Class. Boole r-.^.-., ^ ']\ Goffiiigto^J"- COPaUGKT DEPOSIC ^^^^^^^ e Birmi9(§t?am * « * « -^ »-t>>.!>f-<> >- -HERE W^E REST.' -1 » : a <(g^--*— « «• * * JeJ^l^ersoi^ (ou9ty .AND,, BiRniNSHAn ALABAPvlA j^istorieal a^d Bioi^rapl^ieal •^ilBBT-i^ ^\n:^^ feepFe -^ ^mltfij DuBflxiifter/- ii I'lilNllN'. \\.i|;k- t;il:\IINi.ll \\i vI i "^ — o-Ji*@r— ,-- + fOPYRUlHTEl). By F. W. Teepk" and A. Davis Smith 1887. The attitude of Jefferson County toward American manufacturing has ;suddenly assumed a determining influence. Its wonderful resources, and their possibilities, even now command general recognition in that division •of the world's manufacturing industry wherein wages are highest, labor -most dignified, and profits most certain. The execution of the plan of this volume required record to be made ■of a circumstantial variety of conditions which, initiating in Jefferson ■County, have laid the foundations of a wonderful industrial transformation perva>^..ig the entire State, and sensibly felt far beyond the bounda- ries of Alabama. The several features of the history these pages attempt are: A technical treatise, made popular, regarding the proof of the mineral wealth of the county ; the success of rail transportation in giving ■commercial value to the products of mines and manufactures ; the indus- trial, financial, and social character of the population. The essay of Professor Henry McCalley is a most satisfying explana- tion of the incalculable natural resources confined in this county. The enterprise brought to bear upon them is fully discovered in the history of the great land corporations and the manufactories. The elevated char- acter of the community may be traced in the political and municipal Preface. government ; in tlie schools and churches ; the press ; pohtical, industrial, and religious, and social organizations so numerous and zealous. The biographical feature is replete with historical data of no common interest. Each separate sketch was obtained by special request of the publishers. A glance over the whole number will prove that Jefferson County development and the foundation and growth of Birmingham are the proud achievements, first, of Alabamians, and of Southern men next. No very rich individual came here as a pioneer. Very few individuals approached in fortune the designation of "rich men" among those who have given fame to the wealth of Jefferson County. All the leaders are recorded as of an active religious faith. The steel engravings are of the best style known to the art, and in ever)' instance were made expressly for the places they here fill. The volume is a Birmingham product. It was wholly prepared and put to press in this city, and the publishers, sharing the pride which doubtless all public-spirited citizens must feel in its successful appearance, intend it to be the forerunner of others whose office it shall be to proclaim and promote the fame and prosperity so honorably erected here. The Publishers. Birmingham, April, 1887. INDEX. PAGE Adams Private Bank I'lil Alabama Xational Bank. The LTi:! Al.lrich, T. H I'S Alum 42 Anderson, F. Y ]l!0 Anticlinal Valley 25 Appalachian is, 20, 25 Banks of Birmingham 246 Bar, Roll of 93 Bar, Members of 56 Barker, M. P 151 Baylor, W. K 84, S5 Beard, Rev. T. J 218 Bench and Bar 77 Berney National Bank, The 257 Birmingham, Situation of 54 Birmingham National Bank, The . . 