CHEROKEE COUNTY. 297 



THE TASSIE BELLE FURNACE. 



The Cherokee Land and Iron Company was organized in 1888 by Mr. A. 



B. Blevins, promoter, under the laws of the State of Texas, as a joint stock 

 company, with an authorized capital of $1,000,000 in shares of $1 each. The 

 officers were: H. H. Wibirt, of New York City, president and treasurer; 

 R. L. Coleman, of St. Louis, first vice-president; J. C. Reiff, of New York 

 City, second vice-president; Henry T. Kent, of St. Louis, secretary and gen- 

 eral attorney; John C. Meyers, of St. Louis, assistant secretary; A. B. Blevins, 

 of New Birmingham, Cherokee County, manager for Texas; John Birkinbine, 



C. E. and M. E., of Philadelphia, designer of furnace; Nathan F. Barrett, of 

 New York City, landscape engineer; Chas. E. Jacques, of New York City, 

 architect; T. Howard Barnes, of New Birmingham, civil engineer. The cap- 

 ital was raised principally in New York. 



Location. — The property of the company is within Cherokee County, and 

 consists of ore and timber lands, town lots, and buildings, including the fur- 

 nace, in the town of New Birmingham, which is laid out about two miles 

 south of the town of Rusk (the county seat), on the line of the St. Louis, 

 Arkansas and Texas Railway. 



Design of the Furnace. — The furnace was built after designs made by 

 Mr. John Birkinbine, iron expert and engineer, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

 It is of the hot blast type, with a working capacity of fifty tons per day, 

 although its full capacity has not yet been reached. The furnace is equipped 

 with two down-takes — one leading part of the heated gases from the top of 

 the furnace to the boiler furnace, for generating steam; the other conducting 

 the remainder of the heated gases from the top of the furnace stack, through 

 an intervening dust cylinder, to the gas oven, where the gases are kept ignited 

 to heat the multiple section of air pipes for the production of a hot air blast. 

 The form of oven is known as " Weimer's new patent pipe oven." The blow- 

 ing engine is of the Weimer type, made by Weimer Machine Works Com- 

 pany, Lebanon, Pennsylvania. The pumping engines are of the Knowles 

 pattern; the small one is used for feeding the boilers, the large one for gen- 

 eral purposes and for extinguishing fire in case of accident. 



Reorganization. — The company has recently been reorganized and the 

 capital increased to $3,000,000. Mr. R. L. Coleman, first vice-president, pro- 

 moted to president; Mr. A. S. Mahoney, of New York city, made treasurer 

 and chemist; Mr. David Carson, of St. Louis, made superintendent of the 

 furnace. The lands now owned and controlled for ore and timber amount to 

 about twenty thousand acres. The company has expended on lands and 

 buildings, up to date, about $450,000. 



Lines of the Furnace. — Through the courtesy of Mr. David Carson, su- 

 perintendent of the furnace, the writer was permitted to examine the work- 



