The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1875-11-17

iron, copper, coal, zinc. lead and
quarrIes Of beautiful marble abound.
The water-power here for running
machinery is unsurpassed in the
world. East Tennessee in the fu-
ture will be a swarming hive of in
dustry and wealth. A writer in the
New York Tribune who has traversed
Tennessee from Memphis to the
North Carolina line has this to say
Of
THE VALLEY OF THE EAST.
The great East Tennessee Valley a
! special areas surpasses Middle Tennessee,
| yet in the aggregate it is inferior in soil
and in the status as to Improvement in
culture, yields, and stock. In its tOpog-
raphy it is series of ridges and valleys;
of these, the valleys are very fertile and
nearly all in cultivation, the hillsides so
greatly in their primitive woods that one
can hardly say what may be made from
them, their luxuriant growth of timber
clearly indicating that day will come
! when they can be used. The soils of
! East Tennessee comprise every charac
| ter, from the rich alluvial down to the
sandy barren, but its chief soils are de-
rived from the decomposition of magne-
sian limestOnes, and have no superior for
! wheat. Corn is the universal crop on
| the rich lowlands, and wheat or other
small grains on higher grounds.
WHAT KEEPS EAST TENNESSEE UNDER.
The great need of East Tennessee is a
\ money crop. Corn is raised to q small
extent, and its growth might be greatly
| extended, as many acres are as suited to
| grow it as where thousands of bales are
| produced in Georgia with warming. fer
| tilizers. Tobacco might also be grown
with profit, as has been demonstrated by
several experimental fields. There is a
| lack of energy among the people and a
/ strong disposition to let well enough
alone, which keeps them from trying
new ideas, yet there is probably no equal
area in the South in which many i'm
| proved agricultural implements are used
as in the valleys bordering on the East
| Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia Rail
| road. The misfortune is that with
abundance of the best iron and coal and
finest of timber trees, much the greater
part of the farm implements, even to
! wagons, come from the North West
Again, there is no part of the South of
the same area as East Tennessee which
possesses such a variety of soils and the
| possibility of producing so great range
| of crops
There is belt of land from four to
ten miles wide, running for 100 miles
within less than five miles of the East
! Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Rail-
road, that has not in all New York its
superior for dairy farming, and from the
/ depOts on this road the butter could be
| sold for 30 cents per pound and over,
| cash, for shipment South, yet there is
not 4 single regular dairy in the region.
! The most reliable fruit lands in the
! world are the ridges to which have al
| luded, and have seen pears grown on
one of them, near Kingston, Roane
county, rivaling the CALIFORNIA; in size
and beauty, and far surprising them in
flavor, yet in the fruit markets of Chat
tanOoga the demand is supplied by Cali,
| fOrnia- With the change of crop sys-
tenn being adopted by the cotton plant
ers of Georgia, every year will lessen
the demand there for Tennessee corn,
and hence these people must seek out
new crops, unless capital should furnish
them in vast manufacturing establish
ments home market Upon the whole
it may be said that, in soil, and climate
and mineral resources, East Tennessee
offers to the immigrant more advantages
than any other part of the South.
RAILROADS, STEAMBOATS,, AND WHAT Is
SOLD.
At present transportation is afforded
by only one railroad which, entering the
state at Bristol, Va, there communicat
ing with Norfolk, follows the south
west course of the valleys to Cleveland
where one stem branches to Chattanoo
ga, the other to Dalton, Ga. Unlik,
railroads generally, it has not sOugh
the poorest soils, but on its line may b.
found some of the best farming lands O
which any country can boast Anothe
road is partially built, and will be finish
ed in few years, communicating will
Norfolk, Va, and Wilmington, n. G..
through the mountains of North Caro-
lima; another still has long been charter
ed and now shows signs of being con
structcd into South Carolina and Il
: Charleston; then the Cincinnati South
ern runs down the western valley 70
nearly 80 miles, and will be completed
in year. The great outlets, however
are the rivers. Six steamboats, run from
Chattanooga to points above, and ar
now carrying corn in sacks for over 10
miles at cents per bushel; high up Oh
PowelFs River, the Clinch and the Hol
ston, the farmers build rough, strong fla
boats and thus annually send down owe
200, 600 bushels of grain.
A PLEASING PROSPECT.
1t appears to me that the agriculture
future of Tennessee is very promising
The eastern and western borders of tht
Cumberland Mountains must become
great lines of mining and manufacturing
establishments; these viii create a de
mand at home for a large part of the pro
ducts of the east and middle sections
and at other points in the limits of thos,
sections varied characters of manufac
turing industries will spring up. TIL,
The peculiar character of the settlement
of the State gave it wild nOmadic typ,
which is fast passing away with the pro
fessional horse-trader and the hat-boat
man. There is a constantly increasing
tendency to settledness and to improved
and permanent fixtures about the farms
and also comforts around the houses.
The great lack of the State is com
munity of interest between her differen
sections and even between the people ii
those sections; separated by the grea
wide mountain plateau, East Tennessee,
has almost nothing in common with tn,
rest of the State, except the ties of on,
government. She needs less of the eY
cry man and every section for itself feel
ing; this Is passing away before th,
Opening up Of new and quicker routes o
travel, and in a few more years, will
her mining and manufacturing resources
properly improved, she may excel AM
Stale in agriculture, which she alone
can rival, in stores of iron, coal, salt
and petroleum. II. e. @.
| -%~%-
An old farmer In Iowa has an odC