USA > Kentucky > Jefferson County > Louisville > The city of Louisville and a glimpse of Kentucky > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29
62
Our State debt proper is smaller than that of any other State in the Union, excepting seven, amounting to only $674,000, at an aggregate interest of $30,640 per annum or a fraction over a half cent on each one hundred dollars of our property at its present reduced rate of assessment, and to meet this debt, which, in nine years, will be reduced to $500,- 000, there are assets in our siuking fund amounting to $711,346.
If I have been tedious in the recital of facts with which you were, perhaps, already familiar, I trust that I shall be amply justified by the purposes I have had iu view.
It has heen my object, as you have already anticipated, no doubt, to show this splendid body of intelligent and as- piring youug gentlemen, who are here preparing to enter the arena of active manhood, that no matter what avenue of
THE THOROUGHBRED TROTTER AT HOME.
useful enterprise they may select, they can find no more fitting field for the employment of their talents, or the exercise of their energies, nor oue which promises richer rewards in fortune or in fame, than is furnished here in our owu mag- nificent State, so bountifully endowed by nature, so lightly burdened by man.
I have desired also, to suggest the importance of enabling our young men to prepare themselves for the multiplied opportunities for usefulness aud honor to be afforded in the development of our manifold resources, and the infinite varieties of productive industries growing out of them, which is just beginning and which must continue with constantly increasing activity until long after you and I shall have crumbled to dust. To the accomplishment of that desirable end. I kuow of no more natural or necessary step than the ampler endowment of this institution, and such eulargement of the range of its instruction, as will enable the student to step from the curriculum of his alma mater, full panoplied, iuto his chosen field of action, whatever it may be, whether the farm or the factory, the machine shop or the mine, the engineer's office or the laboratory of the chemist, or any of the multitude of avocations requiring superior intelligence and training. This, as I have endeavored to show, the State is abundantly able to do, and I hope the time is not far off when an enlightened public policy will make the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky the grand institute of technology of the Valley of the Mississippi, the pride and ornament of this beautiful and prosperous city, and the brightest jewel iu the coronet of the Commonwealth.
63
Mineral Discoveries in Kentucky.
HE following extracts from the official report, for 1887, of Hon. John R. Procter, State Geol- ogist, will show, not only the very remarkable resources of coal, iron, clays, etc., brought to light within the last few years, but will explain to those unacquainted with the history of Kentucky, and to its people, the reasons why the meaus of penetrating iuto the wonderful mineral regions have been comparatively few :
Kentucky bad taken high rauk as an agricultural State, but, notwithstanding her great wealth in coals, irou ores, timbers, and other natural products, she had fallen behind States less richly endowed in commerce, manufacturing, and mining. This is not due, as has been generally supposed, to a lack of enterprise or liberality on the part of the State.
The facts bear out the assertion that few States have been more liberal in promoting public improvement than Kentucky. The second railway constructed in the United States, and the first west of the mountains, was built in Kentucky, largely by State aid. A splendid system of macadam roads, unexcelled hy any in this country, was begun as early as 1825, and carried to its present perfectiou mainly by State and county aid. The State early began, and carried forward for a number of years, the improvement of the inain rivers within her borders, by an expensive system of locks and dams. The support given to the Geological Survey, when it is considered that the State had no public lauds for sale, has been continued with commendable liberality.
It was not from lack of a progressive public policy, but from causes without and beyond the control of the State, that she has not taken the rank as a manufacturing State which her vast resources would warrant. A glance at some of these causes is all that can be here attempted. Our pioneer fathers came for hundreds of miles over mountains and through almost impenetrable forests, and settled this fair land long before the advent of railways and steamboats, and the early prosperity of the State was the marvel of those times. Nothing, uot eveu the settlement of the great West, promoted as it was hy railways and large donatious of public lands, has been so phenomenal. In 1775 the first path was " marked " by Boone through "The Wilderness," and in 1790 the population amounted to 73,577, notwithstanding constant wars with the Indians, and that, during the period from 1783 to 1790, there were no less than fifteen hundred authenticated instances of death by the Indian's rifle and tomahawk. In 1800 the population was 220,959; in 1810 it had increased to 406,511, and in 1820 to 516,317 souls. And during all this time there was hardly a wagon road connect- ing this prosperous community with the distant settlements in the Atlantic States.
