Agriculture in Boone County, Kentucky

A Draft of my essay Agriculture in Boone County, Kentucky



The Early Period: Settlement to the Civil War

Draft begun 28 July 2006



Settlement in Kentucky is intimately related to agriculture. The earliest explorers were interested in hunting, but those that followed were invariably looking for lands to cultivate. If they were speculators they had an eye to lands that farmers would be interested in. Agriculture in Boone County is part of the story of farming in northern Kentucky.

The farmers found that once the Indians were no longer threat the biggest obstacle they faced was the forest. The pioneers did not like trees, at least not large forests full of trees, and they set to work to clear the countryside as soon as possible. John Tanner, the boy who was captured by the Indians, tells in his book how his father, the preacher John Tanner, who was the first settler in the Boone County, cleared trees with the help of his slaves for a cornfield, then stood guard with a rifle while the crop was planted. The clearing of the trees was all done with the ax, and with fire, at an enormous cost in labour.

John Taylor, another Baptist preacher, who had sold Tanner the land he cleared, and followed him soon after, tells of clearing fifteen acres, with the help of his slaves, in a year. Trees were something to be gotten rid of. They were unproductive, and could not be used for crops until the clearing was done. In addition they might hide lurking Indians. No settler contemplated the beauty of these primeval forests, but they loved to see large expanses of cleared land in crops and pastures.

Along the banks of the Ohio river, in the alluvial flood plains, lies the largest amount of prime cropland in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The only area that can match it is the inner Bluegrass. Boone County, with almost fifty acres of river shore, one of the longest in the state, offered a quantity of such land as a prime attraction to early settlers. Much of it is in the area of Petersburg, in northern Boone County. Though not so extensive, there is also many acres of this kind of land around Middle Creek and the town of Grant, known today as Belleview. Even today these river bottom lands have the highest yields of corn per acre any where in the nation. It was not long before all of these lands were claimed. The lands at Big Bone, though claimed early, contain very few acres of this prime land; most of what there is lies in narrower strips along Big Bone and Mud Lick creeks.

Aside from the flood plains Boone County falls into two distinct sections based on soil type: These sections are the eastern and western, and this has had a huge impact on settlement and agriculture in Boone County, for the best lands (excepting the river areas) were furthest from the river, which meant difficulties in transportation. Picture a wavy line running roughly down the center of the county, with a single band running along the Ohio River: this band is considered to be 75 to 100 percent prime. To the east the land is considered to be between 25 to 50 percent prime, which means that the land is considered suitable for cultivation. To the west the land is considered less than 25 percent prime, which means that it is considered suitable for pasture for stock, and occasional cultivation. The soil is mostly composed of silty clay, and the steepness of most of the land means that the top soil is but a shallow layer in most places. Most of it is marginal agricultural land. Its best use would be as woodland and pasture, with a some intermixture of crops on the most suitable land.

(See maps)

Sir Albert Howard, widely regarded as one of the founders of organic agriculture, writing in 1947, sums up the reasons for erosion and soil damage in the United States:

“Such, in this great country, are the results of misuse of the land. The causes of this misuse include lack of individual knowledge of soil fertility on the part of the pioneers and their descendants; the traditional attitude which regarded the land as a source of profit; defects in farming systems, in tenancy, and finance — most mortgages contain no provisions for the maintenance of fertility; instability of agricultural production as carried out by millions of individuals, prices, and income, in contrast to industrial production carried on by a few large corporations. The need for maintaining a correct relation between industrial and agricultural production, so that both can develop in full swing on the basis of abundance, has only recently been understood. The country was so vast, its agricultural resources were so immense, that the profit seekers could operate undisturbed until soil fertility — the country’s capital — began to vanish at an alarming rate.”

Sir Albert Howard, The Soil and Health, (Emmaus, Pa.: Rodale, 1947), p. 88.


Did agriculture in Boone County conform to this pattern, or did the mixed farming in the area save us from the worst effects of the country wide pattern?

Mortgages that specify the farm must be left in conditions of good husbandmanry, and that so many acres of fruit trees must be planted each year.  (Cite these from the Boone County Deed Books)

Nature of mixed farming: Plant and animals together are necessary to maintain fertility.  Boone County always had mixed farming.

Relation of agriculture and economics in Boone County.

Chart prices when possible

Prices of land over time

Division of lands

Slaves and laborers on individual farms

etc.

Updated 13 March 2008.


Note this was compiled from Documents and Notes made while I was the Local History Research Specialist at the Boone County Public Library.  I have not had time to complete this essay, but plan to complete it in the near future.  I have collected many items since March 2008, and plan to do more research in the future.

Thank you.

James Duvall, M. A.
Big Bone University:  A Think Tank, Research Institute, & Public Policy Center
Nec ossa solum, sed etiam sanguinem.
Big Bone, Kentucky