Part three continued. Pike County Journal. Volume 1, Number 1 Zebulon, Ga., Tuesday, November 20, 1888 Zebulon, Georgia The Old and the New Of Pike County. ----------------------cont'd. Pike County with the exception of Pine Mountain which guards the southern part from east to west, is gently rolling as the boson of a summer sea and grants unsurpassed advantages for agriculture. The county is admirably watered. The Flint River bounds the west and is a magnificent water power. It could power every spindle in Lowell, Mass. By running a plank spur in lieu of a dam, the local mills are run easily. The river is over a quarter of a mile broad and for a mile and a half, there is not only rock bottom but such a fall as to make daming [sic] a matter of little outlay. Elkins creek and Potato creek are other fine bodies of water and have now several mills which do not diminish their volume in any part perceptibly. Then there are numerous fine branches and springs innumerable in fact you can not get in or out of Zebulon without crossing water or go anywhere’s where you or your horse get dry. The soil in Pike county is gray sandy and rich mulatto land and a famous county for vegetables while the oldest inhabitants say they never knew peaches or grapes to fail. Vineyards are numerous and the making of wine could be a remunerative industry. The climate is all that prolongs and makes life enjoyable. Ninety eight degrees in summer and 10 above zero being the veriest [sic] extremes. Malaria is as absent as mosquitoes. With such a climate, the purest of waters and fruitful soil, - what more does a man want. Money he can make here without sweltering in summer and freezing in winter. Zebulon the center geographically and as the county seat intellectually, offers the best social advantages and the educational and religious privileges will answer the Christian, however exacting. Pike county has three railways. The Georgia Central runs north and south and passes Barnesville and Milner, two remarkably fine towns. The Atlanta and Florida, a new road, runs parallel with the Central and about ten miles apart, passing Williamson, the junction with the Georgia Midland, Zebulon, the county seat, Meansville a promising burg and Wye, a town in embryo. The Georgia Midland angles north-east and south-west - taps the junction westward at Williamson, has a lot of business at Concord, a town with city airs - whistles loudly for Molena which will have more than just a poetic name - and after stopping at Neal and Jolly, two snug trading points flies on to another county. As to underground resources, Pike county has never been tested, but the Pine Mountain gives indications of iron ore. The best of variegated marble has been found six miles form Zebulon and the ambitious are now gold digging and occasionally go to another county to have a blow out. In timber there are splendid pine, oak, hickory and ash, and the water powers and numerous railroads, with other advantages should certainly attract the eye to this glorious part of the sunny South where lands are cheap and God’s blessings manifold. (Transcribed 9/12/02 Lynn Cunningham)