Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1874-03-18
WHAT WILDER SAW IN ENGLAND.
Facts About IEer Coal and Iron sU,.r..,


Gen. Wilder told the Chattanoogians
what he saw in England in an interesting
and practical way. He kept his eyes open
while in that county, and can tell much
that is worth hearing about her people and
mines. We hope our people can have the
opportunity to hear him. From the Com.
neroidES report we clip the following.
l visited what il known as the Clenlaud
iron district in the North OF England.
There is "A bed OF ore, averaging about
eight feet in depth, and being sixty miles
in extent. There are one hundred and
siXty-eight blast furnaces in this region
and they are very extensive ones A fur
mace with a capacity of fifty tons per day,
costs about two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars. A profit of one dollar ton on
the production of furnace is considered
a very good profit. The ore contains only
- per cent. of iron, and does not look like
iron ore at all until it Is roasted. After
roasting, it yields st per cent.
Rolling mills and blast furnaces are scat
tered everywhere, and the land for pur-
poses of this kind, is worth from five hum
dEed to two thousand dollars per acre.
Much of the ground is made land the
space being filed up with cinders from the
furnaces, so that the waste Of one furnace
makes the ground where another is built.
This made earth is sometimes pushed out
into the sea, and the artificial surface of the
ground is often ten ortwelve Feet above the
real surface.
visited next the Durham coal fields.
the extent of which is fifteen by thirty
miles. My statement that we have coal
fields eight hundred and forty miles LONG
and from forty to fifty miles wide was lis.
tened towith surprise if not with absolute
incredulity.
Sheffield is place Of $50, 900 people. and
where there are six hundred tall furnace
stacks and other stacks, many of them bes
ing three hundred feet or more in
height. One can see the city only in time
of rain, on account of the smoke, SCOT and
clnder. 1t Is on the river Dor. a stream
about rs large as Citico Creek. 1t is sur-
rounded by steep hill-sdes, and is built of
stone and brick. 1t has been an
ron town for two hundred and
fifty or three hundred years. Its
principal manufactures may be steel
and knives large quantities of American
cutlery are sold there. They exchange
knives, chiseis and scissors for coarse
American cutlery. The coal is below the
surface. The lower places are selected, and
shafts are sunk, coal is reached at about
eight hundred feet. Two shafts are always
made. They are about twelve feet in di-
ameter, and for a depth of six hundred
iOeI IueJ arc curDeu Win CaSI-itOn curDlnR
sufficient in strength to resist pressure and
keep out water. In another shaft, called
" up cast, b" large fan is kept running by
steam power, creating a vacuum, causing
air to go in by the other shaft, and so keep. |
ing circulation of air in the mine. The |
coal is eight and half feet thick. Two |
great engines are kept at work, having six |
feet stroke, bringing up from these depths |
one thousand tons of coal day, there be-
ing employed from five to six hundred |
men in the labor. Cars are carried up and
down with great rapidity, eight cars trip,
four tons of coal.
1t is not mined by cutting stalls and
leaving pillars, but the coal is all removed.
supports of timber being supplied.
.There are four seams of coal and the
mining privilege is worth $1,000 per acre,
IN addition to royalty of seventy-five
cents per ton.