The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-12-19

counties in Middle Tennessee have paid
tax, and are still paying tax to meet the
| interest GU state bonds issued in aid of
| railroads in other portions OF the State,
: from which they never have nor never
| will derive any direct material benefit;
! and now that the State is prohibited by
| the constitution from giving aid in the
I const ruction Of new roads. Shall these
Counties refuse to help themselves? II
! is admitted on all hands that it is unjust
! tina these counties should be compelled
! to build their own roads, after having
| assisted in paying the taxes 10 build
roads through ether portions of the
| s ate, but there il now no other alterna-
| tive if they would have roads, and be
enabled to compete successfully with the
more favored sections of this and other
| States. The northern farmer with the
northern facilities for transportation,
| can put his produce on the D'arket at
| cheaper rates than farmers who live Ie-
| mote from navigation and railroads can
afford TO sell; and consequently, u conn
| try without means of transportation can
| not compete with country that IS
ready sale and convenient transporta-
ton for produce. Without means of
communication with the great CONNER
cial markets of the country, these coun-
ties must forever remain in the back
ground, and their pecuniary interests
remain subservient to the will of others
residing in more favored localities. We
call upon the people of the iron country
to investigate this subject for them
selves. We call upon them in all candor
to look forward to their immense unde-
velOped resources and to the wealth and
prosperity that road would bring them.
and we ask them too to consider the
vast amount of money that would be
circulated in their county even while
the road is in progress OF construction.
Work for our Next Legislature.
Col. J. B. Killebrew passed through |
our city on last Tuesday, after having |
made an extended tour through the |
counties OF Hardin, Wayne and Law |
renee. He reports the amount of iron |
ore in the county of Wayne as mex |
haustible and easy of access. The bills |
around Wayne Furnace and even the |
fields in the southern part of the county |
are filled with laminate iron ore, of a |
red quality, and there is en- 1ugh to run |
thousand furnaces for an indefinite |
length of time. The question is not one |
of ore but of timber; and in the neigh> |
bOrhood of the furnaces in Lewis aud |
Wayne, the country is being rapidly de- |
nuded of this Indispensable article, leav |
ing barren wild waste, covered with |
broomsedge, green briers and gray |
moss. Now it is possible by an efficient |
law to keep the supply of timber con |
slant. 1t is estimated that an area ex |
tending in every direction from the |
furnace OF six miles would keep one |
with economy in blast perpetually, if |
there was a stringent law in action |
against firing the woods. These fires |
which are kindled every year i'll the old |
coaling grounds, sweep with resistless |
fury, destroying not only the leaves but |
all the young sprouts that shoot up from |
the stumps of trees which have been |
used tor making coal. These sprouts, if |
protected, would be of sufficient size in |
twenty-five years to make good coaling |
wood. Nor is this matter of surmise. |
Much of the land near Wayne Furnace |
from which fires have been kept out, |
has been twice coaled during the past |
thirty years, and the sprouts after the |
second cutting are now from eight to ten |
feet in height. On the other hand there |
are large areas covering thousands OF |
acres which were cOaled over twenty |
years ago in which not a tree as large as /
a mans arm can be found. And the |
cause of this is the annual burning |
which kills the young shrubs as fast as
they shoot up.
The excuse given for kindling these |
fires is that it induces an earlier growth |
of the grass, and that stock are able to |
su bsiSt two weeks earlier in the spring |
In consequence of this burning. Now /
the woods may be valuable to that class |
of farmers who rely upon the commons |
for pasturage, but we protest that the |
loss to the owners of this property, aud |
10 the iron interest OF the State is ten
times as great as the value of the new
grass tor stock. II these fires are kept |
up the seats of the furnaces will have to
be changed every twenty or twenty-five
years, and large extent of the country
rendered frutless, and worthless;
weary wild desert unprotected from
the parching rays of the summer sun,
a wild waste where even the barren
grass will soon refuse to grow.
In some of the New England States
there are furnaces in operation that
were built before the Revolutionary war,
and they are running upon the same
belt of timber which covered their orig
inal domain. Timber has been cut
from the same land within that period
tour times, and the utmost pains are
t~ken, both by the owners of the prop
critics and by the State to protect the
young timber. And so it should be
with us. We must protect the timber in
our iron fields, which should constitute
so uuch of the wealth and greatness of
the State, will be as worthless as an arid
plain. 1t is an outrage upon the rights
OF property to fire these lands. 1t is an
injustice to posterity and disgrace to
the civilization of the age. 1t is crime
against the material interestsof the State
and against common sense, and should
be stopped. This generation has no
moral right to commit such gross out
rage upon the generation that is to suc>
coed. While the Northwestern States
are offering high premiums for forest
culture, our people are guilty OF the stu
pidity of disallowing nature to do for us
voluntarily what those people are anx-
ious to pay for. If the lands from which
the timber is cut were adapted to Guilt
vation they might be made serYiceable
by the growing of crops. But such is
not tie case. Not only are they too
rolling to cultivate with profit, but the
soil is the very picture of sterIlity.
Made up ior the most part of small angu-
gular, red dirt gravel, it will not pro-
duce one barrel of corn per acre, and is
fit for no earthly use except to grow
timber. Let our legislators then see to
it that this source OF wealth is protect
ed. The future of the whole western
iron region depends upOn the enact
ment of law which will protect these
woods from such wanton destruction
and such unmitigated vandalism.
Nor is the destruction of the youhg
timber all the damage that is done by
these annual fires. They keep the land
poor by destroying the materials that
go to make the hU81US, and that shade
the land. All the fiat barren lands with
good subsoils in Lawrence, Wayne and
Lewis would gradually enrich them>
selves if the underground was permit
ted to spring up and the leaves to de-
cay on the grOunI. The roots of this
underground would penetrate the soil,
and let in the air, and fertilizing matter
which the decayed leaves and wood
make, and in this manner the sterility
of the country could soon be redeemed.
Farmers suffer greatly also in the loss
of fences. After each burning many a
farm boundary is marked by white ASH
es and charred pieces of rails. Stock is
scared off, large timber is injul ed, and
even dwellings are sometimes consum-
ed. The best farmers desire stop to
be put to these burnings; and policy,
craftsmanship, and just regard for the
rights of others all demand cessation
at this destructive practice.
Stated Meeting Of the City Council,