The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-09-10

The town, and everything 1t contained, was I'M
mediately burned to the ground.
The next morning, the command took up the
TRAIL leading in the direction of the Arkansas.
Captain Foote, with his company, &c, 9th In
fantry,) was to leave about the 9th of August,
to join his post-Fort Laramie.
Wire Rigging for Ships.
The Liverpool Courier says three-fourths OF
all the ships now fitted out of Liverpool are
rugged with wire rope. 1t is described as a
fourth less in weight and not one half the bulk
of that made of hemp, and the cost is also 70
per cent. less. 1t is much less susceptible than
hemp of atmospheric changes, and it is predict
ed that in few years it will supersede hemp
rope for standing rigging. A trial of wire,
hemp, and Manila ropes, was recently made at
the Kings dock, Liverpool. The straining tests
showed the immense superiority of wire rope
over that made even of the best 6brous mater.
al. The testing of the hempen ropes proved
the strength of Manila to be far superior to
Russian hemp, taking many of the merchants,
ship-masters, and riggers, present, by surprise,
as different opinion had been entertained by
many of the gentlemen present.
The English have the advantage of US in
regard to iron ships as we'll as wire rigging, on
account of the chespness of material. Iron
ships are increasing in number in England,
and in many respects they are superior to wood,
but they cannot be built here until iron be-
comes cheaper. An iron ship in England costs
only about the same as first class wooden
ship, but in the United States would probably
cost three times as much as a woodruff ship.
The depreciation on an iron ship is less than
one of wood and when the iron vessel is worn
out, the old material will 60 far towards paying
for new. These are important considerations.
There is no one thing which we so much need
as the ability to produce iron as cheaply as
England. We have the crude materials IN
abundance, cropping out on the surface OF the
earth, instead of being compelled to dig hun.
dreds of feet deep for it, but we need the skill
and the labor which is requisite.
Wild Lands in Pennsylvania.
The folly of supposing that high prices for
wild lands in the far West can be maintained
after the speculative fever is checked, may be
seen in the large quantities of fertile lands in
the old States, and much nearer the best mar
kets, which are sold at lower prices than have
been asked for wild lands in the West, 80 dis
tant that transportation to market will in all
ordinary seasons absorb nearly all the value OF
the produce. A writer in the Philadelphia
Ledger states that in Centre county, Pennsylva-
mia, within less than days ride by rail of
Philadelphia or New York, are some of the best
coal, timber, and tillsge lands in the country,
and yet there the dun deer lies down under
shady covert in safety, the wolf bowls through
the silent and beautiful valley, the scream of
the panther is heard in the Silly night, and
nature still claims her solitary reign. In this
region, the writer says, there are four veins of
coal, averaging from four to seven feet in thick
ness, the lower vein camel coal and also two
strata of fine clay underlying the two upper
veins of coal. This coal is very easily worked,
and it is of the best quality for making iron,
vast beds of which ore, of superior quality, are
close at hand. Some of the best forests of
white pine and white oak ever seen in Penn.
sylvania, are found in this central part of the
State. large tracts of it will cut from So 600
to 10000 feet of saw timber to the acre /; and
white oak in proportion is found. Much of the
land is of the best qnality for wheat and for
grazing and there is also a large body of
lands known as sugar-camp lands, still supe-
rior, chocolate loan, free from stones. The
whole region is we'll watered and has numer-
ous fine mill sites