Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-01-22
THE STATE MUSEUM.
What Commissioner KiIlebreW Has
Collected There,
A Magnificent Exhibit Of Tennessee's
Mineral Resources.

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Mineral Resources.
The results of the labor expended
Dy the Commissioner of Agriculture,
Statistics and Mines, in collecting spec
linens are beginning to be made apparent
at the Capitol in a collection Of the
various products of Tennessee already
large enough to illustrate our immense
resources of all kinds-rich in speci-
mems representing the wonderful vari-
ETY. of minerals, found within our bor-
ders. The old Federal Court at the
Capitol has been set apart for that
purpose, and it is the intention of the
Commissioner to fill it with specimens,
which will completely illustrate every
resource of Tennessee, and afford a
full explanation of the carefully drawn
maps OF mineral counties and mineral
lands Of the State. that strangers can
obtain in Nashville any information
desired, and visitors can see for them
selves what we possess and where it is
located; and spread abroad the report
of our latent wealth, and of the en-
lightened POLICY which has led to an
earnest effort on the part of our State
government to make them known.
The display is already highly credi-
table to the energy aud Judgment OF
the commissioner, and it is already su-
perior to any collection in America, in
the variety of minerals and marbles.
The Commissioner has visites3a the
mineral regions Of every part of the
State, making careful examination,
taking notes and collecting specimens,
so that he could present not only a
complete list of specimens, but also
possess an accurate knowledge of To-
calities, peculiarities Of formation,
supply of fuel, water power, facilities
for transportation, that he could give
personally, and embody in his next re-
port, such information as will be val
liable to capitalists inquiring about
Tennessee, and of service to the State.
This has been, an immense labor,
and only lately part of the
specimens collected have been la
belled, classified and arranged in
shelves, SO as to form a colle:tion at
once, beautiful, instructive and valua-
able.
THE COLLECTION OF MARBLES
cannot be even remotely approached by
any collection in this country. 1t is a
marble that the rough, dull looking
stone, much of ofwhichwould be taken for
common lImstone, appears under the
hand of the polisher in SO many vari-
GUS forms of beauty. Specimens of
rough, unpublished marble give us an
idea of the stone in the rough. A
thousand shades and col0rs appear in
the 150 variegated and plain marbles,
running through all shades, from the
milk-white and the delicate cream to
the ebony-black, displaying almost
every possible, form of variegation
and disposition of shades. There are
red grounds with pearly white appa-
rently inserted, like mosaic; clouded
marbles, delicate, flesh -colored black
with white bands, and dark with white
veins, white with dark veins. There
is specimen with a dark ground of
reddish hue. with splotches of all
shades of red in myriad specks of va
rious sizes, producing, blended, asingle
effect upon the eye-colors blended by
nature in her own dark studios. Here
is a mottled matble, with a dark red
as the prevailing color with white veins
and delicate threads of black coursing
the white in wavy lines. One is slight
ly variegated with transient spots of
irregular size and shape and beautiful
gray y-mottled varieties. The custom
house marble of Knoxville, found at
the junction of the Ho1ston and French
Broad, is one of the most beautiful
and most delicate varieties. Finished
roughly for outside it-appears solid
gray withouta a trace of vein or spot;
polished, it is delicate gray, beauti-
fully veined, hecked with delicate
pinkish points, and suitable for the
finest mantel work. 1t is largely used
now in st. Louis for that purpose,
while the most marked marbles of
strongest colors bring the highest price
in Philadelphia. This beautiful col
lection must, however, be seen to be
appreciated. The specimens are so
numerous and so different, and all so
beautiful that no description does them
Justice. About one hundred and fifty
specimens are already arranged, and
others will soon be ready, amounting
altogether to about 250.
Most important of all, and equally
interesting, is the collection of
IRON ORES
and other ores. The three great class
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