Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-09-12
WAYNE COUNTY.
A SDiendid Mineral and Agricultural
County Unknown for Want Of
Railroad.
The Memphis and Knoxville Railroad is
What the People Want and VIII
Pay for.

Prom our special Correspondent.
wAYNEsBoROUGH, Tenn, September
4 s, IS73.-This county (Wayne) is, next
70 Hickman, the richest county IN Mid
de Tennessee in irOn-Ore, and some
think il equal to Hickman. The Wayne
furnace, five miles from this place, has
nineteen thousand acres Of land, not all
of il. however, ore-land, but ab0unding
with timber, and it does not contain
more than one-tenth Of the ore Of the
county. Twenty tons of iron are made
there each day, and it costs thirty thou
sand dollars per annum TO transport this
metal to the Tennessee river, q distance
Of twenty miles, and 70 bring back sup
plies for the furnace. With a railroad,
i might be done for eight thousand dol
lars per annum, making difference OF
TWENTY-FIVE thousand dollars each year.
Iron-ore is not the only valuable mineral
here. Marble is so abundant near the
Tennessee river, that, actually, they
used il McAdamiZing q turnpike road
near Clifton, in this county, Without
knowing at the time that it was marble.
Bluffs OF stone, for making hydraulic
cement, are numerous near the river
about Clifton. Seven miles south OF THIS
place, there is a region OF country, twen-
~ miles in length, and ten miles
wide, where there never has been tau-
Ure ia the fruit crop, and this year they
have an abundance Of excellent peaches
Nnd apples, though they are very scarce
in other places.
ais pla.-e, consumes six hundred bales
of c6tton eSeh year, has eighteen hun
dred spindles ffty-six looms, and makes
fwentv-frAlr buS Sdred yards OF cloth
each dav. They have % haul in wagons
fhirtv-six miles and their transportation
Is q heavy item of expense. Ihe tactc-
~ i now worth one hundred and twenty
thousand dollars, and, with railroad
near il. would be worth at least two
hundred thousand dollars. 1t is owned
and operated by Willis Jones q Son.
Lawrence and Wayne counties, on
Shoai. Indian and Buffalo creeks, have
eSough water-power, never-faliIng, TO
nnan.Ufaeture all the cotton raised 10
Tennessee: but they cannot do so on
aeeoDnt e remOteness from market
the Nemphis and Knoxville road viii
remedy tbis. when it Is built. Memphis,
with a little energy and enterprise,
could command the trade OF all TINS
connfrv. of which she now gets
none. Colonel J. NJ. S. Ridley, living
near Mount Pleasant, in Maury county,
one Of the most intelligent, enterprlslDg
and public-spirited men IN Middle Ten
pessee. and one OF the beet and most sue
eessful farmers, assured me that al
though he found mule-raising mneh
more profitable than cotton-plautipg
vet if he had a direct road 10 MemahlH
lie would not raise another mule for
market but raise only hay and ship it to
Memphis and West Ysnnessee general
ly. Memphis can get the trade Of Mid
die Tennessee. VIII she do it2 Hon.
Jonathan Morris, Of this county, owns
fortv-eight thousand acres Of land, much
of II iron land, and says he is willing
moi onlv % pay his part Of the county
s,lbscri1fion' hut 70 give half Of his land
TO get a road Memphis. Viii not
your people respond - this NOBLE ana
liberal spirit? Nothing WIZ ~ 1lno.' liz
benefit West Tennessee as direct e nsse
ton with this region, which has "
yOusO much need. Gaylord viii double
his force at the Wayhe furnace and
make forty tons Of iron a day when this
road is built, and this viii only be the
commencement of the iron develop
ment in this county. They now employ
three hundred operatives at good wages.
Colonel G. w. Boyd, the superinten-
dent, is one Of the best iron men in the
whole country.