Saturday Evening Mail, Volume 2, Number 34, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 17 February 1872 — Page 1

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Vol. 2.— No. 34.

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Terre-Haute

TERRE-HAUTE TO BE THE I HON* CITY OF THE WEST.

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AND THK WEST WILL LEAD ,/IIIE WORLD. ^bawi tit *i,i h.if. \(T8 Axi) Fro ruEH.

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So much attention having been given of late to the subject of iron manufacture in this city, we are induced to give copious extracts bearing upou this question. Our citizens, usually wide awake and enterprising, are hardly aware of the attention the natural advantage* of Torre-Haute are attracting abroad: j"*

Terre-IIaule IIM a Coal Outre. [Extract from an article wiiten In 1870, by Col. K. \V. Thompson.]

The area of the coal deposits of the United State* is something over 200,000 square miles. About one-twentieth of this area is in Indiana Therre-Hante being nenr it» ventre, from north to sotuh. The area in Tennessee is about 3.700 square miles in Georgia about 180 square miles and in Alabama about 4,300 square miles. That in Indiana, therefore, exceeds theaggregateof these three States. Too coal measures in I'onnesseo are con lined mos' ly to the regions of the Cumberland Mountains, and are comparatively inaccessible, except in the vicinity of Chattanooga, where hematite iron ore is also found. Those in Alab una are the most valuable in the neighborhood of Lookout and Sand mountains, but eastwardly thev are subject to great depression, and westwardly to thinning out. The annual product of all thv-e coal fields in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama is less than one-half of that in Indiana. Independently,however,of the large excons of quantity in the annual product of coil, there are several important considerations which tend to show that the ad vantages are greatly in favor of Torre-Haute, as a point for the manufacture of iron, over any that can exist either in Tennessee, Georgia or Alabama. Tho abundant supply of .block or splint coal, free froin sulphur, with which Terre-Haute is supplied, wid save the expense of coking or charring, which cannot be avoided in either ol those States. And as the best iron is only made by an admixture of the specular or magnetic and carboniferous and heini itlte ores, It can, necessarily, be manufactured much more cheaply at Torre-Haute than at any point south of it because the specular and magnetic ores, of Lutce Superior and Missouri, cannot reach the coal unci hematite Iron regions ol Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama, except upon long lines of railroad transportation, and at heavy additional expense. Hence, theSouthern States must, of necessity, depend mainly upon Terre-Haute and Itsvieinitv, lor their supply of iron and iron manufactures, so soon as the railroad from Henderson to Nashville Is finished

being nearer to them,

and In more direct railroad communication with them, than any other point In the United States, situated within a coal and iron region. This trade will involve an exchange of the cotton of tlie south for the Iron and iron manufactures of Indiana, and thus establish

Intercourse between these sections, greatly to the benefit of both. Another consequence must also follow: the abundant supply of water in TerreHaute will greatly facilitate the manufacture of cotton,and the interchange of productions will invite it to an extent sufficient to furnish a supply of cotton to IndiaTia and Illinois, and also to large portion of tho south, at a saving In the cost of transportation of tho raw material to. and tho manufactured fabri-s from the Kastern States. These facts go to show that, whether for iron or cotton manufactures, there is no point west of the Allegany Mountains, which combines so many advantages as Terre-IIante, especially for the manufacture of iron. Its central position between the large cities of the Wost, give facilities which no other point cum have. In the following most important particulars, theso facilities are unequalled:

I. The presence of large and inexhaustible quantities of block or splint, and bituminous coals. i». The presence of rich hematite iron ore in a itreat abundance: with a more limited supply of magnetic iron ore. 3. The presence of a plentiful supply of carboniferous limestone, for tiuxlng. 4. The directness of communication with the specular and magnetic Iron regions of Lake Superior and Missouri. 5. The 'directness of communication with the tour leading Western cities and with all other commercial points in the Northwest and South.

