New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-09-24
the average of the Cornish ores is

MANY of the low-grade copper ores are like those
nj Ducktown. rich in sulphur, and this though
there allowed to mass off into the air. is in other re-
pions substance of great value. In the shape OF
sulphnric acid it forms the starting-point OF the
great industries Of the sOda-manufacture and oil
mineral fertilizers. The native sulphur beds oil
Sicily formerly supplied the world, but the chemcal
manufacturers of Great Britain are now independent
of this source. since they find more advantageous
supply in the beds of sulphuret of iron and copper
of Spain. from which more than a half a million
tons are annually shipped to England. These ores
when burned in proper kllns yield from 80 TO
40 per cent or more of sulphur IN form
fitted for the making of sulphuric acid;
while from the residues a portion of copper
amounting to two three per cent is extracted with
profit leaving behind valuable ore of iron. The
profits of this industry enormous, and the de-
mand for sulphur ores in Great Britain is daily in
creasing. The great success of the 1harsis Com
pany, which has hitherto controlled the trade In
Spanish sulphur and copper ores has led to the or
ganization in London of a new company, the Rio
Tinto with capital of G2250000 sterling 1t pro-
poses to construct a railway of fifty miles to the
seacoast in SPAIN and to ship yearly 100000 tons OF
sulphur ORE upon which the profit is estimated at
G775OO0. Large quantities Of the sulphur thus
brought from Spain into England are used for the
treatment of the phOsphates of South Carolina which
are shipped to England for the manufacture of fer
tilizers.
The value of these mineral manures for our own
soils Is becoming more and more understood especi-
ally for the cotton and tobacco crops The production
of superphosphates in the works of Charleston, Sc
this wear is about 200 TONS for the manufacture of
which 5000 or 6OO0 tons Of native sulphur are I'M
ported from Sicily. Large quantities of the crude
hot a1o ubt Carolina
the coast of England, where they treated as
at Charleston with the acid made from Sciian sui
pbur and the product is sent back to the cotton
lands of the South. 1t may well be asked, Why do
not our manufacturers initiate the example OF the
English and substitute the sulphur ore or pyrites
for the native sulphur of SicilyY The answer is
easy. Available deposits of pyrites suited for the
purpose are not accessible. For many years manu-
facturers of acid in the vicinity of New-YOrk have
drawn limited supplies of sulphur over from the
provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and from YER
mont and to-day similar ore is brought from near
Richmond Va, to Philadelphia, there to treat the
South Carolina phosphates and convert them
into fertilizers, which are destined for the
Georgia market. The Vivians, great copper
snelters of Swansea, in Wales, manufacture
yearly some GOOOO tons of fertilizers, than
the entire manufacture of Charleston, 5. C., from
the waste sulphur from their copper ores, and the
sulphur which goes to waste this year in Ducktown
would if converted into sulDhuric acid, produce as
large quantity. Why then, it may be asked, is not
this valuable product utilized Simply for the want
of communications. A mountain barrier, traversed
by no railroads stands between this precious de-
post of sulphur ore and the mineral pbosphates of
the coast Of South Carolina. Were these two more
accessible, the one to the other, the value of both
would be greatly enhanced, andthe benefit to South
ern agriculture would be immense.
That this desirable conjunction will be one day
realized there is little doubt, the as recent
investigations indicate that the deposits Of natural
phosphates in South Carolina are practically mex
haustibe. Meanwhile other and more accessible
localities invite attention. The conditions of Duck
town are reproduced in Southern Virginia, where, in
FLOYD and Carroll Counties are great lodes Of iron
and copper pyrtes which, previous to the war, were
mined like those of DucktOwn, and yielded large
quantities of nch When the lOw-grade ores be-
meath were reached, the mines were abandoned, and
unlike those of Tennessee have not been reopened.
From recent examination of the lodes In Carroll
County there every reason to conclude that If
the same skill and capital applied there as at
DucLtown. the mines might be made to yield as
large an amount of copper under conditions much
more favorable for working and shipment than in
much sulphur as those OF Ducktown, and ineXhausti
bic supplies of pyrites rich in sulphur and holding
more or less "copper" like those ofSpan can be mined
A railway of II miles would connect these mines
with the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad at a
point 125 miles from Lynchburg, the head
of water communication. At this point,
at Norfolk. or at Charleston itself these sulphur
ores will one day be brought III contact with the
South Carolina phOsphates. The sulphur the cop
per and the iron of these will be utilized, as is
now the case with the Spanish ores in England, and
the phosphates converted into fertilizers not only
for our own soils, but for shipment abroad. have
spoken thus of the copper and sulphur deposits OF
Carroll County because their greater accessibility
points them out for more immediate development,
and will permit their accompanying sulphur TO be
turned to advantage. The deposits of Floyd County
are. however probably not less worthy of attention
AZ sources of "copper" and others doubtless await dis
cOvery.
The dav cannot be far distant when railroads will
penetrate this alpine region of the South. The pro-
iected Norfolk and Great Western Road passing
through the southern counties OF Virginia would
traverse its northern portion, and although the diff
culties of construction further southwark are con-
siderable the development of these great mineral
resources will it may be confidently predicted, lead
before long to the building of railways which will
ntersect it in many parts; and with the develop
ment of its mineral wealth new era will begin.
Its fertile soils will be TILED, its numerous water
powers utilized, and it will become i'll time another
New-England for industry, with advantages of soil
and climate which will one day make it one of the
richest AZ it is one of the most beautiful portions of
our country. T. S. II.
Boston, Aug. 80, 1873.
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PERSONAL.
The venerable Boston poet, Charles Sprague