Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1891-05-22
MARLBoRoUGH's VIEWS.

l
has been extensively published in
the English papers. Much inter
est was taken in his tour of inspec
tion through the iron and coal re
gions of the South; for, upon re.
ceiving his report, hundreds OF
English capitalists would decide
whether or not to make contem
plated Investments. The entire
report is most favorable ami
even enthusiastic, as will he seen
below:
In the present article I will deal
especially with the interests OF the
South not only in the matter of rail.
ways, but also as regards the pros
poets which this portion of America
promises i'll the distant future.
1t will not he within the scope
of my article to cross the Alleghanies
and discuss the interess of the great
cotton belt OF the so.called Piedmont
, territory of tho Southern States. The
great question of the negro and his
future is so mixed up with Southern
prospects that it is almost useless to
enter into speculations regarding the
cotton States, when tho immediate
interest of the South lies to the
north of the Appalachian system,
where the general level of the lund,
with its broad and fertile valleys and
thickly timbered mountains, is at
sucn an altitude above the sea level
that the climate is i'll no way tropical
or in any way demands negro labor.
LONG KNOWN REGION.
Long previous to the civil war it
was known that iron and coal existed
III important quantities throughout
this re- ion, which. though it had
never been geologically explored, was
known to possess these minerals in
great abundance. l have seen the
remains OF furnaces in the South
which must have been at least hun
dred years old, right up in the noun
tains ut Big Stone Gap. These fur
nnces existed all over the country
and were fed by wood, and the pigs
were dragged for miles to get them
to a shipping spot on road or river
to reach market. The quantity
manufactured was quite insignificant
owing to want of ali means of trans
port. Besides, Pennsylvania and the
Adironddcks furnished NIL the iron
that was required for Eastern uses
that could be made at profit in
competition with European imports,
and the early development of rail
ways in these New England States
gave the iron industry start that it
has not yet lost i'll Pennsylvania,
Matters are today, however, talk
ing new shape. The great coking
field of Pennsylvania is no longer
the only source of the finest coke,
while the natural gas has given out
altogether. On the other hand,
since the demand for steel has be
come so enormous, for railways and
house girder building, &C., the east
ern iron masters arc compelled to go
to LIKE Superior for their splegeIi
pen to obtain suitable ore for their
Bessener converters. The ore has
to come all the way flom Luke SUI
perior ut water freight of about 50
n ton shipped to Toledo and Cleve-
land, and thence by rail.to the Penn
sylvania blast furnaces. Some Sc n
ton this Bessemer ore from lake Su
perior costs before it reaches the
Eastern furnaces overa thousand
miles southeast. 1t is only the best
ore, also, that it pays to send; tons
arc dug and cast aside TINT is not of
high enough grade to be worth
sending,
TIE coKING BASIN.
Let it be remembered that west of
Kentucky there is no such thing as n
mine of good coking coal in the
United States. Let us trace for u
moment the area of the one great
coking basin in America beginning
with the northernmost area of pro
duction, the Connellsville coke field,
we go on south to the New River
field in West Virginia, and on to the
great Pocahontas field on the border
of North Virginia, and then on to
Big Stone Gap and the field of the