Terre-Haute is, In fact, the only commercial point in the Northwest combining 11 these advantages, in so high degree. And the most enterprlslujr arid intelligent iron manufacturers hare not been slow to discover this fact. The Wnf Httsl Jlannrnctor* »t« Own 1 row.

Hx tract from the «u iick referred to above.) The progress of material improvements is more accurately estimated by the increase of the mechanical arts, which are Its principal agents. In the United Suite® this progree* has been so rapid, within the last twenty years, as to surprise the whole commercial world and bv taking the last decade,

iing in 1S00, as the basis of computation, it will appear that it has beco far greater in the West than in any other section of the Union. This result will be reached by an estimate of ihe agricultural implement* producedI for as agriculture is the basis of all prosperity, it furnishes the moat, if not the only, reliable rule of calculation. The increaso of the value of agricultural implement* produced iu the New England States, frum IS.'*) to 1»» 05 p»r cent in the Middle Stales 124.1 per cent while in the H'e*fer* Stain it

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was 313.7 per cent. And extending this calculation to the end of the present decade, in 1870, it will be found that this percentage of increase in favor of the West is kept up, if not exceeded. This will show that, although the largest capital is employed in iron manufactories in the Middle States, and the value of theirproducts there are greater than in any other section, this cannot much longer continue. It is a well settled rule, that the nearer the producer and the consumer are brought together, the larger is the profit to each, because, by shortening transportation, capital becomes more active. Hence, it must soon occur, under the controlling influence of the laws of trade, that the necessary amount of capital to produce the agricultural implements demanded by the West, must be drawn to such points of the West as furnish the greatest facilities for transportation arid the materials for manufacture. There is no point within any known coal and iron region, situated so near the commercial centre of these States none other so connected with them by railroad as Terre-Haute. A circle with Terre-Haute as its centre, and Pittsburgh upon the line of its circumference, will embrace within it from threefourths to four-fifths of the population of these States. Considered, therefore, geographically, and with reference to the facilities for manufacturing iron, and of transportation, Terre-Haute stands without a rival. It will only require a glance at its position upon tho map—in the centre of one_ of the finest agricultural districts in the world—to show its importance as a point for the manufacture also ot agricultural implements, the demand for which is so rapidly and steadily increasing. Comparative 'o*t of Iron Manulac* ture in Terre-Haute. [Extract from the artioie referred to above.]

Hut one other point is necessary to be considered: that is the cost of manufacturing iron at Terre-Haute, compared with other places in the West and South. The truth of the statement already made, that the best iron is made by an admixture of the hermatite with the specular and magnetic ores, has been demonstrated at many furnaces. At the furna-:es on the Hudson river in New York, from to of hermatites are combined with from

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magnetic or specular ores. About the same proportion of each is used iu Berks county, Pennsylvania on the Chesapeake Bay, near Baltimore at Pittsburgh and Johnston and at Youngstown iu Ohio. With an inexhaustible supply ol limestone lor flux in the vicinity'of their furnaces, and with hematite ores which can be procured at small cost, the manufacturers of Pittsburgh are compelled to transport their specular and magnetic ores from Lake Superior, in order to furnish the best quality of iron. The transp' illation is about a thousand miles, by water and railroad, and the expense is such that the cost, of a ton ol pig iron at Pittsburgh, ide out of these mixed ores, is about $30.50. This cost, there, as elsewhere, is made up as follows 1. Expense of ore. 2. Fuel. 3. Flux. 4. Libor at furnace. 5. Interest on capital. 0. Repairs. 7. Superinteudance. But ore, fuel and labor are the chief items, and as the cost of the two first depend greatly upon transportation, which varies according to location and convenience of supply, Terre-Haute has those advantages over Pittsburgh first, in tho abuiidanoe ol* block or splint coal second, in the transportation of specular and magnetic ores from Lake Superior and Missouri Chicago is now connected by railroad with Fort Howard, at the head of Green Bav, a distance of two hundred and forty-two tnile.t, and when the railroads from that point to Marquette and to Ontonagon, on Lake Superior, are'coinpleted Terre-Haute will be, by the Ter-re-Haute it Danville, and the Chicago it Danville Kailroads, within about five hundred miles of the Iron mines of Michigan and thosoof Wisconsin. Thus the transportation of these ores will be Jive hundred miles less to Terre-Haute than they now are to Pittsburgh and if the ores destined for Pittsburgh shall also be brought to Chicago by railroad, then the difference in transportation will be tiro hundred and eighty nine miles in favor of Terre-Haute.

