Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1871-04-25
FACTS ABOUT EAST TENNESSEE.
43227HH3T TIlUx1HN
80 % Our NEineralsLIrosi.i q
NO. XVII.

NO. XVII.
We propose with this number to begin a
tseries Of articles on the mineral resources
of East Tennessee. Beginning with Iron,
we do not know that we can give facts con-
cerning it in more condensed or intelli-
gible form than we find them in letter
written some time ago by one of the edi-
4 tors of the CHRONICLE, then acorrespend-
ent of the New York Times, from this city.
His letter was written after an interview
with Gen. John T.. Wilder, of the Roane
Iron Company, ne.of the most successful
tand practical iron meu of the South THE
letter gives description eff the lockwood
blast furnace, built and operated by his
Company. We give the letter as publish
ed, beginning with the description referred
fto::h11sa BIS iIss 1iHsss7 ,zfisSgF
His works are situated four miles from
the Tennessee river, in the midst of one of
| the finest agricultural sections of the State.
\ He uses red fOssiliferous ore, yielding so
per cent. of iron in the blast furnace, and
making iron of very superior quality.
| His ore lies One-half mile from his furnace
He has three and one-half miles of iron
ore, two veins side by side, four and six
feet thick. He digs his ore at a cost of SO
cents ton, and carries it to the mouth of
the furnace by a small railway running.
down the hillside at gentle decline. His
| coal is, about one-half mile of, ir great
abundance-veins over five feet thick,
| splendidly drained, 1t is ssemi-bitumlnous,
| free from sulphur, and makes charcoal
| iron. He uses it in his furnace raw from
| the mine. Not nepound. of it is coked,
Eand thus far he has made an ex!.S,
cellent quality of iron. Some of the
largest andlmost successfulSiron dealers in
Pennsylvania have made examinations
here and declared it impossible to use our
Eeeal without coking. Experience Is the
best test, and l am glad to say that General
Wilder assures me that his experiment is
highly successful. This is a very import
ant item of news, for it makes great diff
ference in the cost of producing iron.
There are but few parts of the country
where coal is found that can be used raw
in the furnace. His ore he, can and does
use without roasting. The iron made from,
the above coal and ore is softer than Scotch
pig, and stronger. Near by, within a
stones throw of his furnace, is a hill of fire
proof clay 100 feet high. Within 600 yards
he has brown hematite iron ore, such asF
is used in making the Rodman gun, which,
yields 6S per cent. of iron. Here, i'll the
midst of this mineral wealth, he has built
ing lands. Produce of every kind is dely-
cred to his hands at thelowest rates ;-cofn,
80 cents per bushel; bacon, II cents per
pound flour, 81 00per hunGred.& On that
property, purchased for few Thousand
dollars, the company have erected Large
furnace at the cost of 100000. Theyhave
iron, coal and dlimestoneenOughto to rum half
a dozen furnaces for hundreds of years.
But this is not the only spot favored by
Providence for such great enterprises. The
Cumberland Mountains, from Cumberland
Gap to Alabama, are filled with iron and
coal of every kind. This range skirts the
northern side of the great Tennessee Val
ley. In it are six veins of coal running
horizontally, varying. in thickness from
one to six feet-usually five feet. Every
vein of it is within sixty miles of iron ore,
and most of it lying side by side with it.
The coal is. bituminous, : and all of it of
good quality, but varying in quantity. The
Coal Creek coal, which is mined thirty-siX
miles north of this city, on the Knoxville
and Kentucky Railroad, is five pounds to
the bushel heavier than the Youghiogheny
coal, which is about the best iron coal of
Pittsburg. The coal found in Roane coun-
ty is equal to the great Briar Hill coal of
Ohio. General Wilder says it takes one ton
less of the Roane county coal to make
ton of pig iron than of the Briar Hill coal.
OF the former it takes but 1000 bushels to
make fourteen tons of iron. They use of
the Briar Hill three to three and half tons
to one of iron. JD
s On the Cumberland Mountains, mixed
with the coal beds referred to, running the !
whole length, is found the clay iron stone,
of which the cheap Welsh iron is made.
Bluffs of it are found one hundred, feet
high, and could be dug out at ten cents
per ton = A long the base of the mountains,
RUNNING from the Virginia to the Ala
bama line, are two veins of q fosslllferou
ore, from two to fifteen feet thick. This is !
fine ore for all kinds ofeastings. Run
ming parallel with the mountains, we have
ridges extending nearly the length of the
valley. The same ore is found at various
points in these ridges, interspersed with
the black and brown hematite, gathered in
little hills and knobs.
On the south side of the great Tennessee
Valley, in the Smoky mountains, which
run about parallel with the Cumberland,
we have the finest varieties of thean1ag-
snetic iron ore Near tlizs range is also found
superior quality of hematite and man
ganese oresy The New, York and East
Tennessee IRON Company in Greene eean-
ty, make from the hematite and mangan-
ese ores a fine quality of sIiegeleisen, such !
,asyis, used as are7cdrbOnieer IN the BesseHeer
steel process. The Greene County kIron
Company make fine iron from the hema-
tite ore. Both furnaces are doing we'll.
Up the different branches of therTennes-
see river, above Knoxville, is to be found
ehillocks of gliInonite ore, and extensive
beds and hills of all grades of the different
oxide ores. These ores are not associated
with afy beds Of coal. All the coal lies on
the north side of the Valley. But even
these ores on the.seuths side are nearer coal
than the CfampIain and Superior ores. /
The latter ores at Pittsburg cost the fur
naces So to $50 per ton
These are the coal and iron beds East
grennessee g General w lder says our eres
are Superior in quality and quantity to the
beds of Pennsylvania Missouri. The
bulk of the Missouri iron is near the Iron
"1 "1~ssIssFr1s siis - ESaaEIgHe
An Irish gentleman, hearing of friend