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Driving down Highway 15, just north of Siloam, I always slow
down to see what pithy saying the Rev. Roi Johnson has for his
congregation at New Springfield Baptist Church, as well
as for passersby. This marquee message stirred my memory
of one great Georgian, Dr. J.W. Fanning, telling a story about
his friend—another great Georgian, Cason J. Callaway.
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C.J. and J.W. were born 11 years and 150 miles apart, but both grew up learning “which end of the mule kicks.” C.J. was a prosperous merchant’s son in Troup County. J.W. was a cotton farmer’s son in Wilkes County. And by the time they’d meet, their wallets would be tens of millions of dollars apart. Still, their shared passion—agriculture—brought them together to cultivate C.J.’s progressive idea.
“Cason J. Callaway was the only 50 million dollar man I ever met,” Dr. J.W. Fanning once told me.
“And he surely knew how to put his money to work, making the world a better place.” The cotton mill magnate and future founder of Callaway Gardens invited Fanning, a county extension agent, to spearhead the 100 Georgia Better Farms.
The economic drought of the Depression lingered, and Georgia’s farmers were struggling in the 1940s. Callaway wanted to plow his ideas and dollars into the state’s farms, hoping to make a difference. He had been an innovator in terracing, fertilization and trying new crops.
Callaway’s vision and success were like a magnet, attracting 700 other businesses to contribute $1,000 each to help underwrite the effort. Fanning taught business-like efficiencies, along with the Callaway way. Before long, almost all of the participating farms were turning profits.
When the 100 Farms initiative was done, that wasn’t the end of Callaway and Fanning’s association. They remained friends and mutual admirers until Callaway’s death in 1961. Dr. Fanning liked reminiscing about the famous Georgian from Blue Springs in Harris County. My mentor especially enjoyed retelling the story—as originally told by Callaway—of the famous gardens’ founder and his ambition to corral Mountain Creek.
