THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
With
school beginning for the 2004-2005 school term, it seems
appropriate to review some of the history of education in
Mr. Duggan began his report by giving
information about the county: “The
taxable value of the county, as returned for 1916, totals
$1,003,879.00, of
which about one-third is owned by non-residents. Most
of this non-resident property consists
in large tracts of original forests held by foreign corporations. The United States Government also has
acquired a considerable area for the Appalachian Forestry Reservation.”
Population in the county in 1916 was
reported as 6,918. Of that number, 2,114
were white school children and 19 were Negro school children. Mr. Duggan commented that “the mountain
slopes are covered in hardwood timber, and abound in mineral wealth.”
He noted the “water power that goes
wasting everywhere.” Cattle and hogs
abounded and the valley soil was fertile.
Apple trees grew to large size and produced immense crops of
finest
fruit with a minimum of care. He
lamented that few of the rich resources of the county had been tapped,
and that
no railroad “touched the county” for easy transport of products to
market. “The one greatest need of
the county is
first-class public highways,” he wrote.
“Good roads will facilitate consolidation of the schools and in
many
ways bring prosperity that will enable the people to support their
public
schools more liberally. Good roads and
good schools always go together, and neither will much precede the
other,” he
concluded.
He made no mention of the fact that
people in the southern portion of the county still hauled their farm
produce in
covered wagons drawn by mule teams over the Logan Turnpike through
Those in the northwestern part of the
county likewise hauled their goods by mule team but went to the train
stations
at Culberson or Murphy, NC, or perhaps to
The 1916 report on education revealed
43 public common schools (for white students) in the county, and one
high
school at the county seat in Blairsville, partly supported by the State
Baptist
Mission Board. This was the Blairsville
Collegiate
Institute [the subject of previous columns], founded in 1904, and
jointly
supported by Notla River Baptist Association, the Georgia Baptist
Convention,
and the Home Mission Board. This
boarding school operated from 1904 through 1930, when properties were
deeded to
the Union County Board of Education and the public high school opened
in the
fall of 1930. Tuition and board were
charged, but students also had opportunities for work-study programs.
Mr. Duggan stated that the “common
schools” were located too close together, some just a mile and a half
apart and
seldom more than three miles, and that there seemed to be no
delineation of
school districts. The County School Superintendent, T. E. Patterson,
was paid
“the minimum wage allowed by law,” and could not be expected to do much
supervision, receiving such small remuneration for his services. Besides the superintendent, elected members
of the Board of Education in 1916 were A. T. Sullivan, chairman; Bart
Swanson,
Norman Allison, James Seabolt and C. E. Rich.
Mr. Duggan’s report indicated that
“teacher elections” were held by patrons in the various school
districts. These appointments of
teachers, evidently
not necessarily approved by the
Item 5 in Mr. Duggan’s recommendations
urged “the citizens of the county to vote a local school tax of two or
three
mills for the further improvement of their schools.
“Their children are worth it.” He
further noted, “Much of this (tax) burden
would fall upon non-resident property owners who will willingly bear it. The entire county would benefit greatly.”
In assessing Mr. Duggan’s report and
recommendations, I thought how the millage has increased through the
years, but
how “non-residents” still bear a portion of the “burden” of taxes and
“willingly bear it” for the privilege of owning mountain property
within the
confines of Union County. Certainly the
county schools and students have benefited from this upward progress
for
education.
Consolidation was a strong word used
by Mr. Duggan. He thanked the School
Board, the Superintendent, and the Grand Jury for complete cooperation
in his
August, September and October, 1916 survey of the schools in the county. We can almost imagine his progress through
each district of the county as he visited the 43 scattered schools, and
as he
was present at the court house in each of the three monthly meetings of
the
Board of Education to hear their plans and to present his findings. Knowing the scarcity of roads and of vehicles
in which to travel in 1916, Mr. Duggan probably went from place to
place by
horseback—or perhaps by horse and buggy.
He found lodging in the homes of patrons within each school
community. He wrote, “Every
encouragement and facility was cordially offered me in making a very
thorough
educational survey, and there is strong and growing sentiment all over
the
county for better schools. The Grand
Jury strongly endorses any serious effort to that end, and the
[Ethelene Dyer
Jones is a retired educator,
freelance writer, poet, and historian. She may be reached at
e-mail edj0513@windstream.net;
phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA
31061-2411.]
Updated July 1, 2018
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