261 Brown Ore, Analy.sis of 49 Brown, Rev. Hardie 236 Brown, John S5 Browne, Very Rev. J. J 211 Bugbee, Francis S6 Cahaba Coal Field- Area of 36 Analysis of 39 Capacity of 38 Dip of 39 General Character of 37 !Montevallo Group 38 Transportatiofi of 39 Canals and Railroads, Early 54 Caldwell, Dr. H, M .... 1.55, 1 71 Cantly, John 62 Chazy Rock 44 Churches, The 208, 245 First Baptist. 226 Colored Baptist 242 The Advent 212 St. Paul's Catholic 208 The Christian 240 Churches — Continued. Congregation Emanuel . 242 First Methodist E., South 235 St. John's Methodist E., South. . 237 Second Methodist E., South 240 North Methodist E 239 Colored M^hodist. .». 245 First Presbyterian 220 Second Presbyterian 224 Cumberland Presbyterian 226 Clay — Fire, Iron, Stone 41 Climate 18 Clinton Group 44, 45 City Bank, The 250 City Government 189, 195 Coal Fields 20 Coal Measures. . . . , 18, 20 Coal INIines, Early. 61 Coal and Ore Mines 594 Coal, Analysis of 34, 35 Coal, Quality and Quantity of 20 Coal, Primitive Mining 48 Coalburg 144 Coke, Production and Analysis. . . .33, 34 Copperas 42 Corporations, Miscellaneous — Alabama Real Estate and Loan. 271 North Highlands 271 North Birmingham Building . . . 271 Alabama Co-operative 272 Birmingham Corrugating 272 Birmingham Investment 273 Rogers Printing 273 Ullman Hardware 273 Watts Coal and Iron 273 Birmingham Paint, Glass and "Wall Paper 274 Land and Investment 274 Alabama A.sphalt, Alining, etc. . 274 Three Rivers Ciial and Iron 275 First National Coal and Iron.. . . 275 Index. Corporations — Continued. Peacock Coal, Iron, and Improve- ment 275 Nortli Alabama Colored Land . . 275 Birmingham Abstract 27(5 Birmingham Construction 276 People's Homestead, Building, and Loan 276 Central Trust 277 Co-operative Manufacturing and Building 2(7 Industrial Protective 277 Birmingham Land and Loan 277 Birmiugham Real Estate and Investment 278 Colored Mutual Investment 278 Birmingham Land, Tanning, and Manufacturing 287 Alabama Wagon and Carriage . . 287 Kreble Engine Manufacturing.. 290 Birmingham Iron Bridge and Forge 290 Birmingham Furnace and ^Man- ufacturing 290 Red Mountain Mining and Man- ufacturing 290 Crops, Field 21 County Officers 56, 73, 74, 75, 76 Courthouse 55 Cullinan, Colony of John G 135 Cox, G. S ". 91 Davis, Dr. Ralph 109 Da^•is, Dr. Daniel 98 Deason, G. T 109 DeBardeleben, H. F 187 Douglass, Howard 28 Drainage 21 Earle, Dr. Samuel 8 98 Edwards, Dr. J. S 100 Elyton Land Company 148, 184 Ensley, Enoch 590 Ernest, William S 91, 124 Exchange, Cotton and Produce 295 Farmers, Early 59 Farm Products 128 Farrar, T. W 86 Faults 19 First National Bank, The 250 First Settlers 54, 60, 61 Flatwoods 4a Forests 21 Forrest, J. F 87 Fossils 23 Furnace, First 63 Furnaces — Ahce 592 Eureka .591 Mary Pratt 593 Williamson 593 Woodward 591 Projected 594 Garland, Dr 125 Geological History 18 Grace, B. E 66 Green, Colonel 61 Hagood, Dr. Zachariah 100 Handley, Rev. L. S 222 Hawkins, Dr. Nathaniel 109 Hay, Dr. Jones 103 Hazlehurst, G. H 141 Henley, R. H 91, 187 Hewitt, Captain 61 Hewitt, G. W 88- Hillman, T. T 580 Hotels 309- Hubbard, David 120 Indians 54, 57, 5& Iron Stone 41 Iron Ores, Area of 48, 49 Iron Ores, Analysis of 45, 46, 47 Iron Ores, Black Band 41 Industries 18 Insurance Companies — Birmingham ; Iron and Oak ; Royal • 274 Jefferson County Early History of 5S General Description of 17 Jonesboro 58 Jolly, J. J 92 Judges — Chancery 84 Circuit 80 City Court 83 Index. Judges — C'ontiuued. Criminal 322 Probate 85 Kent, Dr. J. E 109 Keller, Dr. James 97 Kelley, Moses 8.5 King, Dr. Peyton . . 