Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1883-02-10
EHr NAY We NOT HIVE ! aollme-Mulg

has had much experience in the
mining and manufacture of iron in
this and adjoining counties-upon
the subject of establishing rolling
mill in this city.
To say nothing Of the proposed
appropriation to such an enterprise
of the subscriptions made to the
contemplated Gordon railroad,
which should and will in
all probability be resubscribed to
the proposed Elkton or Princeton
railroad, if either of these lines are
built, still we think with "G. T.
A." that the establishment of such
an enterprise here as rolling-mill,
would be both practicableand pay
ing enterprise.
He states that"a rolllng-mill and
coke furnace at GAINESVILLE, Oper-
ated in conjunction with a charcoal
furnace or two on the SOuthside,
and possessing the Tennessee, La
Fayette and Louisa Furnace ore
banks, the best and most extensive
in Middle Tennessee, could not
fail of success under good manage
ment."
Certainly, we think, il could not.
And, fOrsOoth, why should not such
an enterprise, properly managed,
prove successful and remunerative
here in GAINESVILLE? We see num-
beTs of such mills in full blast in
other parts of Tennessee, in much
less favored localities, both az re-
spects ore, fuel, water, transpOrta-
ton, labor and every other facility
that offers advantages for the profit
able manufacture of iron. Many of
such establishments were run in
this and adjoining counties before
the war, and operated with great
success, large fortunes being made
from them.
w. r. Hughes, writing in the
Nashville American of last Sun
day, gives an interesting but brief
account of iron making in Middle
Tennessee from 1880 to 1860. He
says:
Before the war there were in OBJ
Grafton in the counties of Middle
Tennessee thirty-tive furnaces and
FORCES. Now there is no forge and
but seven furnaces in this vast iron
area. The primative iron makers
labored under great many disad-
vantages that we know nothing of,
yet they made success of il and
built up large fortunes for the rising
generations. The steam engine was
unknown when our first Middle
Tennessee furnaces WERE built, and
many old furnace sites can be found
to-day where iron was made through
the instrumentality of water power.
FORCES were run by the same
power.
NOW IN OPERATION.
The furnaces in operation now
are as follows: Lagrange, Clark,
Bearspring and Dover in Stewart
county, Cumberland i'm Dickson
county, Warner in Hickman cOun-
ty and Napier in Lawrence county.
This is a great falling off, nOtwith-
standing there has been great i'm
provement in the construction of
furnaces, consequently a reduction
in the cost of the manufacture of
iron.
OLD TINE METHODS.
Nearly all the old furnaces were
run by large slave holders, and
some might term it cheap labor,
but our labor of to-day is far cheap
er than labor was then. A slave
was bound to be fed, clothed and
dOctored at the expense of the
owner, and il he died (Which, of
course, they did do as other people,
there was a clear $500 or a 81 900
lost.
In giving list of the unoperated
furnaces in this section, he says:
In Montgomery county-Louisa,
Tennessee, o. K, Yellow Creek,
Sailors Rest and Lafayette.
In Dickson county-Carroll, WOr-
ley, BelIview, and Jackson with a
forge at Bettstown, BartOn's Creek
and Jones' Creek.
In Hickman county-Etna fur
mace, Spring Creek and Sugar
Creek.
In Stewart county-Rough and
Ready, Poplar Springs, Cumber-
land Rolling Mills, HOLSTERS and
others.
AN ANCIENT BONANZA.
OF all the furnaces in Dickson
county old Cumberland is the only
one in operation, and it has been in
blast almost continually for forty
years, and has made three or four
fortunes for its owners, and not be-
cause it Is better situated than
other furnaces in the same locality,
but because it was better managed, |
the secret of success in the manu- |
facture of iron.
CUMBERLAND FURNACE
is ten miles from Cumberland river,
and sixteen miles from the railroad,
vet it is successful. 1t has made |
during it's existence quite two hum
dred thousand tons of pig iron and |
tdStitSSt NdluCu At illOIC IMAM W. !
000, 900.
In speaking of our own county,
he utters the following notifying
truth, which is a sad comment on
the enterprise and energy of our
business men and capitalists
MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
OF all the furnaces of Montgomery
county not one blows, yet Mont
gomery county made more iron at
one time than all the other Middle
Tennessee counties together. There
has been only one furnace in opera
ton in Montgomery since the war,
ard it has long since blown out at
ter several years running. This was
Mount Vernon, near GAINESVILLE.
STEWART COUNTY
is in the lead at present in the man.
ufacture of iron in the Middle Ten
nessee iron belt. Yet there is no
county in this region but has as
good or better facilities for making
iron as Stewart.
We are indeed glad to receive
such a communication as referred
TO from a gentleman of the practi-
,al good sense. age and experience