During the many hours spent in railroad cars, these matters were thought over and planned separately as necessity required. A rough sketch was made, dimensions given, and location designated; this data was placed in the hands of capable men to carry out. In my young Architect and Civil Engineer, C. Shaler Smith, recommended by the proprietors of the Richmond Tredegar Iron Works, I at once recognised genius of a high order, and placed in his hands my rough sketches of buildings to elaborate and give architectural finish. All know with what result, the fine taste exhibited in the massive and beautiful structures which ornamented the banks of the Augusta Canal, for two miles, bore witness of his success. Good fortune also brought to my notice, by a casual encounter with General Pendleton, Chief of Artillery at Richmond, a skilled machinist, who had served his time at the Tredegar Works, and was then a Sergeant in the Confederate army. He, William Pendleton, was applied for, and in his acquisition, was gained a man of capability and integrity, into whose hands could be confidently placed the erection of all the extensive machinery then in process of construction. The responsible duties of Superintendent of the Works were also committed to his charge. The Tredegar Iron and Machine Works, at Richmond, were the only ones throughout the South, having adequate capabilities for the construction of the heavy and extensive machinery required in the projected Confederate Powder Works. They were only partially available for the purpose, however, as the demands made upon them for heavy artillery, and for all kinds of urgent work required by the Government, absorbed their resources, nevertheless, I was compelled to call upon them for most of the twelve circular iron beds, and twenty-four ponderous five ton iron rollers, with other work required for the incorporating Mills, which, together, weighed 240 tons; two of the rollers were made in Macon and two in Chattanooga. The immense iron shaft, nearly three hundred feet long, varying from twelve inches in diameter at the central portions, to ten inches and eight inches, toward the extremities, was cast and completed in sections, mainly, at the Webster Foundry and Machine Works at the latter city; here, also, were made the twelve heavy spur wheels, and twelve powerful friction arrangements to start and stop gradually each set of rollers separately, as the main shaft, working in the extensive subterranean archway, which extended below the line of mills, continued its incessant revolutions. The great gear-wheel, sixteen feet in diameter, attached to the centre of this shaft, giving it motion, with its corresponding massive pinion on the engine shaft, were cast and accurately finished at Atlanta.