The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1886-12-23
Great Iron Center.
Special correspondence Manufacturers Record
AsuTANn Nv Doeannhar q 199R

| Virginia K Georgia Railroad at John
son City to this iron manufacturing
town on the bank of the Ohio river
We have passed through a country
whose natural wealth cannot be de-
scribed in figures, which needs but a
railroad and the capital invested in
development that would certainly fol- |
fow its construction to make this one
OF the busiest and richest sections of
the United States. l dare not give
the figures that our experts haye made
of the value OF these resources if de-
veloped, for their immensity would |
lead your readers to think | had been |
taking lessons from Baron Munchaus-
en-. At present all this vast wealth is
as useless to the world as gold would
be to a starving castaway on barren
uninhabited island. 1t is where it
was put by nature in that upheaval
period of the worlds history when
great coal measures were lifted from
unknown depths and held rock bound
until needed for human use. More
than half the surface OF Scott county
and all of Wise and Dickinson coun-
ties, Virginia, cover coal seams. 1t is
the same with Pike county, Kentucky,
and for forty miles down the Big San
dy river. Splint, coking and camel
Goals in veins varying from to II feet
in thickness crop out at such eleva-
tions above that river and other water
courses as to reduce the cost of min
ing to minimum, while their quail
ties have been proven, both by chemi-
cal analy and by practical tests on
: large scale, to be the equal OF any
found elsewhere
{ AL present this vast region is unde-
Il veloped between Pikeville and the
Tennessee line. The marble quanti-
. ties, the hardwood and poplar forests
! Of all that region, and the fossiliferous
J, red hematite ores OF Scott county, are
! without value because they cannot be
L utilized. The steamers on the Big
u Sandy buy coal as they need it from
y the mines on the banks, taking it from
= harges moored below the mouths oI
. the mines. All the work done in these
'e from Pikeville to the Chatteroi rail
Il road at Richardson has been superb
cial No long entries have been made
le for the farmers on whose lands these
er veins are have few customers othel
70 than the boats that ply up and dowr
D. when the water is deep enough
c From Richardson freight trains run tt
ie Ashland daily, carrying about 800 ton
10 Of coal daily for steam and domestic
Is use, and some little camel for loca
and Cincinnati customers, but a
Richardson is 10 miles from the work
able seams of cannel, the traffic a
present is light
~ The Charleston, Cincinnati & Chi
= cago Co., has purchased the Chstterc
= = railway and force of men employed
:" on this 20-mile extension. AS soon a
I, 10 miles of this are completed an in
~ mense traffic will begin. This 20-mil
:. extension will pass by beds of ric
hematite ores and through the neal
- est of the camel coal fields. Th
, steel rails to be laid are of the sam
!: = weight (601a pounds) as those on tn
= rest of the line through to Charleston
: Ten miles from Richardson are foun
- the first extensive seams of came
- OF the region containing this depos
"' and thus further on, Prof. n S. Shale
] Of Harvard College, and once in charg
=, = of the geological survey Of Kentuck,
!, reports: ats future lies in the ia,
- that it is the richest field of miner,
- ~ wealth known in any country" {
- -, the iron ores he says: II believe
y" w. will be found that no ores of like ricl
e ness and purity will be found SO CO.
- venient to pure cheap Goals"
~ | have already said that the cor
- pletion OF 10 miles Of this extensio
- would open up big traffic for ii
"O railroad. ! know of one contract tn
- has been made, to go into effect
soon as these 10 miles are complete
ua' by which syndicate that is preparil
-" to mine the camel coal has agreed
0"' ship 100000 tons to its customers Il
III III first year The freight earnings OF t
emf road from this contract will pay Il
nal interest on the bonds OF the road fro
len Ashland to that point, and this will
.es' s' but small item compared to VIII
ked the business will eventually be VIII,
cen the road is completed to Johnst
he City. Some idea OF what that will &
90 o. gregate may be gathered from VIII
81. follows.
ing Ashland is the center Of the fomo
the Hanging Rock district. 1t lies on t
an Ohio, 5 miles below the mouth of t
ihS;s' Big Sandy river. Around it, within
tied radius OF 5 miles, is a population
lch- $4,000 people, all of whom more
liu less derive their support from the ir
lder industry onno.;to th;a nlaoo = T.,