Standard history of Knoxville, Tennessee, with full outline of the natural advantages, early settlement, territorial government, Indian troubles and general and particular history of the city down to the present time

Preface

IN undertaking his part in this work, the Editor was prompted chiefly by his desire to see prepared and published a "History of Knoxville," a city that has a history full of interest. It may be that inaccuracies will be seen, though in the preparation of the matter much painstaking, conscientious labor has been given ; but if there are such they can be corrected only by publicity. In any event it may be confidently claimed with this work before him the task of the future historian of Knoxville will be rendered much easier. It may be explained that the matter for most of the chapters was written early in 1898, since which time some changes have occurred that are not noted ; but none of sufficient importance to mar the value of the book.

The only chapter written by the Editor is that on the Knoxville Press, embracing a period of more than a hundred years. Much of the information concerning the history of the press of Knoxville for the first half century was derived from an address delivered by Colonel Moses White before the Tennessee Press Association. For some valuable information concerning the first newspaper published in Knoxville in the state, not heretofore printed, indebtedness is acknowledged to Dr. George F. Mellen, of the University of Tennessee. The facts concerning the Presbyterian Witness were furnished by Mrs. Andrew Blackburn, widow of the editor of the Witness, through Hon. Will A. McTeer. of Maryville, Tennessee.

In the chapter on the Bench and Bar. much of the matter was prepared by Mr. Joshua W. Caldwell, as his work on the Bench and Bar of Tennessee was very largely drawn upon for a history 01 the courts, and for the personal mention of most of the prominent lawyers and judges of the past. This was

,v PREFACE.

especially the case with regard to the sketches of Archibald Roane. Thomas L. Williams. J,,],,! Williams, Hugh Lawson White. Robert J. McKinney. Connolly F. Trigg. Thomas C Lyon. James W. Deaderick. Williain-Henry Sneed, Horace Maynard, Thomas A. R. Nelson. Willie Blount. Alfred Caldwell. Richard G. Dunlap, John Baxter. Joseph Anderson Thomas Emmerson, L. C. Honk. Ebenezer Alexander. Spencer Jarnagin, George Andrews. Edward Scott. Pleasant M. Miller, William B. Reese, and Jacob Montgomery Thornburgh. The chapter, however, was not written by Mr Caldwell, but by Mr. J. Wooldridge. who was also the writer of all the other chapters, except that on the press, and those hereafter mentioned. The value of the work has been enhanced by the kindly assistance of a great many Knoxville citizens. 'who have furnished information, their number being too large to render giving individual names practicable. Chapters II.. III.. IV- V., VI.. VII. and VIII. were written by George F. Mellen. Ph. D.. Professor of American History. University of Tennessee. T„„ TT

1 he Editor.

Chapter I. NATURAL ADVANTAGES

Resources of the Surrounding Country — All Tributary to Knoxville — Boundary of the County — Topography— Geology and the Geological Character of the Surface in Relation to Agriculture and Horticulture — Great Improvement:-, in Methods of Cultivation — Coal. Iron, Brick Clay and Other Mineral Products — Mountain Gaps and Their Utility — VVater Supply — Mineral Springs — Climate — Temperature Throughout the Various Seasons — Railroads 9

Chapter II. INITIAL MOVEMENTS TOWARDS SETTLEMENT

Domain of Cherokees — Approach of Hunters. Trappers and Explorers — Immigration — Gradual Withdrawal of Indians — Treaties— Fort Stanwix— Hard Labor — Lochaber — Purchases of Watauga Association — Jacob Brown and Richard Henderson — Treaties of Long Island; of Holston, Dumplin. Coytoy. and Hopewell — Westward Movement 2 9

Chapter III. EARLY SETTLEMENT

Conditions in the West — Germ of Knoxville — White's Fort — North Carolina Grants — Explorations of James White— Fixed Settlement- Topography — Growth — New Stations or Forts — Roads — Cession of Territory to United States — Blount Appointed Governor — His Character — Appointments — Relations of Whites and Indians — Treaty of Holston — Provisions and Results 37

Chatter IV.

FOUNDING OF KNOXVILLE.

Date of Founding — Confusing Statements of Historians— Articles of Agreement Between Proprietot and Commissioners — Original Drawers of Lots — Act Establishing Knoxville — Blount's Arrival — Named in Honor of General Henry Knox — Reasons 46

Chapter V. UNDER TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT

Establishment of Knox County — Officials Appointed — First Lawyers — County Roads and Buildings — Commercial Growth — Pioneer Merchants — Hostelries — Occupations — Postal Facilities — Army Post —

Relations of Citizens and Soldiers 54 vi CONTENTS.