The increase in wealth and commercial prosperity was as remarkable as the rapid increase in population. The State soon took rank as one of the leading States in the value and variety of agricultural products, and had developed exten- sive manufacture of such commodities as could reach the markets by river transportation.
The relative importance of Kentucky as a center of commercial and manufacturing enterprise was for a time changed by the following causes : The completion of the Erie Canal, in 1825, connecting the Atlantic with the great lakes by way of Hudson river, made New York the great commercial metropolis of the Atlantic seaboard, and started industrial development and population westward on a line north of Kentucky. The introduction of the railway as a means of transportation furthermore altered existing conditions. The great mountain ranges, and the hundreds of miles of almost uninhabited forests, offered insurmountable obstacles to the early construction of railways connecting the State with the seaboard.
It was less expensive to construct roads through the States north of Kentucky. From the great public domain to the north and north-west, enormous grants of land were made by the General Government, and by the States, to promote the construction of railways, often amounting in value to more than the entire cost of the roads to which the grants were made. The General Government yet further promoted this building of roads westward by indorsing the bonds of some of the projected roads, in addition to the land grants, so that by this means this system of roads was carried west- ward to the Pacific Ocean.
These roads, in order to bring population along their lines, and realize from the sale of their lands, instituted the most expensive and effective system of advertising ever before seen. As a result an unprecedented foreign immigration has been carried westward, and large drains have been made upon the population of the older States. Capital and in- dustrial activity followed this vast influx of population, and a resultant speculative mania made large drains upon the productiveness of Kentucky. To the south of Kentucky, the conditions are somewhat analogous. The great valley extending south-westwardly from Pennsylvania to Alabama, afforded a cheap route along which railways were con- structed. In Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida the public lands were the property of the General Govern- ment, and large donations were made to aid in the construction of railways.
Thus great lines of road, connecting the seaboard with the West, passed by the State on the North and on the South, leaving a great area, many thousand square miles in extent, comprising south-east Kentucky, western and south-west Virginia, without transportation facilities, being the largest area east of the Mississippi river unpenetrated by railways. This was the principal problem confrouting the Survey when I was called to assume the direction of its work in 1880.
64
Of tbe large region on the head waters of the Big Sandy, Licking, Kentucky, and Cumberland rivers, comprising the counties of Elliot, Morgan, Johnson, Martin, Floyd, Pike, Magoffin, Wolfe, Powell, Lee, Rockcastle, Jackson, Laurel, Leslie, Clay, Knox, Bell, Whitley, Wayne, Pulaski, and Knott, no reports on the geology and resources, save prelim- inary reconnaissance reports on limited areas, had been made, either by the present Survey or by the former Survey conducted by Dr. Owen. Capitalists will not furnish money to build railways and turnpikes, and open mines on gen- eralities, however enticing, but demand accurate statement of facts, and the Survey has aimed at placing the exact facts before the public.
That a more intimate knowledge of the coals in this hitherto unexplored region might be obtained, men were em- ployed, under the direction of officers of the Survey, to dig into the coal ontcrops, face them up, so that averaged sam- ples could be obtained for analysis ; and also that accurate measurement be made of the thickness of the various beds, with the accompanying shale or rock. The large number of detail sections of coals already published, drawn to a scale
Copyright, 1580, by Harper & Brothers.
From Harper's Magazine.
A BLUEGRASS CATTLE PASTURE.
of five feet to the inch, and the numerous analyses from hitherto unknown coals," attest the value of such work. It is with pleasure that I am enabled to say, that the several able experts, who have heen sent into this region during tbe past two years, have borne willing testimony respecting the accuracy and reliability of the work of the Survey.
Mr. Procter goes into details as to the survey and the character of the work reported. The detailed reports have been published or are now in the hands of the printers, and will show all the various analyses of undeveloped coal in Sontb-eastern Kentucky. The examinations were made by assistants of high character and great experience, and will be of value only to persons desirous of investing in particular lands. The report then continues as follows, summarizing the several volumes in few words :
The Geological Survey in South-eastern Kentucky has brought to light the following facts within the past few years :
That, in addition to the coals beneath the conglomerate sandstone forming the base of the coal measures proper, we have above the conglomerate, north of Pine mountain, 1,650 feet of coal measures, containing nine beds of coal of workable thickness, and between the Pine and Cumberland mountains there is a greater thickness of the coal measures, containing twelve or more workable coals. That certainly one, possibly three, of these coals are coking coals of great excellence. That in places, two, and sometimes three, of the coals are found as Cannel coals of remarkable richness and purity. The facts brought to light warrant the assertions that the largest known area of rich Cannel coals is found in Eastern Kentucky, and that the largest known area of superior coking coal is found in the same section ; that this cnking coal is more advantageously located, with reference to cheap and high grade iron ores, than any other coking
"Since 1881 Dr. Peter, the Chemist of the Survey, has made analyses from 287 samples, carefully averaged, from undeveloped coals.
