Title: G.W. Young Letter

Date/Date Range :   1856 March 5

Extent: 0.1 linear feet

Abstract:

In a March 5, 1856 letter to his father in Chaplin, CT, G.W. Young of Clarksville, TN writes of the area's agricultural practices as well as the influence of a new railroad on coal mining and prices.

Call number: MS-2240

Repository: University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN

Aquisition Information:

This collection was purchased by Special Collections in July 2000.

Access Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Copyright:

The copyright interests in this collection remain with the creator. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library.

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of Item], G.W. Young Letter, MS-2240. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

Collection consists of a single folder.

No biographical information has been found on G.W. Young.

In a March 5, 1856 letter, G.W. Young of Clarksville, TN writes to his father William in Chaplin, CT about farming and coal mining. Young describes an agricultural practice known by the locals as "Plant Beds & Burning" in which they " [burn] Brush heaps on Tobacco beds & [save] the seed for plants."

After a discussion of people from home, Young also talks about coal prices in Tennessee versus those in Connecticut. He also speaks of "a Rail Road in construction from Henderson to Hopkinsville thence via Springfield to Nashville that passes through our extensive coal mine just above Hopkinsville Ky." He says that the State Geologist has declared this coal to be of "superior quality" and unable to be exhausted "in a million of years."

• Coal mines and mining -- Tennessee.
• Agriculture -- Tennessee -- History -- 19th century.
• Railroads -- Tennessee.