Pig iron is manufactured exclusively out of the native ores of the Lake Superior region, in the neighborhood of Marquette, in Michigan, but at a cost of J35.00 per tun. But the manufacture is not likely to continue for many years longer, in consequence of the*absence of coal, and the disappearance of the timber out of which the furnaces there have been, thus far, supplied with charcoal. This country, therefore, must become almost entirely exporting furnishing its specular and magnetic ores to different parts of the West.

These advantages, in the distance of transportation, are of incalculable value, aud must enter, very materially, into a calculation of the cost of manufacturing iron, greatly in favor of TerreHaute over Pittsburgh. But the former has another advantage over the latter, in its abundant supply of block or splint coal, which will »-ave the expense of cokeing or charring the bituminous coal of Pittsburgh, and by which the best iron can be inade without the presence of phosphorus. Othei things, that is the cost of fluxing and of labor, the interest on capital, repairs, and superintendence, being the same at both places, the savingln transportation and in fuel, will enable a tun of iron to be manufactured at Terre-Haute for$26.00, or $3.50 less th«n *t Pittsburgh. The same mav be said of the manufacture of iron at Carondelet, Missouri, where it costs about $38.60 per tun, or 1,00 less than at Pittsburgh!!, and more than at Terre-Haute. And as these

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compare more favorably with than any otherpoir\t in the

West, Terre-Haute can have no western rival in these respects.

[Prof. J. W. Footer, in N. Y. Tribune, Dee. 4, isn. Indiana is rapidly assuming a front rank among the States of the Lnion. She has been hltbert* principally noted for her agricultural productions. It was well known that her soil was ftfrtile, thai tho annual yield of oorn and wheat was enormous, that she possess|it ed a magnificent body of timber lands, aud that her natural and artificial communications gave her free acoe*s to the markets of the world. But now she is

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TERRE-HAUTE, SATURDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 17, 1872.

entering upon another phase—that of a mining ana manufacturing State. This change has been wrought by the discovery, in her coal fields, of one or more seains of coal, which have, in a crude state, all the properties of charcoal for reducing iron ores, and bringing out a soft, carbonacious pig metal, susceptible of conversion into a tough, malleable iron, or into Bessemer steel. The latter is the severest test which can be applied to the various forms of fossil fuel. These peculiar coals to which the term "block" has beeft applied, occur hear the base of the coal measures, and can be traced, with occasional interruptions, all the way from the middle line of Fountain County, about 100 miles South' of Lako Michigan, to the Ohio River, a distance of more than 150 miles entirely within tlfe State of Indi-ina. The conglomerate, for the most part a heavy-bedded sandstone, which rests at the base of the coal field, crops out in bold ledges, and gives to the country a broken contour. Hence, in the projecting of the older railroads, this reuion was shunned, inasmuch as deep cuts and fills, as well as high grades and abrupt curves were required. The projectors were ignorant of the inestimable wealth stored beneath the surface. Had, for instance, the Louisville, New Albany, and Salem Railroad been located'20 miles further west, it would have rivaled the Reading Railroad in the amount of its freights, and its stock would have commanded the highest premium in the market, instead of being as it now is, in the hands ot a receiver. It was but recently that the value of the block coals became known and appreciated. In 1857, the first furnace was erected, and soon after the erection of six others followed, the success of these furnaces and the widespread demand for these coals as a domestic fuel led to the organization of new lines of railway, some of which have been completed, while others are in process of construction. A brief enumeration of these rc*ids, and tho markets which they are intended to ply, may not bo out of place. The fit. Louis, Vandaliaand Indianapolis Railroad crossed the coal field already. The Indianapolis and St. Louis Railroad, completed a little over a year ago, runs, so far as relates to the coal region within cannon shot of the St. Louis, Vandalia and Indianapolis Railroad. Instead of seeking to develop a new field, it boldly claimed to share with rival in the traffic already developed. The Bloomington and Indianapolis Railroad, opened within the last tvyo years, crosses the coal belt in Fountain County but thus far no collieries have been sufficiently developed to give tjie road any substantial freight although the indications are that the peculiar seam cariying the block coals has jts outcrop in that vicinity. :n if Indiana to Hival IVn^.v'vttiiiu—i*ro-les-Mr T'ohtcr JSIKMIUS Sol as a 'ovicc. [Prof. J.W. Foster,in the N. Y. Tribune,Dec. 4, 1871.

