The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-05-21
SOUTHERN PROGRESS
RAILROAD BUILDING IN THE LUM-
 BIER COUNTRY.
Letter from a Mississippf Company to The Manufacturers' -Reeord--$Vork in the Oil Fields of
 Kentucky

III SOutnefnr ueVeIopment ana or the
 process of realizing them are given in lers' Record. The one, typical of the pioneer influences in railroad building. is In a letter from Mississippi lumber lcompany which says:
 we, contemplate making a conrec- tion between our standard gauge lor railroad and the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad at Picayune.
 Miss. This is a short connection of
 about four miles, which is nearly com
 pleted with our own engineers. Our l logging railroad is about twenty-efght
 miles long at present. and runs almost
 parallel with the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad, beginning at
 Logtown on the Pearl river and rum
 ming in northeasterly direction. open
 ing up a pine belt entirely through
 Hancock County. Mississippi. There are several small towns on this line, namely, Logtown, Huxford, westonfa and Center. The road will haul lum- Der, naval stores, coal, wood, etc, out of the County. and will bring in gen. eral merchandise, railroad equipment. construction material, etc."
 The other bears upon the utilization of water power in developing electric ity for the operation of a railroad through mineral fields. It deals with
  tric Railroad and Power Co.,, which has secured one of the best water powers in Arkansas at Mt. Hersey on the Buff falo river among the zinc mines It Is proposed to use this water power in supplying the road with electricity and for lighting purposes. Mir. s. J. Nor man. Secretary and Treasurer of the Company, writes to the Manufacturers Record as follows:
 ha A~rro way will make connection with the St. Louis and North Arkansas Railroad at Hurricane Switch. the line will be built to the Big Hurricane zinc mines; thence to the Spears zinc mine; thence to Mt. Hersey, at which place are situated the Granby Mining and Smelling Com pany's mines, the Pratt mines, the Ken nedy mines, the Lick Creek mines, the Poe mines and others; thence to the Cave Creek postoffice, to Saltpeter cave, to other mines of the Granby Company, to the Bill Scott mines, to the English mines and others, and thence to Bass, at which town is to be the present ter minus. In addition to the mining properties above mentioned, there are many other valuable deposits of zinc ore which with but little work can be made productive; then, too, there are as many more to be yet discovered, for there has been but little prospecting done.
 Besides the many mining properties. there are millions of feet of hardwood timber, white oak. red oak. ash, nick ory, black locust and great deal of cherry and walnut left. The timber is of the best quality and the kind which demands the highest price in the mar ket. The land will cut from 5000 to 10000 feet per acre of the above tim Der. The road also penetrates a good farming district, there being lots of fruit-growing and corn; cotton, wheat. oats and other farm and garden pro- ducts also do well. Everyone knows the reputation of the ozarks for fruit growing"
 Quiet but steady work is progressing in the Kentucky oil fields. Cores pondence from Barboursville says:
 'The Kentucky oil fields now present a state of unprecedented activity, and contractors throughout the principal developments are enjoying a good run of business. The number of wells go- ing down is constantly increasing, and new operators continue to come in. The production of the field is also on the increase. and the Standard has found it necessary to improve its pipe line facilities in some sections.
 "In the entire Kentucky division a total of twenty-nine completions have been made so far this month. The runs for the same length of time ap- proximate about 29,000 barrels, which is greater than the entire production of May, 1903. Most of the oil is now being obtained from the lower devel- opments, which are attracting more at tention than the older fields The pro- duction this month has been greatly augmented by some large strikes down in Wayne County the first week of May, there being twelve completions with a production daily of $40 barrels altogether.
 'In the Southeastern fields some Phil adelphia capitalists have been drilling for the past few months. and this week their efforts in Whitley County were rewarded by a twenty -five-b barrel strike in deep sand, which is pro- nounced the best yet revealed in that region. The same people have com | tracted for some new drilling in Whit ley and Knox counties, and work will begin within the next thirty days. In Knox County a New York company l landed twenty -barreler in the deep
 sand. The Richlands oil Company. op-
 erating In that field this week declared a dividend of per cent at its meeting at this place. The concern is com posed of Ohio people.
 l III tue upper HtluS SOIfle OL lHe Ieently-developed counties are coming | to the front at a rapid rate, which bids fair 90 make them rival the lower fields during the next year or two. During the next few weeks a pipe line will be constructed from Estill County to the Ragland fields of Bath and Rowan counties, and this will greatly lessen the expense of marketing the Estill County oil and will mean more money for the operators. The present method of shipping is by tank cars. and the ex- pense Is not less than 20 cents bar rel.
 some Eastern capitalists are prepar- ing to operate on an extensive scale in
 the eastern part of the State in the Floyd Knott field. The oil found in that division is the best produced in | Kentucky or Tennessee. and is quoted at $115 per barrel. This week the biggest producer of the field was drill | ad iy, E,lOvd County and started out at