Chapter VI. INDIAN TROUBLES

Indian War Imminent — Conditions in the West — Indian Atrocities — Policy of Blount and the National Government — Threatened Attack on Knoxville — Preparation of Whites — Pioneer Character — Stephen Foster's Account of the Massacre at Cavet's Station — Sevier's Successful Raid 61

Chapter VII. TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE

Hamilton District— Sufferings from Indians — Appeals for Succor — Elections to Territorial Legislature— Preliminary Session — Spirit of Legislators — Active Measures for Resistance to Indian Depredations — First Regular Session — Acts Touching Education and Taxation — Act Preparatory to Organization of the State— Constitutional Convention 72

Chapter VIII. LIFE OF THE PEOPLE

Population — Interest in Education — Early Teachers — Samuel Cornik — His School — Blount College — Presbyterian Church Organized — Printing Press — Literary Effort — Books — Physicians — Amusements — Darker Phases — Strong Elements of Character 70

Chapter IX. MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS

First White Settlement — Original Capital of Tennessee — Incorporated in 1815 — Looking for Railroads — Gas Lights Introduced — Extension of Corporate Limits — First Steam Fire Engine — Market Established — Fire Department Created — Water Works — System of Sewers — Names of Mayors — Paving Streets and Building Bridges — List of Postmasters — Three Municipalities Consolidated 87

Chapter X. MILITARY HISTORY

Early Indian Wars — Col. John Williams' Regiment — The Mexican War — Volunteers for Both the Union and the Confederate Service — Sanders' Raid — Knoxville Receives Gen. Burnside — Is Besieged by Gen. Longstreet — A Sanguinary Battle — Fort Sanders — Knoxville Pension Agency — In the Spanish War — Warm Welcome to Returning Volunteer Soldiers 148

CONTENTS. vii

Chapter XI. MANUFACTURING INTERESTS

Some of the Earlier Industries — Cotton Once a Staple Crop — S. T. Atkin, One of the Pioneers in Manufacturing — Growth and Multiplication of Industries — Extensive Marble Industries — Iron Mills — Brookside Cotton Mills — Knoxville Woolen Mills — Furniture — Telephone System 194

Chapter XII. COMMERCIAL MATTERS

First Stores Established — Growth as a Commercial Center— Unusually Large Jobbing Business — Some of the Largest Establishments in the South — The Territory Covered — Wholesale Trade Amounting to More Than $50,000,000 Annually — The Coal Trade, its Growth — Chamber of Commerce — Great Fire 226

Chapter XIII. l^ BANKING.

First Bank Established 181 1 — State Bank Organized — Some of the Private Banks — The First National Bank in 1864 — Other National Banks — Clearing House Association — Building and Loan Associations in the Hands of Receivers — Insurance Companies 250

Chapter XIV. ^ TRANSPORTATION

Charles McClung. the Pioneer Road Builder — Stage-Coach Lines — Progress in Turnpike Roads — The Tennessee River and Tributaries — First Steamboat at Knoxville — Railroad Building — The East Tennessee and Georgia and the East Tennessee and Virginia Roads — The Great Southern System — Roads to Atlanta and Cumberland Gap — Bridges — Street Railways 271

Chapter XV. THE PRESS

The Gazette, Knoxville'? First Newspaper — The Register and Its Long Life — The Plebeian, Knoxville's First Daily — Brownlow's Whig and Its Remarkable Career — Recent Ventures in Knoxville Journalism — The Chronicle — The Press and Herald — The Tribune — The Journal and Tribune — The Afternoon Sentinel — The Church Newspapers. .311

Chapter XVI. EDUCATIONAL MATTERS

The Schools of a Century Ago — Rev. Samuel Doak, the Pioneer— -Interest Manifested by Governor Blount — Blount College, Now the University of Tennessee — Knoxville Female Academy — -Hampden Sidney Academy — Organization and Success of City Schools — University School — Knoxville College for Colored Students — Tennessee Medical College 344 viii CONTENTS.

Chapter XVII. CHURCH HISTORY

The Pioneer Presbyterians — Rev. Samuel Doak — Knoxville's First Church — Early Methodists — Bishop Asbury's First Visit — First Bap tist Organization — Good Works of Rev. Samuel Carrick — Rev. Isaac Anderson — Knoxville Churches Grow and Multiply — Many Large and Flourishing Churches Now in the City 414

Chatter XVIII.

