The farmer and mechanic., 1915-10-12

! IT,
facturers' Record. In the Pittsbure
Dispatch.)
When a New England man living in |
the South invented the cotton gin he |
probably did more to shape the des- |
tiny Of the South than any other man |
who ever lived.
Prior to the invention of the cotton |
gin the South was giving it's attention
largely to industrial activities Up
TO 1910 it led New England in manu-
featuring. Its foremost men in the
early days prior to and after the Rev
olution were in very many cases men
Of technical training. Washington
was civil engineer and his father
a miner and shipper of iron ore. JEFF
ferson owned iron works, and in those
early days the iron industry was an
important factor In the life Of a large
portion Of the South.
In his History of Iron in All
Ages" James M. Swank. in referring
90 the establishment Of many fur
uaces and bloomeries throughout the
then settled portions of the South,
said
The people who built these fur
naces and bloomeries were not only
bold and enterprising, but appear to
have been born with genius for
making iron. Wherever they went
they seem to have searched for iron
ore and. having found it, their small
charcoal furnaces and bloomeries
soon followed. No States in the Union
have shown in their early history
more intelligent appreciation of the
value of an iron industry than North
Carolina and Tennessee, and none
nave been more prompt to establish
IT. . 1t Is q curious fact that dar-
ing men who pushed their way into
ihe wilds of Western Carolina and
Eastern Tennessee in the last century,
and who set up their small furnaces
and bloomeries when forts yet took
the place of hamlets, founded an iron
industry which still retains many of
the primitive features that at first
cha,A cteriZed it.
AS early as 1716 Gov. Spotswood of
Virginia established several iron max
ing enterprises. In 1927 the General
Assembly Of that State passed IAN
act for encouraging adventurers in
iron works." Col. William Byrd, writ
ing in 1892 of the many iron enter
prises that had been started in Vir-
ginia, refers in one case to the iron
development near Fredericksburg
and adds:
"Mr. Washington raises the ore and
carts it thither for 20 shillings the
ton OF iron that it yields. Be-
sides, Mr.. Washington and Mr.. Eng
land, there are several other person:
in England concerned in these works
Matters are very we'll managed there
and no expense is spared to make
them profitable"
In another place SWank, referring
10 increased activity of iron interest
In Virginia, says:
About 1890 the iron history Of Vir
ginia took a fresh start, as did man!
other manufactures Of the State.
No State in the Union gave more at
Iention to domestic manufacture
after the close of the Revolution thai
did Virginia. Richmond, Lynchbure
Staunton, Winchester and some Othe
places became noted for the exten
snd variety of their manufactures.
Trend Of Industrial Thought.
In South Carolina iron works wer
built in 1873, and at the beginning Q
the Revolution the State offered lib
eral premiums to those who would es
tablish iron works. and number c
furnaces and rolling mills and ma
mills were established. During tn
Revolutionary War William. Hi
father OF Gen. D. II. Hill, of the Con
gederate army, operated forge an
blast furnace in that state. Thes
works We're burned by Lord Cornwa
tis in his advance from upper Sout
Carolina TO North Carolina, and som
small iron guns made in these worf
Co aid in the Revolution were cal
;ured by Cornwallis and deStroye
Later on both North and South Care
lima gave very considerable attenuo
10 iron making, as to other lines
industry.
The trend Of Southern thought
industrial activities, as indicated
these facts. typical of many that cou
be given, was changed largely by II
Invention of the cotton gin. In tho
days the price OF cotton was SO hla
and the profit In its production
great that the energy and capital
she South were soon concentrate
npon cotton growing. In the ear
days OF the cotton industry pr1c
ranged from IA or ] 5 cents to 40 cen
pound, yielding unusual prom