Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1882-06-24
rEEAEssEE's RESOURCES.
Prot cokon's Explorations In Houston aHd
Montgomery Counties,
Nashville Auaericau

M0HtJOfHSfG 601HH0S'i
Nashville American.
Prof. Henry E. Cotton, geologist
to the Bureau of Agriculture and
Mines has returned recently from
tour of exploration in Houston and
Montgomery counties. Our reporter
gathered from Prof. Cotton the fol-
lowing items of his trip;
The first object of the trip was to
meet Mr.. Harris, of Harris Il Buquo,
and make some examinations Tor
rock to be turned into cement. This
| firm manufacture lime more largely
than any other concern in the State
and probably the largest lime max
ers in the south. They own ana
control six kilns and employ over
$50 men. They have met con-
stant and increasing demand for
cement and find that to be able to
sell it in conjunction with their
lime would greatly add to the eX-
tent of their sales and profits. In
mile or two of Erin, and only a few
hundred yards from the railroad,
was found stone in considerable
quantity, which Is evidently a ce-
ment stone of quality equal to the
best Rock haven. Messrs. Harris
& Buquo will Immediately have
the stone tested practically, and
thus will be added TO our State IN
dustries another item for which
thousands Of dollars annually go TO
kentucky aud Virginia.
Prof. Cotton also made careful
examination of the marble beds ON
Mr.. Thomas Toombs' place on
Wells Creek basin. Thls marole
was found to exist in large quantl-
ties at several points, and quarrles
might be opened where good ana
tbeautifll stone could be obtained.
None vet discovered has the bril-
liancv of the famous Hawkins coun-
ty stone. Among the specimens
brought to the Bureau cabinet are
several pieces OF graylsh whlte,
with small green spots. This stone
looks as il il would take very
brilliant and pearly polish. These
LAYERS will at least yield n good
building stone and are near Doth
river and railroad.
In the line of iron ores seVeral
new places in Montgomery ana
: Houston were examined and some
} others revisited. Prof. Cotton Is
confirmed I'm the opinion formerly
EXPRESSED, of the vast quantity OI
ore hidden In the main Tennessee
ridge and its lateral ridges. The
old Mt. Vernon property was eX-
= amined and other ore beds In the
/ neiphborhood of Palmyra, around
, which place there is a concentration
T of MANY valuable deposits OF ore.
[ some of these beds have been
5 worked in a very bad way and are
Injured thereby but there is still a
c very great quantity OF ore in that
: nei1hborhood which Is easy OF ac-
I cess to both river and railroad. a
! small charcoal furnace would do
we'll there, The Mt. Vernon fur-
I mace was one of those which went
down in the panic OF 1873. The
\ iron made there did not haYe as
: high reputation as some other,
@ hut Prof. Cotton thinks this must
J, have been caused by bad handling
j i'm the furnace. The failure was
due to bad management and bor-
: rowed capital. ,.,..
i In the course of his Investigations
IS Prof. Cotton met with one OF the
e old citizens who gave him many
II points about furnaces OF the oldeh
o Times. In the past there have been
g ten iron furnaces in Montgomery
l. county and three in Houston. The
o names of these were In Montgom-
K erv-Sailor's Rest, Yellow Creek, :,
s. Montgomery, Mt. Vernon. Web
y ster- o. X, Louisa, Washington,
G Blooming Grove and POplarSprings.
'e In Houston-Union, Valley Forge
Is and Ashland. The first furnace
built was Yellow Creek, by DIR.
d Brown, in 1897. Some OF DIR.
3 Browns descendants now live In
IS Nashville. He ran II for some
|. time, but Mr.. B. NJ. Williamson's
r past personal knowledge OF 1t was
% i'm 1925, when II was run by Mr.
< Watson. The stack was twenty
e five feet high and made three ia
20 four tons of iron per day, using tho
V pipe ore from the State bank. SAIL
or's Rest furnace was built by Jor'
$ dan, West Il Humphreys in lS3O
u. Robert Baxter built Louisa, Mt
Vernon and Tennessee furnaces
Steele Il Bradley built Montgomery
Neblett & Co. built Blooming Grove
in 1894. Keats, Gear',n ~ Co. bull'
r o. X, and John Jones built Poplar
Spring. Ashland was built by
'0 Wilcox, and Union by Mr.. stan
ne field. With the exceptions OF BaX
v, ter and Wilcox, these builders were
of 1'ennesseans. OF these furnaces
= eight were making iron in 1860. bu
81 only two have been operated since
IL the war, and there Is not now SIN
I'd Gle furnace in running order in th'
two counties, yet there Is not a sec
"a ton of the world that has better orr
;, or better tree-growth, which reneW'
h' itself quickly, nor any region VIII
8 better facilities for cheap transpor
nd tation. Some of the old ore bed
,st have been badly gouged at, bu
:, skill and little judicious eXpendl
IL ture would soon make them pro
d. duce ore al cheaper rates than ever
nd The old Steele bank Is one OF TIL
an kind. The ore yet In IL is immense
:, hut the bank has been simply butch
IL cred. At the same time there ar
ok many OF ore which have nevc
lis been touched at all, and some onl.
of for prospecting. Comparing tn
= situation and formation OF thos
III which have proven good, show
or, that these will also contain hrg
by quantities Of ore.
,ot prof. Cotton spent n day in tn
Tennessee Ridge with Mr.. Samu'
Wilson. and still maintains the ur
at surpassed excellence Of the climat
nit in that locality. On White Cree
ro he met a. man who informed hi
,oa that that stream was formerly IL
'"' vorite resort with Gen. Jones an
ess Mai. Heiss for fishing, but that Ma
lis Ueiss took up so much time fixin
,d his lines that Gen. Jones usual
80 caught all the fish. That the fis
" " are there still, IL attested by u
he fact that young man caught a fe
me days ago a trout weighing seVe
pounds.
en- "
.K. Haunted We.
A workingman says: @Debt pove