Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1873-02-26

nesseeans Eight shyn of the iron business
| But Gen. Wilder has set you better eA
an pie: iaF va m..1 y d
MANY of us remember the day five year.
!. ago when Gen. Wilder set out from hnox
4 Vile flat boat with few men and aXe
and few necessities of life, such as
dozen sides of bacon, a barrel OF cracker
and box of cheese-nothing stronger, To-
/ the General is a temperance man ne nei
| Their drinks, smokes or chews, and dislike
4 very much to swear, but says that III
sometimes finds its necessary In the lfof
| business @ ~, 4C Ge.
! That little fiat boat expedition cleared
] away the underbrush where now STANDS
the f1ourishing town of lockwood ana laid
the foundation for business probably
now approximating $4,000 per day in all
it's branches The lockwood ores contain
larger per cent. of phosphorus and Sill
lea, but with the banks patent pudding
furnace this is so far driven out, neutralized
and controlled as to make an iron unsur-
passed for railroad rails, which the COM
,pany are making at Chattanooga ~ - =.
r There are numerous deposits of ore of
which have no time to speak, but can
not pass them without referring to the
@Telico ores Of Monroe county. L have no
analysis of them, but an average judge OF
iron ores would at once pronounce them
both Of excellent quality and probably a
larger yield than any brown ores or East
Tennessee.
They would make an iron suitable for
all purposes and probably make as good a
car wheel as the Carter ores. These ores
have "never seen the cars" / visited the
speculum on beds of Cooke county, which
you have heard of through one or two cor
respondents of our city papers. These ores
are rich and if in quantities as supposed by
many, will be very valuable. Silica is the
greatest Objectionable feature and it is so
abundant as to probably exclude them
from successful competition with the ores
of Carter, Washington and Monroe, for
many purposes az g-r-.rr
The amount of iron ore in East Tenncs-
see is large, but most of it is distant from
the present railroad lines.
A hundred furnaces could feed from the
crib of the great dyerstone vein, and here
and there are Especial deposits of nature,
some of which would support numbers of
furnaces and make an iron unsurpassed in
the markets and at a cost of but little more
than Pittsburg pigs for the ores before they
are smelted.
Iron is grand instrument toward the
advancement of civilization. Through its
sinews and electric nerves, we bridge dis
t6lCGS UGGW0Gu anu
make the commercial transactions of day
greater than three weeks of old time busi-
ness. 5-r.- 80 -r.
The iron wheel spurns hill and valley
from beneath its crushing burden and sets
a foreign market down at our elbow as it
were. Iron is an emblem of life, energy
and strength, as well as an instrument of
death and destruction, and yet iron is de-
pendent upon coal.
Disposing of the iron question, he allud-
ed to coal. Iron, though powerful, had to
bow to the sable "qUeen of diamonds"
He alluded in his peculiar way to our vast
deposits of coal and their great value. He
hen discussed copper, lead, zine, marble,
&C., &c.
The delivery of the lecture occupied
about one hour and q quarter, and was re
garded with interest throughout. Dry
science was SO touched upon as to relieve
it of is dryness to unscientific minds.
Many passages were characterized by a
humor that would do honor to Mark
Twain. 1t was Mr.. Johnson's first effort
in that direction, but we trust it will not
be his last.
The Board of Trade gave Mr.. johnson
their thanks by rising VOTE at the con
:lusiou of the lecture. egg 'ss.i