97 Knox Dolomite 44, 47 Knox Shale 48 Land Companies, Suljurban — Avondale 261 Smithfield 262 North Birmingham 262 East Lake 264 East Birmingham 265 Birmingham — Ensley 265 Glendale ." 266 Belt Road 266 Mutual .266 Walker . . 267 South Side 267 Village Creek 267 East End 268 Ensley 268 Cahaba Valle}- 269 East End Land and Improve- ment . . 269 Clifton 269 College Hill 270 Bessemer 270 Bradfield 271 Highland Lake 271 Central .... . . 271 Land Grants 127 Latitude 20 Legislators 72, 73 Lindsay, W. W . . . . .... 87 Linn, Charles 248 Little Basin 24, 25 Longitude 20 Lower Silurian 45 Mails, Early 56 Manufactories 279, 291 Church's Machinery and Fine Tool " 279 Southern Bridge. .. . 279 Birmingham Agricultural Iniijle- ment 279 Birmingham Iron 'Works 2S0 •Manufactories — Continued. Wharton Flouring Mills 280 Avondale Ice Factory 280 Birmingham Ice Factory 280 Jefferson Pressed Brick . . 280 Birmingham Bridge and Bolt. . . 280 ■ Smitli's Sons Gin and Machine.. 281 Alabama Iron Works .... 281 Southern Foundry and Manufac- turing 282 Baxter Stove 282 Brewer's Sash, Door, and Blind Factory 282 Avondale Iron 285 Excelsior Foundry and INIachine 28.> Avondale Stove 285 Birmingham Chain 286 Birmingham Axe and Tool 286 Thompson Brick 286 Avondale Lumber and Milling.. 286 Alabama Gas, Fuel, and Manu- facturing 287 Birmingham Soaj) 287 Enterprise Manufacturing Com- pany 290 Caldwell Printing Works 291 Mineral Water Manufacturing. . 291 McCalla, R. C 142 ]\IcCaa, Eugene 91 Marre, A 153 Marshall, Dr. F. M 108 Martin, Alburto 88 Medical Profession 97 INIedical Society 109 ^lerchants. Early . . 55 Milner, John T.." 138 Milner, Willis J 174 Millstone, Grit 25, 26 Miners, Nationality of 40 Mineral Interests, Early 63 Milner's Report 132 Moore, W. W 91 Moore, Gov. A. B 131 Morris, Josiah.. 162 Morrow, J. C 88 Mudd, W. S 88 Mussel Shoals 121, 13.S National Bank, The ... 249 Natural Divisions 22 New Castle - - 144 Index. Pearson, R. H ill Peck, E. W 62, S6, S7 Pennsylvania Coal, Quantity of . . . . 28 Peters, Thomas 145 Phelan, Ellis 98 Physical Features 26 Physicians 56, 117 Pierce, Rev. J. D 238 Pioneer Iron-Makers 580 Places of Amusement 309 Plateau and Basin Area 24 Population 18 Porter, M. T 86, 88 Powell, James K 165 Production 22 Press, The 196, 207 Jones' Valley Times 196 Central Alabamian 196 Elyton Herald 196 Birmingham Sun 197 Jefferson Independent 197 Daily Sun 197 Iron Age 197 Chronicle 199 Alabama Christian Advocate 200 Kew South 200 Labor Union 201 Planters' Journal 202 Land and Rail 203 Furnace and Factory 203 Alabama Jledioal and Surgical Journal . . 203 Evening News 204 Purser, Hev. D.I 231 Railroads 18 Railroads, Building 120 Railroads, Convention to Promote.. 123 Railroad, Queen & Crescent 129 Riiilroad, Alabama Central 130 Eailroads, Later 595 Rainfall 20 Kandolph, Nimrod D . . 103 Eaw Material 17 lied Mountain 45 Rolling Mills 594 Eock Mountain 24, 25 Rodes, Gen. R. E 126 Kobiuson, Dr. J. B 100 Saltpetre 42 Savings Bank, Jefferson County 254 Schools, Public 245 Section, General 29. 30, 31, 32, 44 Sequatchee Valley . . 25 Sherrod, Benjamin 121 Silurian Rocks 45 Sloss, J. W 185 Sloss Steel and Iron Co 593 Smith, Dr. J. R 103 Societies, Secret and Social Knights of Pythias 301 Cyrene Commandery 301 Birmingham Fraternal Lodge, F. & A. M . 