Ducktown, Tennessee
Ducktown, Tennessee | ||
---|---|---|
FIPS code 47-21740[5] | | |
GNIS feature ID | 1283051[6] | |
Website | www |
Ducktown (
History
Ducktown is located in a geological region known as the Copper Basin, and was the center of a major copper-mining district from 1847 until 1987. The district also produced iron, sulfur and zinc as byproducts.[7] Ducktown was the birthplace of Rockabilly Hall of Famer, Stan Beaver.[citation needed]
Literary historian Ben Harris McClary suggests that a Ducktown-area farmer named William "Sut" Miller (d. 1858) was the inspiration for the
The pre-mining period
The
In 1836, the Cherokee relinquished control of the Copper Basin to the U.S. government as part of lands they ceded in Tennessee and Georgia in the Treaty of New Echota. Although the U.S. removed many of the basin's Cherokee inhabitants in the march to Indian Territory, some avoided the roundup by hiding out in the surrounding mountains. They would later help build the Old Copper Road (now part of US U.S. Route 64). In the 1840s and 1850s, Ducktown was called Hiwassee or Hiawassee, after the Cherokee name for a major river in the area. This name was subsequently adopted for the city's first major mining operation.[11]
Early mining years
The copper was discovered in 1843 by a prospector, presumably panning for gold, who found nuggets of
Mining ceased when Union troops destroyed the copper refinery and mill at Cleveland, Tennessee in 1863. Mining resumed in 1866, and continued until 1878, when the mines had exhausted the shallow high-grade copper ores.
Later years
By 1906, the Tennessee Copper Company had begun constructing an acid reclamation plant near Copperhill, Tennessee[13] to recover most of the sulfur in the form of sulfuric acid rather than releasing it to the atmosphere. Froth flotation was added in the 1920s.
Geography
Ducktown is situated at the center of the Copper Basin (sometimes called the Ducktown Basin), a broad valley located in the southern
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.9 square miles (4.9 km2), all land.
The
Demographics
Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
---|---|---|---|
1890 | 221 | — | |
1960 | 741 | — | |
1970 | 562 | −24.2% | |
1980 | 583 | 3.7% | |
1990 | 421 | −27.8% | |
2000 | 427 | 1.4% | |
2010 | 475 | 11.2% | |
2020 | 461 | −2.9% | |
Sources:[14][15][4] |
2020 census
Race | Number | Percentage |
---|---|---|
White (non-Hispanic)
|
423 | 91.76% |
Native American
|
7 | 1.52% |
Asian
|
8 | 1.74% |
Other/Mixed
|
23 | 4.99% |
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 461 people, 174 households, and 120 families residing in the city.
2010 census
As of the
There were 209 households, out of which 16.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.8% were married couples living together, 7.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 49.3% were non-families. 46.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 27.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.04 and the average family size was 2.92.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 17.3% under the age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 21.8% from 25 to 44, 26.2% from 45 to 64, and 27.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 49 years. For every 100 females, there were 75.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 69.7 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $18,125, and the median income for a family was $27,045. Males had a median income of $25,833 versus $19,688 for females. The
See also
- Copper Basin (Tennessee)
- Burra Burra Mine (Tennessee)
- Kimsey Junior College
- Ocoee Whitewater Center
References
- ^ Tennessee Blue Book, 2005-2006, pp. 618-625.
- ^ Betty Duggan, "Voices from the Periphery: Reconstructing and Interpreting Post-Removal Histories of the Duck Town Cherokees," Southern Indians and Anthropologists: Culture, Politics, and Identity (University of Georgia Press, 2002), p. 46.
- ^ "ArcGIS REST Services Directory". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved October 15, 2022.
- ^ a b "Census Population API". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved October 15, 2022.
- ^ a b "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
- ^ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. October 25, 2007. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
- ^ Maurice Magee (1968) Geology and ore deposits of the Ducktown district, Tennessee, in Ore Deposits of the United States 1933-1967, New York: American Institute of Mining Engineers, p.207-241.
- ^ Henning Cohen, "Mark Twain's Sut Lovingood," Sut Lovingood Papers (Knoxville, Tenn.: University of Tennessee Press, 1962), pp. 19-24.
- ^ Outdoors, Cascade. "History Of Ocoee River & The Area". cascadeoutdoors.com. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
- ^ R.E. Barclay, Ducktown Back in Raht's Time (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1946), 4-5.
- ^ Barclay, pp. 8-9.
- ^ "Ducktown Basin Museum - Preserving the mining history of the Ducktown Basin". Archived from the original on May 15, 2015. Retrieved June 9, 2015.
- ^ Jack. "Copper Basin Mining". www.telliquah.com. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
- ^ "Census of Population and Housing: Decennial Censuses". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
- ^ "Incorporated Places and Minor Civil Divisions Datasets: Subcounty Resident Population Estimates: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2012". Population Estimates. U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on June 11, 2013. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
- ^ "Explore Census Data". data.census.gov. Retrieved December 25, 2021.