The Van Buren press., 1895-11-23
NATURES WEALTH.
Untold Treasures Are Hidden Away
to Be Unlocked by Degrees.
Bill Arp Cites Some cases-He Used to
Wonder What Certain Pebbles Were
Good For-Now Glass Is Made
of Them.

The older I grow the more am con-
vinced that everything in this world
was created for some wise and beneh-
cent purpose and all for the good OF
Gods creatures. There is no waste, no
surplus, no meaningless things. Ma
tnre's storehouse is unlocked by de-
| grees. The doors have combination
locks and here and there all along the
years man is found who is smart
enough to study ont the words and
make key that will open the door. l
remember walking over the hills OF
| Tallapoosa-the hills that we're covered
with thousands OF shapeless pebbles OF
glittering quartz They were sign of
poor land and I wondered what they
were made for. In q few years after
there was glass factory built there,
and all these pebbles were gathered up
and made into French plate Shortly
iron patriarch of Rome, asked me to
take a ride with him to Kingston to
| look at some iron property that was for
sale. I was no expert in that line, but
came along as company. He had half a
| dozen strong-armed negroes with picks
and shovels and they dug little pits on
the hillside and got down to the ore
beds and threw up boulders for him TO
inspect. He crushed them with his
hammer, and after careful examination,
| - 4. IL. rr6nd
more manganese than iron" Ten years
afterward that same old man was hunt
| Ing for manganese property and bought
all he could find. Mr.. Bessemer had
unlocked door and found that man
| ganese was worth ten times as much as
| iron, and through its chemical eombi-
nations steel rails that were $50 ton
we're reduced to $50. One day while we
were tramping over the barren hills we
| found curious clay that had the shapes
of little shells all through it and sent
some of it to Philadelphia, and il was
| pronounced aluminium clay or beauxite,
| and now it Is being mined and shipped
| and manufactured into the strongest
| anu dnu bU o. vi H1tIhlos
| Another door has been unlocked A
| few years ago man of science, while
| perusing this region, observed deposit
of earth that we called yellow dirt. He
said it was yellow oehre, and soon after
he formed company and bought up all
they could find and put up mill, and
| then another mill, and the manufac-
tured ochre is shipped from hero all
the year round to Northern markets,
and pays good profits. Then there is
tale and tripoii and graphite and mica
and vitrified clay that we have walked
over and stumbled over for years and is
now wanted for industrial arts. For
years and years We have valued the
lowlands and counted the hills as moth
ing. II a man sold his farm the low
lands were valued at so much an acre,
and the hills were thrown In for good
measure. But now when man sells
he reserves the mineral interest il he
can-or half of it anyhow.
About year ago Mr.. Laramore, one
of our citizens, was prospecting near
Tunnel Hill for ores, mainly for man
ganese, and found himself walking on a
remarkable piece of road. 1t was SO
firm, SO smooth and so old that he
stopped at farmers house and asked if
that road was natural or artificial. He
learned from him that it was graded
thirty years ago from a deposit of nat
ural concrete nearby and had never been
worked on since. The more he looked
at it the more he thought about it, for
he is one of natures close observers.
He procured some of the deposit and
sent it to his chemist and it was pro-
nounced natural concrete of horns tone
and was used in France for roadbeds.
The chemist said it was of the best
quality and roadbed made of it would
last century, for water solidfed it and
then It became inperyious to rain and
neither wagon tire nor horse shoes
could wear it away. This was a revela-
tion to Mr.. Laramore. AS it was quite
give him side track and now he is
mining and shipping in large quantities
and has already beided and graded sew
eral miles of highway near Atlanta and
the county commissioners are extending
the line of grading. | travelled over it
and found it luxury and far more
pleasant than belgian blocks or eobble
stones. 1t does look as if our Creator
placed that deposit there to be used in
due time and the due time has come.
The road congress is TO meet soon in
Atlanta, and no doubt will investigate
this concrete and commend it to the peo-
pie, for it abounds in this region and
the railroads will build spurs to the de-
posits. Just think how much the rail-
roads add to the volume of our timber
and minerals and products OF every
kind. But next to railroads the farm
ers are interested in having good wagon
roads leading from every market town.
Rome has been wise in this regard, and
now has eighty miles of good macadam
roads reaching ont for the country trade.
Gainesville is doing the same thing and
will use this new discovery when it can
be as cheaply procured. Mr.. Laramore
is going to bed out principal streets
with it as an experiment, for it never
wears out nor. has to be patched
or repaired. All the rains of the
past summer fell upon that broad
way that leads from Fourteenth
street down to the exposition gates and
never affected it and the more travel
| the frmer it becomes. II all that i:
claimed for it is true the road problem
I