Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1885-02-14

with a more congenial climate. East
Tennessee has as Just claim to be cali
ed the Switzerland of America az has
Northern Pennsylvania. In addition
TO her 1900 square miles OF product
i've lands and half million OF popu-
latiOu, it has one hundred and fifty
miles OF ravigable waters leading to
the great commercial centres of the
South. Middle Tennessee, although
an inland country, with nearly mill
ION people, has five hundred miles OF
navigsble waters, has four thousand
square miles containing iron ore, and
was an iron producing region before
the war of 1912. West Tennessee
borders ON The Father of Waters, that
will ever more, / trust, ego unvexed
to the sea-" and these natural high
ways are certain to hasten the
MASTERY OF THE SOUTH
In mineral products which have
duced in the North. have in previous
letter explained how the opening of
the Warrior, at cost of less than is
annually wasted in the river and har-
Dor bill ON mud creeks would open
the great Alabama coal and iron fields
TO the world. 1t was urged by John
Quincy Adams when President, but
diversified industry and slavery were
foes, and the more importunate North
ard West took the appropriations. In
like manner the great iron and coal
fields of Tennessee have been shut
ont rom the markets of the world by
!. THE MUSCLE SHOALS
in the Tennessee river, although Ten
johnson as Presidents, and could and
should have had an uninterrupted
waterway to the Gulf half century
ago. But necessity is an impressive
teacher, and now Tennessee will sue.
cessfully demand the improvement Of
her obstructed natural highway. Thon
her iron and coal, more abundant and
more easy of access than the iron and
coal of Pennsylvania, will enter every
competing centre, and her marble.
more than ample to rebuild the APP
plan Way of Rome, as Bale Peyton
elegantly expressed it at our Philadel-
phia Centennial, will enrich the archi-
lecture of every civilization. These
Improvements are Just at hand and
they will date the successful rivalry of
the South in the great mineral prod
ucts of Pennsylvania.
COST AND QUANTITY OF IRON AND
COAL.
The iron trade in Tennessee is no
new enterprise. As early as 1910 char
coal iron was produced in middle
Tennessee, and there were thirty-five
charcoal furnaces in successful opera
ton here in 1860. A full half CEN
tury ago in 1927 believe, the Phila-
delphia Franklin Institution made a
series of tests of the various iron in
the American markets and declared
the iron of Tennessee equal to the
Swedish iron in ductility and firmness
OF texture, and il is one of the tradi-
tons of the State that no Mississippi
river steamboat boiler made of Ten
nessee iron was ever exploded. In
both coal and iron it is evident that
we have
NO ADVANTAGES IN QUALITY
in Pennsylvania over Tennessee, ex-
cept as we employ foreign ores to i'm
prove our native product; but as water
navigation to the very heart OF the
iron and coal fields of Alabama and
Tennessee will offer cheaper facilities
for the mixture of foreign ores with
the native ores of the South the ad-
vantages of quality we now possess
are not enduring. Tennessee has over
five thousand square miles of the great
Appalachian coal field of the CONT
nent; it has four thousand square
miles containing rich red and brown
hematite ores, and, like Alabama it
has the iron, coal and limestone in
close proximity. The highest esti-
mate l have had from experienced
iron men as the average cost of produ-
cling iron in this State is $11.50 per
ton, and many claim that every well
appointed and managed furnace pro-
duces it as low as $1,000, Birming-
ham now ships
IRON TO PHILADELPHIA.
Pittsburg and New England, as saw
by the books of leading furnace men
there; but Birmingham and Tennes-
see now control the iron markets OF
the large iron consuming States of
Indiana and Illinois Birmingham
can ship iron to Philadelphia or New
York by rail to Charleston or Savan.
nah and thence by water for $3.50
per ton. they can reach indianapolis
for 1915 and Tennessee can reach the
West for little less. These are the
rates with the present necessarily ex-
pensive transportation and what will
be increased advantage to Tennessee
and Alabama in coal and iron, when
multiplied capital and viper experience
and largely increased product shall
cheaper both the product and the
transportation? These facts present
grave problem to the great coal and
iron industries of the North and they
must and will be squarely and intelli-