The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1870-05-01

Resistsv q Tuesday laet, - N interestinl
evidsnos thae the development Of tho 10
sources ~ the Southern States Il NO longe
q question Of future hope, but an existing
reality In tho present. The State of Ala
bsma u abundsntly CITED with minera
wealth. Her Goa, iron and marble alons
are sufficient to enrich the State, bu
hitherto they have lain like dead capita
| beneath her surface. Now, however, that
tho work has commenced, the profits arisine
from it will push it ahead. In few years
Alabama will be known as the great coal
and iron State:
TALLADEaA, ALA, April %, 1870.
Editor Register Leaving the coal mines
at Montevallo, the first public interest that
attracts your attention, are the lime kilna,
located three miles north Of M0ntevallo, is
worked by p. G. Walker, Esq., who en-
plOys from twenty-five to thirty hands,
mostly freedmen, and averages about sixty
barrels per day, which at the kiln is worth
el.25 per barrel. He pays for labor from
SO per month and board, to 81. so per day,
very few, however. getting tile latter price.
The other kilns are at Calera, the "coming'
city, better known a. "Lime Kiln Station.n
These kilns Are turning out from one hum
dred to ono hundred and twenty-five bar
rels per day, and it is said to be the finest
lime in the United States. The supply Of
rock il inexhaustible. This place is at the
crossing Of the North and South road, and
Selma, Rome and Dalton Road, and it's fu
tuTe prospects, depend upon these two
roads. There 10 some talk Of making this
the county site OF shelby county. A few
miles above here are the famous Shelby
Springs the dinner house, and twenty
m Tn Rat in
tieularly complain of the fare you get, you
are somewhat at a loss to know Why Won
are charged 81 per meal, and q citizen of
Shelby, heartier eater, only fifty cents.
I-could account for the discrimination only
from the fact that was stranger and
they took me in" Next we come to CO.
lumbaana, the present county site of Shelby
county email village Of some five OF, SIX
hundred inhabitants. From $l5O,Oo0 to
$2OO, OOO worth of goods are sold~6ere an
nually. Six miles east of here are the
celebrated Shelby Iron ysfks, which are
reached by railroad owned by, and used
Works. Until .c.Wilson's raiders DESTROY.
ed this place there were quite extensive
and rolling mills here. but onlv
the furnaces have been rebuilt. Dnring
the Gear 1869 this furnace was run a12
days, with but eight hours loss of time. ali
told, turning out, on an average, fourteen
tons per day of pig iron. 1t was stopped
IN December last, to give place for a larger
one, which was built by Mr.. j. B. Bailey.
an experienced furnace builder from Nav
I crk, though against the advice and iudp-
ment of every iron man - in the conntry.
and, on the Oath of March last, it com.
menced running. 1t is now in successful |
operation, turning out on an average
twenty-five tons pig iron per day, and ia
tho largest charcoal blast furnace in the
United States, if not in the world. The
company Is made up of Southern and
Northern capitalists, with j. w, Lapslev
IS President, A. G. West, Superintendent.
ina Y. .. Hogard, formerly of your city,
perience in the iron business, and nossesses
IN uncomfortable energy, and determine.
ION. The company 0wn>a very largo hol1u
u land, and have located the furnace a.
ne foot OF the mountain or ore bed. which
3 about one and q quarter miles long by
nree quarters OF q mile broad, with depth
Unknown, as the ore is SO very bountiful
hat the deepest excavations yet made will
larIiy exceed seven feet; in fact, the
vhoie place is mass of the best known
iematite and needle ore. The fact is that
arth containing ore that would Command
pennsylvania rs Per ton, is here thrown
way as too poor for use am told nv
hose who profess to know that one hun,
red years use will not exhaust this ONE
'ed OF ore, and it is by no means the largest
AaDama mas. The ore is taken from the {
arth and roasted in beds prepared for the
urpose, to dry all the moisture and loosen t
no earth adhering to it. 1t is then broken r
no passed down over a seive and loaded c
IRAN cars, and by them carried to the 6
irnace. The furnace is fifty-six feet high
nd twelve feet in largest part of diameter. h
: IL charged about eighty times in twenty h
'nr hours, the following proportions con-
atuting charge: six hundred and seven +
I'VE pounds ore, eighty pounds limestone, r
~ twenty bushels charcOal.~You will Il
'adlly see BY this, that a large amount of a
iarcoal Is needed, and ten furnaces, burn q"
z sixty cords of wood each, are required l p
instantly to supply the demand. They IL
10 an engine one hundred and twSnty- five Il
,rse power, with five large boilers. while
the gas from the heated furnace is made
10 double duty in furnishing heat and r.
asI power. The molten iron is drawn off
ut times per day, and a grander ex-
oitlon OF hEeworks is seldom seen than !,
e tapping VI an immense furnace like Z
is, at midnight. One could almost l
laglne he had a glimpse of the internal .
glons, to see the liquid iron running like
stream of ore to the big beds below, while =
c1noer Is sputterlng and scattering for
rds In every direction. This work gives .
,pIoyment to about one hundred aud q
ty men, and besides the steam power ~
ere are thirty six OF forty head of mules o
instantly busy. You must bear in mind =
at this work is unceasipg, night and day a
nday and Monday being alike to blast :,
mace. The ore here yields sixty per !.
ut. pure iron, of the finest quality. Twas y
own some specimens of iron made from