302 Birmingham Encampment, I. O. O.F 302 JMiueral City Lodge 302 Knights of Honor 303 Evening Star Lodge Knights and Ladies of Honor 303 L'nited Charities 303 Young iSIen's Christian Associa- tion 304 Press Club 305 Women's Christian Temiierauce Union 306 Yard-Masters' IMutual Benefit Association 306 Order Railway Conductors 307 -Alabama Club 307 German Society 308 G. A. R. George A. Custer Post.. 308 Knights of Labor 308 Brotherhood of Locomotive En- gineers 576 Soils 21 Stones 41 Strata, Dip of 24 Strata, Sub-Carboniferous 33 Temperature 20 Three-per-cent. Fund 64 Timber 42 Topography 20 Towns and Villages 595 Tuomey, Michael 42, 123 Transportation, City 296, 301 Trenton Rocks 44 Troy, Daniel S 179 hidex. Upheavals : Upper Silurian . . . . Valleys Valley, Anticlinal. Vann, Dr. J. B.... Vegetable Matter.. Volunteers, Early. I'.t 4l.> 109 Walker, Peter S,5 Walker, Jr., W. A SS Walker, T. A SS "Warrior Coal Field 2;! Composition of .... '1\ Workable Seams of. ... Thickness of Value of Capacity of Complications of Warrior Coal Field — Ciintinueil. Clean Coal 33 Character of 33 Numlx'r of. . 27 How Used 36 How Mined 35 How Reached 3.5 Area of . . 25 Warrior River, Flcnv of 2t), 36 Water Divide 20 Waterworks 183 Webb, /. B 57 AVholesale Houses 292, 295 Wilson, W. L 85 Wilson, P. N 88 White Child, First Born 54 Younj;, H. A . 91 hidex to Portraits. INDEX TO PORTRAITS. Berry, Wm. E .:.. 501 ^ Berney, William 256 J Boddie, Jolm B 425 _, Boland, R. W 452 •Caldwell, H. M 171 -* Cameron, W. J 251 -^ Davin, Walter W 474 -Davis, J. D. S H6 .Davis, W. E. B 394 Eastman, E 429 ^ Grace, Baylis E 52 "Handley, Wm. A 437 ^ Hawkins, James E 347 - Hillman, T. T 581 " Hudgins, T. L 417 •Johns, L. W 560 - Jordan, M. H 106 Kelley, George C 283 Lane, A. O 78 -- Luckie, J. B 385 Martin, Alburto 89 -^ Milner, John T 137 JMilner, Willis J 175-'^ MfAdory, Chambers .509 ^ McCary, Clyde J . . 513' .\ Mudd," Wm". S 82^' Pearson, Robert H 330 "- Phillips, J. H 244 Porter, Mitchell T 319 , Purser, D. 1 230 ^ Read, John W 260' . Roberts, Willis 205 Roden, B. F 297 , Russell, James M ^ 367 j Smith, Joseph R 102 v Smith, R.D 433- Stevens, Jr. , E. G 455 ^ Tabor, B. H 360 Taliaferro, E. T 339 , Terry, John T 333 \ Thomson, John M 505 Underwood, W. T 448 , Walker, AVra. A 68 -^ Walker, Jr., AVm. A 326 .. AVestbrook, J. C 5ia Williamson, C. P 445- .. Index to Biographies. INDEX TO BIOGRAPHIES. Abernethy, B. G 399 Abernethy, J. C 398 Allen, B. M 376 Allen, James A 469 Allen, Henry 531 Altman, J.J ■ . ■ 363 Ashford, T. T 494 Ansley, W. W 549 Ball, Geo. C 461 Bains, G. W 492 Bankhead, J. H 442 Bass, J. W 555 Barelift, H. H 494 Barclift, L. M., Jr 494 Berney, Wm 419 Bethea, W. M 365 Beggs, H. T 477 Berry, W. E 500 Berry, R. A 401 Beitman, Joseph 467 Billups, J. M., Jr 416 Boddie, John B 424 Boggan, M. ]M 496 Boland, K. W 453 Bradley, R. C 405 Brewer, W. P 454 Bridges, E. L 461 Brooks, W. :^I 342 Brown, H. U 372 Brownlee, E. G 522 Buchanan, 3.