Economic Development in Tennessee (Lesson 81)

TN and the rest of the nation continues to recover from the the Civil War and to develop a new way for life during the last part of the nineteenth century. From 1860 to 1900, the american population grew from 31.4 million to 76.2 million. Tennessee's population grew from 1.1 million to just over 2 million peeps. Tennessee's agriculture increased its postwar recovery, and its industry grew largely.

Many plantations were divided up and sold. This meant that Tennessee had more farms but they where very similar in size.   

Thousands of both black and white race were involved in tenant farming and sharecropping. As the century closed farming recovered the sales figures that is enjoyed before the war. From 1860 to 1900, cotton production had doubled and tobacco output increased fifteen times. in 1890 manufacturing made more than  money in TN farming for the first time. The main manufacturing businesses were flour and grist mills, iron production, and lumber products. Chattanooga became the iron center of the south by the mid-1800s. Knoxville built one hundred new factories in the 188s. The state grew in producing textiles, but it was still behind the national average. 

Copper mining began in Polk County in southeast Tennessee in 1847. (Not quite as magical as diamond mining)

Tennessee was the only major producer of copper in the South. The Burra Burra Copper minign Company was formed in 1860 by putting together several smaller companies. The company was named for a famous mine in Australia at the time. All the copper that was produced in Pol County before the Civil War went to Northern companies. The Confederates operated the mines during the first two years of the Civil War. After the mines reopened in 1866, output decreased for the rest of the country. By 1900, the mining operations, tree-cutting for smelting fires, and environmentally harmful emissions into the atmosphere what stripped 32, acres of land. Some of the land has since been restored. 

Iron mining also decreased over the period. By 1870 only six companies were producing ore. The ore that was left was too deep in the earth to mine easily. While copper and iron production were decreasing, coal mining was increasing. The area between East and Middle Tennessee was found to have rich deposits of coal that supplied America's growing industries. Bettwerailroads helped get the coal to where it was needed. Most of the mined were owned my Northern companies. 

Tennessee workers in agriculture, mining, in industry were relatively poor; but life was slowly getting easier. (But not on the back)

Tennessee had about 1,200 miles of railroad track in 1860, much of that was damaged or distroyed in the Civil War. The railroads recovered well however, so that by 1900 the state has over 3,100 miles of track. Tracks where improved and better rail cars were developed. The Louisville and Nashville railroad has all the rail traffic through Nashville. Jere Baxter attempted to break their monopoly by developing the Tennessee Central Railroad. he hoped to connect Knoxville to Nashville and eventually Memphis. Baxter used prisoners to build the line through the Upper Cumberland that connect Knoxville with Nashville and Clarksville. The L&N, however, refused to allow Tennessee Central use it's Union Station in Nashville. Baxter did not complete his line to Memphis, but he held open trade in the Upper Cumberland. A town in Putnam County is named Baxter in his honor.

The most famous famous railroading story in the era was that of Jonathan Luther "Casey" Jones. When Jones was 15 year old, he left home to work on the railroad. His company transferred  his to Jackson, TN. As an engineer, he became known for always being on time On April 30 1900, Jones was running his second shift for the day on a passenger line from Memphis to New Orleans. The train was an hour and a half behind schedule when it left Memphis, and Jones was determined to make it up. Near the end of the run, Jones was only two minutes behind schedule.

A freight train was on the track and unable to move. Jones told the fireman to jump off doing so with minor injuries. Jones stayed on the on his post to apply pressure to apply the breaks. No passenger died when the train hit the caboose of the other train but Jones gave his life saving them.
A black railroad worker who was a friend of Jones composed a song about the accident in his honor. It was preformed around the country. The song was written in 1909 and became even more famous. the songs may not have all the facts exactly correct, but they do honor he heroism of his stupidity. the Casey Jones Home and Museum in Jackson helps the story live on.



That took such a long time to write AGRAAHSIHDDDDHA