USA > Kentucky > Jefferson County > Louisville > The city of Louisville and a glimpse of Kentucky > Part 9
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The Louisville, Cincinnati & Dayton will he 147 miles in length and will he completed by July 1, 1889. It will pass through the towns of Madison, Vevay, Patriot, Rising Sun, Aurora, and Lawrenceburg, in Indiana, and Hamilton and Middletown, Ohio.
In addition to these, three lines which will have their terminus in Louisville, and which will necessitate the building of another bridge between Jefferson and Louisville at a cost of about $1,500,000, are being rapidly pushed through. One of these is the Frankfort, Georgetown & Paris Railroad, which will traverse the three richest Bluegrass counties and place 150,000 population in more direct communication with Louisville than Cincinnati. The road is to be constructed hy county subscriptions.
The completion of the Pineville branch of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad from Corbin to Pineville, a distance of thirty-seven miles, will he accomplished about February ist, and will open the largest coal and timber region in the world to the Louisville market.
The Louisville, Cincinnati & Virginia Railway will run from Winchester, one of the richest and most rapidly grow- ing towns in the State, through the heart of the richest mineral belt in Kentucky, to the Virginia line, where it will
From: Harper's Magazine.
Copyright 1887, by Harper & Brothers
counect with the Norfolk & Western, South Atlantic & Ohio and other roads, making a through route from Louisville to the At- lantic and Gulf coasts. The liue is located from Win- chester via Irvine to Beatty- ville, Lee county (the Three Forks of the Kentucky), fifty-five miles, and it is re- solved to have trains run- ning that distance by July, ISSS.
The development of the railway system in Kentucky has stimulated each pre- viously existing industry to greater development, by making new markets for surplus products, and en- abling speedier returns and exchanges than the old system of water transporta- tion had rendered possible. Besides this advantage ac- cruing from rapid transit and hroader market terri- tory, the railroads have practically, though gradu- ally, brought down the rates
INDIAN OLD FIELDS-PIONEER SETTLEMENT.
charged for conveying the surplus and hringing supplies for distribution. This has had the result of encouraging a system of interchange previously unknown between the territory that naturally pays tribute to Louisville as the principal trade center of the State, and the leading markets of the East and North.
The most notable example of the change wrought by the railways is found in the steady growth of Louisville and other distributing points in the State as a market for leaf tobacco. Under the old system of river transportation, Ken- tucky leaf tobacco, her leading staple, was compelled to find a market either at St. Louis or Cincinnati, where the annual crops could be more easily aggregated aud forwarded to the export markets. With the advent of railroads this rule has been broken so far that Louisville is to-day the principal tobacco market of the world, and the growers of this staple find here and at other poiuts in the State, a satisfactory sale at all seasons of the year.
Distinctively Southern staples, such as cotton and sugar, are, since railway communication has been established with the North and East, diverted largely from water-way aud coastwise transportation, directly to points of consump- tion and distribution.
Without these adjuncts afforded hy rail routes, none of the surprising instances of enterprise and growth in the South would have been possible that are to-day subjects of common congratulation.
As intimated, there has been a marked increase of direct shipments of Northern staples to the various new dis- tributing centers, like Atlanta, Chattanooga, Selma, Meridian, and other interior cities that have sprung up through railroad influence, and the river cities no longer enjoy that old-time monopoly which the river once gave them. They are now obliged to compete in an open market for whatever trade they may attract, and have only the surviving advant- age of heing nearer to the raw staples than Northern cities to depend upon. This fact, however, is being legitimately
45
used to draw investments of foreign capital in manufactures to the South, and eventually will more than compensate for the drawbacks of the present condition of trade.
KENTUCKY COAL FIELDS.
Prof. John R. Procter, State Geologist, has furnished a valuable paper on the coal fields of Kentucky to a periodical recognized as the leading publication in the world on mining and engineering. It is as follows :
Kentucky is the only State in the Union containing parts of each of the two great coal fields, having about ten thousand square miles of the Appalachian coal field in the eastern part, and about four thousand square miles of the Illinois coal field in the western part of the State.
WESTERN COAL FIELD.
The Westeru Coal Field is a broad synclinal, having its axis almost parallel with the general direction of Green river, and crossed by gentle undulations running slightly north of east and south of west. The conglomerate sand- stoue at the base of the coal measures is not so thick as in Eastern Kentucky. Above this conglomerate twelve work- able coals are present. Some of these coals are of excellent quality, but the percentage of ash and sulphur is greater than in the best of Eastern Kentucky coals. A strong coke has been made from at least one of the upper coals, having, however, in the coke from nuwashed coal a higher percentage of sulphur than is desirable. Recent experiments lead to the hope that a furnace coke may be made from the first coal ahove the conglomerate (No. 1).
