Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Bluff City News

In 1906 an article was written about Union Township, which included this part of Nevada County. Here are some highlights of that article from almost 100 years ago.

There were four post offices in the township  Bluff City, Zama, Foss, and Theo, which received daily mail from Sayre.

Bluff City was called an old town in 1906, and was said to be quite aristocratic in the early days. There were two stores  those of J. N. Byrd and John Henry. Dr. F.R. Epperson was the local physician and R.W. Black was postmaster.

There was a population of 1,100 in the township with 225 voters, most affiliated with the Populist Party. The article said there was little interest in politics, but each one was trying to see who could raise the most corn, the finest cotton, the biggest potatoes, and the

largest hogs.

John G. Purifoy was the postmaster and storekeeper at Zama, which disappeared long ago. It was located south of Ebenezer Cemetery, just off what is now Highway 299.

Another place mentioned, which has also disappeared, was Foss. It was located four miles south of Bluff City and three miles east of Zama. The postmaster and storekeeper there was E.E. Epperson. The place boasted of its farmers, merchants, blacksmiths, teachers, lawyers, college boys and girls, ginners and doctors.

T.L. Gulley was the postmaster at Theo. He was a descendant of John Gulley and operated a large plantation in that area, which included much of what is now the International Paper Co. nursery. Dr. E.E. Shell was the physician at Theo, a town that has been lost to history. It was named for Theodore Gulley.

The article mentioned the beautiful scenery around Theo. One point of interest was Bluff Springs, where the clear sparkling water bubbled out of the base of a 60-foot hill in a deep ravine and began its journey to the sea. The exact location of this spring is now lost to

history, but evidently in those days it was a well known place. All we know is it was near Theo.

Other prominent citizens mentioned in the article were J.N. Kirk, Green R. Blake, J.T. Knight, E.A. Bevers, J.R. McAteer, Jno. T. Nichols, and Dr. S. J. Hesterly.

Since this article appeared in 1906, I thought it might be appropriate to include a thought for the week from that time period. "When a youth starts to sow his wild oats, it's time for the father to start threshing."