65
coal. Cannel coals are found in sixteen of the counties in the Eastern Coal Field. Below are recent analyses from some of these Cannel coals. The value of a Cannel coal is usually determined by relative richness in volatile com- bustible matter :
No. in Reports
COUNTIES.
Matter Per Cl.
l'olalile Com.
Fixed Carbon
Ash
Sulphur .
2578 Bell
41.54
50.60
7.00
5.078
2838 Bell
51.60
40.40
7.00
.739
2841 Bell
47 40
47.70
3.30
.574
2618 Breathitt
53.80
39.46
5.54
-722
2619 Breathitt
41.10
46.70
11.20
1.120
*
Breathitt
48.22
44.24
4.76
.078
Breathitt
66.28
29.73
3.64
.083
2509 Morgau
50.06
40.14
8.40
1.065
2656 Clay
44.16
43.74
11.80
1.2.11
2703 Harlan
42.64
46.48
9.32
.574
2717 Johnson
50.22
40.74
7.60
.837
2719 Knott
44.40
47.00
7.88
.753
2739 Leslie
44.20
43.70
11.00
.690
2784 Perry
44.80
37.60
16.80
.970
2811 Whitley
40.56
51.24
6.70
2.768
* Analyses by Prof. Thos. Egleston, of Columbia College School of Mines.
For purposes of comparison, analyses from some of the most celebrated Cannel coals are given :
bustible Matter
Volatile Com -
Fixed Carbon
Ash .
Kirkless Hall, England
40.30
56.40
3-30
Boghead, Scotland .
51.60
15.70
32.70
Lesmahago Cannel
49.60
41.30
9. 10
Peytona, West Virginia .
46.00
41.00
13.00
It will be seen that some of the East Kentucky Cannel coals excel the most celebrated coals of England. When the projected roads penetrate this region these Cannel coals will find a market all over the country, for domestic use, and for the manufacture and the enriching of gas. They will also hear exportation for the same purposes.
The main coking coal of Eastern Kentucky has been named by the Survey the Elkhorn coal, from the stream in Pike county, where it was first discovered and proven to be a coking coal. Since its discovery, a few years ago, this hed has been identified as thick coal, and traced by the Survey over an area of more than 1,600 square miles. It has been traced as a thick bed, above drainage, through Pike, Letcher, and Harlan counties, and over a large part of Floyd, Knott, Perry, Leslie, and Bell counties. It has also been identified as a workable coal in Wolfe, Breathitt, Clay, and Knox counties.
This coal attains its greatest thickness in Letcher, Pike, and Harlan counties, hut it is thick enough for profitable mining when transportation is secured, in all of the counties mentioned above. The following analyses, selected from the many made by the Survey from carefully averaged samples, show the great excellence of this coal over a wide area :
ANALYSES OF ELKHORN BED, KENTUCKY COKING COAL.
AVERAGE OF
Fixed Carbon .
buslible Matler.
V'olalile Com-
Sulphur . . . .
17 Bell county coals
62.63
37.13
3.83
.760
9 Harlan county coals
60.02
35.46
4.25
.940
6 Letcher county coals
61.09
35.00
3.19
.464
6 Pike county coals .
63.86
31.67
2.86
.686
Connellsville coal, Pennsylvania
60.30
31.38
7.24
1.090
AIsh
66
The chemical composition of these Kentucky coals more nearly resembles that of the celebrated Connellsville, than do the coking coals of West Virginia, Tennessee, or Alabama.
Careful tests, oft repeated, have demonstrated beyond question that a superior coke cau be made from this Elkhorn coal. These cokes have been tested for strength and porosity with most satisfactory results. The following analyses, selected from a large number, show that these cokes possess three requisites of a good blast furnace fuel-high carbou, with low sulphur and ash :
ANALYSES OF KENTUCKY COKES.
AVERAGE OF
Fixed Carbon .
. Ish .
Sulphur .