THE BENCH AX T D BAR.

THE COURT OF THE WATAUGA ASSOCIATION.

First Court in Tennessee — First Court in Knoxville, 1792 — The Courts of Knox County and Judges who Held Them — Courts of Chancery — Clerks of the Courts — Sketches of Members of the Knoxville Bar in the Past Hundred Years 466

Chapter XIX. MEDICAL HISTORY

Knoxville's Medical Men Have Honored Their Profession — Dr. J. C. Strong — Fathers Followed by Sons in the Profession — Ramsey the Historian — Sketches of Knoxville Physicians. Past and Present — Some Disastrous Epidemics — Cholera in 1854 — Organization of Medical Societies 501

Chapter XX. PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS

Provisions Made for the Treatment of Insane Persons — Lyon's View Hospital — School for Deaf Mutes — Lawson McGhee Library — Margaret McClung Industrial Home — St. John's Orphanage — New City Hospital — Home for the Friendless — Other Charitable Institutions — Woman's Building 535

Chapter XXI. y

SOCIETIES.

Tennessee's First Masonic Lodge — Grand Lodge Organized — First Lodge at Knoxville in 1800 — Chapter and Templar Masonry — Three Score Years of Odd Fellowship — Various Other Society Organizations 556

Chapter XXII. CEMETERIES

The Oldest. That of the Presbyterians — Gray Cemetery — The Confederate or Bethel Cemetery — The National Cemetery — Soldiers' Monument—Catholic Cemetery — Woodlawn Cemetery — The Hebrew Cemetery 582

HISTORY OF KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE.

Chapter I. Natural Advantages

Resources of the Surrounding Country — All Tributary to Knoxville — Boundary of the County — Topography — Geology and the Geological Character of the Surface in Relation to Agriculture and Horticulture — Great Improvements in Methods of Cultivation — Coal. Iron, Brick Clay and Other Mineral Products — Mountain Gaps and Their Utility — Water Supply — Mineral Springs — Climate — Temperature Throughout the Various Seasons — Railroads.

IN enumerating the natural advantages of a city like Knoxville, it is necessary to allude with greater or less fullness to the resources of the surrounding country, for under the conditions of modern civilization these resources are very largely tributary to the city's requirements. And it will be found also necessary to extend inquiry even beyond the limits of Knox county, for at the present time the resources of the country, because of the facilities for transportation offered by the numerous and increasing railways, are carried from immense distances.

Knox county was taken in 1792 from territory then comprised in Greene and Hawkins counties, and named in honor of Henry Knox, Secretary of War in the cabinet of President Washington. The building up of a town where Knoxville now stands was immediately begun. As thus established and named, Knox county extended far beyond its present boundaries, which embrace about five hundred and seventy-three square miles. The county is unusually irregular in shape, no two of its boundary lines being of equal length and only two of them being parallel, the latter being along Bays Mountain and Flint Ridge. The boundaries of the county io HISTORY OF KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE.

were shaped in the first place by the long straight ridges traversing it in parallels from northeast to southwest, these ridges giving direction to all its natural water courses ; and they have to a considerable extent determined the natural products of the soil and the character of the inhabitants ; for it has always been held by philosophical writers upon historical and ethnological subjects that the topography, soil and climate of a country have a wide and far-reaching effect, if not a controlling one, upon the people themselves, and their institutions, second, only even if second, to that of their government itself. And some say that the people will be free that live in a mountainous country.

The long, straight ridges mentioned, although so nearly parallel in direction and uniform in outline, differ greatly in their geological structure ; and as the soil in the valleys comes originally from the rocks and depends mainly upon the wearing and washings from the mountain sides, that soil naturally varies as greatly as does the geological structure of the mountains themselves. From an elevated point of view Knox county appears to be divided naturally into what is called by Prof. Safford, in his Geological Survey of the State, the Ridge or Valley region, and the Knobby region, the latter lying southeast of the Tennessee river and the French Broad, and the former embracing the remainder of the county, about fourfifths of its entire area. The topography of the county lying to the southeast of the French Broad, mentioned above, while somewhat of the same nature as that of the entire valley region, is yet broken up by short spurs of hills running nearly at right angles to the longer ridges, which gives the country the appearance of large and irregular groups of hills, which rise to a height of from two to four hundred feet above the average elevation of the surrounding country. The tops of these hills are somewhat rounded, and are separated from each other by ravines, long, narrow, deep and winding, which taken altogether give the country in the vicinity of Knoxville an appearance peculiarly its own. The sides of these hills in many

HISTORY OF KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE. n

cases are too steep for successful cultivation, but the soil of the valleys is especially rich, and yields excellent returns even to fair cultivation, while in former years the hillsides as well as the valleys were covered with heavy forests of white oak, maple, hickory, poplar and other varieties of trees, and are still partially so covered.

