123 
the Hatchie and Forked Deer river bottoms subject to overflow, and thus ren- 
dered unfit for farming purposes, yet they abound in the finest white-oak and 
cypress timber; if the rivers could be leveed and the overflow regulated, these 
bottoms would make the finest farms, the soil being very rich and fertile. 
Weakley county, $4 to $15 per acre—capable of producing 30 to 50 bushels of 
corn per aere, 600 to 1,000 pounds tobacco, 15 to 20 bushels oats, 10 to 20 
bushels wheat, 600 to 1,000 pounds seed cotton, and vegetables in abundance. 
In Henry county our correspondent reports little land under this head, the 
county being well settled up; the price for such as may be found he averages at 
$7 per acre. 
3. The mineral resources of Tennessee are developed to but a limited extent, 
though her hills and mountains contain stores of iron, of coal, and of copper, of 
zine, of sandstone, and of the-finest marble, awaiting the capital, enterprise, and 
labor that shall dig out and utilize these dormant mines of wealth. Iron ore is 
found in great abundance in nearly all the counties of eastern and middle 
Tennessee; copper, in. Greene, Sevier, Polk, Perry, and other counties; coal, 
in the mountains of Campbell, Rhea, Marion, &c.; some gold is reported in 
Polk; salts, in Greene and Hawkins; lead, in Perry; fine marble and building 
stones, in Hawkins, Campbell, Monroe, Meigs, Giles, and Williamson; thick 
stratum of shale in Coffee, &é., &c. The timber resources are also extensive, 
embracing a great variety, and many of the finest quality of forest trees—hickory, 
the various oaks, poplar, walnut, ash, beech, chestnut, locust, cedar, sugar, pine, 
&c., which cover a large portion of the vast tracts classed “ wild or unimproved 
lands,”’ and to be purchased at the figures named above for such. The soil 
ranges from that of the deep rich bottoms, of exhaustless fertility, to light and 
hilly uplands, which require high culture to become productive. 
In a number of counties the iron interest has been partially developed. In 
Greene one furnace is in operation, and a northern company have purchased 
several thousand acres of ore lands and will soon have extensive works com- 
pleted. ‘Near the town of Greeneville there is a bed of sulphate of iron, from 
which copperas was made during the war, and where even the clay is impreg- 
nated with the mineral. Our Montgomery correspondent says “that within 
twenty-five miles of Clarksville there are from ten to twenty furnaces lying idle 
for want of capital; most of them were burned during the war, and the, pro- 
prietors, being unable to rebuild and run them, would sell out very low.’ 
The zinc of Greene county is said to be very rich; during the war Epsom 
salts were also made to some extent in the mountains. In Hawkins, our cor- 
respondent states, “there is an underground stream of salt water traversing the 
valley, which has been tapped at several points, at one of which the manu- 
facture of salt has been successfully prosecuted for a number of years, though 
not upon a large scale; but it is thought that, with capital and enterprise, it 
might be made to rival the salt wells of southwestern Virginia in the production of 
this valuable product. * * *° A most beautiful quality of marble is found 
at various points in this county, one quarry of which was worked to a con- 
siderable extent before the war. Much capital might be profitably invested 
and many laborers usefully employed in the manufacture and_ preparation for 
market of the two articles named—salt and marble—as well as iron, the ore of 
which is present in the mountains.” Our Marion correspondent says “the quan- 
tity of bituminous and semi-bituminous coal and iron ore in this county is 
unlimited, with but little development of the former and none of the latter, 
though the inducements are great, produce being abundant and transportation 
good and improving.” 
Our Coffee county correspondent writes : 
A stratum of black aluminous shale, at least twenty feet thick, underlies the whole of the 
table lands of this county, and crops out in the foot hills. It burns with a brilliancy equal 
to the best bituminous coal, but does not burn to ashes, nor does it do for smiths. It may 
be valuable, but we do not regard it-in the least so. 