\ 499 Burwell, O. S 539 Burwell T. 477 Burgin, W. M 406 Byrne, Patrick 459 Cameron, W. J 420 Campbell, E. K 375 Campbell, G. W 488 Carter, J. R 411 Chew.W.L 400 Cheek, Amos 498 Chenoweth, W. A 491 Clarke, H. 527 Clarkson, E. L 354 Cobbs, Thomas 317 Cobbs, J. B 421 Cochrane, H. P 397 Copeland, W. B 485 Copeland, H. J 525 Copeland, B. G 39{> Cowin, Tom 553 Cox, James A 401 Crawford, W. W 548 Crawford, Toombs 552 Crowe P. P 556 Cruikshank^G. M 412 Cunningham, R. M 573 Darby, S. J 373 Davis, Elias 380 Davis, Daniel 378 - Davis, J. D. S 391 Davis, W. E. B 395 Davin, Walter W 475 Davis & Worcester 467 Dawson, W. W 464 Dill, H. H 572 Dozier, J. C 388 DuBose, J. W 413 Earle, J. B 482 Earle, P. H 483 Eastman, E 428 Edmonds, E. N 416 ElHs, C. C 519 Emmons, S. W 479 Enslen, C. F ... 422 Enslen, E. F 422. Index to Biographies. Erswell, Edward 484 Eubank, Alfred o36 Eubank, George oliH Evans, F. V 4(17 Francis, C. H 4.S5 Francis, J. B 4!)1 Fulton, E. K :!(14 Fulwiler, R. W 550 Garrett, J. J 353 Gayle, J. P 5l>7 Gillespy, J. S 400 Gillespie, J. M 374 Gilmer, W. B 5l'6 Glailden, F. C ■ 552 Going, J. A 500 Greene, S. E 322 Green, N. T 5J8 Grace, D. B 414 Grady, J. F 4ii7 Gregg, M. ,J ;;75 Gould, William 556 Hagood, R. H 521 Handley, W. A 4;?5 Hanby, S. M 5^0 Hand, D. M 53,3 Hargreaves, H. W 570 Hawkins, J. E ;;46 Hawkins, A. X 49S Harding, W. P. G 547 Harris, G. H 57I Harris, G. W 497 Heflin, J. T 314 Henley, A. T liOl Henley, J. C 41S Hewett, G. W Sl>4 Hickman, W. P 402 Higgins, W. H 533 Higdon, E. L 478 Hochstadter, I. R 554 Hochstadter, A. F 408 Hopkins, .T. B 489 Hood, AVm 4S(5 Horton, W. M 5:57 Houston, W. A 5(i8 Huey, J. M 500 Hughes, B. M 388 Hughes, C. T 535 Hudgins, T. L 417 Hudson, M. G 528 Ingram, C. J. K.. . . Irion, F. M 508 405 .letters, Thomas 534 Jemison, Robert 427 Jemison, J. S 3()4 Johns, L. \V 5(il Johnston, W. H 389 Jones, J. C 574 Jones, E. R 4i)3 Jordan, M. H 381 Kelloy, George C 450 Kettig, W. H 47() Lacey, E. P .. . , Laird, S. E Lane, A. Ledbetter, J. A. . Ledbetter S. L.. Lighton, S. H . . . Linn, E. W Lindsay, W. M. . Long, J. C Lowe, R. J Luckie, J. B. . . . Lyons, T. B Lynch, J. E 558 493 330 . . 400 . . 459 . . 421 . . 480 . . 554 . 3G9 . . 384 . 423 . . 493 INIalone, W. N 472 Martin, J. M 349 Martin, Alburto 322 Marshal, J. B 533 Marable, D. T 551 Mercer, Harry 487 Merrill, C. A 537 Miles, G. G 512 IMcAdory, Chambers 508 McAdory, R. A 350 McCary, J. H 478 McCary, C. J 511 McCarthy, F. W 400 McClary, J. B 507 McCune, J .H 550 IMcEachin, A. B 370 McKinney, H. M 409 McLester, Joseph 400 Index to Biooi-aphies. VxV Moore, Moore <& Handley 4.S0 Moore, J. G ■"'70 Morehead, F. C 415 Morrow, J. C 315 Morrow, G. M 396 Mountjoy, C. A :!70 Mudd, W. S \'A\ Mudd, J. P 432 Nabers, \V. F ,. . . . 539 Naff, W. H '.. 499 Naff, J. M 575 Nicholson, Evan 541 O'Brien, Frank P 542 Oliver, Wm. G . 5'-'3 Olmstead, E. 1) 4S7 Owen, R. W 523 Fatty, H. M , 372 Peanson, R. IT 331 Peebles, J. PI 492 Perry, H. A\' 479 Ferryman & Dearborn 529 Phelan, John 540 Phillips, J. II 410 Porter, M. T 318 Porter, M. A 363 Porter, ^\ X 547 Price, Isaac 5G1 Read, John W 420 Reese, C. H 4()(! Rancher, C. i? 52() Richards, E. A . 523 Rogers, P. J 5G9 Roberts, Charles . . 416 Roden, B. F 441 Roden, J. B 483 Rowlett, Jr., Daniel 525 Russell, James M 366 Raps, George 553 Schillinger, Philip ^ 462 Schwab Jonas 496 Sears, J. W 387 Senn, Chas. A 305 Shackleford, J. D 496 Shahan, John 480 Sharpe, II. A 321 Shaw, Willis 476 Shepherd, CD 521 Sheppard, F. (J 5.33 Shideler, \V. L 465 Sidel, Edouanl 530 Sisson, ( '. W 458 Slade, C. E 548 Smith, Joseph R 378 Smith, D. D 369 Smith, T. S 489 Smith, H. D ... 519 Smith, P. R , 491 Smith, R. D 431 Smith, AV. C 516 Solomon &. Levi . . . . 554 Stevens, Jr., E. G 4,54 Stillman, J.JI.. . 