The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1891-03-13
oprx1oy OF TWO ENGLISH EXPERTS.

10
Mr., +. Monks, of Warrington, Eng, members
of the British Iron & Steel Institute, recently
visited Big Stone Gap. Mr.. Darby is young
man. but has already reached prominent po-,
sjtion among the iron and steel producers OF
England. He nherits his aptness for these IN
dustries from ancestors who have been prom
ncnt in them for a century. Ills grandiatseF
Yas the first to make iron from knocked coal,
and his own plant, located near Chester, was
the first to nsq successfully the basic process e.
for making steel, Nf. Monks is one OF the
Oldest and best known oftho PRACTICAL iron ano
coke men Of England.
81 am greatly delighted with what haze
seen in Big Stone Gap and vicinity, and am
under lasting obligations 70 Mr.. Proctor tor
bringing us here, and to Gen. Ayers for his
courtesies to u.s. l speak the sentiments of .
large majority of the visiting members OF our
British institute when say that what wan
ted to see most in your great country was the
rich deposits ofiron oyes and cokinS Goals here
in the South, where they are as yet practicaliy
undevelopcd.
HThe very things wanted to see are here,
did net care to see the manufactures III oper'
alton, for We haye those at home as numerous
and as nearly perfect IS one could wish to sec,
although must say that have been greatly
surprised and pleased at the great concerns we
saw in the North. Their equipments are not
so complete nor their methods so economical as
ours in England, but they are rapidly ap-
preaching it. What those of us who mean
business wished to see in America is just what
have seen to-day at Big Stone Gap; as fine
coke as | have ever seen in England, With iron
ores only two miles away, and limestone be-
tween, together with water power and railroads.
This is combination that is bound to make
YOU great here. have neVer seen 1t eQudted
elsewhere. Your coke is the best have seen
in America. The brown ores We inspected to-
dav are admirably adapted to the basic process.
Of course, your proximity to the magnetic ores
at Cranberry is a great card in your favor, but
YOU will not need that to make the possibilities
of this point simply incalculabe. We have
been over large portion of the Southern min
eral belt, and l regard This as the best point
we have seen for the manufacturing of basic
steel, owing to the quality and quantity OF
your brown ores and their proximity to thus
coke have enjoyed my day here greatly,
and hope can return soon"
Mr. Monks spoke in the same strain, saying
he had been practical producer of coka and
iron for forty years, and that he had never seen
better coke; and the iron ore, both brown and
red were fine. lie thought the best card for
the future of Big Stone Gap in the iron indus
try was the advantage II had over any other
place lie had seen for the production Of steel by
the basic process.
TIMBER,
Prof Proctor in his report says of the tim.
Der: "About 80 per cent of the area included
in the Appalachian coal-feldin Southwest Nir-
einia, West Virginia, and Southeast Kentucky,
is covered with forest of valuable hardwoods-
oak, yellow poplar, hickory, etc. The Black
Mountains, Immediately north of Big Stone
Gap, are heavily timbered from base to sum-
NIT with as magnificent forests as have ever
seen. The following, from actual count and
measurement which made of the trees on five
acres on the southern slope Of the Big Black, a
few miles northeast of the Gap, will give an
idea of the forest of this region:
Is yellow poplars ranging in diameter from 90 in. tc
- il.
II oaks, diameter from Is in to 40 n
chcstnuts, diameter from 1Sin. to 40 III,
3 hickorys diameter from Is in. to "a ill.,
80 hard naples, diameter from IA in. to 40 III.
Is Inns diameter from II In. 10 80 III.
u buckeyes, diameter from II in. 70 sc in.
= black wanuts, diameter, 81 in. and So in
lash, diameter, IS In.
Bv the courtesy of Mr.. Charles 7. Ballard.
president of the Interstate Investment Com
pany, of Louisville, we are enabled ogivc lum-
Der men abroad an idea of the amount oftimbcr
that grows on our mountains. The table be-
low represents the work of eight men for ten
DAYS, counting the trees on a body of 1000
acres of his lands on the Black Mountains of
Harlan county, Kentucky, and Wise county,
Virginia, Ca large part of which is tributary to
Big Stone Gap.) 1t mnSt be noted that the
diameter of tie trees is mentioned as the
minimum diameter, uHd that almost al Of
them Of course, riU rtt1t much id1yey.