warm welcome to all good people who are seeking. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/randolph/newspapers/randolph2273gnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 4.8 Kb