The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1881-05-25

known ages bGneAth the sArfaOe will be fashioned
Into articles Of utility and value. PonderOus
trip hammers will shake the earth, and the etsr-
nal whirr and buzz Of machinery will make Gle
very atmosphere reaolsRt of life and enterprise
Farms in the long rich valleys viii TEEN with
| Iuxuriant crops, that will find ready market at
| good prices and communities there will revel in
| all the blessings, superhuitiss and Injuries Of
| life !"
''NOr, is this fancy picture nader good gov
eminent, in a happy climate, wherever coal and
iron lie in juxtaposition, and are made access
ible by railroad communication, great centres of
population are established"
The ore of this belt, we have it
upon the best authority, when pure,
will yield at the rate of seventy
pounds to the hundred, and in actual
practice, yet rude, the yield as rule
is from forty to fifty per cent, some
times as high as sixty.
The other great iron belt in East
Tennessee is known as the Eastern
Belt" the most important ore found
in which is limOnite, yielding when
pure about sixty per cent, which is
said to be in practice the maximum
yield of that ore but in some places
deposites Of magnetic are also found.
Through this belt this line of road
would penetrate about it's center
in fact, it is now bisected by that
part of the line which is completed
South of MOrristown. Along the
North Carolina line is a great double
range Of mountains, intersected by
deep cuts or chasms, through the
principal of which the French Broad
river flows out of the State of North
Carolina, and along the course of
which the road is now being rapidly
finished. The ore banks of the East
ern Iron Belt lie mainly to the north
west of this range, in Tennessee.
Within twelve miles from the point
where the road would cross the HOl-
ston river, north of NorristOwn, and
up the river in Hawkins county, are
quarries of the finest and best mar
| BILE on the American continent, from
which it can be easily foated on
RATS to the road, and lifted on the
cars with perfect ease and facility.
We make the following quotation
from " A Geological Reconnaissance
of the State Of Tennessee" by James
NJ. Stafford, State Geologist, PIP. 100,
107, 1903:
THE systematic production Of marble appears
| to have been first commenced in Hawkins. The
principal marble in this county occurs in a bank
| about twelve miles in length, which runs south
westward through portion of the valley west of
that which Rogersville is located. Several
quarriss, at distinct and distant points, have been
opened, which furnish product of the first
quality"
''Ths history Of the production here il fol-
lows: In the first place, have been assured
that attention. resulting in anything practical,
first called to the Hawkins marble by the favorable
opinion expressed in regard TO it by DIR. TroOst.
the former geologist of this State
AIR April, 1888, the 'Rogersvillo Marble Com
apny' was formed"
SIN 1914, the company sold out to Mr.. Rice
Mr.. Rice sent block of the Sight Inottled straw
berry variety, spoken of further on, to the
Washington Monument. This called the
Hawkins county block and bears the iHscrip-
ton: From Hawkins county, Tennessee
Another block Of of the finest vreties already
described, sent by act Of tn. Legislature,
which was called the State Block These blocks
attracted the attention of the Building Committee
of the extension of the National Capitol, Who
although they had numerous specimen from all
parts of the Union before them, decid, in faver
OF the East Tennessee marble. An st was soon
after sent by them to ascertain whether net it
could be obtained in quantity, who, the
ground had no difficulty in satisfying himself on
this point AS the result of these circumstances,
rial has been opened at point, about nine miles
southwest of RogersvilIe, where the Holston river
intersects the marble range. The rock here is in
good part, massive and several hundred feet in
width The location of the quarry is excellent
and admits of the easy transportation of the
blocks to the boats. Many thousand cubic feet of
marble have already been sent of. 1t is taken for
part of its route down the river, and then by
railroad to Charleston or Savannah, where it is
shipped to Washington City,"
Much of this marble has been used
in the capitol at Washington, and
we have been informed forms half
the ornamental marble there.
Since the work of DIR. Stafford was
written the quarry - qntiOned by |
him has been more f developed, |
dHu 5CllI OGnGIS OpcnSA u0 n6lSu- |
borhood, from all of wa uotwith-
standing the difficulties "a reaching |
the railroad by wagons, great guam
titles of marble, of every variety, |
and Of the most superior quality, are
now sent to market.
We have specially noticed these |
quarries because the product of |
them has received the highest pos
sible commentator, and because it
can SO easily and so cheaply be
placed on the cars Of the. proposed |
road. But there are other deposits
on the line, near Morristown and
which are also reputed of
great value and taken as a whole
there is a marble interest along the
line of the proposed road from Nor
ristOwn to Cumberland Gap, for all
the purposes for which that stone is
used, we will venture to say without
a superior in the United States, the
placing of which within the easy
reach of the growing cities west and
north of it would be a boon of value
beyond estimation.
The writer of this paper some
days since applied to o. G. King, /
Esq, of Morristown, East Tennessee,
a gentleman of broad and accurate
information, on the subject of the
interests of East Tennessee,
for a statement of facts in relation to
the mineral interests which exist
adjacent to the proposed road, and
the road now completed south of
Mr.. King has politely
and L here insert his
reply in full because it is Mt once re-
liable, comprehensive and succinct
regret that my acquaintance
with the region of country to be
by the projected line of
nj urn1r from Mnr.IiStnrun Ia o.