100 Years Ago in Georgia: Business booms; Macon artesian well is talk of town

A peek at a copy of The Telegraph from a century ago today turns up news of then-great business prospects for the South and the discovery of an artesian well on the outskirts of Macon. There was also word that one south Georgia county had become the hotbed for hogs.

“Brooks Banner Pig County,” a headline declared.

The paper that day, a 12-page edition, also noted a Macon gathering of shippers who were upset about railroad rate increases.

Another article about the South’s business boom cited a publication known as the Industrial Index, which had recently reported: “Never before has the south begun a year with business at so great a volume and with such substantial promises not only of continued but of increasing prosperity. ... Farm products have been selling at record-breaking prices.”

The Telegraph also wrote of a surprising find near Macon on the property of one Emory Winship, who had “the distinction of having the only spouting artesian well in middle Georgia, and one of the few in the entire state.”

The story added: “News of the discovery ... has caused hundreds of people to visit the place.”

This story was originally published January 4, 2017 at 11:58 AM with the headline "100 Years Ago in Georgia: Business booms; Macon artesian well is talk of town."