The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1876-07-13
TENEEssEE's MINERAL RE
SOURCES.
Something About the DuektoWn
Copper Mines.

The following, althou gh private let
ter from Col. Colyar to Col Sam. D.
Morgan, contains so much of general
interest as to be well worthy of publi-
cation:
DCOKToWE, July !, 1876.
Dear Mr.. Morgan:
Spending few days here on profes-
aional business, and knowing what q
deep interest you feel IN ell Of Tennas-
sees resources, ] will give you some de-
tails about the Duckt own property.
There is bat one cOmpsny at work hsFS
now, formerly there were BeVSr6l others,
bat some stopped and others were con-
solidated into the "UniOn Consolidated
Mining Company of Tennessee" Under
the management of Capt J. E. Rapt,
this company-composed entirely of
New York genElemen-has grow up to
be, believe the largest producer of
copper in the United States, except one.
The whole number Of men employed
here is something over 500, including
colliers and wagons. The deepest shaft
or drift in which men are mining is
| about 600 feet The amount of copper
ingots daily made at the refinery is g.
500 pounds. At first the ore was packed
on mules to the railroad, a distances of
more than forty miles, then a wagon
road was made along the bank Of the
Ocoee river, and now the copder is haul
ed in wagons to Cleveland.
You will remember chat this place
| is in the center of what was forty years
| ago the Cherokee Nation, and take it all
in all, certainly the ancient red men of
the forest made a wise selection in
making this country their home. The
| ChilhOWee Mountains, with the wonder
| full rivers OF Ocoee and HiWassee, made
the country for game and fish about the
most attractive of any to be found
| In passing out from here, there is a dis
| tance of fifteen miles without a house
being seen, the road passing all the way
| between the mountains and the river;
| in fact the road most of the way is
made by cutting down the jutting rocks,
so as to make a passWay betW cen the
river and the oYerhanging mountains.
| The ChilhOWee mountains as seen from
| this road are a succession Of ridges OF
| ranges worked through by the rapid
and restless little Ocoee, which tGmbles
through the mountains, falling about
l 500 feet In every four miles. When
the Cleveland and DucktOwn railroad is
built, as it certainly N ust be at some day
not far off, this stream, if man In thu
country has the enterprise which he hs'
exhibited everywhere else, will be avail
able in the use of vast machinery Ger
tainlY nothing on this continent sur
passes it as valuable Water-poWer, fo
the fall is such that every few hundred
yards the water can be used for NOR
than twenty miles, aud the railroad t,
DucktOwn must be made so as to be il
contact with this great power at ever,
point where machinery can be placed.
DucktoWn is IN a Basin and is SUI
rounded by mountains In North Csrolins
Tennessee and GeOrgis-the mining g dis
trict now extends oyer a territory of som
:, five miles square, on both sides Of tn
OeOee river. The property owned By th
company now at work is valued at sever
al million dollars, and if a railroad wal
built connecting the property with tn
railroad at Cleveland there is no estimat
ing the wealth of these vast beds Of cop
per, but hauling In wagons the preduo
42 miles, and all supplies back, f0E thil
is not tanning country, is 3 busineS
fully twenty five years behind the times
It takes from three TO Eve days to maxi
trip to Cleveland and back, and tht
| road is never clear of wagons. HaulinI
copper and supplies in wagons over thi
long road is not the worst trouble VII icl
q railroad would relieve. The coslini
grounds for these extensive works nov
are from six to nine miles, and the com
pany is always on a strain TO keep . SUP
ply of coal, not less than forty WagoI
loads being needed every day. Whel
you remember that in making copper
{ from the time the ore comes out of th
ground until it is "lsdled," tuI ming Ou
beautiful 'ingOts," it goes through abOu
fourteen different heating processes, To
: frat four or five roasting the ores wit
! wood, you will see that such a work a
this will soon use all the timber in reac
: by wagons; indeed, hauling fuel and hau
. | ing copper to the railroad and supplies,
now the great drawback to the complet
: success Of this business, and, has cauI
: ed the failure of all the companies 81
:. cept the one so well managed By Capt
, Rapt.
If all the mining properties here wer
com bined, and the capital increased, an
a narrow gauge railroad bHilt, 80 as t
supply the works with coke from th
inexhaustablc coal fields of SeWanet
Etna, Dade and others, all Of which ar
in close proximity, if this forty-tWo mile
of road was built certainly a more mag
!, nifcent property and a greater sourc
; of wealth for a vast population Is nc
, known on this continent
8 There are now about 5000 peoplt
, | here, scattered over the mining dit
trict. The town (Ducktown) is as quie
: and orderly and old-fashioned an
: church-going as if wars, railroads, tell
a graphs and pinbacks had not intervene
y to corrupt the world at large.
2 The suit now pending here CROWN
: out of this property is the heaviest gu
in the State, and is dragging its hug
proportions along at the rate of one deJ
osition in three or four days. The PEI
L pie here ell take interest enough in th
3 lawsuit TO desire it ended and railroa
= built.
6 The more l see Of the vast resources
Ten nessee the more l long to see, wit
In our borders, men coming up vii
energy and enterprise to develop VIII
a, we have. 1t is much 10 be regretted to
n so many Of our valuable men in Tene
h see are engaged in merchandising, and
.s few in developing cur vast resource
The one adds nothing TO our Bealt
while the other, with manufaeturin
must be looked to as our greatest sour