Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-01-29

bakery with the latest improvements, with
a capacity of two barrels of crackers per
hour is now supplying many of the towns
further South. 1t is carried on by A. A.
Aull and the quality of his crackers is I'M
surpassed.
There are two Touring mills, one estab-
lishment for the manufacture of fire brick,
drain-pipe, etc, two wagon making shops,
four tin and sheet-iron establishments, one
cabinet sho.s With a capital Of $4,000, two
saddle m1.rfactures, etc. 1t would be diff
ficult to compress within the limits of a
newspaper article the activity which is ap-
parent about Chattanooga. The streets
are busy with throngs of men and trains of
wagons. Five railroads enter there andthe
Great Cincinnati Southern is, or will be,
soon in the course of construction. Three
banks with a capital of $4,000 supply
ample facilities for exchange.
But we pass on to
KNOXVILLE,
a city beautiful in its location and elegant
in its buildings. Nowhere in the State are
TO lie found such tasteful residences. Many
of these have yards richly adorned with the
choicest ~shrubbery and flowers and walks
that would rival in taste and beauty the
promenades of the Moorish Alhambra.
The wholesale dry goods store of Cowan,
McClurg & Co. is an immense establish
ment. The building is 10 feet by so, and
has five stories. The first story is occupied
by dry goods; the second by fancy goods,
books and stationery; the third by boots
and shoes; the fourth by clothing, baskets
and willow-ware, while the basement is
filled with groceries, leather, etc. The
trade of this house amount to 100000
annually, and it is by far the largest whole
sale house in the South.
To illustrate how easy it is for energy,
economy and industry to build up a trade,
we will mention the firm of Kemper d
Kohlhase, who came to Knoxville about five
years ago and began to manufacture saddle
trees. Their capital was hardly sufficient
to begin business, but they m~anagedto sup
ply the local trade. At this time they are
selling 100000 to $4,000 worth of saddle
trees, and their trade has extended all
through the South. They employ about
80 hands constantly. Their business has
proved a very profitable one. and their ex-
ample is commended to the grumblerS ofthe
State who affect to believe that every bust
ness has been run to excess.
The Knoxville Iron Company, Maj. Tut
tie, Secretary, NJ. a. Williams, Foreman,
has twenty stockholders. The works be-
gan to be erected Immediately after the
war. A short time thereafter they opened
a coal mine on Coal creek, Anderson coun-
ty, the product of which to the amount of
500 bushels daily, is consumed i'll their iron
establishment. They employ $50 hands.
Of these IS are employed in the rolling
mills, % in the nail factory and the remain
der in the foundry, machine shops, etc. The
rolling mill turns out about ten tons of
merchant iron and nail plate per day. The
daily capacity of the nail works is 20 kegs.
The nails are shipped to Alabama and
Georgia, and gotO all the smaller towns in
East Tennessee. They are made Of all sizes,
from three penny to six inch spikes. Of
railroad spikes, 5000 pounds are made per
day. The cold blast furnaces of Upper
East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia
supply a stiff, tough, tenacious charcoal
iron, which enables the company to make
the very best quality of nails. Chamber
lain, Richards & Co.. organized this COM
pany under a charter in 1865, and the name
was subsequently changed to the Knoxville
Iron Company, with a capital Of 100000.
L. Ii. ROgan & Co. have a foundry with
a capacity of $4,000 per year. They make
all kinds of hollow ware, put up circular
saw mills, steam engines, mill gearing of
all kinds and railroad castings, except car
wheels. The capital of the firm amounts
to $4,000.
The Knoxville Car Wheel Works were
erected in 1868. The capacity of these
works is 20 car wheels per day. The pig
iron is made at 4 furnace in Carter county
owned and operated by the same company.
The furnace is 4 small one, making only
about four tons Of metal per day, but the
quality is very superior, being firSt-class
car wheel, showing a chill on the chill
plate varying from o~Ie-eighth to a quarter
of an inch: This furnace, not having the
capacity of supplying the works, the COM
pany have to purchase additional supplies
from other cold blast charcoal furnaces.
Twenty men are employed in this foundry.
Capital stock $4,000.
CUSTOM HOUSE.
This is one of the most handsome struc-
lures in the State. 1t is built of asplendid
compact marble which in drove work is a
whitish gray, but polished is beautifully
fiecked with pinkish spots. 1t weighs $50
pounds to the cubic foot, is freeof "dries" or
cavities, and is said by the resident engin-
eer at Washington to be one Of the best
building stones in America. The size Ofthe
custom house is II feet Z inches by 113 feet
s inches. The building is OF the corner of
Church and Prince streets. The founda-
tionS were laid in February, 1870. 1t is
three stories in heighth, style of architec-
ture Doric. The Orders are all Of iron and
the floors are laid On brick arches. The
building it yet unfinished. Its estimated
cost is $J0.000.
l. act TENNEESEE T-NIyE RETTN AND TIN
NEssEE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE,
was originally called Blount College, and
was founded in 1907. In 1922, it was
erected into a University, and the build
ings transferred to the present site, which
is west of Knoxville just without the cor
p~oration. The situation is commanding,
the hill rising gradually into adOme-like
form more than 1000 feet above the level
of the sea, and 800 feet above the railroad
depot at Knoxville. The base of the hill
is beautifully terraced, and the ascent to
the buildings is made by easy winding
walks and drives. The crest and slopes
of the hill are carpetted with a rich sward of
blue grass. Recently 800 forest trees of
every description were set out
and some of them are grow
ing into beautiful proportions. From
the summit of the hill a magnificent river
view is had in which tower in the hay dis
lance the lofty peaks Of the Unakas,
wrapped in a mantle of blue, and sugses-
tive of grandeur that defies decay. The
College buildings, in number six, are capa-
bic Of accommodating 400 students. In
mediateiy south Of tie principal entrance
hall IS a level plateau of about an acre III
extent, used for exercises. in the drill.
In 1869 Congress established an Agricul-
tural College for the State of Tennessee,
and the funds were given in trust to the
trustees of East Tennessee University.
Since then the College has gained ground
in efficiency and popularity. Each county
in the State is entitled to three students,
who get their tuitionan railroad fare free.
We know of no place in the State with
more bril liant prospects for the future than
Knoxville. With a high-tOned, moral,
hoSpitabie society, cultivated and progress
sive, full of public spirit and ambitious OF
excellence, surrOundelb by a region in which
the rough wealth of iron, coal and copper
lies waiting but the hand Of industry TO
make il tangible, with a climate so on
genial to the physical man that the heat
never oppreSseS, nor the cold benunlbs him,
it would be a strange anomaly with these
manifold advantages for Knoxville not to
be prosperous. But pleasant as it is for
your correspondent to dwell on the eVi-
dences of her thrift, he finds it impossible
10 u,outiap oua-fonth of tba ohiaP4s of in