Editing Jakin, Georgia (section)

==History==
Early County was created by an act of the General Assembly on December 15, 1818.<ref>[http://earlycounty.georgia.gov/03/home/0,2230,8867984,00.html Georgia.gov, Early County]</ref> Land lots of {{convert|250|acre|km2}} surveyed in 1819 and 1820 were distributed by the state in lotteries. Jakin is in the 26th land district in the southernmost end of the county.

As early as 1817 settlers began moving into the area and began to build on the old Indian paths along the river. These old paths became the Old River Road in 1820 and a post road by the mid-1820s. The post riders were often harassed by Indians. As the forests along the river were cleared, large plantations and fine frame homes began to appear. The [[Chattahoochee River]], {{convert|3|mi|0}} to the west, was the main source of transportation, bearing downstream huge square-cut timbers to [[Apalachicola, Florida]], for ship building and turpentine for export, and bearing cotton upstream to the cotton mills in [[Columbus, Georgia|Columbus]]. In 1821 the Armstrong and Attaway Company built the first [[cotton gin]] at nearby Saffold Navy Yard.

The first families established here were the Allens, Rambos, Donalsons, Harrells, Shewmakes, Saffolds, Johnsons, Hayes, Gibsons, Crawfords, and Moodys. In 1828 a road was made from [[Blakely, Georgia|Blakely]] to [[Bainbridge, Georgia|Bainbridge]] on which settled the Hodges, Warrens, Minters, Easoms and Perrys. These families pioneered what became Jakin.

In May 1878 C.A. Minter, a physician, purchased three lots, roughly {{convert|750|acre|km2}} of land, for $10 and a shotgun. The first mayor of Jakin, James Morris "Major" Bivings, named the town [[Boaz and Jachin|"Jakin"]] after one of the columns of [[Solomon's temple]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/1995_96/leg/fulltext/hr638.htm |title=Resolution on Jakin centennial, Georgia House of Representatives |access-date=2007-06-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080521190811/http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/1995_96/leg/fulltext/hr638.htm |archive-date=2008-05-21 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In addition to small farm agriculture, Jakin's early economic growth resulted from [[turpentine]]. The unspoiled [[longleaf pine]] forests were prime resources, first for turpentine then lumber. Bivings and his partner, James W. Duke of [[Chicago]], founded the Duke and Bivings Lumber Company complete with housing, commissary and post office. Bivings served as the first postmaster. On January 3, 1898, the Flowers Company purchased the lumber mill for $20,000. In addition to machines, buildings and materials, the purchase included {{convert|160|acre|km2|1}} of land and a railway. According to published town history, an estimated 1,000 workers were employed by the mill. In 1903 Jakin's population was 2,000. [[World War I]] and deforestation led to the closure of the lumber mill in 1918.

Agriculture served as Jakin's main industry until 1963, with [[Great Northern Paper Company|Great Northern Nekoosa]]'s purchase of a family-owned lumber mill which later became Great Southern Paper, which also ran a plywood mill in nearby [[Cedar Springs, Georgia|Cedar Springs]]. Great Southern Paper was acquired by [[Georgia-Pacific]] in 1990.<ref>[http://www.gp.com/center/history/1990.html Georgia Pacific website history]</ref> In 2005 GP was acquired by the privately held [[Koch Industries]]. Despite changing ownership, the mill has operated continuously.