The age-herald., 1897-08-18
FIRST STEEL--NOW GLASS Indiana Capitalists Looking To- i ward the South. GLASS MAKING IN VIEW Negotiations Pending For the Site of the Pio-
 neer Glass Works-Capitasts Will
 Arrive In Few Days.

First came the steel age. Now comes the glass age.
 Sands as pure as that, which as tradl- tion has it, ran into glass while th= trav- elers on the desert sat about their camp fires lies within easy reach of Birming- ham. Glass making is not new to Bir- mingham. The old Pioneer glass works at Gate City fourished until 1891, when with oth4r industries it sank to sleep un- der the cloud of depression. Now it promises to be revived by returning pros- perity and launched on a broader scale.
 According to the figures of eminent assayists the sand at Cats City is equal to that found in Indiana, the state noted for its glass making enterprises. It is lying dormant awaiting the beck of the capitalist and the capitalist is interested and sees the advantages of glass works in th= south.
 The south purchases from the north an immense quantity of glassware an- nually and the freight and breakage amounts to a large figure. The advan- fges of a plant of easy access to the big southern markets are manifest. The clause in the Dingley bill relting to the importation of glass has stimulated the glass making industry. The duty is so high that foreign manufacturers will be practically barred from the ports of the United States and the homs manufac- turers will not be slow to grasp the gol- den opportunity.
 Negotiations are now pending between a party of Indiana capitalists through their agent, MT. Clifford, and McLin Sloss for the Gate City Land company. MT. Clifford is familiar with the advan- tags of the south and has been in the city several days gathering information as to freight rates, etc., to furnish the capitalists who are expected to arrive here within four or five days. Accord Ing to MT. Clifford the only inducement wantsd by them is the donation of a site. It is understood that the Gate City Land company stands ready to do- mate the site of the old Pioneer glass works.
 Should the new enterprise be located at Gats City very little of the machinery of the Pioneer works can be utilized. Since the old works shut down new meth ods have been introduced in glass mak- ing. The furnace of the present works is thirty or forty feet in diameter and comprises six pots with two blowers to each. One hundred men were given employment when the works were In operation. good quality of plain green glass for the making of fruit jars and ware of this quality was turned out and when the factory closed down several thousand jars were on hand which were sold to Louisville firm at a sacrifice The old firm never lacked for orders To the contrary too many were received ITO be able to meet these orders money was borrowed the plant spread too ra- pidly and when the panic came the banks were rigid in collecting the loans and the result was the company closed oper- ations.
 With the coming of the new operators many changes win be inaugurated. A mammoth pot furnace 5Ox100 feet will take tlie place of the small one. Around this will stands hundreds of expert blow CTS, who will transform the moaEen sand into ths purest flint glass It is argued that the new organization can hardly be a failure in view of the fact that 1t will ba run on the cooperative plan. The skilled laborerS will be stockfuoldens amd hihe success of the enterprise wdn be a close personal matter with them
 The mountain of sand at Gate City is sixty feet in depth and extends fer miles and miles, the supply bling uufimdted. The assayists tliat qiave examined it, find it almost pure with but the least trace of clay. The great Indiana glass expers, Du Paw, was at one ItinDe attracted by this deposit and made a trip here It Is said that he announced his intention of nego- tiating with the owners, but was killed in a railroad accident while on his return llome.