A prominent capitalist of Clifton, Tennessee] The only iron furnaces operated at present in this county are two at Allen’s Creek, a point on a branch of the N., C. & St. L. Ry., about thirty miles from Clifton. They are operated by the Bon Air Coal & Iron Company, and have a daily output of about ninety tons each. In the earlier days of its history, however, many charcoal furnaces were scattered throughout the county. In those days no iron ranked higher than the Brownsport pig. Because of its remarkable tensile strength it was listed several dollars higher than other pig. Take an ordinary pig and strike it a sharp blow with a heavy hammer, and it will snap like glass. A bar of the Brownsport pig would bend in the shape of a crescent before it would break. The mineral field has long been regarded as among the best in the South. The ore occurs in banks and pockets. At several places the banks have developed a thickness of 110 feet. The material associated with the ore is a red clay. It constitutes by weight one-third of the mass, leaving two-thirds ore. These ores are the brown hematite. The analysis is not variable, as in many sections of the country, rarely running below 45 or above 55 per cent metallic iron. The percentage of this ore runs higher and it is capable of being much more easily and cheaply handled than the deposits in the famous Birmingham district. One lump of brown hematite iron ore measuring sixty tons has been taken from the Wayne County ore field. The average analysis of this lump was 57 per cent metallic iron and less than 1 per cent phosphorus. [Illustration: BEECH RIVER PHOSPHATE PROPERTY] Allen’s Creek, a town of 1,500 inhabitants, deserves special mention here because of the fact that the furnaces and iron mines of the Bon Air Coal & Iron Company are located there. This company operates two furnaces at Allen’s Creek, and mine both iron ore and limestone. The concern also manufactures a very high and superior grade of silicon iron, which is used all over the United States as a softener by foundries and machine shops, and for all purposes where a fluid iron is required. Extensive plants have been constructed for washing the ore and preparing it for the furnaces. Probably the largest deposits of brown ore to be found in the South are near Allen’s Creek and are the property of the Bon Air Company. At one point as much as 100,000 tons of the ore is known to have been taken from one acre of land. The management of the plant at Allen’s Creek is in the hands of Mr. G. W. Bragg, a very worthy and capable man, who appears to have the interest of the company at heart at all times. The capacity of the furnaces is 200 tons of pig iron per day.