Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-01-29


A complete refutation of the above
erroneous statement is in an editorial
of the American Manufacturer and
Iron world, of 10th inst, which says
Regarding the Lucy Furnace the
above is full of errors. The ore used
at the Lucy has cost this season de-
/ livered at the furnace ten ($lO dollars
a ton, which would make the ore for
a ton of pig cost fifteen (S15) dollars. !"
You will remember, sir, that [ have
often said to you that the South
Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and
Georgia-could make iron, ship it to
Pittsburg, sell it at the cost of pro-:
| duction there and realize a fair profit
and, sir, that assestion is an incontro-
vertible truth. Metal can be made
here, as you see from my figures, at
very low cost, and in great quantity.
The Bellwood furnace ore banks,
as analyzed by Britton, shows 5S.37
per cent. of pure metallic iron; the
Dover furnace ore banks, as analyzed
by the same intelligent chemist pro-
duced 81 81 per cent. of pure metallic
iron, and either of these furnace
banks have ore sufficient to supply
dozen Lucy furnaces for a century,
and the La Grange iron property ad-
joining this is equally favored with
ore, as is the Brownsport and other
furnaces on this and the Tennessee
river near by. 1t is proper to say,
! Colonel, that there are locations in
this State, Alabama and Georgia where
metal can be made with coke as fuel
/ lnf III
| Mr.. Lowthian Bell, the great iron
man Of the world, stated on his return
from visit to the United States in
an address to the British Iron and
Steel Institute, that Tennessee, Ala
bama and Georgia could produce iron
at little over half the cost in the
! North-Pennsylvan as cheap
as the most favored localities in Great
| Britain" These truths should have
been pondered over by the editor of
the Iron Age before he permitted him
self to make such unwarranted state
ments. He seems to think all the
iron OF the South must go to Pitts
! burg to find market, aud ignores st.
Louis, Louisville, Cincinnati and 9TH
er markets equal to Pittsburg for
Southern irons. You, sir, are famil-
lar with advantageous position of
Chattanooga as an iron city. Have
you ever let your mind dwell upon
| Pad lcah as the most advantageously
/ located city In all the land for the
manufacture of iron and steel in all of
their varieties? ? She is within one
dollar ton of the pig iron OF Tennes-
see, Alabama and Kentucky, and at
the very gateway of the Warrior Coal
field of Alabama and the Coal field of
Western Kentucky and Indiana
Before another decade shall have
passed, that city, so located that the
iron and coal of the Tennessee, Ohio
and Cumbe Aslnd rivers can be floated
down the current to it, will attract the
attention of capitalists from abroad.
Within three hundred and fifty miles
of that city, two hundred and sixty
three miles of which Is reliable water
| transportation, there are immense de-
posts of iron ores Of superior quality,
easily reduced, analyzing SO per cent.
of pure metallic iron, and stone coal
inexbaustibie in quantity, analyzing
go per cent. of fixed carbon. These
two iron cities of the South have nat
ural advantages pre-emInent to those
of Pittsburg, or any locality in the
4 United States. They are In the lap Of
what will be home markets. and will
reach the seaboard and foreign mar
kets at nominal cost. 1t is too late
in the day, Colonel, to discuss the
question of cheap production and su-
perior qualry of the irons of the
South. as compared with Pittsbrrg,
the North and the world Nature de-
cided that long since. Men began TO
realize the fact forty-six years ago,
when these works commenced to ship
pig iron to Pittsburg, which has been
kept up with slight intermisslon TO
this hour, and now tits conceded py tne
intelligence Of the iron world. except
d few doubling savans who will moi
believe any good thing can come Out
of this favored land.
Yours truly,
/ GEo. T. LEWIS.