Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1885-05-16
THE COUNTRY SOUTH OF US.
how They Make Iron in that Sec
ton.
WHY GAINESVILLE SHOULD BECOME A
MANUFACTURING TOWN.
Some Facts About Railroad Building.
To the Chronicle: :

To the Chronicle:
While on business trip recently d
your beautiful little city, through tn
courtesies of MAJOR E. c. Gordon an.
Judge Lurton, had the pleasure O
going with an excursion party on you
new railroad-the L A. & T. railroad
to Howell, its present terminus, twen
ty-one miles north of Clarksville, il
Christian county, KY. Saying nothing
OF the beauty which was to be found
among the young ladies, who made
the occasion more pleasant in .theil
vivacity and songs during the trip; i
was beautiful day, and beautiful
country through which we passed tha
evening in reaching our destination
Don't apprehend, however, that will
undertake to do any violence to your
good nature by uttering any inspira
tions in the way of the Spring poet
for as you know, my day of life is now
in the "sere and yellow leaf"
hope, however, it will not drop from
its stem into the silent grave before ]
will realize the hope which enter
tanned on this occasion, OF seeing the
day when your new road may become
a great trunk line, extending in the
most direct way from Chicago ON the
lakes to the Gulf, with its great briar-
can arms, gathering the grain treas
ures, from the remotest corners of the
North and West and distributing them
over this line through the cotton fields
and sugar plantations of the South,
while the coal fields aud iron leads all
along the line in Kentucky, Tennes-
see and Alabama, may be brought to-
gether, and Clarksville, as a center,
may assume and grow to the proper
tions of vast city. This is what she
can be, and ought to he, and will be, il
the proper pluck and energy were
brought about for its consummation
Within my own experience and OBJ
servation, have seen such result
passed by your doors on steamboat
in 1856, on the Cumberland, when
your town was even then putting on
city airs, and landed at point ON the
Missouri river away above st. Louis
which was at that time landing point
for West Port, Missouri, consisting OF
a few small wooden buildings, and
West Port itself was but small place,
and four miles distant from the river
That point was, what is noW Kansas
City, claiming population of 10000
and the two places are now one great
city.
The country around Kansas City is
not whit better than that which /
saw around you the other day, on the
excursion. The five thousand square
miles OF coal in Kentucky, above you,
the five or six thousand square miles
of iron lands, containing beds of iron
ore, which are. inexhaustible below
you, in: the counties of Dickson, Hiek-
man, Lewis, Lawrence, Wayne, &r. |;
after which, crossing the Tennessee
river the coal again appears, with an
area of about eight thnusand
square miles in Alabama. Thisis the
track, contemplated for your new road,
and, when built can, and will. establish
a city of Clarksvilles equal to that of
the one have above referred to.
After labor of many years, we have
at last succeeded in getting railroad
to this place with an extensionlof thlr-
teen miles below us. This road has
been in operation to this place little
over a year. Since itg construction
into this county wonderful change
has been wrought in in it; one of the
finest modern charcoal furnaces in the
South has been built in this county
and has been in constant operation
during the whole period of the iron
depression throughout the country
declaring fair dividend to the own
ers and stockholders. Millions of feet
of lumber and cross-ties have been cut
sawed and shipped away, that never
would have been touched. Ore beds
have been: delyad and dug up. from
which the richest and finest iron oFes
have been taken, and made into iron
that has attracted attention even in
England
A neY industry entirely, has been
established here. When desee,ped the
other day to some OF yenr prominent
citizens it sounded to them, as they
expressed it, almost hike myth or a
fable. 1t has been established within
the last two years, and has proven te
be complete success. The establish
ment is about five miles from this
place, known as the Standard Char
coal Company, which burns wood into
coal, distills alcohol, creosote and some
other chemical properties from the
acids and gas that escape from the
wood while burning, besides finally
utilizing the gases. After going through
these various processes, by letting il
on, into a small furnace. and making
iron from the iron ore; more tons o.
iron are made per day than the ole
fashioned furnaces used to make un
der the old process, in their huge
stacks that were almost as large a:
Mount Vesuyius, With small stack
about five or six feet they have made
five or six tons per day. From cord
OF wood, which weighs a,B00 pound;
green, they obtain about 700 pounds
OF charcoal, which is worth $3.50;
gallons wood alcohol, worth zoo pei
gallon in its crude state, a certain pei
cent. of creosote and other chemicals
which / don't remember, making tn,
aggregate, cord of wood worth from
eight to ten dollars. By this process
the cost of the production of pig iror
is cheapened wonderfully, while ths
acids and gasses that escape are util
lied and made into articles valuahlI
as commercial articles in the arts ant