516 Stiles, J. P :^77 Sterrett, R. H 351 Stone, Harry.. . 552 Strange, J. I) 373 Sutclirt'e, Armstrong & Willett 531 Tabor, B. H 361 Taliaferro, E. T 338 Tarrant, A.J 403 Terry, John T 332 Terry, Jr., John T 524 Thompson, T. G 490 Thompson, N. F . . 504 Thom.son, P. K 524 Thomson, John M 503 Thornton, T. F 497 Throckmorton, M. B .432 Tillman, J. P 3()1 Tomlinson, J. W . . 371 Torrey, Samuel 488 Truss, S. R ... 403 TjHer, A. A .544 Tvler, G. W .375 Underwood, \\'ni. T Underwood, O. W .. VanHoose, J. ]M . . . Vanlloose, J. A.... Yaughan, A\'m Veitch, John . 449 371 358 470 374 460 »vi Index to Biographies. W;Mle. A.C 533 Walker, Win. A .vSS Walker, Jr., Wm. A 3l'8 Walker, E. W ..527 AVard, W. C 3o.t Ward, G. R 543 Ware, J. A 529 Warren, Edward 507 Watkins, J. L 412 Watlington, H. L 37{) Weatherly, James 362 Webb, James E 357 AVeil, M. & Bro 497 Westbrook, J. C 519 Whelan, Charles 390 ^Whilden, B. D 487 Wilda, R. AV. A 546 Wilson, Rev. W. L 515 Wilson, J. W 493 Wilson, J. E 493 Wilson, H. F 525 Wilson, P. B . 515 Wilson, A. O 545 Williamson, C. P 444 AViun, H. J 398 Withington, M. E 492 Wood, C. W 464 Wood, W. H 540 Wooldridge, W. H 457 " Yancey, AVm. E 495 Jeffersop ^oupty. Je^^eyjori C^only* ITS TOPOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, AND NATURAL RESOURCES. HENRY McCALLEY, A. M., C. & M. E. Chemist and Assistant State Geologist. CHAPTER I. General Description and Remarks. Jefferson County is one of the central counties of Alabama, and is the banner county of the South in such as will make it permanently rich and prosperous, and in such as is of the greatest interest and importance to mankind. Its topography is pleasing and striking, its geology is interesting and instructive, and its natural resources are varied and wonderful. It is of a rectangular shape, and is about thirty-eight miles long, from north-east to south-west, by some twenty-five miles wide from north-west to south-east, thus embracing about 960 square miles. It is preeminently a manufacturing county, and is destined, from the very nature of things, to take a front rank in the variety and value of its manufactured goods and in its railroad facilities. It presents, as its chief advantages and inducements to the manufacturers of iron, cotton, glass, wooden, and other goods, cheap raw materials, cheap power, cheap Jefferson County. transportation, cheap homes, cheap fuel, cheap food, and a healthy and invigorating climate, comparatively free from all the rigors of a Northern winter and the scorching sun of a Southern summer. Its industries are rapidly advancing and multiplying, and its properties are rapidly increas- ing in value. This rapid increase is confined to no particular branch of its industries and to no single element of its prosperity, but they all appear to have the motto, "Onward and Upward," and everywhere there is to be seen push, activity, enterprise, and progress. The increase in its taxable property, as returned by the assessor, was nearly $3,000,000 for the year 1885, ^"^ it will be much more for the year 1886. This almost unparalleled increase is due principally to the great prosperity of its present or established industries and to the introduction of its numerous new ones. In the building of new railroads, it is especially on a big boom. Besides being traversed by three great trunk railroad lines, it will soon be penetrated to its