New-York tribune., 1883-12-17
rr.ox SPECIAL coRaEsroNpENr OF The TmBUEE.l

{arestilQ clty was famous LOT Ilb Nlue i'o
churches and its beauty The vineyards of the Bur-
eundy district the quarres Of the Jura and the sur
rounding metal mines all yield tribute TO the riches
of Dion. An engraving of Dion in the eighteenth
century brings to mind the half hundrd spires ana
towers of the old English city of Norwich, tor IKE
that city the pety and charity of DDon are syhOol
lied in the numerous churches and wen-ehuo"eo
public charities; while its material prosperity
exemplified in the immense warehouses ana cellars
and handsome public buildings. StilI retaining
much that is quaint in It's medieval OF bnrguhuian
architecture, DiJOn at the same time possesses
streets and blocks and public buildings equal to
those in Chicago or Boston. New buildings are go
ing M in all directions especially on the outskirts
of the town. There are handsomely built cafes
with stained glass windows several good places of
amusement and seemingly lots of hustle and busl-
ness BosSuet the eloquent champion OF the ancient
rights and liberties of the Galbcan Church, was
Dion man-born within the shades OF the cathe-
dral Interesting as the historic memories OF TINS
celebrated French town would be- there IS no space
for them here, as l must hurry through the very
heart of the Burgundy wine district to Chaghy'
where | change cars for Creusot. Imust have
passed through nearly a hundred villages
before l reached the department of the
Sa6ne-et-Loire in journey of fifty miles, so thicky
populated is the region of the celebrated C6te-dOr
hills which are the right going south ana aver
age from 500 to 900 feet in height The vineyards
ascend in terraces and then spread along the taoe
land on the summit. Here the best burgundy
wines are produced
At Chagny we are fairly out of the Cote dOr ana
in one Of the most ancient departments of France
the Sa6ne-et-Loire. BY travelling little west wa
Epinac, l was enabled 10 spend few hours at Au-
tun. picturesouely situated on the declivity OF
range of well-wooded hills at the foot of which
flows The Arroux When Caesar invaded Gaul he
found il a thriving manufacturing town. the capital
of the.1Edui. 1t was then known as Bbracte, the
greatest and richest town Of the Edul, and 1t was
on his march to this town to provision bis army
that Caesar defeated the Helvetii. Augustus en-
bellished Autun and in the latter ddys of the Ro-
man Empire it was a lOurshng city. Plundered
and burned successyely by the Vandals in 400; the
BuTgundians in Ala; tie Huns in 45l; the Franks
in 534; the Saracens in 739; and the Nornans in
sos; burned by the English in 1879 and hesiegcd in
1891 by DAumont, one is surprised TO find this
veritable old city containing $4,000 population,
with vast masses OF ancient walls, remarkable ca
thedrals and other antiquities, and yet busy manu-
featuring cotton goods hosiery carpets, leather and
paper, with considerable trade in timber, hemp
and cattle. There other towns IL TINS Depart
1nent equally famous. Cuny was said 10 be
the cradle of modern civilization. PopeS from
its colleges and monarchs were educated there.
few picturesque houses still remain. examples of
every age between the eleventh and seventeenth
centuries On the sOping bank Of the SaGne is Ma
con- with 90, 600 population. once beautiful town
but stripped by the atrocities and devastations Of
the Hugnenots and later the RevOlutiOnsts from
which it has never recovered Chalon-sur- -Sa6ne,
near which Abelard died, and other towns equally
famous in literature and history.
The discovery of the rich cOal-felds of Creusot
and Epinac changed the Sa6ne-et Loire from an agri-
4 fayv
into great industrial department in which to-day
over 10000 of its inhabitants are engaged in
ried industries all based coal The glOues of the
old towns of thousand years ago live in Caesars
Commentaries, Tacitus and medieval history, but
their crumblipg gray walls, RCsnan gates, imposing
spires broken-dOwn houses, gableTOOfs and narrow,
deserted streets contrast strangely with industrious,
busy, smoky CreusOt, which a century ago was I'M
known but to-day can boast one Of the most extcn-
sive iron works in the world rivalling those Of Eng
land. Germany and Belgium, and having pcpula-
ton of 5000 dependent upon it. Three distinct,
though connected industries are in full activity
about Creusot,-the mining of coal in the Creusot-
Blangy basin, the smelling Of iron ore, and the
manufacture of steel rails and all kinds of ma
chinery. Besides its immediate supply CreusOt
draws to il large part of the coal taken from the
central basin of France; excepting the mineral
from Change, Epnac, little French iron ore is
used IN tue factories, Whlch are CAIehy pIONIucu
from Elba and Algeria.
Creusot is situated in the midst Of hills and gar
dens rich in foliage and the air is delicious with
the scent of the vine and fir tree The transforma
ton as we near the town is rapid, and on emerging
from the tunnel all is changed TO n black country.
'Toiling up a very steep hill which seems to answer
for the main street of the town. was enabled to OBJ
tain what might be called birdseye view of the
works. There literally seemed 10 be hundreds OF
tall chmneys The immense shops spread over the
ground in every direction. On the side nearest the
portion occupied were thirteen modern blast fur
naees. nine of which in row should think
about two hundred feet apart and varying in height
from sixty TO eighty feet, aud from twenty five to
thrty-fve feet in diameter. Some Of them rest on
massive cast-irOn columns others on brick abut-
ments Some are built with bricks and secured by
external bands of iron, Others with castings of boiler
plates strongly riveted together All are lined with
massive fire brick masonry. Each pair Of furnaces
has powerful iron chimney about 200 feet in
height; the blowing engines are vertical and
capable Of propelng $4,000 cubic feet Of air per
minute. Next TO the furnaces are the sand beds OF
moulds called in America cast houses but hero as
in England quite without roof or walls Below the
casting beds are the great Bessemer steel plants
bracng six distinct steel cOnverers each Of ten tons
capacity: whereas nearly all Of the American Besse
mer plants have only two-ton converters. Into
these enormous converters the molten metal comes
direct from the blast furnace. The works produce
about 100 900 tons of steel annually 100000 tons
of pig iron; 100000 tons of manufactured iron
and make about 100 locomotives; besides innumer-
able other machines including cannon and armor
plate equal to that of Krupps; and producing from
mines owned by the firm nearly 100000 tons of
coal Between 1900 and 10000 persons are EN-
ployed. In the machine shops, some OF which are
1900 feet long, you may see thirty steam hammers
at work, one weighing over 100 tons, and cranes /
capable of lifting each 100 TONS There are drills