The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1882-07-15
OUR MINERAL WEALTH.
Prof. Colton's Address, Delivered Be-
fore the Press Association.

At the meeting OF the tennessee
Press association at Bon Aqua
Springs, Prot Henry Z. Cotton, Ge-
ologist of the Bureau of Agriculture
and Mines, was invited to address the
Association on the mineral resources
of the State, and did SO in brief and
pointed address. BY request of many
of the members of the Association,
Prof. Cotton has furnished the follow
ing synopsis of his speech:
Mr.. President and gentlemen of
the Association: 1t gives me pleasure
at any time to meet with members of
the press fraternity. ] am proud of
the honor of having belonged to that
brotherhood At one time was the
youngest editor in North Carolina,
and | have since had the honor to
serve under Horace Greeley and Man
ton Marble. l have pulled the
same old press that Admiral Cock
burne buried in the National lntelli-
gencer office and | have written edi-
torial for paper that was printed on
the latest style, continuous sheet,
lightning press. But, unfortunately.
gentlemen, l am not now in your hon.
orable guild; / now deal in the dead
past, you in the living present, and
it is by your aid that | can make
that dead past part of the living
present. / hate fossilized idea so
much that / dislike to deal in the fos-
sils of the rocks around me. | prefer
to handle and bring to light the ores
which, having passed the rohners fire,
give US the metals which furnish the
iron ways of travel, which aid us in
making the lightning do our bidding,
convey our thoughts over thousands
of miles of space, and enter into every
form of comfort, convenience and lux
ury of commercial or domestic life.
They are the living present of geolo-
gy, the fossils its dead past, full of POI
etc interest, but valueless in practi-
cal view.
But, gentlemen, this weather is too
warm for generalities, nor have we
time here for me to enter into any
thing like a full description of the
mineral wealth of the State. 1t is
the idea of some that all of it has been
told. There can be no greater error.
DR.. Safford's Geology Of Tennessee is
the most perfect book of its size ever
saw, and he may be said to have
touched every point of the subject,
but the foundation for elaborate search
is only Laid thereby. The Geology of
the State of New York is twenty
times as large and Pennsylvania has
Just issued sixteen volumes, any one
twice as large as Safford's, at an exs
pense of several hundred thousand dol
lars, while Tennessee with greater and
more varied mineral resources than
either, rests with an expenditure for
geological work proper of not over
$4,000. say greater resources;
some may challenge my statement.
It. is true, we have not the anthracite
coal of Pennsylvania, neither has any
other part of the world so much of
that singular and valuable fuel, but
with less area of coal field we have
more bituminous coal than Pennsyl~
vania. That state has seldom more
than one workable seam available;
we have all over our field more than
one, and over large part of it there
are piled up dozen seams eight to
nine of which are over three feet thick
And all these are far above water lev
ell; we do not 60 down into deep shafts
for our coal. but simply cut into the
side of hill towering far above any
possibility Of flooding or need Of
pumps. New York has not any coal,
hence we easily surpass her there. In
iron ores we have all that either OF
both States have and much they have
not. 1t is true that only small part
of the great Allegheny magnetic ore
vein is in our State. but just in q
stones throw over the line in North
Carolina is an immense quantity which
is entirely dependent on us for smelt.
ing fuel, and just now one CT Pennsyl'
vania's most wealthy iron men has
finished, at great expense, railroad
As miles long in our State, to reach
these ores that he may carry them tt
Pennsylvania. New York has these
magnetites, but not in any greater
abundance than exists in our ALE
ghany region. The DAY will com,
when this Western North Carolina re
u -