The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1884-01-24
SOUTHERN COAL AND IRoN.

great iron manufacturing distric
the coal fields referred to have al
ready been tapped by the L. d n
y road. The n. Y. Bullion says:
A great field of mineral deposits
be it gold, silver. iron, coal or other
/ minerals, does not signify even dis
}, tribution over the field, but that
within it may be found the most ac-
cessible and valuable deposits.
In the above selection may be
\ lound fields of coal and IRON in
which all the conditions of produc-
tions are more favorable than any
where else in the world.
Probably no place on the Ameri
can continent, certainly NJ place
now aceessible,c can show such mani
fold advantages for the manufac
turc OF cheap pig iron as that region
lying on the Tennessee river below
the Mussel Shoals. Here we have
? on the south an extensive area, under
which lie in various seams at GER
tain points over 100 feet of coal.
1t is known that six of these seams
wi average in thickness four fee
each, and supply quality of coal
than which there is no better cox
ing coal in the United States,as ex-
pertinent has demonstrated in nu-
merous furnaces now in operation
in Birmingham. This coal can be
reached by building a short line
from Florence or Tuscumbia, south,
a distance of from fifty to seventy
miles, through a section of country
that presents no engineering diff
culties. 1t is safe to assume that |
such a road will carry a greater
tonnage than any other line Of equal
length in the southern states, and |
will pay a dividend from the day it |
is opened. Such a road need not
cost over $4,000 a mile and would |
give an easy outlet by the Memphis
and Charleston railroad, now in OPP
Grafton, to all the coal and coke
consuming territory in the Missis-
sippi valley.
The extension of this line north
Of Florence for twenty to twenty
five miles would open one of the
richest iron districts in this coun-
try-a district that supplies an in
exhaustihle quantity of brown ores
equal to those now imported from
Bilboa, Spain. Analysis of some of
these ores found in Hickman coun-
ty shows but per cent. Of silica,
.O4 per cent. of phosphorus, no sui
phur and SO per cent. Of metallic
iron. Usually, how&er, they con
tain about .25 of phosphorus, per
cent. of silica and 80 per cent. of
metallic iron. Red ores of excel
lent quality also are found in linn
tied quantity, but future prospect
ing will doubtless discover very
large beds of red ore known to min
eralogists as turgite. Indeed, turgite
is found to some extent in all the
banks as the interior coating or lin
ing of the large hollow concretions
known as spot Ores" which adds
great richness to this particular va
riety of the brown hematites.
In the iron region under consid-
GRAFTON there were thirty six turna-
ces in operation in 1854, but want
of transportation and the calami-
ties and losses from the war COM
PEELED the abandonment of all these
except five or six, which are now in
blast. The quality of iron made in
this district has always been dis
tinguished for its tenacity and
strength of fibre, malleahility and
ductility, rivaling IN this respect
the best Swedish iron. For many
years Tennessee iron led the mar
ket in price. Good steel making
ores undoubtedly exist in this dis
trict, and with the construction of a
railway line to the coal, it will en-
ter the list as a steel-making dis
trict. These ores can be mined and
put on the cars at prices ranging
rom so cents to 81 per ton, de
pending upon the relative amount
of ore to the dead matter to be re
move 3, the latter oftentimes
amounting to less than 10 per cent,
but frequently running in amount
to four or five the quantity of ore
found. When greater than this the
banks are not considered profitable
for working. One of the greatest
advantages, however, offered by
this district, lies in the fact that
the Tennessee river will furnish a
cheap outlet to the heavy products
of the furnaces, FORCES and rolling
mills that may be established on
that stream, thus affording a per-
petual guarantee against high
freights. Indeed, pig iron from
Florence by river can be carried to
Cincinnati, Louisville and st. Louis
at one fourth of a cent per ton per
mile, which will give an advantage
of from $3.50 to $500 per ton to
furnaces located at Florence, over
and above those located at Chatta
nooga or Birmingham. In compar-
isOn with the iron districts in other
parts of the United States, it will |
be seen that the Florence district
has at least one more element of
strength than any other. Pitts
burg has cheap coke and water /
transportions, but its iron ores have
to be brought nearly 1000 miles by
lake and rail, and supplied at a
cost equal to what will be the cost |
of the production of ton of pig
iron at Florence, Ala. The regions
of Lake Champlain, in Missouri and |
North Carolina, have excellent ore, |
but no water transportation or COX |
ing Goals within convenient dis |
tSnce. West Virginia has as good |
coking coal as Pittsburg, but is
wanting in abundant supplies of
good iron ores. Even Chattanooga,
Boosting of the proximity of its
coal and iron ores, can not now
reach the market for her iron by
water. The only point where coal
and iron ores lie within convenient
and easily accessible situations with
respect to each other, and near wa
ter which is navigable throughout