This field has now excellent transportation facilities. Green river traverses the entire field from south to north, giving reliable slack-water navigation from Bowling Green to the Ohio river. One railway traverses the center of the field front east to west, and two railways from north to south, and two important new roads are being now completed, and others are projected.
There is an abundant supply of cheap iron ores convenient to the coals of Western Kentucky. Associated with the coals of the lower measures, in the counties of Grayson, Edmonson, Butler, and Mnhlenburg, are stratified carbon- ites and limonites, ranging from two to five feet and upward in thickness, and persisteut over a wide area.
Analyses from carefully averaged samples from workable deposits in each of the above-named counties give the following from the unroasted ore :
Per Cent.
Metallic irou
40.48
42.31
45.10
48.88
Silica
14.36
22.40
14.20
12.73
Alnmina
.
4.83
6.98
3.91
Phosphorus
0.41
0.28
0.39
. . .
A very pure limestone is convenient to these ores.
On the western border of the coal field in the counties , of Crittenden, Caldwell, Livingston, Lyon and Trigg are large deposits of limonite in the subcarboniferous limestone.
The following are analyses from carefully averaged samples from five ontcrops in the above-named counties. Analyses from roasted and unwashed ores :
Per Cent.
Metallic iron
46.28
48.86
49.84
50. 184
Silica
22.33
11.98
12.10
16.960
Lime
. . .
2.12
2.87
.
Alumina
1.06
2.98
3.01
. .
Phosphorus
0.18
0.09
0.09
0.095
These are similar to the ores in Alabama and Tennessee, on which the iron industries of Sheffield and Decatur are predicated. Furnaces located near the month of the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, in Kentucky, will have the advantage of a large local supply of ores, with the Alabama and Tennessee ores brought down stream in the direction of the markets, and the Iron mountain ores of South-west Virginia and the Green river ores, all delivered by cheap water transportation.
In addition to the pure limestone contiguous, there are large deposits of fluor-spar, associated with galena, near the above-mentioned ores of Western Kentucky. The peculiar advantages of water and rail transportation, with an abun- dance of coal, iron ores, limestone, and timber for charcoal, should lead to the establishment of furnaces in this region, and also in the valley of Green river. The Western Coal Field has exceptional advantages for supplying the markets of the Lower Ohio and Mississippi rivers with coal.
EASTERN COAL FIELD.
Resting upon the south-eastern slope of the great anticline of Central Kentucky, the coal-measure rocks dip gently to the south-east until interrupted by the Great Pine mountain fault, extending from the " breaks" of Big Sandy river to near Jellico, on the Tennessee line. As the hills increase in height, the thickness of the measures and the number of coals increase to the south-east, until we have north of Pine mountain the following coals, counting from the western outerop upward : Two coals below the conglomerate, one a reliable bed from thirty-six to forty-eight inches; Comb's coal, first coal above conglomerate, twelve to thirty-six inches, not given a number ; Sand Lick coal, thirty-six to sixty inches (coal No. 1); Wright's coal, twelve to forty-two inches ; Elkhorn coal (coking seam), forty to one hundred and eight inches (coal No. 3) ; upper splint coal, thirty-six to eighty inches ; Kiser's seventy-two-inch coal (Letcher) ; Bear Fork Cannel ( Pike); coal with many partings, Amhergy's sixty-inch coal ( Knott); Sycamore creek, ninety-two-inch coal ( Pike); Flat Woods coal, Pike county ; reported as a thick hed.
46
In the Big and Little Black and Log mountains, in the synclinal trough between the Pine and Cumberland moun- tains, through the counties of Letcher, Harlan, Bell, aud Knox, the above sections are not only present, but additional coals in higher measures, The mountains reach an altitude of 4,000 feet above sea, and the vertical thickness of coal measures is probably greater here than is found at any one place in the United States.
Julian PRIX
Copyright, 1887, by Harper & Brothers. From Harper's Magazine,
Two claims may be made for the Eastern Kentucky coal field : First, That it contains the largest known area of rich and thick Caunel coals and, second, it contains the largest known area of thick and pure coking coals. Cannel coals of workable thickness are found in sixteen of the counties of the Eastern Coal Field, and many of these coals are remarkable for richness and purity. The following analyses from averaged samples will show the general good quality of the coals :
First
Second
Third
Fourth
Fifth
Sixth
Volatile combustible matter .