Thus it will be seen that, before the lapse ol two years, tho mining of these, iron smelting coals, instead of being restricted to a single district as at present, will bo spread over a zone of l.jO miles in extent and it requires no prophetic vision to predict that Indiana will rival Pennsylvania in the amount ot her mineral products.

With your permission, I propose in subsequent communications to describe the range and extent of the block-coals aud their chemical and physical characteristics the iron oies, tne chemical composition and their accessibility to tho coal aud the facilities for the distribution of their products over widely separated regions. I was on the water shed between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan before tho iron deposits, which now yield nearly 1,000,000 tuns a year, were disturbed I saw the iron mountain of Missouri before its sides were pierced, and whon a few hundred tuns of loose fragments of are only were annually dug out of the ferruginous clay to supply two or three charcoal furnaces and I was at Brazil,Ind., when it was-an indifferent railroad station, with a single S.haft for the extraction of coal, which geologists passed by without heeding. In these matters, then, I speak not as a novice.

Wlittl Block Coal Is.

[Prof.J. W. Foster, In N. Y. Tribune, Dec. 1.1. 1S71.J The term "block," as descriptive of a peculiar class of coals, is in alliteration of the geological vocabulary, but it has how become so firmly rooted that it must hereafter be recognized. The physical characters of the coal are these: There are two systems of joints, traversing the seam perpendicularly, which cut the wtiole mass into quadrangular blocks two or three feet long and a foot or more broad, and the miner availing himself ol these natural divisions, after undermining the base, is enabled to pry out the blocks without a resort to gunpowder. He can easily take down three tuns a day. These joints appear to have been formed after the materials entering into the structure of the coal were deposited, and are due to a force acting independently of consolidation. Where a considerable area is laid bare by stripping the surface, the seam resembles a tesselated pavement. Viewed in section, the appearance is as though block upon block each of tmiform sise, had been piled up by the hand of man. In entering the drifts the %\7. sag appearance reminds one of a Virginia fence. The sides of the blocks are smooth, of a dull bluish color, and are often stained white with fire clay, but, if cleft longitudinally, there is seen a mass of mineral charcoal so slightly cemented with bitumen I that it rapidly cracks on handling. The blocks are splintery on cross fracture, but longitudinally they come out in !thln. flat sheets like roofing slate.

Such are the external characters of the coal near Brazil, but further south, in I Spencer county, while It has the same block like arrangement, it is so far consolidated that !t breaks longitudinally with a splintery fracture, and may oe rubbed with a white handkerchief without communicating any crock. [Prof. K. T. Cox In Indiana Geologic*! Survey. 1

Without fear of contradiction, I pronounce the block coal ot Indians the best mineral fuel yet known to the world forthe manufacture of pig metal, bar iron, or steel. In the blaat furnace produces a metal in every respect equal to the beat charcoal iron made from the same ores. In the puddling furnace a less quantity is required of block coal than ot the best Pittsburg

