Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-03-01
UNI0S AND AMERICAN
SUMNER COUNTY.

Desirable Place for n Home.
Summer county is situated for the most
part in what is called the Central Basin
of Tennesse5, q potion of the State noted
for the exceeding fertility of its soil and
the variety of its productions. The part
of Sumner known as the blue grass re-
gion extends along the Louisville and
Nashville Railroad for distance of
twenty-five miles, and varies in width
from two 10 twelve miles, containing
probably $50 or 800 square miles.
In the centre of this valley,
or basin, stands the town of
eALLATIN,
three miles distant from the Cumberland
river, and containing population of
three Thousand and fifty-two people, of
whom sixteen hundred and forty-three
are colored. The white residents of
Gallatin are noted for their hospitality,
intelligence, energy and sobriety. During
the war they suffered greatly in property,
and many fine estates were almost ruined.
Under the brutal tyranny of Gen. Payne
they were often compelled TO see their
houses destroyed and their kindred and
friends shot down under their very eyes.
Since the war, however, they have gone
theoretically to work, and more houses
were erected during the years 1868 and
1869 than during the thirty years pre-
viOus. And during the last year the
number of buildings put up was equal to
the whole number put up in 1868 and
1869. On every side may be
seen evidences of improvement
new storehouses, new dwellings,
new stables, and, better than all,
81 j NEW MANUFACTURERS.
The large wooden mills of Gardner
Nicholson recently erected are turning
out daily two hundred yards of the finest
jeans, linseys, cassimeres, etc., for all of
which he finds ready sale st remunera-
tive prices. He employs regularly thir-
teen hands and runs eight looms. HIS
whole establishment is in fine order, and
the steam engine used for driving his
looms is model of beauty and power.
By encasing his boiler (Which, by the
way, was made in Nashville from Ten
nessee iron) with brick wall and includ-
ing all in an almost sir-tight room, he is
enabled to keep high pressure of steam
on during the night without the use of
fuel, thereby saving largely in his ex-
peaditures for fuel. The greatest object
of attraction, however, to the stranger in
Gallatin is the mammoth
COTTON FACTORY
Owned by Henry Fitzgerald d Co. This
establishment was built in 1852, and has
been gradually enlarged until it now en-
ploys 100 hands, runs 4, 900 spindles and
"a looms, and turns out daily 3, 900 yards
of cloth and 600 dozen yarns. The Oper-
atiyes employed are all native Tennessee
ans, and the skill they display in the
management of the machinery as well as
the clearly manner in which the whole
establishment is kept, show that when
opportunities are offered, our own people
exhibit a capacity for manufacturing
unequalled anywhere. Mr.. Fitzgerald,
who has charge of the whole concern,
and, who evidently is gifted with unusual
executive ability, showed US everything
of interest and explained the various pro-
cesses through which tie cotton passes
until it is put up in bats and packages
ready for shipment as cloth. He has
recently introduced in his establishment
the self acting mule, which saves much
labor and is a vast improvement upon the
cid central wheel apparatus which re-
CURED an able-bOdied man to operate.
The only drawback to the complete
success of the factory is the high price of
fuel. Hal the water power, of which
there is 50 much in the county, been
utilized in the prOpelling of the ma
chinery in the place of steam, q greater
profit might have been realized on the
products But Mr.. F. thinks that the
healthfulness of the situation, and the
proximity TO Nashville, OVerbalances even
this drawback, and he is able to sell his
fabrics at fair profits in our city. Ten
nessee, he thinks, can compare with the
world in the manufacture of heavy cot
goods, and nothing is lacking to make
it great manufacturing State but want
of capital. The same opinion was ex-
pressed a year or 50 ago by the largest
manufacturer of cotton in the United
States, Senator Sprsgue, of Rhode Island.
We hope the time is not distant when our
people viii see the necessity of en-
gaging more extensively in manu-
factories. The s nth holds the unen-
viAble position of having made ma
tIJns great in wealth aud influence by her
products, while she herself has become
exhausted, enfeebled and impoverished
~ the production of the raw material
which are wrought into articles of neces-
sity by others. If the South could work
all her cotton into manufactured articles
and raise a sufficiency of food to supply
her operatives, how long would it be be-
fore the world would bow in subsection
to her imperial commercial power2 De-
pendent upon others for even the necessi-
ties of life, relying upon one staple,
welded to one system of agriculture, in
fferent TO and unmindful of the teach
ings of political economy, we fear anoth-
er generation must pass away before the
suicidal policy pursued by her citizens
VIII he abandoned.
Among the fixed institutions of Gala
Tin is the
EXAMINER,
newspaper edited by Col. Thos. Bsyers,
a gentleman courteous, chivslrous and
genial, and to whom the writer is in.
cebted for much valuable information.
The Examiner justly stands among the
b st of the country newspapers, but
whether its excellence is due to the labors
OF the Colonel or TO his accomplished sor
il a question We are unable to determine.
Mr.. Brown, a step son of the Colonel, il
also first-class business man, and works
with an earnestness that presages fu.
tJre success and honor. Gala
tu can also boast If two
We enjoyed the hospitslitics of the
) INNER House, kept by Montgomery &
louise. We but speak the universal
sentiment when we say that it is one OF
the neatest and best kept houses in the
State. The servants are attentive, thu
fare is excellent and its convenience t.
the business portion of the city makes it {
desirable stopping place for the traveller
We Ttly commend 1t to the travelins
public.
THR REAL ESTATE
of Sumner county is estimated 10 bt
worth s., 604, $50, and the number o.
acres in the county amount to 343. 04O.
This would make the average worth OF
the land, the city included, a little owe
sixteen dollars per acre. Now when W,