| From the Raleigh Standard |
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| June 12, 1861 |
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| For the Standard |
| Chatham Coal Fields |
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| Mr. Editor, |
| According to promise, I will give you some
account of the iron and coal-fields in Chatham county, and what is
being done in the mines. |
| Arriving in that region, I first visited
Ore Hill, twelve miles above Egypt, on Deep River, where I found a
blast-furnace nearly ready for the blast. I am indebted for much
information concerning the coal and iron deposits of this section, to
the politeness of Mr. B. B. Babbington, a gentleman of much skill and
who has had considerable experience in making iron from the ore. He
accompanied me to Ore Hill, which comprises about five hundred acres
of one solid mass of iron-ore. I was informed, and my own judgment
endorses the opinion, that this ore will yield 48 per cent. of
iron. There is a large quantity of it already got out for the furnace.
This is the hematite ore, of which iron is made for such
articles as require great strength, such as mill-gear, car-wheels,
cannon, &c. I was also conducted to the coal-house, where they
have a very large amount of coal to be used in the furnace; and next,
to the furnace-building, which is completed, and has the ponderous
stack already up. Mr. B. informed me that he would be able to take out
about six or eight tons of iron per day. After a survey of the works
at this place, I bade adieu to my gentlemanly conductor, with a hearty
wish that the company may meet with the most abundant success. |
| I next visited the "Gulf," on
Deep River, where I found three men raising coal by hand-power, with a
wind-lass. The coal is obtained about twenty feet below the surface,
and they informed me that they were taking out about one hundred
bushels per day, and the coal is of very good quality. I next came to
the Egypt coal-fields. It is known to the public that the company
operating here, met with a serious misfortune some three or four years
ago, by having their shaft blown up by fife-damp. Since then, the mine
has not been worked, for want of an outlet. The Coal-field Railroad {Western
RR} from Fayetteville, is completed to within two miles of this
place. The company who own these mines, seeing the troubles that were
coming upon the country, and knowing that we must soon look entirely
at home for our supplies of copal and iron, commenced to clear the
shaft of the water, of which it was full, to accomplish which will
involve an expense of several thousand dollars. Mr. McLean, who
superintends the operations, informed me he would be able in a short
time, to raise forty tons of coal per day. He said they had the power
to raise two hundred tons per day, but if they can find sale for forty
tons, he could keep going and pay expenses. |
| Now, shall this company be sustained, or
shall it be allowed to go down? that is the question. I hope it will
be sustained, not for the benefit of a few only, but for the whole
State. It can be sustained, and spring into new life and vigor, if the
Convention, now in session, will authorize an appropriation to erect a
rolling mill at the Coal-fields, for the purpose of rolling out
bar-iron, railroad iron, and iron for other purposes, for the use of
the State. A supply of coal and pig-iron can be furnished by
individual enterprise, to keep the mill constantly going. -- Every
industrial pursuit will be checked, and many entirely stopped, unless
something of this sort be done. It may be said by some that the State
is not now able to enter into this thing; so be it. And we soon will
not be able to run our plows, nor our mills, nor repair our railroads,
nor build houses or vessels. Let the enterprise be fostered by a little
State aid, and we will soon be independent of the North and of every
where else, in this respect, at least. No richer mineral deposits lie imbedded
beneath the surface of the ground, than can be found in North
Carolina, and no State can come nearer producing everything required
to give her people all the necessaries and luxuries of life, than she.
-- It is only necessary to go to work and develop her natural
resources, to make her almost independent of the world, and to turn
the current of trade, so as to make her an exporting instead of an
importing people. |
| These facts, Mr. Editor, I have hastily
thrown together, for the consideration of the Convention and of the
State, and I hope they may receive that attention to which their
importance, and not my imperfect sketch of them, is entitled. |
| Yours, &c. |
| Practical |
|