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coals to make a run of bar or wrought iron. The bars are brought off in a shorter space of time, and the quality of iron is better. The gray pig iron made with the raw block coal in Clay County, from a mixture of Lake Superior and Missouri hematite ores, is used with excellent results in the manufacture of Bessemer steel at Chicago. Mr. Robinson, the Superintendent of the Union Rolling Mills there, writes that "the Indiana coal seems to be just the thing for steel." Iron Can Bo Manufactured .Much

Cheaper ill Terre-JUaule Than l'ittsbn rg. [Extract from report in T. II. Express, of

Prof. J. W. Foster's Speech, Dec. 27.J He then proceeded to show that these iron ores ought, with proper facilities, to be delivered at Terre-Haute a dollar and fifty cents per ton cheaper th in at Pittsburgh, ana that this saving in a furnace, which turned out twenty-five tons of pig metal a day, would amount to sixty-five dollars, or more than ?230,000 a year.

So "lar as related to the Iron Mountain ores of Missouri, which he regarded as equally rich and equally pure, they could be brought to Terre-Haute but t':ey could not sustain the expense of a railroad transportation to Pittsburg. The Ohio river, then, was the only route, and they must be transported during the spring and fall freshets. These ores could be introduced into Southern Indiana and there meet the block coals, and by a water conveyance seven hundred miles shorter, and practicable at all seasons of the year.

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is a demand for every ton of pig metal, bar iron or Bessemer steel that may be produced in Indiana at the point of production or still fanner west and the iron master, if possessed of competent skill, has nothing to fear from eastern rivalry.

The speaker then discussed the advantages of Terre-Haute as a manufacturing centre, and concluded b\' predicting the time at no distant date, when the whole horizon, at night, along the outcrop of the block coals, would be lighted up by the glare ol furnaces.

New Brazil About to Spring Into KXINH-iicc. [Prof. J. W. Foster,in N. Y. Tribune,Jan. 11.]

The Cincinnati and Terre-Haute Railroad, now constructing, is about to cross this block coal zone along a line where it attains its greatest width, and where the peculiar stiim exhibits its greatest thickness. Tnis zone is not less than ten miles broad. The coal seam rungos from lour to five feet, and in some places exceeds even five and one-half feet in thickness. Chemically it is as rich in fixed carbon and gives as white an ash as the best Brazil coal. 1 append a single essay (Oberhaltzer's mine): Water 0.80 fixed carbon, 01.30 volatile matter 34.20 ash, quite white and light, 5.05. The seam is slid to be six feet thick, five of which were exposed at the time of my visit. Ii bus a sulphur band in the middle which is easily separable. The territory underlaid by the block coal immediately adjacent to the railroad, or which can be reached by short lateral branches, comprises a little more than three town-, ships, situate*! in the southern part ofClav eounty and the western part of Owen. Admitting that one third of area originally occupied by this seam has been swept away by drift agency, there remain nearly 50,000 acres of lour feet coal'capable of yielding about 0,000 tuns to the acre,or an aggregate of 300,000.000 tuns. But it Will Only Contribute Wealth

To Terre-Haute. [Extract from same letter.]

The construction of the Cincinnati (t Terre-Ilaute Railroad must iead to the rapid dvelopment of this region, both in the erection of furnaces, rolling mills, founderies, Ac., for the local consumption of these peculiar coals and in the opening of numerous collieries for the supply of distant and markets. This region has superior advantages over Brazil as a dense manufacturing center, in an unfailing supply of water furnishid by Eel river. That Rrazil is deficient in this respect, and that no method has yet been devised to remedy this deficiency, are facts notorious to every one conversant with her industrv. Terre-Ilaute, as I have shown in a "form u- letter, combines in an emi nent degree all the rquisites for a manufacturing site and if even another Brazil is destined to spring up oq_ the banks of Eel river, it will be no detriment to her trade. Terrr-ltanle The Prospective Iron 31 mi II lac II rug Centre ol the We*t. [Prof. J. W. Foster,In Jf. Y. Tribuue

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Now, if we consult a map on which are indicated the ore deposits and the deposits of fossil fuel, as well as the several routes of transportation, both natural and artificial, we shall find that bringing the iron ores and the coal together, lor tho manufacture of iron,can be effected more cheaply within the outline of the block coal region of Indiana than at any other point.

