EAST TENNESSEE, 13 



Since the foregoing reports were made the Knox\Hlle and Kentucky 

 Railroad has been finished to the coal beds of Anderson county, a distance 

 of thirty miles from Knosville, from wheuce coal is shipped to KnoxviUe 

 and many of the STualler to^vns P]ast and West, to Atlanta, Augusta, 

 Macon, Nashville and Memphis. At the last two places it comes in com- 

 petition with Pittsburg coaland commands a much higher price. All our 

 foundries and iron establishments attest the fact that Mr. Ely did not 

 over-estimate the superior quality of this coal. It has been pronounced 

 by the gas companies of Charleston, Augusta, Ljnichburg, Nashville, 

 Mempliis and Knosville, superior to the best gas coal they have ever 

 used. It weighs eight pounds to the bushel more than the Yough'y coal, 

 which is the best coal known in the Pittsburgh market. The Rockwood 

 Iron Company of Roane county, recently put in operation under the skill- 

 ful supervision of Gen. John T. Wilder, is now making the best quality of 

 pig iron from raw or uncokecl coal. It is said to be equal to the Scotch pig. 



Coal is sold and delivered to our citizens in the lump, at 20 cents a 

 bushel, or $5 00 a ton; it is sold by wholesale to manufacturers at 15 

 cents, or at $3 75 a ton. Our road as yet has only penetrated the out- 

 skirts of the great coal region. Beyond these lie the richest beds. The 

 coal penetrated by this road, according to the concun-eut testimony of all 

 competent judges, is greatly superior in quaUty to that found in the lower 

 end of East Tennessee. It is stated by those who are competent to give 

 an opinion that the coal beds are so located as to be most cheaply and 

 advantageously mined. 



Iron. — Iron, unlike coal, is found in the eastern and southern side of 

 East Tennessee as well as in the Cumberland range. In the latter region 

 iron and coal are often found side by side. Indeed iron is found all over 

 East Tennessee. Prof SafFord speaks of three distinct iron regions in 

 East Temiessee. 1st, The Eastern, which affords three species of ore, 

 namely : the Brown Iron Ore, or Limonite ; Red Iron Ore, or Hematite, 

 which is of two varieties, hard solid ore, or stratified dyestone ore, and 

 the third species is magnetic iron ore. The second iron region, according 

 to the same classification is what is termed the dye stone or Fossiliferous 

 region. It lies at the base of the Cumberland and Walden's Ridge 

 and extends from Hancock county to Alabama. It is found in great 

 abundance all along this region. This region is said by geologists to ex- 

 tend from Alabama to Pennsylvania. The third iron region is the Cimi- 

 herland, which is associated with the coal measures onthe mountain. In 

 this region Prof Saffbrd discovered — in Anderson, ]\Iorgan, Scott and 

 Campbell counties — what is called Clay Iron- Stone, or an .impure car- 

 bonate of iron, not before found in Tennessee. 



In Washington county there is a remarkable region of Brown Hematite 

 ore, and consists of 50,000 acres. It is said that less than two tons of the 

 ore are required to make a ton of pig iron. The iron made of this ore 



