The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-23

carson uTOWniON uOusV u'V
Held Now Oyerrun With the Wonder.
full New city That Has Grown Up
Around the Sleepy village Of OH Days
Figures and Facts Which SHOW How
Giants Arc Made-FactOries on Every
Hand-Centre Of the JobbinE Trade.
KNOXVILLE. Nov 20 BY the logic Of
Topography. East Tennessee might very
we'll be a s ate by itself vast undulating
plateau cut off from the djacent country
by mountain ranges whose submits in some
Instances reach an altitude OF 5000 feet
above the level Of the sea, containing some
5000 square miles and measuring 2.0 miles
In length by sixty miles in breadth. right in
the heart of the continent between the
Mississippi River and the Atlantic coast;
rich in coal. in iron, in fine marbles and other
minerals beyond all calculation; rich, too,
In vast stretches of as fertile soil as any in
the country-Elst Tennessee, thus placed
and thus endowed. were she common
wealth by herself, would be larger than
MARYLAND, almost as large as all Swit2er-
land. and would be able 10 hold her head up
proudly in the great ,isterhood composing
Uncle Sans rather hearty and healthy
family.
And of this ina ginary commonw ealth
Knoxville would naturally be the political
Just as it now L. the commercial capital-
the thriving business centre TO which no,
only this great territory known as East
Tennessee pays tribune. but also wide field
beyond the boundaries Of Tennessee itself,
The MOUNTAIN CAPITAL.
There is not the remotest possibility Of
East Tennessee ever being made State by
itself There is nobody here or elsewhere
in the Commonwealth who is not proud Of
old Tennessee just as she stands little
empire by itself in he richest and best part
of the country east Of the Mississippi.
But. all the same. Knoxville is now. and Is
destined every year 10 become more and
more tho sea, Of wealth and commercial
activity for all that great tract of country
which always will be known as East Tenn
essee-the Tennessee Of the mountains as
compared with the Tennessee of the river.
Just now all this region, with Knoxville
itself away in the van, is being carried along
on the crest Of that great wave Of prosperity
which is sweeping all over the country and
l. lea wing nowhere in it's wake more Of con-
tentment and plenty and swelling bank ac-
counts llltIl III tIlpSe OldleS O1 lTt SOutn
where only few short years ago there was
desolation
Knoxville made her own mark in the
history OF the war--ca'ne IN Tor quite her
snare oil all the "hacks ana bunets "hlch
were beihg passed around SO Freely IN those
stormy days hut hnoN'iHe had an ad-
vantage over some ol we cities OF the
south 'hc names Oh "nlch inquired so much
IN the ihi'i'ars operations on oo'h parties
TO the butter contention, there was not
much oil her 10 pa''er' me place. always
was trading centre ols'Houtihg point
LOT pre'ty VICE range oil territory but
II was nothlnS more IMAM mite village OF
barely 5000 people When NO war began.
1t was only Town oil a. 5000 lnhaoi-
tants hve year Ter the war ended,
In the decace between 1870 ana 1850 It
was practically al standstill. In all those
zen years II cameo puV Urine over LUZ
inhahnants. IL was sond, slow-golng
MISUNDERSTANDING place win no Thought
OF b coming great city and apparently
with no AMBITION 70 that end. FOR It's
SO here was a surprisingly good Jobblng
Tade-there always had been that because
OF the vice territory winch looked TO knox'
vile for supplies. Some OF the merchants
here were getting what, Tor the town and
the tlr.es' was called rich at this wholesale
trade. But there the mater rested.
RECONSTRUCTION DAYS
There was coal of the finest quality right
at the towns doors and side by side with IN,
coal there was iron of an equally fine auali, ,
and in unlimited quantities. There like
wise wee zinc and lead But nobody wa,
bothcring very much then about either
the coal or the iron, the zinc or the lead
Social and political conditions, which fo
some years prior TO 1885 had taken th'
heart out Of people, the reconstructio
eSa in a word, in some other parts Of thu
South less favored as to the character o
great masses of the population, did no
exist to so great an extent here in Knox
vile. Yet there was no real stir Of in
dustrial activity. The town just doze,
comfortably on and on, As it had done 70
years before.
But through all the South, or at leas
through all this central section Of it cas-
of the Mississippi River, there began t
run early in the decade between 1850 an
1890 stir Of activity. The electric cur
t@f al ha vol ,tat