And, first, as to the distribution of tbe Lake Superior ores. I will take for example, Pittsburgh and Terre-Haute as connecting points. Adopting Escanaba, on the Northern shore of Like Michigan, as the common point of departure tor these ores, there is a lake voyage of 585 miles to Cleveland, which involves two voyages, one from Lake Huron to Like St. Clair, and the other from tbe latter point to Lake Erie, and costing ordinarily $3 per tun. To convey these ores to Pittsburg involves a railroad transportation of 150 miles, at a cost of $2, together with a transfer and dockage charge of 23 cts., making the charge 16.26. From Eacanaba to Chicago is 275 miles and a vessel may lay a straight course. Mr. W. B. Ogden, one of the most practical and sagacious business tnen of the northwest, who conveys his lumber from Peshtigo to Chicago' in barges built ship-shape and calculated to resist heavy teas, maintains that in this way tbe iron ores can be transported at a cent and one third per tuu per mile and tbejcost of transfer tbe same as at Cleveland, these ores ought to be delivered at TerreHaute, 180 miles from Chicago, at $3.65 a tun, «r a difference on the whole route as compared with Pittsburg, ot $1.60 a tun. Now, in a furnace turning out 25 tuns of pig metal a day, requiring 33.76 tuns of ore, this difference in tbe cost Would amount to nearly f"j0,000per annum—a very pretty dividend. If it be said that Terre-Haute is 1(1 miles from the coal, on the other hind it may

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be snid that Pittsburg is 60 miles from the coke. I now come to the distribution of the Iron Mountain ores again, taking

Under certain favorable circumstances, where Pittsburgh operators send their barges laden with coal to St. Louis and bring back ore, the transportation has boen effected at at $3 a tun. It involves a voyage of not less than 1,200 miles, and can be performed only during the sprine and fall fr shets of the Onio River. The same ores can be brought into union with the block coals of Southern Indiana by a water communication 700 miles in less extent. It should be borne iu mind, too, that there is a market on the western slope of the Mississippi valley for all the iron and steel that can bo produced in the coal fields as Indiana, and she is nearly 500 miles nearer the market than Pittsburgh. With the best crude materials at command, the ironmaster of Indiana, exercising a reasonable skill, ought to be able to defy competition.

British Iron Ores Failing. Indiana Ihe heat of Iron and .Steel .Manilla ft lire. [Prof. Foster In the Tribune. Jauuary 22.]

Every geological obsorver who investigates the distribution of the coals and iron ores oi our country, and the facilities which exist for bringing them together, must, I think, arrive at tho conclusion that before the lapse of another generation, the United States will be the great iron and steel-producing country of the world.

Great Britain is now at the head of Ihe iron interest, having some 000 furnaces which annually consume upward ot 11.500,000 tuns of ore, and bring but a product in pig metal of 5,500,000 tuns valued at over £13,500.00 sterling. This production is only about 2% that of the United States and in going back a single decade, we find that in Great Britain the rate of increase had been only about 44 per cent., while in the United States the rate has been at least 120 per rent. There are causes in operation which will preventany rapid expansion of the iron industry in the one country while in the other the great sources ot that industry are comparatively untouched. Among these causes may be mentioned the limited supply of good ores in Great Britain, the necessity which arises each year of sinking deeper lor tho fuel to smelt them, and, consequently, the increased expense ol raising it to-day. It is to tho former (•onsideration 1 shall direct attention.

Indianapolis Alarmed. U-Ui [From the Indianapolis Journal. The time has cotno whfn Indianapolis must wake up or be outstripped in the much of improvement by other localities. Professor Foster's letters to the New York Tribune are awakening the interest of capitalists nil over the world, and will bring millions of capital to this State in connection with the favorable reports upon our mineral wealth from Professor Sterly Hunt and others and our own able State Geologist. The English Committee which visited our State reported that Bessemer steel could be made in Indiana better and cheaper than elsewhere in this country. Professor Foster goes further, and says that Terre-Haute is the point where this work can be done cheapest, because fuel is cheapest at that point.