In former years, while primitive methods in agriculture, as in other departments of industry, prevailed from the necessities of the situation, the productiveness of the soil was utilized only to a limited extent ; but in more recent times the practices of farming have largely improved, and perhaps in few portions of the country do these modern methods prove more beneficial to the entire community, including the agricultural classes themselves, than to those in the immediate vicinity of Knoxville.

A cursory glance at the geological formation of this portion of Tennessee shows that the prevailing outcropping rock is limestone. It has been described as a "red, ferruginous, sandy limestone," and Prof. Safford says that it is interstratified with calcareous shale and flaggy limestone. There are large quantities of iron imbedded in this rock, and as a natural result there are also large quantities of this same mineral in the soil ; but up to the present time no process has been discovered by which this mineral can be extracted either from soil or rock with profit. The chief value of the rock, therefore, lies in its utilization as building material and as flagging stones. But it is and has long been well known that the soil of limestone countries is especially adapted to the growing of wheat and other cereal crops, and, though in the vicinity of Knoxville the soil is inclined to toughness in its structure, is of a dark red or brownish color, bears deep plowing and requires to be thoroughly worked ; yet all this is immensely to the benefit of the agriculturist, and when well underdrained it yields excellent crops of wheat, oats and corn, and is also capable of being well set with grass and clover. While in earlier years the market crops consisted mainly in fowls, eggs, feathers, beeswax, ginseng. a few pelts and now and then a young beef, at the present time all the great variety of a prosperous agricultural community finds its way to the excellent markets of the city of Knoxville. the demands of such a city, which is much wealthier than in former years, having had their effect upon what the farmers raise.

In a general way it may be stated that the varied resources of the great East Tennessee valley are all tributary to Knoxville. this valley being one of the most beautiful and prosperous in the state, and within its limits are embraced nearly all of the agricultural resources of East Tennessee. It is one of the eight natural divisions of the state, and is bounded on the southeast by the Unaka chain of mountains and on the northwest by the Cumberland mountains or table "land. To the northeast it is continuous with the Valley of Virginia and to the southwest it extends into Georgia and Alabama. This Valley of Tennessee is therefore but a portion of that great natural highway which extends from the Susquehanna river in Pennsylvania to the Coosa and Black Warrior rivers in Alabama, which highway furnishes easy communication between New England and the Middle States and the great Southwest. This highway is now traversed by several lines of solid railway track throughout its entire length, which connect the resources of the Southwest with the capital and industry of the Middle and New England States, the benefits of which connection are largely felt by the city of Knoxville, situated as it is almost midway along the railways in the Valley of East Tennessee and near the head of navigation of the Tennessee river. This valley in its southwest course enters Tennessee obliquely from the northeast, but soon turns with a graceful curve toward the south and crosses the southern boundary of the state in almost a southerly direction. And toward this southern boundary line the mountain ridges that inclose the valley approach each other to within a distance of less than thirty-five miles. The area of the valley is about 9,200 square miles, considerably more than one-fifth of the entire area of the state, and it includes all of the following counties: Hancock. Hawkins, Grainger, Union. Jefferson, Knox, Roane, Meigs, and Bradley, besides most of Sullivan, McMinn, and portions of Blount, Bledsoe, Anderson, Carter, Cocke. Johnson, Greene, Washington, Monroe, Sevier, Polk, Claiborne, Rhea, Hamilton, Sequatchee and Marion. This valley, taken all in all, constitutes the most interesting portion of East Tennessee, and also of the Appalachian range that lies within the state.

The Tennessee river, originally named the Holston, to the mouth of Little Tennessee, enters Knox county near its north- ■ eastern corner and in a remarkably tortuous and serpentine course flows through it a little to the west of south until it approaches the south corner of the county, when it turns to the westward and then, having made a wide curve, again tluws to the south and passes out of the county, at about the width of the county westward from its point of entrance. By these many windings a large part of the county is made up of rich valley lands, which are well watered and drained, much to the benefit of the owners of the lands, and the great value of the valley lands is only equaled by that of the many tributaries that enter it in its tortuous course. These tributaries are swift and clear streams, rising either within or without the county, and flowing through long, narrow valleys, and are in their turn fed on either side by numerous branches which largely increase their volume before they reach the main river. Upon many of these several creeks there were in former days, to a greater extent than at the present time, numerous sawmills, which reduced the forests to lumber of various kinds and shapes, that found ready sale in the markets of the towns ami cities of the state, and also on the farms, as the farmers gradually supplanted log houses and barns with those of timl>er and lumber.

Flint Ridge, sometimes called Chestnut Ridge, constitutes the northwest boundarv line of the county. The former is the older name and describes the principal characteristic of the crest of the ridge, this crest being composed of chert, or flintlike quartz or hornstone, much resembling true flint. The main ridge extends from Virginia into Georgia. On the eastern and southern side of this ridge lies Bull Run Valley, one of the long valleys of the state, which also extends from Virginia into Georgia, taking different names in different parts of its extent. In Knox county it takes the name of Bull Run, from the creek that flows through it, and which empties into Clinch river. This valley contains a large quantity of rich farming lands. It is abundantly watered and was at one time heavily timbered. This valley is bounded on the east by Copper Ridge, which in its turn bounds Beaver Valley on the west, this latter valley being one of the most fertile in the county. Hinds' Valley lies between Beaver and Black Oak ridges, the lower half of which in Knox county, is watered by Hickory creek, which flows into Clinch river. Grassy Valley, bounded by Black Oak and Webb's ridges, is of much importance from an agricultural point of view, much more so than Poor Valley, which comes next. But Knoxville Valley exceeds in importance any of the others, it being in fact the valley of East Tennessee.

The rocks within this valley are of the Nashville and Trenton limestone, which yields a dark, friable and fertile soil ; and as all the creeks emptying into the Tennessee on its right bank flow through this valley, and as the Tennessee itself washes its entire eastern side, it is more abundantly watered than are all the other valleys of the county. Added to all these natural advantages is the artificial advantage of the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia railroad, which runs along the bed of the valley, furnishing rapid transportation and communication to and between the various towns and cities along its course and to the farmers throughout the entire length of the valley. To all of these things may be attributed the rapid and substantial growth of the city of Knoxville.

In connection with what may lie stated on the subject of coal, it must be noted that the rock formation in the vicinity of

Knoxville is much older than the carboniferous strata. In fact the Knoxville strata belong to the very oldest of the stratified rocks, viz. : the Potsdam or Primordial group, as classified by Prof. Dana. The layers of rock constituting the Knoxville group are immediately upon the metamorphic or azoic rock, and belong to the very lowest of the Lower Silurian age. After their formation came the Upper Silurian, the Devonian and the Sub-Carboniferous, before any coal was formed. The Lower Silurian embraces three great groups of rocks, viz. : the Ocoee conglomerate, the Chilhowee sandstone, and the Knox group, the latter group being also divided into three formations, viz. : the Knox sandstone, the Knox shale and the Knox dolomite.

The coal measures consist of a series of sandstones, shales and stone coal, interstratified, and range from 200 to 2,500 feet in thickness. In the flat top of the Cumberland tableland the sandstones and shales form the cap of the two Short mountains in Cannon county ; the sandstones and shales of the outliers in Overton and Fentress, and the same formations are on the top of Lookout mountain, Walden's Ridge and Racoon mountain. Coal is also found in Scott, Cumberland, Van Buren and Grundy counties.

Of the Knoxville group the most valuable rocks are the sandstones, which are interstratified with hard shales, the shales and sandstones being of many different colors, such as brown, red. chestnut, buff, gray, etc., and many of the iron ore deposits of the eastern counties rest upon the several divisions of the Knox group.

The Knox shale is a very important formation, and is often interstratified with thin layers of blue limestone, yielding the finest specimens of oolitic limestone to be found anywhere in the state. This shale, between Knoxville and Clinton, gives us Poor Valley, Hinds' Valley, Bull Run Valley, and Wolf Valley, and in the Knoxville shale valleys are located some of the finest farming lands in this portion of the state, the limestone contributing largelv to the strength and fertility of the soil, and some of the iron ore banks are located on this shale.

But the Knox dolomite is the most important and massive of the three divisions of the Knox group, the thicker layers being often worked into millstones, and in the upper strata of this division there are cuts of dull, variegated dolomite, which are worked as marble and used as building material. In color it is light gray, variegated with brownish red clouds, and it is rather fine grained.

In addition to this variety of marble there are in the Knox group many iron ore banks, which contain two species of ore, viz. : limonite and hematite. Any of the strata of the Knox group will under certain conditions yield limonite, and limonite banks occur in all the mountain counties from Johnson to Polk. Hematite is found in the shale layers from one to two feet thick in Carter county, and there occur in this division also jasper and chalcedony. Iron pyrites is also found in the Knox group, usually associated with galena and blende. Carbonate of lead is also found in some localities, as also is the black oxide of manganese. Besides the above are found heavy spar, fluor spar, calcite and quartz.

The Knox dolomite and the Knox shale give some of the finest farming lands in East Tennessee, and are therefore of special interest to the agriculturist and to the inhabitants of cities, the aggregate area in East Tennessee of the farming lands based on the Knox group being far larger than that of the same lands based on the Nashville and Trenton groups.

But marble being one of the most noted products of the state, deserves a more particular description than has thus far been presented. And this description will be best given in the language of a pamphlet published in 1869. entitled "Facts and Figures Concerning the Climate, Manufacturing Advantages, and the Agricultural Resources of East Tennessee." printed by T. Haws & Co.. Knoxville. Following is a quotation from that pamphlet :

"There is great interest attached to the marble of East Ten-

HISTORY OF KNOXVILLE, TEXXESSEE. iy

nessee. In the columns and balustrades which largely contribute to adorn the state capitol at Nashville and the national capitol at Washington may be seen specimens of the fine quality of our variegated marble. We have in East Tennessee the variegated fossiliferous, the grayish fossiliferous, magnesian, black breccia conglomerate varieties. The first species is found in quantity in Grainger, Jefferson, Roane, Knox, Monroe, Meigs. McMinn and Bradley counties. There are two varieties of this species. The one is an argillaceous limestone, little fossiliferous, of a dull, brownish red and sometimes greenish, and receives a smooth, fine polish. The other is par excellence the marble of East Tennessee. It is a highly fossiliferous, calcareous rock, has a bright ground of brownish red colors which are more or less freely mottled with white and gray fleecy clouds and spots. This variety is found in large quantities in Knox, McMinn and Hawkins counties. Quarries are being worked in each of these counties and shippers find a ready sale for all they can ship to the eastern markets. A block of the light mottled strawberry variety was sent from Hawkins county to the Washington monument:. This block attracted the attention of the building committee of the extension of the national capitol, who, although they had specimens before them from all parts of the Union, decided in favor of and used the marble from East Tennessee. The marble used in the Tennessee capitol was taken from Knox county. A large quantity from the same quarry was used in ornamenting the Ohio state capitol. One bed of grayish white lies near Knoxville, which is 375 feet thick; ninety feet of which, near the base of the bed, is massive white marble. The remainder contains more or less of the reddish points which make it variegated, the mottling consisting of fossil, corals and crinoids. On the French Broad river five miles east of Knoxville is a bluff of a beautiful light variegated marble which could be worked with little expense. Black marble is found in some localities in the extreme eastern part of the state. The whole extent of country between the Cumberland and Smoky mountains is underlaid with the marble formation, and geologists have long looked upon this region with peculiar interest."

Zinc is also abundant in East Tennessee, there being a fine bed of this mineral in Knox count)*, as well as at Mossy creek, and there are large quantities of limestone interspersed with the marble beds.

But the greatest interest must always attach to the supply of coal, for as the great industries of the world largely support the civilization of the age, so does the consumption support most if not all of the great industries of the world. And so far as Tennessee is concerned most of the coal in the state is confined to the eastern portion, and in the main is limited to the Cumberland mountains and their cognate ridges. And while in some cases this coal is properly bituminous, yet in most cases it is semi-bituminous. Prof. Safford says, "Our coal in good qualityand in beds thick enough to be profitably worked. is at least equal in the aggregate to a solid stratum eight feet thick and co-extensive with the tableland, and hence to 4.400 square miles.' - If the entire area of the state be taken at 42,000 square miles, which is nearly correct, then the coal area, if evened up to a thickness of eight feet, would occupv somewhat more than one-tenth of the entire area of the state. And as the amount of coal within the state when the first settlers arrived, about 1760, was in the neighborhood of 35.000,- 000,000 tons, considering a cubic yard equal to a ton, and if at one time in the dim recesses of the past the entire state were underlaid or overlaid with coal, as it may have been, it is easy to see what a prodigious waste of valuable material nature has made in the denudation of such a large portion of the state, whereby somewhere near 320,000.000,000 tons of coal have been washed off into the GiTlf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.