5 Samples of Bell county coke
93.68
5.84
.765
3 Of Harlan couuty cokes
92.20
6.16
.662
4 Of Letcher and Pike county cokes
94.27
5.09
.836
-
For comparison, analyses are given from the best cokes now in nse in the furnaces :
AVERAGE OF
Fixed Carbon .
Ash
Sulphur
.
.
.
3 Samples Connellsville coke .
SS. 962
9.741
.SIo
4 Of Chattanooga, Tennessee, coke
80.513
16.344
1.595
4 Of Birmingham, Alabama, coke
S7.299
10.545
1.195
3 Of Pocahontas, Virginia, coke
92.550 .
5.749
.597
8 Of West Virginia coke .
92.38
7.21
.552
The importance of the discovery of this coking coal, and its bearing upon the future industrial development of the State, can not be overestimated. It adds to the value of the iron ores in North-eastern Kentucky, and the ores in Bath county, and to the hrown ores in the limestone of the Red and Kentucky river valleys. In fact, it adds to the value of the ores of the entire State.
It is the nearest coking coal to Cincinnati and Louisville, and also the nearest good coking coal to St. Louis. It is
COKE OVEN CONSTRUCTING IN WESTERN KENTUCKY.
67
as near Chicago as is the Connellsville coking coal, and nearer to large deposits of Bessemer steel ores than is any other coking coal in this country.
As the south-eastern houndary of the State is for many miles also the south-eastern limit of the Appalachian coal field, and the great deposits of iron ores beyond our horder must, in large measure, be smelted with Kentucky coke, a slight reference to some of these ores may prove of interest. Just beyond, and parallel to the south-eastern border of the State, there is a stratified ore, ranging from two to five feet in thickness, and averaging from forty-five to fifty-four per cent. of metallic iron. This ore is known by the several names of "Clinton ore," "Dyestone " and "Red Fossil." It extends along the eastern hase of the Cumberland and Stone mountains, and is duplicated along the slope of Powell's mountain and Wallen's ridge, giving three parallel lines of this cheap ore, convenient to the South-eastern Kentucky coke, and often most favorably located for cheap mining.
Recently, it has been my good fortune to prove the existence of a reliable horizon of limonite or "hrown" ore ex- tending parallel and near to the above. This ore has been opened in a number of places, showing a thick deposit of excellent ore, averaging as high as fifty-two per cent, of metallic iron. This ore is in the Oriskany of the Upper Silurian, and knowing that the same formation was brought up above drainage through the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field hy the Great Pine mountain fault, it was hoped that the same ore could he found along the northern slope of Pine mountain. Investigations made in November of the present year confirmed these expectations. On Straight creek, about three miles above Pineville, this same Oriskany ore is in place, with indications of a thick deposit, and fragments of the same ore were seen at other places along the mountain. This is a rich ore, and I hope it will prove a reliable and extensive deposit.
In 1882-3, the Geological Survey found an excellent iron ore resting on top of the subcarboniferous limestone on the northern slope of Pine mountain, in Pike county, heing the same as the ore occupying the same horizon in Estill, Lee, and adjoining connties. The hope has also heen indulged in that, somewhere along Pine mountain, the rocks would be lifted up high enough to give the Clinton ore ahove drainage. The certainty of having two valuable ore horizons, and the possibility of a third (the Clinton), in places along Pine mountain, opens up wide possibilities for the future de- velopment of that region. The Pine mountain fault extends for many miles immediately through the field containing the coking coal.
Beyond the ores above mentioned, in the great valley, are large deposits of brown ore, resting on the Cambro-Si- Inrian limestones of the several counties of South-west Virginia ; and in Carter, Johnson, and Unicoi, and other conu- ties in East Tennessee. These ores range from fifty to sixty per cent. in iron, and frequently low enough in phosphorns to make a Bessemer iron. Large deposits of manganese ore favorably located for cheap mining are abundant. Yet further east additional brown ores are found in great abundance, in the Potsdam formation, and quite recently an im- mense deposit of high grade ore has been found at the hase of this formation.
Specular ore of great richness, and as low as .003 per cent. of phosphorus, is found in East Tennessee ; and along the flanks of the Great Smoky mountain, having the great Roan mountain as a center, are deposits of very rich and pure magnetic iron ore. These ores have been found along this range for many miles ; the largest development being at the Cranberry mines, in Mitchell county, North Carolina, where the ore has been uncovered on the face of the hills for a width of nearly four hnudred feet and quite three hundred feet high. This ore, now heing shipped in large quantities and successfully used in the manufacture of Bessemer steel, is mined by quarrying in open cnt, so that it is delivered on the cars at a low cost.