49.130
43-400
44.160
66.280
53.800
50.00
Fixed carbon
41.920
46.300
49.400
29.730.
45.000
40.14
Ash .
7.150
8.300
6.000
3.640
5-540
8.40
Sulphur
0.802
0.689
0.766
0.830
0.772
1.65
BIG SYCAMORE TREE ON LULBEGRUD CREEK.
First : Cannel coal, Johnson county. Second : Cannel coal, Pike county. Third : Cannel coal, Perry county. Fourth and fifth : Cannel coal, Breathitt county. Sixth : Cannel coal, Morgan county.
47
When the projected roads shall penetrate Eastern Kentucky, these Cannel coals will find a market all over the country for domestic use, and for the manufacturing and enriching of gas.
The main coking coal of Eastern Kentucky has been uamed the Elkhorn coal, from the stream of that name in Pike county, where it was first found and proven to be a coking coal. Since its discovery a few years ago, this bed has been identified and traced as a thick coal over an area of more than sixteen hundred square miles, aud has been proven by tests to produce an excellent coke over an area of more than one thousand 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, Leslie, Perry, and Bell counties. It has also been identified as a workable coal in Wolfe, Clay, and Breathitt counties.
This coal attains its greatest thickness in Letcher, Pike, and Harlan counties, and in Wise county, Virginia, where it has been named by Professor Stevenson, the Imboden seam ; but it is thick enough for profitable mining, wheu trans- portation is secured, in all of the counties mentioned above. For over one thousand square miles, it is found as a coking coal, most favorably located for cheap miuing.
The following analyses, made by the Kentucky Geological Survey from carefully averaged samples, show the excellence of this coal over a wide area :
ANALYSES OF KENTUCKY COALS.
NO.
COUNTY.
material . .
combustible
Volatile
Fixed Carbon
Ash .
Sulphur . .
1
Letcher
34.30
58.10
6.50
0.890
2
Pike
26.So
67.60
3.80
0.967
3
Pike
33.50
60.54
3.96
0.429
4
Wolfe
37.50
55.70
4.40
0.895
5
Bell
37.90
57-78
3.12
1.030
6
Bell
38.60
57.30
2.70
0.629
7
Harlan
36.70
58.86
2.24
0.277
8
Harlau
35-30
58.24
3-36
1.290
Repeated tests have demonstrated that a superior coke cau be made from these coals, and these cokes have been tested for strength and porosity with most satisfactory results. The following analyses show that the cokes from these coals possess three requisites of a good blast-furnace fuel -high fixed carbon, with low sulphur and ash :
COUNTY.
..
Fixed car-
Ash .
Sulphur .
sample No.
Made from
Pike
94.14
4.66
1.484
2
Pike
95.40
3.50
.517
3
Wolfe
91.00
4.60
.503
1
Bell
95.80
4.00
1,718
5
Bell
94.00
5.60
.629
6
Harlan
93.10
6.30
.546
7
Harlan
93.60
6,00
1.068
As yet this coking coal field has not been reached by railways, but roads now in process of construction will pene- trate it within the next twelve months, when a great development may be confidently expected.
The following streams head in the area containing this coal and radiate from it in a mauuer to afford easy routes for railways to penetrate it from every direction, viz : The Pound, Elkhorn, Beaver, and Shelby forks of the Big Sandy, to the north-east ; the Kentucky river, to the north and north-west ; the Cumberland river, to the south-west ; the north forks of the Powell's river, to the south-west and south, and the Guest river, to the south-east.
The central position of this coal, and its nearness to high grade and cheap iron ores add much to its value.
It is the nearest coking coal to Cincinnati and Louisville and the nearest good coking coal to St. Louis. It is as near Chicago as is the Connellsville coking coal, and is nearer to large deposits of Bessemer steel ore than is any other coking coal in this country.
THE GROWTH OF COAL MINING.
Concerning the growth of the mining industry in this State, C. J. Norwood, the inspector of mines, says : "Coal mining as an important industry in this State dates, practically, from 1870. Prior to that year there was comparatively little coal mined for general commerce. A few considerable mines were in existence, but they have but little effect upon the general market, the larger part of the coal used in the State itself heing brought from other fields. By the building of the Chesapeake & Ohio, the Cincinnati Southern, and the Knoxville extension of the Louisville & Nashville system and the completion of the Chesapeake & Ohio, the industry was given an impetus that has carried it forward with com- parative rapidity. The output of all the mines in the State for 1870 amounted to only 169, 120 tons; in 1880 it had grown to 1,120,000 tons, and in 1884 the output amounted, in round numbers, to 1,550,000 tons."
