The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-06-21
FORTUNES TN THE SOUTH.
VISIT TO THE WONDERFUL VAL
LEY OF THE SEQUATCHIE.


would Have Astonished Old Tuhal
ICain-seams of Ore Twenty and
thirty Miles Long-Tennessee Boil
ing with Business Energy.
From, the Neio York Sun.
CHATTANOOGA, June 16-The new south
| is land of fortunes. Those made in the
mast are simply an indication of those to be
made in the future. Tennessee is awake to
he new industrial life shown in Georgia
md Alabama Chattanooga is beginning
n wear silk stockings and to sport the
imperial purple. Mineral developments in
hAr vicinity are adding to her wealth and
inheritance This is demonstrated by a
whit to the wonderful valley of the Sequat-
che. 1t lies about thirty miles west of
Chattanooga 1t is from four TO five miles
wide and about eighty-f1ve miles long. Just
now it IS center of attraction to those
seeking fortunes in the south. Investors in
.,oal and minerals evince unusual interest in
its treasures, and it is evidently destined to
be q paradise for manufacturers. Cities
near by are throbbing with business energy,
and the whole surrounding country is
eagerly awaiting the possibilities attending
its development.
Seduatchie valley is shaped ike a huge
canoe Its main opening is at Bridgeport,
on the Tennessee river The Sequatchie
Joins this stream a few miles above that
point. The vale is Enclosed on the wes5 by
the Cumberland mountains, and on the
east by Wallen's ridge. The Cumberland
rim is about 2, 30S feet above the sea level,
and the ridge trifle lower. Both are rocky
and we'll wooded. The SequatcEie in riches
recalls the tabled valley found by Sindbad,
the sailor Its diamonds, however, are
black They are in untold quantities. Two
veins of soft coal, running the whole length
Of the range. pierce the Cumberland
mountains. The first cuts the range $50
feet above the valley, and is Az feet thick.
The second is $50 feet lower aud is 215 feet
thick. The upper vein carries the least
sulphur, and its coal makes the best of coke
for smelling purposes. Already the sky is
redeemed BY the glare of coking ovens.
They do not begin to supply the demand for
the coke. New ovens are being built.
Twenty years from now a continual line of
them will undoubtedly illumine the entire
valley, and over 100000 persons be there
employed in manufacturing industries.
But the valley does not depend entirely
upon the Cumberland range for its wealth.
The Wallen ridge is fully as rich. If be
had been placed at its base thousands of
years ago, Tubal Cain would have opened
his eyes in wonder A five-foot vein of rel
fossiliferous iron underlies the whole ridge.
1t begins six miles from Bridgeport and
parallels the valley. The ore lies beneath
the ridge like a red pamphlet under a thick
book. Its edges are exposed on each side.
1t crops out in the valley for seventy miles.
1t yields 81 per cent. of iron. Mixed, in
the proportion of ten to one, with the
soft ore found in Georgia a few
miles below, it produces wrought and cast
iron of superior quality. Indeed, it is fit
for all purposes except the making of steel
The coal deposits near by enhance the value
Of the ore. and the mineral increases the
value of the coal. A third factor in
trinity Of unearthed wealth is a limestone
ridge which crops out in the center of the
valley. There are said to be at least IS, 900
acres of the iron ore under the Wallen
ridge, with an average. thickness of four
feet. 1t yields 5000 tons to the acre, and Is
worth about so cents ton. This estimate
aggregates S4 900 to the acre, or 500, 900, 900
worth of iron ore in the Is, 900 acres. Fully
half of the land containing the ore is owned
by farmers eager to sell. II has no agri-
cultural value. The mining OF the ore will
create a market for produce and enrich
the inhabitants of the valley. The farmers
see this, and are anxiously awaiting the
advent of capitalists. The land can now
be bought for from 81 so to $40 per acre, il
proportion to its distance from the rail-
road. Spurs reaching every mine can be
built without troable. There are thirty
eight miles of outcrops of stratified
ore running a mile into the ridge. The
Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Compa-
ny is working the only mine thus far
opened. The ore is easily mined. 1t lies
in sheet upturned toward the center of
the valley. 1t has a gradually lessening
dip into the mountain. The sheet protected
the strata below from weathering, and so
formed a 'bench." Drainage has cut
through it, and left row of foothills rooted
with ore. This is stripped and worked in
the usual manner. Working to the dip. no
water has yet appeared, the ground being
drained by lower strata.
So much for the iron deposit along the
Sequatchie valley. A railroad is open to a
point half way up the valley. 1t can easily
be extended to Nashville. 1t strikes the
Memphis and Charleston and roads per-
meating the southwest at Bridgeport.
Nor is this the only means of tranSporta-
ton. Much of the ore can be shipped down
the Tennessee river in fiatboats to Decatur
and other points. The canal along the
Muscle Shoals viii be open in September,
and this will give the valley waterway to
over half the states in the union.
The most of the ore is now consumed
by the furnaces in the valley. The
coal veins are only four miles from
the iron deposits. The Tennessee company
owns about So, 900 acres of the coal lands.
There are 10000 acres adjacent to their pur
chase, sought, it is said, by Senator Joe
Brown, of Georgia. He is running what is
known as the Dade Coke Works, eight miles
southeast OF the mouth Of the Sequatchie.
He has there several hundred ovens, at
tended by over thousand men. Among
them are 600 convicts from the Georgia
state prison. They are taken under con-
tract. The senator, it is understood, feeds
and clothes them, and pays their passage
home when their terms OF imprisonment
expire.
am told that the Dade coal carries more
sulphur than the upper vein Of coal in the
Sequatchie valley. If So the Sequatchie
coal will make better coke for smelling
purposes This is probably why Senator
Brown is seeking slice of the Sequatchie
coal field. 1t is difficult to secure any def
mite information about his coke ovens in
Dade. Certain it is that his agents and
prospec5ors are in the Cumberland noun
tains, and that upon their reports depend
a deal that may awaken capitalists. The
land upon which the governor has his eye
was lately owned by Breeze g. Co. of Wall
street. They transferred their interest to
Nashville parties. 1t lies three miles from
the railroad. A spur leading to the veins
can be put in without difficulty The coal
can be taken from the mountain by an in
clined plane, aud dumped into coke ovens
at its foot From there the coke can be
transferred by rail to almost any part Of