Considering all things, Professor Foster gives his judgment that "TerreIlaute and thai neighborhood" is now the best place on the Continent tomanfacture iron and steel. [From the Indianapolis Journal, Feb. 12.]

If anything were needed to impress our citizens with the neoessityof building a short road to tho coal fields, it is to view the project from tho Terre Haute standpoint. Wo may talk boldly, but there is l.o gitting around the tact that Terre Haute oilers superior attractions to capitalists. Her railroad facilities are good, and she can furnish coal

for

manufacturing purposes at leaat

twenty per ent cheaper than we can at present.—Now the only way to counteract these advantages is to build a road which will secure like facilities to Indianapolis. In doing this it will lie well to emulate the unanimity of feeling which makes the great strength of neighbor's position. She has less wealth than we have, but her capitalists are thoroughly identified with her interests.—They are filled and slopping over with city pride, and have the wildest faith in her future. They promise themselves a population of one hundred thousand souls in less than twenty vears, and they engage that the population shall be largely manufacturing in its character. Her capitalists are even now in correspondence with manufacturers abroad, and within a few days arrangements have been made to build a larsre rolling mill. Th« stock was sulmcribed on sight, and a few prominent citizens are ready to advance more capital if necessary. lull none* of Prof. Foster'* Lftteri. [From the Indianapolis Journal.]

Professor Foster is a scientific man of eminence, a careful observer, an impartial man, and his words will have weight and influence among the capitalists of the world. The New York Tribune being a protective tariff paper, baa a larger circulation among capitalists engaged in the manufacture qj steel and iron than any other leading journal of the country, aud it is absolutely certain that one effect of the publication of the facts contained in Professor Foster's letter will be to induce a large influx of manufacturing capital to our Hiate.

SCKSSin railway carriage: Commercial Gent (to swell who was smoking a fragrant Ilivana): "Would you oblige me, sir, by changing into another carriage or putting your cigar out pre Ufm.r* Swell (nonchalantly): "O^ certainly." (Throws his cigar ont oi the window.) Commercial Gent {complacently producing and filling his meerschaum): •'Sorry to trouble yon, but I never can enjoy my pipe when there's bad weed a-gbin!—{Punch.

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burgh and Terre-Haute as the connecting points, and St. Louisas the point ol departure. To Torre-Haute by tail, tbe distance is one hundred and sixty-five miles to Pittsburgh, six hundred and thirty-five miles. Estimating the transportation at a cent and one-third per tun per mile, the cost ot delivering a tun of of ore at Terre-Haute would be §2.20, which the ironmaster can afford to pay and to Pittsburgh, $8.40, which the ironmaster cannot afford to pay.

Price Five Cents.

A FRONTIER HORROR. A terrible result of the passion for drink is given by the La Crosse (Wis.), Republican, which must fill tbe reader with horror and pity—horror at the dreadful fate of the poor unfortunate« victims, and pity for the stings of remorse which must goad the father and husband:

A few years ago a man was living with his'young wife in Mankato, Minn. He was intelligent and successful in business, until the passion for drink enslaved him, and his business and reputation were both wrecked by its satanic influence. He was forced to seek anew home for his littl* family, and his wife, bred to luxury,accompan- -a ied him to the frontier in the hope that b. the removal from temptation would free him from the grip of the habit which cursed him. Here they lived for several vears, his abstinence from drink being broken only by an infre-: quent and occasional dobauch when he visited some of the nearest towns. Early in December he told his wife that business compelled him to go to and that he would le absent several days. She, about to become a mother again, with three helpless children: and a scanty supply of wood, fearing that the insatiate clamor of appetite was the motive which drew him away, entreated him to stay, but in vain. He left Soon after, one of those severe storms of December—doubly severe on the unsheltered prairie—oamo on. Before its close she was ontirely destitute of wood, and the terrible alternative was presented to her of possibly freezing to death with her little ones or seeking assistance from the nearest neighbor, over three miles distant. She courageously ehoso the latter, and leaving her three shivering little ones with nothing but a mother's yearning love and prayerful blessing, she started out to seek relief. Tho next dav sho was found, half buried in the snow, dead, a new born infant at her side. The three children were found dead in the house. This, while the once fond husband and protecting father was away reveling in the delirium or dozing in tho stupor of drink. No words can add to tho horror of this tale, but beside tho unspeakable agony of that dying wife and mother, how trivial our common losses, gritl's and sorrows seem!