48
. . .
bon
During the fiscal year 1886, ending July 1, 1887, the output, according to the report of the Inspector of Mines (who has under his supervision only those employing more than five persons) was as follows :
DISTRICTS.
Mines.
Net tons.
Bushels.
North-eastern
S
245,122
6,128,059
South-eastern
22
633,828
15,845,100
Western
41
914,277
22,856,929
Total
71
1,793,227
44,830,088
Thus the output in seven years has doubled. Each operator has been requested by the inspector to state his prob- able output from July 1, 1887, to January 1, 1888, and the returns upon this request justify the following estimate of the output for the calendar year 1887 :
DISTRICTS.
Mines.
Net tons.
Bushels.
North-eastern
8
255,161
6,379,029
South-easter11
25
663,599
16.589,969
Western
42
1,010,569
25,264,223
Total
75
1,929,329
48,233,22I
July 1, 1887, there were 4,903 persons engaged in eighty-six mines, coming under the supervision of the inspector. Counting all mines, large and small, there are not less than 6,500 miners employed in Kentucky. But this is merely a beginning of the great developments that will follow during the present decade.
THE IRON ORES OF KENTUCKY.
The iron resources of Kentucky are extensive and varied. At a few localities a considerable development of them has been attained, but, taking the State as a whole, it has hardly reached a fraction of the possibilities of production.
From Harper's Magazine.
Copyright, 1883, by Harper & Brothers.
KENTUCKY TROTTERS AND BARN.
The greater portion of the ore territory of the State is as yet untouched by the pick of the miner, but enough has been done in most of the ore districts to learn the quality and something of the extent of the ores. Geographically, the ore districts of the State may be divided into the Eastern and Western ; geologically, the ores of the most importance may be divided into three classes, as follows :
I. The Clinton ore of the Silurian period. This is the equivalent of the dyestone ore in Tennessee and Virginia.
2. The unstratified limonites of the subcarboniferous limestone.
3. The stratified carbonites and limonites of the coal measures.
There are also ores associated with the Waverly and Devonian shales in many parts of the State, which have been worked to some extent, but they are of minor importance in comparison with the other varieties of ore. Of the three classes of ore above named, the first and the third are found in Eastern, and the second and third in Western, Kentucky. It may be said also that the ores of the coal measures are the best developed and of the most importance in Eastern, while the unstratified limonites of the subcarboniferous limestone are of the greatest value in Western, Kentucky.
49
It is also proper to state here that the State has been imperfectly prospected, and that it is altogether possible, and, indeed, probable, that the ores of one or another of these varieties will be found to be much more extensive and valuable than at present supposed.
EASTERN KENTUCKY.
The ore districts of Eastern Kentucky, where the ores have been manufactured, are two, known as the Red river and the Hanging Rock iron regions. The Red river iron region embraces portions of Estill, Lee, Powell, Menifee, and Bath counties. The ores found in this region are the Clinton ore, and an ore stratified resting upon the subcarboniferous limestone on the base of the coal-bearing shales. It is found both as carbonate or clay limestone, aud as limonite or brown hematite. It is this ore which has been most largely worked aud upon which the excellent reputation of the iron from this region has been made. The Clinton ore has not been so extensively worked but the principal deposit of it is situated geographically near this regiou, aud may be said to helong to it.
The best known deposit of this ore in Kentucky is in Bath county, on the waters of Slate creek, and is known as the Slate Furnace ore bank. It is a stratified deposit of oolitic fossiliferous limonite, capping several hills in the vicin- ity. It reaches a thickness of fifteen feet at places. The area covered by the ore at this point is somewhat over forty acres, and the total amount of ore about one and a half million tons. The ore bears evidence of having been formerly a hematite, similar to the dyestoue ore of the same geological horizon along the great valley from New York to Alabama, but it has lain so long, unprotected by anything except a slight covering of earth, that it has absorbed water, aud been converted into a limonite. The deposit seems to be somewhat local, at least of this thickness, as it grows thin, and finally disappears in this neighborhood. The limestone which bears the ore is, however, preseut in a narrow vein all around the central part of the State, and it is probable that, when thorough examination is made, other deposits of the ore will be found.
The following analyses by Dr. Peter and Mr. Talbutt, of the Kentucky Geological Survey, of a sample of ore from this deposit, shows the composition of the ore :
CONSTITUENTS.
Per Cent.
