Cowan, 1852-1860 – Part I

(By Jim and Jenny Lou Brock, published in the January 23, 1975 issue of the Cowan Bell.)

This reproduction of a map of Cowan is recorded in the office of the Registrar of Deeds at Franklin County Court House in Winchester, and though there is no date on the document, it is filled with deeds of March 31, 1858.  Mr. Kenneth Myers has in his possession a similar map of Cowan which has the registration date of June 3, 1858, and is signed by Adam Hancock, Regr.

There was an earlier survey and plat of Cowan pre-dating this 1858 map by several years, as we found references to this first plan of the “Town of Cowan” in old deeds.  Though we have been unable to find a copy of the first plat, we do know that the survey was made by a James C. Beebe.  The first survey of the Town of Cowan was probably made in 1852 when fifteen men deeded to the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad Company eight acres of land on which the railroad had already deeded a depot.  (See Cowan Bell issues, No. 16 and 17, Vol. I). The entire area, which was surveyed and laid off into numbered lots, was known as “Cowan Depot”, the word “Depot” being dropped in the latter part of the 1850’s.

The ownership of this property changed during the decade of the 1850’s.  In 1851, fifteen men held shares.  During this decade some these men died, shares were sold, and by 1860 ownership was vested in five men, four of whom were among the original fifteen.  During this period of time, in addition to the eight acres of land given to the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad Company, six acres were deeded to the Sewanee Mining Company, at no cost, for the construction of this company’s smelting works, and one acre was given to Charles Crisman on which he was to build a saw mill.

Part II of this article will deal with the Sewanee Mining Company and will appear in the next issue of THE COWAN BELL.  (J.L.B. & J.R.B.)

Explanation of property and buildings shown on Map of Cowan – 1858 and some of the first purchases of property in the Town of Cowan:

The following are some of the men who acquired lots or land in Cowan during the decade of the 1850’s: James A. England, T.J. Almond, J.C. Beebe, M.W. Wetmore, Leslie Kenidy, Anderson P. Vaughan and John Bray.  (J.L.B. & J.R.B.)

Cowan, 1852-1899 – Part II

(By Jim and Jenny Lou Brock, published in the February 6, 1975 issue of the Cowan Bell.)

THE SEWANEE MINING COMPANY

The development of industry in Cowan had its beginnings in the 1840’s when coal was discovered on Cumberland Mountain.  A preliminary survey of the proposed route of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad also contained a survey of the coal lands of the Cumberland Plateau.  Thousands of acres of lands were acquired in the mountain by speculators.  In 1852, businessmen, who had backed the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, incorporated the Sewanee Mining Company and opened the mines in the Sewanee area.  The Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad Company had completed its road bed and track through Cowan, but this mining company still had to construct its privately owned railroad from the N & C line at the base of the tunnel to the mines on Sewanee Mountain.  It was not until the summer of 1855 that this nine mile branch line was completed.  It was in March of this same year that four men donated land to this company six acres of land in Cowan for the erection of “building for the purpose and use of smelting works or machine shops and other buildings.”  (See Cowan Bell issue #2, Vol. II, page 6.)

In 1857 another important development occurred.  The Sewanee Mining Company donated to the Episcopal Church ten thousand acres of mountain land on which a university was to be built.  Industry and education had joined forces.  The hope for the expansion of Cowan into a major industrial site was not to be, but the dreams for an educational institution of first rank, The University of the South, were to endure.

During this period of time the mines on Sewanee Mountain proved to be inadequate and major mining operations were moved to the Tracy City area.  This company operated as Sewanee Mining Company until 1860.  It was then reorganized under a new charter and became the Tennessee Coal and Railroad Company.

The first industrial venture in our area grew and prospered during the latter half of the 1800’s.  The Tennessee Coal and Railroad Company was rechartered in 1881 as the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company.  In this same year a group of local company personnel built the Sewanee Furnace Company.  It operated for three months and then sold out to Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company which marketed coal, coke and pig iron.  It operated as three units: Tracy City, Cowan, and South Pittsburg.  The decline of this industry in our area began when this company opened operations in the Birmingham, Alabama area in 1886.  The Cowan plant was closed in 1899, the Tracy City operations in 1903, and the South Pittsburg plant in 1904.  In 1907 the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company was absorbed by today’s giant of American industry, United States Steel Corporation.

(Much of the above historical information is found in the recently published book, “Sequatchie, A Story of the Southern Cumberlands” by J. Leonard Raulston and James W. Livingston, 1974 – University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and is recommended as a delightful reading experience.)

Cowan, 1852-1860 – Part III

(By Jim and Jenny Lou Brock, published in the February 20, 1975 issue of the Cowan Bell.)

THE SEWANEE MINING COMPANY

The map on the adjoining page is reproduced in part from a Map of Sewanee Mining Company’s Railroads and Coal Lands and was drawn in the latter part of the 1850’s.  Shown on the map, near Cumberland Mountain tunnel, is the location of the company’s turntable and tracks, which were probably built in 1855 at the same time the spur railroad line up the mountain to the coal mines was completed.  This map also shows a number of buildings in Cowan which are not found on the “Map of Cowan, 1858” and which appeared in the Jan. 23rd issue of the Cowan Bell.

In 1858 the Sewanee Mining Company proposed to build a second turntable and leased for a period of twenty years and the sum of one dollar all the grounds belonging to the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad Company lying southwest of their road track, side tracks and switch at the Cowan Depot.  The land was to be used for switches, turntables and engine house or any other railroad purpose, including houses for their employees.  They were to have the right to make embankments as needed for their switches and other improvements, to level the grounds and to deposit the residue along the trestle-work at Cowan.

The railroad company granted the right of passage for the mining company’s engines and cars over the N & C line from the “mining company’s switch at the Cumberland tunnel to the said mining company’s proposed switch at Cowan…”  Their trains were to run by a fixed schedule which was not to conflict with the time of the N & C trains and were “not to be on said Rail Road track at any other time.”  The railroad reserved the right to make changes of schedule at will.  Each company was to furnish the other with a schedule of the running of trains.

Though a depot had been erected in 1852 and trains had been operating between Nashville and Chattanooga since February of 1854, the railroad had constructed no turntable for its own use.  The final paragraph of the lease agreements states: “The said Railroad Company is to have the use of said Mining Company’s Turntable and switch at Cowan Depot when not required for immediate use by the said Mining Company.”  The agreement is signed by V.K. Stevenson, Pres., Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad Co. and Samuel F. Tracy, Pres., Sewanee Mining Company.  (J.L.B. & J.R.B.)

*This is a corrected version of the original article with minor changes made to the quotations in the 3rd paragraph.  These corrections are posted in the March 6, 1975 Vol. II No. 5 issue of The Cowan Bell.

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