Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1873-06-25
FACTS ABOUT EAST TENNESSEE.
Monroe County.
No. CXII.


Having been written to by various parties
from different sections oftheN orth andWest
for correct and reliable information about
East Tennessee, and especially the section
where reside, will crave the medium of
your valuable journal to jot down few
facts as regards this old and much-abused
county. Why j say so, is that the mode of
cultivation by the "bull tongue and one
horse,n and the planting of corn and SOW
ing of wheat among the standing corn,
has tended to produce poverty in the soil,
as well as among the people, and to the
shame of the operators, the county
shows by the last census a less population
by some l 200 than she hadin 1S3O-4O years.
The constant drain upon as fine soil as
the sun shines on in the Island of Cuba
has induced our people to move West and
to Texas, where they expect the freshness
of the soil and the mercy of q kind Provi-
dence will give them still a further respite
from toll and labor. They will find even
there that there is no excellence without
great and unceasing labor. Monroe coun-
ty has at this time large breadth of land
for SALE and at figures that will attract. 1t
possesses more varied geological formation
than any other county in the State, q
large portion of the minerals-such as
gold, iron, marble, lead, manganese,
graphite, copper and baryta, will repay in
the working for expectation, with some
improved facilities of transportation,
when the large variety of lines and field
spar is made available as a fertilizer, to re-
cuperate the soils that have been exhaust
ed with the cultivation of corn.
TI,ar r-i1 y, of tl,e
county from south to north, divides the
waters running to the Gulf and the Ten
nessee river, with springs of great volume
along its whole extent, the sources of some
eight or nine large creeks flowing east into
the Tennessee river, and each one capable
of driving n large amount of machinery,
with ample falls and never-failing sup
ply ; and on the west some six prominent
creeks, now dotted with mills and cotton
gins, and only small portion of their ca
pacity in use. Besides the Tellico river,
with its crystal waters, and affording a
water power equal to all Lowell, and supe-
rior to any other river in Tennessee, owing
ply, and affording navigation for all the
productions of its mills and furnaces, as
well as the products of ITS large extent OF
superior bottom lands, and which by its al
most annual overflow is made rich with
its deposits and gives back to it an annual
cropping. The plateau upon the noun
tain, some eight miles in width, and some
% miles in length, furnishes varied geo.
logical character, and of great interest to
the men of science, giving the various
states from the conglomerate formation to
the gneiss, including the mica, slate and
serpentine formations, with large and
prominent veins of gold-bearing quartz
This section over and above all its untold
value in mineral, is of exceeding great inn
portance in the raising of fruits. For the
most part this district is level and covered
with most luxurant growth of fox
grapes, so that wagons can be loaded in the
season. Apples, pears and peaches grow
with almost certainty every year. Pota
toes produce more than three-fold-the ele
walton, being some fifteen hundred fee
above the dew point or thermal line.'
The water of this section is of the pures
freestone, and presents large field for the
growing of wool and grass. Prominent
among the iron development is a veiI
some 200 feet in width, running through
the whole extent of the county anC
which has been pronounced 10y
the most experienced biologists
pure vein of iron of the simonite variety
yielding fully 90 per cent. of iron. Now
this vein extends to the Tellico river, anC
that stream and the Tennessee may b.
made available to transport it to Knox
vile rother points. Not to trespass to-
much upon your kindness, L wish to say, a
set out TODD, that Monroe county present
strong inducements to the seeker after tn
finest climate and lands the contiHen
possesses that lands are held here at
reasonable price; the owner is willing Il
take the value, and the lands will be founC
better watered shan in any county in tn
State, making them well adapted Il
grasses, and the raising of sheep instea'
of corn.
The people of Monroe county are moral
and law-abiding, and it will be found tina
the Sabbath is fully as we'll kept here as il
Connecticut The people here do no
drink beer that works on Sundays, bu
they drink mountain dew" made wit
the shuck on, and sometimes withou
Uncle Sans stamp thereon. do say il
all soberness, that 1 know of no count
offering greater and better inducement
to the emigrant from the rigid North an
West, than Monroe county. 1 hav
travelled much and far, and l think that
am not mistaken.
Let the traveller pass up or down tn