Iron peroxide
70.060
Alumina
4.540
Lime carbonate .040
Magnesia . .021
Phosphoric acid
1.620
Sulphuric acid . .031
Silica and insoluble silicates
II.530
Combined water
12.300
100.142
Metallic iron
49.042
Phosphorus
.707
Sulphur
.012
The dyestone ore, a fossiliferous hematite, extends along the flank and foothills of the Cumberland mountains of Virginia, just across the State line from Kentucky, the crest of the mountain forming the line for about forty miles. It lies in two or three beds, ranging from six inches to three feet or more in thickness, and forms in the aggregate an enormous mass of easily-obtained and cheaply-reduced ore. This ore, although situated in Virginia, is of the greatest importance to Kentucky, as it is destined to be stnelted with Kentucky coals, which lie on the opposite side of the mountain, and are the only coals accessible to the ore, as there is uo coal to the south of the mountain.
This ore, although phosphatic to a certain extent, is easily worked, and yields from forty to fifty per cent. of iron. From this ore, smelted with stone coal, iron will probably be made as cheaply as in any region of the country. The great Pine mountain vault, which extends from some distance south of the Kentucky line in Tenuessee, in a course about north thirty degrees east through Kentucky to the Chatterawah or Big Sandy river, in many places is of suf- ficient uplift to have brought the rocks of the Clinton or dyestone group above the drainage, and it is probable that on exploration the ore will be found in Kentucky. It has been found at the foot of the Pine mountain, iu Tennessee. In Kentucky the place of the ore is usually covered deeply by the talus from the overlying rocks, which probably accounts for its not having been discovered. Should it be found along the foot of Pine mountain, in Kentucky, it will be most favorably situated for cheap iron making, as, on the opposite side of the stream which flows at the base of the mountain, there is found excellent coal in great abundance.
The limestone ore of the Red river iron region, from which the iron is manufactured which gives to the region its reputation, rests upon the subcarboniferous limestone, and from this association takes its name. It lies in a bed of irregular thickness, ranging from a few inches to three feet or more in thickness, but probably averaging, where found in any quantity, about one foot thick, or a little less. It is occasionally irregular and uncertain in its distribution, but in general it may be said that it is found in its proper position almost wherever the subcarboniferous limestone is above the drainage, along the edge of the coal measures from the Kentucky to the Ohio river. South of the Kentucky river the ore is known to extend a short distance, as far as it has been explored ; but its limit in this direction is as yet unknown.
The Red river region embraces, however, only that portion between the Licking and Kentucky rivers. This region has been little developed, except in a portion of Estill county, where four charcoal furnaces have been in operation. There are many eligible sites for charcoal furnaces in this region, where timber and ore are both in abundance, and as yet untouched.
The development of this region has been retarded by the lack of transportation facilities, as the iron had to be hauled a long distance in wagons to railroad or river. This difficulty is likely to be remedied in the near future by the
50
construction of one or two projected railroads into or along the edge of this region, and we can then look for a largely increased production of the excellent iron from this region. The iron is of great strength, and ranks very high in the markets of the West. It is usually used for car-wheel purposes, as it is of very great strength, and chills well.
The following analyses show the character of the ore of this region :
CONSTITUENTS.
NO. 1. Per Cent.
Per Cent.
Per Cent. Per Cent.
Iron peroxide
66.329
63-535
74.127
65-591
Alumina
12.532
2.798
3.542
5.762
Lime carbonate
Trace.
.450
.390
Trace.
Magnesia .
.173
1.073
.461
.248
Phosphoric acid
.709
.537
.601
-447
Silica and insoluble silicates
9.720
20.480
9.580
16.230
Combined water
9.580
9. Soo
11.270
11.060
Total
99.043
98.673
99.971
99.338
Metallic iron
46.440
45.874
51.889
45-914
Phosphorus
.309
.234
.262
.195
No. 1, from the Richardson Bank, Clear Creek, Bath county ; No. 2, from Logan Ridge, Estill Furnace, Estill county ; No. 3, from Thacker Ridge, near Fitchburg, Estill county ; No. 4, from Horse Ridge, Cottage Furnace, Estill county.
The above analyses were made by Dr. Peter and J. H. Talbutt, chemists of the Kentucky Geological Survey, from samples selected by the writer.
THE HANGING ROCK REGION.
The Kentucky division of the Hanging Rock iron region at present embraces the whole part of Greenup, Carter, Boyd, and Lawrence counties. The ores are stratified carbonates and limonites, occurring iu the lower coal measures,
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