The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1888-04-19

working here, two blast furnaces, both
now under contract and owned by our
best business men, will be operating,
another large tannery will be estab-
lished, the city will have electric lights
and waterworks, and property will
naturally double in value. 1t is now
only about one,fifth the price that is
asked in other live towns OF the same
size and an easy fortune can be made
in Johnson City real estate.
JOHNSON CITY HOTELS.
1t is an index of a city's prosperity
to note what kind of hotel business it
does. The Piedmont, a beautiful, new
and commodious hotel, has an average
of about thirty arrivals per day, and
stored in the wide halls are full sup
plies of cots, necessary sometimes to
accommodate the rush. Major j. j.
Weller, a veteran in the late unpless-
antness, is the genial and enterprising
proprietor, and first saw Tennessee
about the year 1868. He was with the
Seventeenth Indiana and relates how
his company charged Confederate
brigade behind stone wall in Middle
Tennessee, on Oct. Z, 1868. He got q
minnie ball in his arm for his pains
and his company was cut to pieces.
The major, in relating the experience,
however, said "You bet l didn't
know it was brigade. We could see
only few men and thought we would
take them in" Major Weller, not
withstanding his cool reception in
1868, still liked the State so we'll that
he moved down and is as earnest a
man in building up Tennessee as any
to the manner born. The hotel is one
of the incest kept in Tennessee and
is worthy of all the patronage it re-
ceives.
The Hoss House and several other
hotels do all the business possible, and
being in the land of plenty, all set the
best tables-oceans of milk, the best Of
butter, chickens, eggs, fish and game
without end.
A WONDERFUL ANALYSIS.
Gen. J. T. Wilder may Justly be
styled the father of the new Tennessee
in its wonderful development. In
March, 1868, at the Murfreesboro
Courthouse, he picked up copy ol
"safford's Preliminary Geology oi
Tennessee" published in 1851, and
containing a geological map. After
the war Gen. Wilder traced those
veins Of iron from Central Alabama t
Lake Ontario, and said that twenty
five years have proved the wonderful
accuracy OF Safford's then unbelieyeC
statements. Gen. Wilder has don,
nothing in these whole years but pros
pect, and leave to others development
1t seems that his whole life has beer
employed uncovering treasures o
mir eral for Others to profit by, and il
the autumn of his life he has but littl
worldly goods TO show for his laborf
| The General, in the wildness OF claim
for virtues of minerals, gave an in
stance of an experience Of his in th
Sequacee Valley
A native one day lugged into hi
room an immense lump Of coal, an
with an air Of great confidence, as
he held the mineral wealth of the hem
ispheres in his grasp, asked:
"What do you think of thatH"
"Has it been cokedp asked tn
General.
eyes, sir; l had coal from this weir
coked and anialised," was the reply
The General looked at it and asked
"How much ash?"
"Three per cent (proudlv).
} "How much sulphur"
"Not particle" Confidently.
"How much phosphorus?"
, "Not any"
"How much carbon?"
(Slowly and with emphasis) Not
id bit"
l The General exploded with laugl
ter about this time, and the nati'
departed, thinking Gen. Wilder's +
putation as mineral expert was vel
q much overrated.
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