18 EAST TENNESSEE. 



of animals. Nearly one-half of all this, except sweet potatoes, peas and 

 beans, should be credited to East Tennessee, because this is the region 

 where these things do most flourish, the other divisions of the State be- 

 ing engaged in raising cotton and tobacco. Before the war, it was esti- 

 mated that East Tennessee annually furnished for the Southern markets 

 100,000 live hogs, besides vast quantities of bacon, as well as horses, 

 mules, cattle and sheep. This region is a grain growing, a grass pro- 

 ducing, and a stock raising country. 



4. Iron and coal can be had here as cheaply as can be desired. They 

 are brought by the rivers and by the railroads. Then, combine with iron 

 and coal, cheap labor, cheap food, a mild climate, and a vast country des- 

 titute of nearly every article made of iron, wood, steel, cotton or wool, 

 and there is presented a market for sale and profit. Such is oiu- position. 



5. The fifth reason why Knoxville affords remarkable facilities for 

 manufacturing is, that it is tJie center of a magnificent railroad system, 

 and therefore afibrds an outlet to market in every direction. At this 

 point the great through road from Washington and New York to New 

 Orleans, will intersect at right angles the great road from Charleston 

 and Savannah to Cincinnati. The former is completed, the latter un- 

 der way. By the East Tennessee and Virginia Road, we enter Vir- 

 ginia, and traveling through the heart of that State, reach, by a di- 

 rect route, Washington and New York. By the East Tennessee and 

 Greorgia Road, by way of Dalton, we reach Atlanta and the whole 

 railroad system of Georgia. By the same road, by way of Chattanooga 

 and WDls Valley, we strike the heart of Alabama, and reach, by a direct 

 line, Mobile and New Orleans ; while by the same road, by way of Chat- 

 tanooga, we reach Stevenson, and then turn to Nashville, or go direct to 

 Memphis. By the Knoxville and Kentucky Road, now completed to the 

 coal fields, and being pushed forward to Kentucky, we reach Cincinnati, 

 Louisville and the Great West, by a route two hundred miles nearer 

 than by way of Nashville. While by the Knoxville and Charleston Road, 

 or the Rabun Gap Road, we will go directly to Augusta, Charleston and 

 Savannah. And by the East Tennessee and Virginia Road, and the 

 Morristown and Paint Rock Road, we will reach the heart of North Car- 

 olina and strike her system of roads. This road is completed to within 

 four miles of the North Carolina line. And by the Tennessee and Pacific 

 Road, when completed, we will have a direct road to St. Louis. 



It will thus be seen that our railroad system, when completed, will be 

 as perfect as can be desired. By it we can reach every important city in 

 the county hy the shortest route. Our interior central position gives iis the 

 interior and shortest lines to every important market. 



Whether viewed as the center of a rich agricultural region, or in refer- 

 ence to its climate, unequalled this side of the Pacific coast, or as the cen- 

 tre of a region wonderfully rich in all the great minerals except gold and 



