The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1883-11-21
OUR MINERAL WEALTH
COL. KING TELLS ABOUT SOME
or HIS PROPERTIES.

Seeing Col. o. c. King on the
street Yesterday, after an absence
from town of several days duration,
we buttOn-holed him, and asked,
"Where have you bcenP"
Said he, Il have been spending a
few DAYS in Cooke county"
AT Court p we asked.
"No. i have been up looking
over some iron properties | have
there, in company with 4 gentleman
from the North. "
Pardon the inquisitiveness, Col
onel, but will you be kind enough
to tell me what you are going to do
with your iron properties in Cooke
county? Are you going into the
manufacturing business p
"No. / haven't the money. !
wish had. Years ago / realized
that the American people would
not always submit to the injustice OF
being burdened with n High Protect
i've Tariff on iron simply to enable
the manufacturers in Pennsylvania
to operate their plants pretitably in
competition with foreign manufac-
turers. | knew that iron could be
manufactured in Tennessee much
cheaper than in Pennsylvania, aud
| believed the time would come
when, by a reduction of the tariff,
the large manufacturers North,
would be compelled to move their
plants to Tennessee where iron Is
abundant, fuel cheap, and the eli
mate more temperate and inviting
50 believing, | have, for years, been
seeking out and investing my small
means in the most desirable iron
properties could find. Circum-
stances had made me familiar with
nearly all portions Of Cooke county;
and found there some of the most
extensive, and certainly, the richest
deposits of iron ore in the United
States. / have specular ores, mag
netic ores, several varieties of brown
hematites, and ores mixed with
manganese. There are, literally,
mountains Of ore; and they all lie
convenient to railroad and river
trans pOrtation, and right along side
Of most of them are the finest OF
iimestoncs for fluxing. The Cum
Derland coal fields arc not distant
and the present line ofrailroad run
ning through Cooke county, and
very near TO most of my properties
IfI0rds ample facilities for transpOr,
tation. With the completion oftht
Carolina, Cumberland Gap and Chi
cago railway, which is now belieYed
20 be a fixed fact, my Cooke coun
" iron ores may be said TO be in
close proximity to the finest Goa
field in America. No, sir, am not
able to manufacture but / am ready
to greet with great eordiaiity the
man who Is.
Have YOU any reason TO suppose
that men Of capital in the North are
really beginning 10 look this way
for investments in the manufacture
OF iron p
Il have. 1t is only a few years
since the first experiment of that
kind was made in East Tennessee
Since that time a number of such
experiments have been made, and
every one has been singularly sue
cessful. All the furnaces and mills
i'm East Tennessee, so far as | know.
are not only being run to their
full capacity, but are making
handsome profits. Besides, my cor
respondence conviRces me that large
numbers of iron men in the North
are beginning TO realize the truth
of what have said, viz: that cir
cumstances will compel them TO
come to Tennessee or quit the bust
ness. And, sir, they are coming.
East Tennessee, by the building OF
railroads, is getting into eommunlca-
ton with the "outer world. The
extent and richness of her ores, and
the contiguity thereto of the Goals ;
the unsurpassed variety and extent
of her timbers the fertility and
productiveness of her soil the salu-
brity of her climate; the inealcula-
bic extent of her water power; her
central location, all indicate with
certainty, that East Tennessee will
soon become the great workshops
of the Union. Yes, sir. they are
coming"
"But Colonel, what is TO become OF
US poor Tennesseans, when you get
the country flied up with your cap
italists and manufacturers
"My dear sir, don't yon give your
self any uneasiness about "us poor
Tennesseans." The average Ten
nessean will hold his hand against
the world. Put US down where
money is, and we'll have our share
Of il. Our people have not become
manufacturers, because, until now,
we have had no outlet for products
besides, owing to our isolated situa-
ton, We have been long recovering
from the -levasfations OF the war,
which were particularly severe In