COURTING IN SJliKIt/A.*" When oncetheyonng beau among tho Koraks becomes infatuated, he makes known his passion to the father of his "affinity," and expresses his desiro to stiive for her hand. A kind of contract I is imnt 'diat'dy entered into, l\v which the young man binds himself to the A lath'-r as a servant, for a term ol years, it the expiration of which time he can have ploiisure of learning whether tho daughter will have him or not. In this manner, it the father be the happy possessorof a beautiful daughter, ho may have half a dozen men ready to do Ills bidding at one'time. When the term a ol servitude expires, one of tho larger youths is selected, and all tho old women of the place, armed with sticks and pieces of seal-thongs, are stationed in the pologs suspended around the room. The daughter then appears, thickly clad inskin garments, followed by her lover, when a raco onsues around the enclosure, tho contestants dodging about among the pologs. To win his bride, he must overtake her, and leave the print of his nail upon her person before she can be rescued by the old women, who, during tbe raco impede the lover as much as possible by beating him with sticks and tripping him by seizing his legs as he rush-. os by them.

The advantage is all with the girl, and if sho does not wish to become the wite of her pursuer, she can avoid him without difficulty. On tho contrary, if she likes hiin, she manages to stumble, or makes known her wishes to the old women, who then only make show of impeding her pursuer. Soinotiines tho lover is so desperately smitten, that just after being foiled, he returns to the father, and binds himself for another period of years for the privilege of making another trial.

DKPBXOINU

CIIU:UMSTAN(

K«.—One

of our clergymen relates a story ofi some eccentric genius, residing if we mistake not, in Winthrop, years ago, who, though blunt and odd enough in his ways, had a big heart beating in bis bosom, full of sympathy and benevolence. "Sam" for this was his name, thought very much of his mother, who & was a Universalist, and therefore in tho opinion of her pious neighbors, certainlv bound for a world of woe. Ho one clay accidentally got into an arguinent with a strict orthodox on the subject of the future endless punishment, during which he let fall some expression bv which his antagonist gathered the idea that he was qui to indifferent whether he was saved or not. "Why, Sam," ne exclaimed, "you want to go to heaven don't you." "Well," replied Sain, composedly, "that depends on circumstances!"

Circumstances," repeated hisantagonist, In astonishment. "What circumstances can weigh with you where your eternal happiness is concerned?"

I'll tell ye," answered Ham, in the same cool toon "you say you're pretty sartin to go there and if so I ain't

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articular. And then, you folks round think mother's going to hell, and I calculate to go where she does for: my 'eternal happiness,' which you talk about' depends on being with her. Them's the circumstances, and I reckon I shall bang to 'em."

TttAVKM.iito in New England just now, one is struck with tho great increase in tbe honor and reverences which Yankees of late years have paid to Christmas. Once Christmas was well-nigb banished from the Puritan, states Ft hardly dared to write itself MnIs tbe almanac as one of the days of the year it was associated in the minds off our pious forefathers with popish mummery but now it enters into tbe Christian homes of New England and? festoons them with garlands of ever-^: green, with hollv from the woods, and with Milton's "fvy never sere." These^ adornments still hang unfaded nor will tbe long and bleak month of January wither them entirely away.. Christmas la not a dsy but a month.—p iObklen Age.