A Visit To Jackson In 1922

Editor's Note: In the early 1920s the Louisville Post, one at Kentucky's largest newspapers (which went broke in later years), often sent reporters throughout Kentucky. Columns by one, Ralph Coghlan, were common in the paper. It seems that Mr. Coghlan would pick a community and then make a visit, then report his impressions. As our readers will see, he did a good job of it. When, in December of 1922, he came to Jackson he was surprised. Instead of the capitol of the feud lands, as he had expected, Mr. Coghlan found a thriving city. However, had he arrived lust a few years earlier, a more remote Jackson might have easily fitted his first expectations. However, by 1922 most of feuding was fading from the picture, and our little valley was in a hurry to catch up with the rest of the country. Progress was everywhere as we will see in this highly interesting article.

By Ralph Coghlan

Jackson, Ky., Dec. 13, 1922--We made it a point to get to Jackson in daylight. Even if it did mean arising at 5 A.M. to catch a train, it seemed safer that way. We never were worth shucks as a hero, anyway, and we had heard many wild tales about the county seat of Breathitt. The thing to do, therefore, was to arrive in daylight and reconnoiter the ground. A night in Jackson! The mere thought appalled us. Daylight would be much better; if anything did happen we could at least find a soft place to fall.

Now all this speculation occurred previous to boarding the early train which arrived in Jackson at 9 A.M. It was inspired by downright fear, but mixed with that fear was a certain desire to see some excitement. We were like the man who didn't care to do a loop-the-loop in an airplane, but took a certain morbid interest in seeing someone else do it.

Our preconceived idea of Jackson, it must be confessed, was obtained partly from imagination and partly from reading a good deal of fiction about the Kentucky mountains, and particularly fiction about feuds. From those two sources was built up a picture of Jackson as a place where gutters ran knee-deep in gore, where the "stern" and "gaunt" mountaineer sat on his horse, rifle in hand, waiting for somebody to kill, where there was nothing but some log cabins with puncheon floors, razorback hogs, and moonshine stills. The picture also showed Jackson as consisting of only two classes of persons, those about to be killed and the killers, with both classes all mixed up. It was a fearful and awesome picture.

A Good-looking Mountain City

As the train arrived in Jackson we took a cautious and curious look around. The railroad station was a handsome one and all the activity of persons boarding and leaving the train was entirely conventional and orderly. A trifle reassured, we set out to inspect the town. The depot is on an eminence. From that eminence we saw a good-looking and peaceful-appearing city of some 2,000 or 2,500 inhabitants. A late autumn sun shone upon its white streets and fair buildings. In the fresh, clear air no sight in the peopled valley or the hills around about held any terrors. We became more reassured; we became even confident. At the same time, some serious doubts arose as to the truthfulness of the picture we had painted at the instigation of our imagination and the work of the fiction writers. Every moment as we descended into town the reassurance and the doubts increased.

In the first place, the persons we met were neither "stern" nor"gaunt." Rather, they were kindly-looking and well fed town and country people, such as one sees in almost any pure American community. By this time we were courageous enough to approach some of them. They were most obliging and courteous and business-like.

Disillusionment

No rifles were in evidence. We didn't see a weapon more formidable than a cap pistol and a child's slingshot. No gore stained the pavements or coursed down the gutters. We were becoming rapidly disillusioned, especially when looking for cabins with puncheon floors and razorback hogs; we saw instead scores of large brick store and office buildings, hundreds of comfortable modern residences. And where an occasional hog grunted about at the edge of town, he was a fat porker.

Our reactions may be analyzed as a mixture of relief, disappointment, and admiration. The relief was due to the fact we realized we were in no danger of being suddenly taken off. The disappointment arose from finding Jackson contained nothing of the color of feuds and feudism. The admiration came from finding a thoroughly up-to-date and modern city, a place where business flourishes and families live quietly and happily, when I had been led falsely to expect a decrepit little village.

No Excitement

All apprehension gone, we roamed about all day in search of excitement. No luck whatever. Everything was peaceful as the Sabbath. The most startling thing we observed was a pair of glaring scarlet mittens on a countryman. The most militant thing we saw was a barnyard cock strutting about among his hens.

Now as to the emotions and interests of Jacksonians. We found they were concerned with such things as the proposed KyVa Highway, coal development, agricultural improvement, and a new waterworks which will soon be installed. Their greatest subjects of pride, it developed,. were Jackson's churches and schools. Of the former there are four. A large and beautiful edifice of the Methodists is now under construction and practically completed. Of the latter there are the city schools, ably administered by Professor J.W. Davis, and S.P. Lee's Collegiate Institute. The Institute is a Presbyterian grade and high school which it is planned to enlarge into a junior college.

Wild and Thrilling Subjects

Schools, churches, roads, businesses, farming, mining, city improvement--these are the wild and thrilling subjects which engage the interest of the people of the city of Jackson! Nearly two million dollars deposited in Jackson's two banks constitute evidence that the same wild and thrilling subjects have been engaging Jackson's interest for some years past with good results.

In the old days, Jackson was a trading center for all the country south of it. To Jackson, which was a railroad terminal, was shipped practically all of the supplies for a large portion of Southeastern Kentucky. To Jackson came the farmers and merchants of that railroadless section to transact their business,

It is habitual with Jackson to be a prosperous trading town. Since the extension of the railroad down the valley of the Kentucky into Perry and Letcher Counties, Jackson has continued to grow. Today there is hardly a vacant house in the city and a good deal of building is taking place to care for the overflow.

Much Coal in Breathitt

Breathitt is not at present a large coal- producing county. The seams adjacent to the railroad are being worked, but they are not thick enough to warrant intensive development. What there is of the coal in this section, however, is of fine quality. Breathitt's real thick-seamed coal wealth lies in other parts of the county, notably along Troublesome, Quicksand, and Lost Creeks, where railroads have not yet penetrated. Once this coal is made minable, Breathitt will experience a great influx of wealth.

Agriculturally the county is not gifted with naturally rich soil, although it is in this respect one of the most promising of the mountain counties. In recent years Breathitt has employed a county agent who is introducing ideas destined to improve the condition of the farmer. The introduction of purebred cattle, purebred hogs, and poultry is being fostered and is certain to bring returns.

One of Jackson's most fervent enthusiasms just now is the proposed KyVa Highway. This road is to begin at Lexington, pass through Winchester, Stanton, Campton, Jackson, Hazard, and Whitesburg, finding its way to Virginia through Pound Gap. Already Jackson has a road constructed for twelve miles toward the Wolfe County line, and plans are being made not only to extend this road to the Wolfe line, but to build south toward Perry and Knott.

Such a road would take thousands of tourists from the Bluegrass to the mountains--tourists who couldn't be induced to make the trip in any other way except by automobile over a good road. It would put Jackson within a few hours' run of the great mining sections and the large markets of Louisville and Lexington. It would make possible a new and profitable commerce in garden produce, poultry, eggs, and the like for farmers who are in need of money. It would, in time, be one of the best things that ever happened to Breathitt County, to say nothing of its sister counties along the route.

So these are the things which interest Jackson and which are the subject of conversation on the streets and in the business houses. We come away with a sense of being sorely misinformed and rudely disillusioned in our idea that Jackson was such a stormy place as we thought it before the arrival of the 9 o'clock train. If it ever had that reputation in years past, it has long ago lived it down.