The Bessemer steel ores of the Lake Superior region are over seven hundred miles from the nearest coking .oal, while the abundant Bessemer steel ores of this region are less than one hundred miles from the Kentucky coking coal. Assuming Cleveland and Youngstown region as the natural meeting point between the Lake Superior iron ores and the Connellsville coke, the cost of the raw material (coke, limestone, and ore) necessary for the manufacture of a ton of Bessemer pig will he at least five dollars a ton more at those points, than will be the cost of similar materials at favor- ahle localities where the Kentucky coke and the North Carolina magnetic ores may be brought together ; and the differ- ence in the cost of materials necessary to make a non-Bessemer pig will be yet greater, and more in favor of the same region. Latest quotations give the price of ore at Cleveland as follows :
Specular and Magnetic Bessemer, per ton . Bessemer Hematites, per ton
$7 00 to $7 50. 5 75 to 6 70
The cost of the coke and the ore necessary for the production of a ton of iron in Mahoning Valley district is given in Iron Trade Review at $9.90 for the ore, and $4.50 for the coke ; total, $14.40.
The facts ahove stated are at last known and appreciated by ironmasters and railway hnilders. Four important lines of railway are being pushed to rapid completion, and will penetrate this region during the coming year, viz : First : The Clinch Valley extension of the Norfolk & Western. Second : The South Atlantic & Ohio, from Bristol through Big Stone Gap to a connection with the Eastern Kentucky Railway. Third: The Powell's Valley Railway, from Knox- ville to Cumberland Gap. Fourth : The Cumberland Valley extension of the Louisville & Nashville Railway, through the great Water Gap in Pine mountain to a connection with the Powell's Valley Railway at Cumberland Gap, and with the Clinch Valley extension of the Norfolk & Western, at or near Big Stone Gap. An important railway is being lo- cated from North Carolina through Eastern Kentucky via the "Breaks" of the Big Sandy. And lines are being located with prospects of being completed at no distant day, up the valleys of the Big Sandy, the Kentucky, the Licking, and Cumberland rivers. So that this region, which a year ago was the largest area east of the Mississippi river unpene- trated by railway, will, within the next two years, have ahundant railway facilities.
In my former biennial reports I called attention to the remarkable wealth of fire and pottery clays in the Purchase region. Professor Loughridge's forthcoming report will give minute particulars respecting the location of these clays, and will also contain a valuable chapter on the uses to which they may he applied. It is confidently expected that the publication and distribution of this report will lead to the establishment of prosperous industries for the manufacture, in that region, of the many articles for which these clays are so admirably snited.
68
These clays have not only been subjected to numerous analyses, but many practical tests have been made. The gentleman who kindly superintended the tests of the pottery, terra-cotta, and other clays, and who has a wide experience in their practical manufacture, writes to the Survey respecting these Purchase clays :
"You have raw material equal to the finest in England. The articles have a constant and ready sale, and are sub- jected to heavy freight rates in transportation from New York, Trenton, or East Liverpool, so that they should be pro- duced near a market, and Kentucky is known as a good market. The practical experience I bave had with clays of this district has taught me their peculiar- ities, and I can freely say that, from their great plasticity, they are most easily and cheaply worked, and, from their binding qualities, eutail less loss in the kiln than any others I have ever met with. One of these clays, he writes, will, with the addi- tion of some flint, make a very beautiful ivory-ware, almost exactly resembling that made by the cele- brated firm of Copeland & Sons, England, for table and toilet sets.
Professor Loughridge says isee forthcoming Report "Jackson's Purchase Region," page 110) : "A number of our Kentucky clays com- pare very favorably in their ana- lytical results with the German glass-pot clays, which are so cele- brated for their great refractory character. As will be seeu by the tahle given below, the percentages of iron and potash, the injurious in- gredients, are comparatively but little above those of the German clays, and iu several it is much less ; while in the Calloway county clay, No. 2639, there is only a trace of iron, a small amount of potash, and a very large percentage of silica and alumiua, making this a far finer clay than the German. There is little doubt that these clays can take the place of the German clays in those establishments where they would be required to withstaud the most intense heat."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.