Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-10-03

gance and architectural beauty of the
schoolhouses. One of them was erected at
a cost of 3, 800, and several cost 81 900. Ii
would be fortunate for the State II all the
other counties were supplied with Snperin-
tendents so labOrious, so intelligent, and SO
self-sauiicing intheir devotion TO duty as
Prof. Presnell.
To Greene county from Washington,
where we were compelled to try the VIZ
tues of az unbroken colt over twelve miles
of rugged road to
UEAKA FURNACE,
which is situated south of Greeneville, near
the head of Meadow Creek Mountain, at
the very foot of the Unakas. II was erect
ed in 1S67-S by the Greene County IrOn
Company, and subsequently passed into
the hands of w. F. Gleason, of New York.
The property consists of 5000 acres OF
land, well wooded, yielding an average of
forty cords to the acre; but the proprietor
has wisely concluded to husband his tim
Der as long as he can purchase wood prlvi-
leoes al five cents a cord. The furnace has
Just gone out Of blast for repairs, and MI.
Gleason has now on hand ),2OO tons OF pig
iron. All the work, except That
done by the immediate furnace
hands, is done by contract. Coal
is burnt and delivered at prices varying
from six TO seven and half cents per
bushel, according to the magnitude OF the
contract, the highest price being paid on
the largest contracts. Though owning rich
banks of ore. the proprietor has been sup
piled by outside parties, who are paid i've
dollars for every ton of iron made from the
the ore delivered, or little less than Sz.5O
ton for ore.
This is in striking contrast with the
prices paid in Pennsylvania. In 1873 ore
delivered at the furnaces i'm PiGtsburg, cost
$3.50, and the cost Of making iron at the
same place with stone coal was 1925. 1t will
be seen further along that the cost ofmaking
iron i'm Chattanooga with the furnace only
running two-thirds of its capacity is S2l.2S
making the difference in cost between
this State and Pennsylvania Sll.O5, which
is itself an immense profit. But for the
protection which the tariff gives 10 the iron
interests, the capital invested in iron man
ufacture i'm Pennsylvania, must long since
have been diverted into other channels. IL
is profitable TO make iron in Tennessee at
profit without the tariff. Such thing Is
impossible in tie States North of the Ohio
river.
One REGULARITY about the ore obtained
at Unaka furnace Is that no fluX is required
in lis reduction. 1t is largely lntcTmixed
with the black oxide of manganese, which
answers the purpose of flux. The yield
from the furnace will average about % per
cent. and the amount of charcoal used for
a ton of pig metal will average about 12O
bushels. The furnace is bO.-blast with
three tuyeres, the blast being driven by
sixty-five horsepower steam engine, the
surplus gas from the tunnel head being
use,I to generate steam. The circle at the
bottom Of the hearth is a inches; height of
tuyers from bottom of hearth, "a inches: in
cliuatjon of bosh, 66 degrees; width, 9 feet
3 inches; height of stack, 81 feet 5 inches;
size of tunnel head, p inches. The fol-
lowing will show the cost of making nine
tons Of pig metal, being one days work:
ore for 9 tors az S5..........--.-......... - "a
Actual expense 20 nut in furnace, includ-
ing roasting, washing, etc..-......,s,.. 10 y
An furnace hands, including engineers,
salAried officers, etc. ....-...-........... Il ~
$40 bushels coal at % 81
s13s IS
One. ninth of which is................... 10 II
To this should be added the interest on
investment, sat, S1.O0, and $500 the cost
Of delivering to Greeneville, which makes
the whole cost delivered ON the railroad
SPLIT. But, as the work is nearly all paid
in goods, upon which profit of from thirty
to 100 per cent. is realized, il brings down
the actual cost to- very low figures, not
more than Si5.O0 per ton on the railroad.
The ore last used in the furnace was OBJ
tanned by running z drift $50 feet into one
of the hills about 1000 feet from the fur
mace. At this distance mass OF almost
solid ore, with a matriX Of white chalky
earth is found, so easily obtained that
twelve men get out 80 car loads a days
weighing each 5000 pounds. The screen
ings of the ore amount to 20 of the v hole,
and Of the screenings about 2 is good ore.
The drift passes through GOO feet of DOlo-
mite which dips at an angle Of - degrees.
The deeper the excavations, the better the
ore. Il IS said; however, to be more Tetrac7
tory than the iimonite ore foumdin Ste7atti
Montgomery and other counties OF the
Western iron belt.
Potsdale furnace, within two miles OF
Unaks, is out of blast. 1t used ore from
the same banks and had a capacity OF about
six tons per day.
CHATTANoOGA's IRON INTERESTS.
Froii Greene County the writer FASTENED
TO chattanooga, and Rad the pleasure OF
inspecting one Of the best appointed iur-
naces in the Srate-One just finished anu
making its first run, having been lighted
up Aug. 20. 1t was erected this year by
the Chattanooga Iron Company, aud has a
CAPACITY Of twenty-five tons per day, though
Il was only making at the time of. my visit
seventeen tons. It is hol-Dlast, stone coal,
with four tuyels. The company uses mixed
ores, and owns no ore beds of IFS own, pur-
chasing the red hematite delivered at $500
per ton and The brown ores delivered at
$3.50 per ton. Coke is bought al
10i cents per bushel; limestone Sl.OO pet
ton; coal 12E cents, al delivered at fur
mace. The day before my visit seventeen
tons of pig metal were made from the fol
lowing charges: ,.
Coke. oC,iJU los
ga, $500 lbs
Limestone. .......s.s..s'-.-. oJ;1No lOS'
Ore Qimonite). ............... 44,lIo lbs
Ore (hematlte) ..........-.... 4fsIi0 lbs
TIE other expenses for the days work
were: