xt78cz322k8f https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt78cz322k8f/data/mets.xml Tennessee. Bureau of Agriculture, Statistics, and Mines. 1876  books b98-37-40931263 English Tavel, Eastman & Howell, : Nashville : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Mines and mineral resources Tennessee, East. Tennessee, East Description and travel.Killebrew, J. B. (Joseph Buckner), 1831-1906. Mineral and agricultural resources of the portion of Tennessee along the Cincinnati southern and Knoxville & Ohio railroads  : including the country between the two / by J.B. Killebrew. text Mineral and agricultural resources of the portion of Tennessee along the Cincinnati southern and Knoxville & Ohio railroads  : including the country between the two / by J.B. Killebrew. 1876 2002 true xt78cz322k8f section xt78cz322k8f 



          MIN ERAI

                  ANID



1F(ariiultural 1esonrres

                  OF



     THE PORTION OF TENNESSEE

                A LONG TH E


Cincinnati Southern and Knoxville & Ohio Railroads,


                 INCLUDTNU



THIE COUNTRY BETWEEN THE TWO.



               BY'
       J. B. KILLEBREW,
('ommiss.ioner of Agriculfure, AStattiics and Mines.



          NASHVILLE:
     TAVETJ, EASTMAN & HOWELL.
              1876.



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          MIIIEIRAL

                  AND


AGRICULTITRAL RESOURCES

                   OF



     THE PORTION OF TENNESSEE

                ALONG THE


Cincinnati Southern and Knoxville & Ohio Railroads,


                INCLUD[NG



THE COUNTRY BETWEEN THlE TWO.



               BY
       J. B. KILLEBREW,



Caommi.ssioner of Agriculture, Statistics and M3ines.



         NASHVILLE:
    TAVEL, EASTMAN & HONVIELL.



1876.

 This page in the original text is blank.

 

To HIis Excellency, Gov. Jaines D. Porter:
  I have received from various parts of the United States,
and especially from Europe, inquiries about the region
traversed by the Cincinnati Southern Railroad. To meet
this demand for information, and thus " attract capital
and labor to the State," I have spent several months in
studying the country on both sides of the railway, its
mineral resources and agricultural capabilities, and have
embodied the results of my observations in the accompany-
ing pamphlet.
           I have the honor to be,
                        Very respectfully,
                                  J. B. KILLEBREW.

 This page in the original text is blank.

 


             MINER AL
                        AND


AGRICULTURAL PESOURCES

           OF THE PORTION OF TENNESSEE
                      ALONG THE

      CINCINNATI SOUTHERN RAILROAD.


  The Cincinnati Southern Railroad has been a favorite
project of leading capitalists, citizens and engineers of C(in-
cinnati andl central Kentucky, for many years.  It was
probably first discussed in 1834. In 1837 C(lonel AW'. A.
Gunn, the present engineer in charge of surveys on the
road, made a partial survey of a road leading from Cincin-
nati in the general direction of Chattanooga. It is a re-
markable fact, and no small compliment to Colonel (Gunn,
that his judgment of forty years ago has been substantially
approved and adopted as the line of the road now approach-
ing completion. In those early days, and ever since, the
lion ill the path which has deterred private capital from
undertaking this great work, has been the (timberland
Mountain, whose rugged peaks have repelled any but the
rudest civilization from an area nearly a hundred iniles
vide over which the route passes. To link Ohio, Indiana,
Michigan, Western New York, and Pennsylvania to the
great mineral region and rich cotton belt of the South, by a
line almost as straight as the bird flies, the iron chain muAt

 

Resources of Tennessee Along the



be dragged through the bowels of the everlasting hills, over
dizzy chasms, through a trackless, forbidding wilderness.
Much of this region in Southern Kentucky and Northern
Tennessee lacks only the Indian, the grizzly and the snows
to rival the Sierras of the North as a barrier to engineering
skill and a terrifier of railroad investors. To say that Cin-
cinnati has shown daring enterprise in the expenditure of
16,000,000 to span this dividing wall between Northern
and Southern products, is faintly expressing the truth. No
city in the civilized world ever voluntarily made such a
venture in behalf of her own commerce and the upbuilding
of her interdependent neighbors. Never was such a mag-
nificent endowment so skillfully and honestly expended, in
the history of American internal improvements. No chan-
nel of commerce on the continent connects more important
interests, and now has developed more "local" trade, than
this will do.
  The agitation which finally took concrete form in this
subject began just after the wvar-perhaps we might say it
was renewed then-by a half dozen enterprising men in
Cincinnati, and as many more in Chattanooga. Projects
without number were discussed and abandoned. The ob-
jective point, however, was kept steadily in view. Gradu-
ally all schemes centered in one to build the road by Cin-
cinnati for Cincinnati, and in the interests of commerce, as
distinguished from the interests of boards of directors.
The Constitution of Ohio had to be flanked in the enabling
act. That done, the Southern charters were still to pro-
cure. The Judiciary Committee in our own House of Rep-
resentatives displayed hostility. The committee was voted
down. Then a two years' siege was required to carry the
works with which powerful interests had circumvallated
the Legislature of Kentucky. One by one all these obsta-
cles of men's creating gave way before the determined men
who were managing the interest of Cincinnati. Meantime



6

 

Cincinnati Southern Railway.



her citizens had voted ten millions of money with which to
begin the work. These gigantic tasks were fairly begun in
1868. It required five years to complete the wordy pre-
liminaries, and remove all the hindrances which written
and spoken eloquence could put in the way.
  The first contract was for boring Kings Mountain tunnel,
sections 57 and 58, in Kentucky. It was signed December
12, 1873. Since then the work of grading and otherwise
preparing the road-bed has been vigorously pushed. The
trustees expect to finish the line ready for the cars-except-
ing sideings and (lepots-l)y June 1, 1877.
  The road is :336 41-100 miles long. Its general direc-
tion is north and south. The northern end bisects the Blue
Grass region of Kentucky. The southern end, for about
ninety miles, runs through a series of valleys that in fer-
tility, beauty of scenery and healthful climate are not sur-
passed in Southern France or Italy. The middle section
traverses a region rich, beyond the comprehension of the
unskilled observer, in latent resources of mineral and agri-
cultural prodlucts. Millions of acres on either side of the
road, from the Kentucky River to Emory Gap, can be
bought at merely nominal figures, but they are as good
sheep lands, as good for the purposes of the grape culturist
or general fruiterer, as any acres the sun shines on; while
beneath them lie exhaustless beds of coal and iron in
such close proximity as are found nowhere else in the
world outside the Southern mineral region. When these
dreary knobs are covered with vineyards and orchards and
studded with sheep cotes; when scores of furnaces light up
the gloomy ravines and impart their glow to the forbidding
palisades, then will the great and enterprising city find that
that which deterred all others from undertaking to build
her a highway to the South brings her most profit; that
these mountain fastnesses were better worth the reaching
than the sunny plains beyond, covered with cotton and cane.



7

 

Resources of Tennessee Along the



  The principal southern connections of the Cincinnati
road at its southern terminus will be the Western and
Atlantic from Chattanooga to Atlanta, and connecting
thence with Augusta, Macon, Savannah, Columbus, Pensa-
cola, Brunswick, Jacksonville; and the Alabama and Chat-
tanooga road from Chattanooga to Meridian, Mississippi,
and connecting along the line and from its southern termi-
inus with Montgomery, Mobile, Selma, Vicksburg, New
Orleans, &c. The last mentioned is a natural and very
important connection and link of the Southern Pacific
Railway, destined to be completed at no distant day. When
built, it must place Cincinnati on an equal footing, with
reference to commercial intercourse with the Pacific slope,
with St. Louis and Chicago. Indeed, she Iiiust be more
eligibly situated than either of them, for her access will be
quite as direet and always available for its highest capacity
in freight or passenger traffic, whereas the Northern Pacific
route, on which her rivals (depen(l, is precariolls during four
months of the year from deep snows and severe cold. But
we can not go into detail here. Let the reader take any map
of the United States, and in the absence of the laid down
line of the Cincinnati Southern, let him lav a string or rule
from Cincinnati to Chattanooga, and stuidy the strategic
advantages gained by the former city with her road fin-
ished. Let him consider that every point namned here has
been placed as near to Cincinnati as it is now to Louisville.
No thoughtful man can fail -to comprehend the splendid
field opened to the enterprise which conceived and executed
the gigantic undertaking of reaching that field over its own
railway.
  By the construction of a branch railroad, beginning six
miles south of the Tennessee and Kentucky State line, so
as to connect at Careyville with the Knoxville and Ohio
Railroad, now built out twenty-eight miles northward from
Knoxville, Knoxville will be within 272 miles of Cincin-



8

 

Cincinnati Southern Raihray.



nati, instead of 558 miles as now by the shortest railroad
route built. Another proposed branch will unite the road
with the Cumberland and Ohio, so as to bring Nashville
within 291 miles of Cincinnati.
  For seventy miles the Tennessee River runs parallel
with the Cincinnati Southern, which will be a l)erl)etual
guarantee against high local freights, through the best part
of the agricultural and mineral region through which it
passes.
  The road is probably the best built of any on the conti-
nent. The grades are lighter than those of any trunk line
in the South. The highest curve permitted is 6'. Sixty-
five per cent. of the line is straight. There are two and
one-fifth miles of iron bridging, building and to be built,
and but a thousand feet of wooden bridging. Three miles
of iron viaduct are to be constructed over iuountain streams.
The tests applied to the iron and steel for the track, and to
the iron columns and struts entering into the construction
of bridges and viadlucts, are the highest ever attempted in
the history of American engineering, and they have been
rigorously enforced in every instance. Steel rails are being
laid on all the heavier grades. Steel rails only, will be
used in the mountains. The iron rails fJIrniishle(l are nearly
or quite equal to the ordinary run of steel rails. Tihle heavy
character of the mountain grading may be ijueweed of from
the fact that in less than 100 miles there are 4 85-104) miles
of tmnnel, nmuich of it through a shale alzoiost as hard
as flint, but too much broken to serve for walls, aned there-
fore requiring heavy timbering. It is doubtful if; when
finished, any equal number of miles of road in the Union
will have legitimately cost as much as this.
  The following table shows the height of some principal
pointS along the line above sea level, and their approximate
distances fronm Chattanooga:



9

 


Resources of Tennessee Along the



                                       Above   Distance from
          NAME OF PLACR              Sea Level.Chattanooga.
                                        Feet.     .Miles.

Chattanooga............................................ 685  0
Smith! X Roads, Tenn ..............................  709  27
Rockwood, Tenn ...................................  854  1  65
Emory Gap, Tenn ...................................  792  1  75
Triplett's Gap, Tenn ......................... ......  1209  90
Nix Creek, Tenn. (highiest point on the line)..  15-18  112
Chitwoods, Ten...................................... 1320  133
First Sminimit (uniberland Mountain, Ky......  1257   145
Cumberhind River. Ky.............................  745  158
King's Mountain, Ky................................ 1287  195
Danville, K.955                                     25........,,     ,,         235
Kentucky River, Kv ..................... ............  767  240
Lexingt;n, Kv.......................................  966  260
Ohio River Bridge.................................. 37  336

  The general importance of the Cincinnati Southern Rail-
way consists in the fact that it is part of a great South and
North system, now in its infancy, but destined to become,
during tfis century, quite equal in imlportance to the system
connecting the Eastern sea-board with the agricultural re-
gion of the West.   Already the Louisville and Nashville
road and its connections has exploded the postulate that
"none hIut east and west lines can be made to pay." It
and its fellow, connecting the two principal entrepots of
trade in the Ohio valley with the cotton, rice and sugar
fields of the gulf belt, are a nucleus that will expand into
a power destined, at no distant period, to turn the course
of commerce and work profound social, political and eco-
nomical revolutions. This South and North system, being
comparatively short, will solve the Granger's question-
"How shall I reach the best market"-by bringing the
market to his door. It will do more; it will create de-
mand, as well as supply that which exists. The population
depending on it in the South will increase as rapidly as
that of the North-west has in the last four decades under
the influence of the East and West system.
  It is fortunate for Tennessee that she lies in the track of



10

 

Cincinnati Southern Railway.



and has within her borders the main termini of the two.
successful trunk lines connecting the North with the South.
The Louisville and Nashville, in its operations, has been
worth millions to Middle and West Tennessee. The Cin-
cinnati Southern will be equally beneficial to the Eastern
and Southern portions of the State. The two lines, when
the latter is completed (the Louisville and Nashville is cap-
italized at 27,000,000), will wield an actual capital of
about 60,000,000! They place Tennessee, relatively, in
the position Ohio occupies with reference to the New York
Central and Baltimore and Ohio. We are the grand entre-
pot for the cotton belt trading to the North, and the (is-
tributing point for the North trading to the South. Add
to this the fact that-the East and North-west having more
roads than they can make profitable-railroad building for
a quarter of a century will be confined to North and South
lines, and it requires no prophetic vision to realize more
than all the most enthusiastic friends of the South may
predict for her, as to future development in agricultural
and manufacturing progress and increase in wealth and
population. The railroad system we have described is des-
tined to be the great pacificator, educator, liberalizer and
enriching force of the Mississippi Valley. Tennessee starts
in the race at least ten years in advance of her Southern
sisters. May she be found worthy of her high trust, equal
to the realization of her great advantages.


            GENE-RAL VIEW OF THE ROUTE.

  Our purpose in this report is to give some account of the
resources, so far as Tennessee is concerned, as well as the
geological and topographical features, of the country lying
on the route.
  The entire length of the road from Chattanooga to the



it

 

Resources of Tennessee Along the



Kentucky State line is 136 miles, eighty miles of which are
along one of the minor parallel valleys of the Valley of
East Tennessee which lie at the south-eastern foot of the
Cumberland Table-land. At Emory Gap the line of the
road leaves the Valley of East Tennessee and begins to
ascend the mountain., and throughout the remaining fity-
six miles the road cuts through the coal formation. The
Valley of East Tennessee, which lies between the Unaka
range on the south-east and the Cumberland Table-land on
the north-west, is made up of a succession of minor ridges
and valleys, running in almost unbroken lines in a north-
easterly and south-westerly direction. Viewed from the
higher points of the Unaka range, or from the top of the
Cumberland Table-land, the minor ridges melt into a com-
mon plain. The average elevation of the Valley of East
Tennessee is about 1,000 feet above the sea, while that of
the Table-land is 2,000 feet. Prof. Lesley, of Pennsylva-
nia. thinks the preservation of our coal-fields is dlue to a
great downthrow fault, by which the whole of our coal-
fields were stink several thousand feet below their original
elevation. The sections which retained their altitude have
been eroded of all their coal measures and of the forma-
tions immediately below the eoal measures, so that the
Upper Silhirian of the valley lies almost in juxtaposition to
the coal measures, though separated geologically by an im-
mense period. This theory is rendered probable froin the
fact that the strata of Walden's Ridge, which runs parallel
with the CJumnberland Table-land, are highly inclined, in-
deed sometimes vertical, or even beyond verticality, making
the line of a great fault, caused by the downthrow of the
Cumberland Table-land. This geological event is one that
has an important bearing upon the value of the mineral
region immediately adjacent to the line of railroad. By it
the coal and iron are placed side by side, ready for profita-
ble working. The fossil iron ore of the Clinton group runs



12

 

Cincinnati Southern Railway.



in almost unbroken lines from Chattanooga to Emory Gap
on the line of road, while the outcrops of coal on the Cum-
berland Table-land a few furlongs distant are persistent.
Associated in the same group are the carboniferous lime-
stones, which form an excellent flux, and at a short distance
the Trenton limestones of the Lower Silurian. Besides
these, the sandstones of the coal measures are found in
many instances, suitable for making furnace hearths. It
would be difficult in any State to find more of the materials
for the manufacture of iron in such proximity. And as the
construction of the railroad will furnish the only thing
lacking-transportation-the intelligent prediction of Prof.
Lesley in regard to this region will doubtless be realized,
when lie says: "A thousand collieries will be started in the
mountain, and a thousand iron works will be established
on the ores at its foot; a thousand villages, towns and cities
will grow up in the broad limestone plain before it; a
thousand factories and mills will make these towns hum
with life, and all this life will base itself on the mountain
coal thus wonderfully preserved from destruction by throes
of the earth in ancient days, which would have obliterated
every trace of human life from the continent, had the divine
invention of human life been made." The small valleys
lying on the east side of the railroad, numbering from two
to three, between the line of the road and the river, rest
upon the magnesian limestone of the Knox formation.
The ridges between the valleys are composed of the chert
and shales of the same formation. The hills have a thin
barren soil, covered usually with a small growth of timber,
and the soil is not of sufficient fertility to repay the labor
of the husbandman. The valleys are usually fertile, gently
undulating, and form the only arable land in the vicinity
of the road. These valleys will average in width about
half a mile. They are thickly settled, and are for the most
part cleared up. The timber supply is on the ridges. The



13

 

Resources of Tennessee Along the



mountain slopes supply good lumbering trees, which will
be described more in detail hereafter.
  Between Emory Gap and the Kentucky State line the
soil is derived from sandstone, is thin and unproductive of
the usual field crop. Not one acre in twenty has been
brought into cultivation.  The Cumberland Table-land
loses much of its plateau ehnraeter in this portion of the
State. The surface is usually rugged, with high, sharp-
crested ridges and rounded peaks, that somietimes rise 1,-500
feet above the road-bed. Though rugged, the country is
well timbered, and on the northern slopes of the ridges the
soil is very fertile, and the timber of excellent quality.
Deep, canyon-like gorges are cut by the numerous streams
deep in the bosom of the mountain. Some of these streams
-are walled in by perpendicular cliffs of sandstone from 30)
to 400 feet high. A few narrow valleys occur between the
foot of the superimposed ridges, hut these mountain valleys
are not so productive as the northern and western slopes of
the ridges.
  From these high mountain sides many fine chalybeate
and other springs break out. Wild grasses spring up in
great abundance and supply a rich forage for cattle and
sheep. The air is pure and the region healthy. For the
growth of apples no region is superior to the country which
lies between Emory Gap and the Kentucky State line.
They never fail, and they have a plumpness and richness
of flavor rarely equalled.
  To sum up in brief the advantages which the country on
this portion of the line affords, we may say:
  1. It is healthy. Consumption is almost unknown here,
and malarious diseases seldom occur. In many places there
are no doctors within twenty miles. The inhabitants are
hardy and long-lived, though living a life of privation and
exposure.
  2. It has an abundance of coal. Throughout the extent



14

 

Cincinnati Southern Railway.



of the railroad from Emory Gap to the Kentucky State
line every cut reveals more or less coal. The seams are
sometimes thin and worthless, but often are from three to
four feet thick. In the ridges above the road better and
thicker seams are met with.
  3. It has a great variety of valuable timber. For many
miles the line of road traverses forests of the finest white
oak. On the mountain slopes are poplar and walnut in
great quantity. From Scott and Morgan counties timber
enough to supply all the agricultural implement manufac-
tories within reach of the road for a century to come, can
be obtained.
  4. The forests of chestnut oak which are usually found
upon the tops of the ridges are very extensive, and are
capable of supplying millions of cords of the very best
tan-bark.
  5. As a grazing region it is very valuable. The wild
grasses are everywhere abundant, and great herds of cattle
are fattened upon these wild grasses for the Northern mar-
kets. Goats, that thrive upon shrubbery, can be reared at
nominal cost. They live throughout the winter without
any other food than the buds of the native shrubs. Sheep
also are very hardy and do well.
  6. An excellent situation for extensive apple orchards.
The apple is the surest crop grown, and the facilities which
the road will afford, together with the small outlay neces-
sary to start an orchard, will make this a famous region for
the production of apples, and will enable it to compete suc-
cessfully with any portion of the United States.
  7. As a place for summer resort it must become famous.
The salubrity of the air, the excellence of the chalybeate
springs, the high elevation, and the grandeur and beauty of
the natural scenery, will make it a favorite locality for
those accustomed to such rural retreats in summer.
  8. For growing all garden vegetables the soil of this

 

Resources of Tennessee Along the



sandstone formation is well adapted. Early vegetables can
be supplied to the Cincinnati and other markets at a
cheaper rate than from any other point. Irish potatoes,
cabbage, onions, and indeed all root crops, grow to great
perfection. The Irish potatoes especially are noted for
their excellence. Market gardening will doubtless become
one of the leading industries of this mountain region.

     FROM CHATTANOOGA TO NORTH CHICAMAUGA.

  Such is a general view of the country bordering the Cin-
cinnati Southern Railroad. For the purpose of entering
into details, we return to Chattanooga, and, crossing the
upper ferry, we find a series of low ridges lying on the
right, from which the dyestone, or fossil red hematite, has
been dug for many years. The place of mining is not
more than one mile north-east of Chattanooga, and the ore
is found in what is called Stringer's Hill, the third of the
series of ridges from Walden's Ridge. Walden's Ridge is
an arm of the Cumberland Table-land, and is eight miles
across. It is separated from the main plateau by Sequatchee
Valley on the west. The mining in Stringer's Hill has
been carried on in the head of a decapitated fold, the strata
here all dipping to the south-east at an angle of 22 degrees.
The iron ore, fifteen inches thick, is found associated with
shales, several thin partings being found in the seam. This
ore is soft and its yalue impaired by the commingling
shale. The seam can be traced many miles to the north-
east, but is finally cut out by the valley of North Chica-
mauga. It may be here mentioned that the railroad crosses
Tennessee river four miles above Chattanooga, and keeps
the valley of North Chicamauga until it reaches the Ten-
nessee Valley. This ore is therefore not on the line of the
road, but is sufficiently near the river, which serves all
purposes of transportation. Crossing a low gap in Mocca-



16

 

Cincinnati Southern Railway.



sins ridge going north, we enter Tennessee Valley, which
extends as far as Emory Gap, a distance of eighty miles.
Bounding this valley on the west is a low ridge known as
Shin Bone, which separates the Tennessee Valley from
Back Valley, lying  next to the escarpment of Walden's
Ridge. Back Valley :l Tennessee Valley become one
near the point where -North Chicamauga breaks from the
mountain. The united vallevs are one and a half miles
wide, presenting a magnificent farming area.
  The first coal of importance that presents itself is on
Walden's Ridge, eight miles north-west of Chattanooga and
quite as far from the railroad, though within three miles of
the Tennessee River. It belongs to the upper coal meas-
ures, and outcrops at the foot of a ridge 110 feet high,
which rests upon the general level of the Table-land,
which is here 1,000 feet high. This ri(lge extends towards
the north several miles and is about half a mile wide, sup-
plying a large body of coal. The seam is three and a half
feet thick, and an entry has been driven in at the eastern
foot for the distance of fifty yards. Some 15,C00 bushels
of coal have been taken out and hauled in wagons down
the mountain to Chattanooga. It is a hard, free-burning
coal, though containing some sulphur. Underlying it are
several feet of good( fire-clay. The roof is of black shale,
and is quite solid. All the strata are horizontal. The
mine is known as Crow's bank. If proper facilities were
afforded for conveying the coal to the valley b)elow, this
mine, owing to its proximity to Chattanooga, would doubt-
less prove very valuable. At present the cost of mining
and transportation to market is nearly equal to the selling
price.
  Below the bank on the South is the cliffy rampart that
makes such a prominent and striking feature in the escarp-
ment of the Table-land. Underlying this cliff rock an-
other seam appears, three and a half feet thick. The coal
       2



17

 

Resources of Tennessee Along the



is very hard. This could be taken out by the river, which
is about two and a half miles south. Other seams of un-
known thickness are seen along the bluffs, some of them
having been worked to a limited extent during the civil
war, and the coal taken to Chattanooga on barges. On the
opposite side of the river, in Raccoon mountain, are numer-
ous seams of coal, which have been worked at the Atna
and Vulcan mines for many years. A (lescril)tion of these
mines is reserved for another part of this work.
  It has already been stated that Back Valley and the
Tennessee Valley become one where the Chicamauga breaks
from the mountain. The gulf made by the Chicamauga is
deep and wide, forming a chasm much like an inverted
roof, though sometimes the bluffs of sandstone rise boldly
up for several hundred feet. Rogers' creek, which is a
tributary of Chicamauga, makes also a dleep chasm in the
mountain, parallel with Tennessee Valley, leaving a high,
narrow headland between it and the valley, which narrows
to a sharp ridge where the waters of Rogers' creek and
Chicamauga unite. Each one of these chasms exposes the
coal seams and makes them accessible. Branch railroads
may he constructed up these gorges, so that the coal may,
by chutes, be dumped directly into the cars.
  Fallingwater, another stream tributary to North Chica-
mauga, and south of Rogers' creek, rises upon the plateau
of Walden's Ridge and flows in an easterly direction,
making a gorge of increasing width and depth as it ap-
proaches Back Valley, Reaching this it turns north, run-
ning about a mile, when it cuts through Back Valley and
Shin Bone Ridge, passing in a south-easterly direction
through Tennessee Valley into North Chicamauga. The
point of its confluence with the latter stream is ten miles
(north, 20 degrees east) from Chattanooga. Where Fall-
ingwater breaks through Shin Bone Ridge there is a bluff
which shows an antilincal fold, the rocks dipping at an



18

 

Cincinnati Southern Railway.



average angle of 32 degrees to the north-west and south-
east. In the south-west dip several seams of dyestone ore
are seen interstratified with a shale highly calcareous. A
section taken at this place, beginning at the lowest exposed
strata and ascending, shows:
     Shale................... . ........ .............................. 25 feet.
     Dyestone ore .....   .............................. 9 inches.
     Shale and flaggy sandstones ............................ 1 foot.
     Dyestone ore .......................... ......... 13 inches.
     Shhale............ ......... .................................... 2.6 feet.
     Dyestone ore .    ................................... 6 inches.
     Shale.......................................................... 4 feet.
     Dyestone ore.       .................................... 4 inches.
     Shale, brownish .................. ................. 6 feet.
     Dyestone ore ......  .............................. 6 inches.
     Shales and sandstones, thin and flaggy, above.
  The specimens of iron ore taken from this place show a
large amount of siliceous matter.     The ore contains but
few fossils, and is very hard. It has never been used in
any furnace.
  By the confluence of Fallingwater with North Chica-
mauga a sufficient volume of water is obtained to run ma-
chinery. Two mills are in operation between this point
and the mouth of North Chicamauga. Ascending the gulf
cut by Fallingwater to the mouth of AMill creek, and turn-
ing lip the latter stream, several good seams of coal are
seen. Going to the top of Walden's Ridge and descending,
the first outcrop is found two hundred yards on the north
side of Mill creek, in the head of a cross ravine, the water
from  which  passes