very heart's core by four others that are now being built, and very likely by still three others that have been survej'ed and will most probably be built. When all of its projected railroads shall have been built, its capital city, Birmingham, will be the greatest railroad center of the South. Its population is also growing rapidly. By the census of 1880 it had a population of only 23,272 (whites, 18,219; colored, 5,053), and now Birmingham alone has some 30,000, and the county must have near 60,000, though the tide of immigration has just set in. Of these many new-comers there have been seen but very few discofitents and drones. They are principally skilled laborers of intelligence, integrity, industry, and enterprise, and to them it should be said : If, with well-directed energy, you will but bend yourselves with patience and perseverance to the tasks set before you, you will inevitably succeed, and will be assured as to your reward, plenty, and prosperity. Geological History. This county was once throughout but a part of a vast sandy plain that gently sloped to the S.-W.-S., and had not a single elevation or depression of any kind to relieve the monotony of the scenery. This monotonous sandy plain covered, at the least, one-half of the northern half of the State and formed the then Coal Measures of Alabama. Things were thus when the eastern part of the United States was subjected to such a disturbance, or revolution, as it has never felt before or since. This revolution has been characterized as the Appalachian Its Topogyaplty, Geology, and NaUtral Resoitrces. 19 revolution, and during it there was thrown up, in a general north-east and south-west direction, and somewhat parallel to the Atlantic coast from Canada to Central Alabama, a series of mountains that have received the name of the Appalachian chain. In the upheaval of some of these mountains, the strata were too stiff to bend in the sharp folds into which they were pressed, and so they were cracked along the lines of greatest strain, usually the tops of the mountains. These cracks furnished ready-made channels for the denuding streams that have washed these mountains down into anticlinal valleys with elevated rims. In some instances, in this folding or mountain-making process, the strata were so stiff as to bend but very little, if any at all, and hence, in these cases, they were not only cracked, but on one side of the crack were pushed up over the corresponding strata on the other side, producing what is known as faults. These faults are common throughout the Appalachian chain of mountains, and sometimes are miles in length, andl have vertical displacements of the strata of thousands of feet. These upheavals or mountains, with their subsequent denudation, changed the topographical features and geological structure of the country traversed by them from one of sameness to one of variety and interest. They gave the general directions to the main streams of the country near them, and oftentimes threw up and left grand natural boundaries between the different geological formations. In this county, as elsewhere, they form one of the most remarkable instances on record c le adaptation of the earth's surface to man's wants. For, had the county remained as it originally was, one monotonous sandy plain, or had its rocks or geological strata retained their original horizontal positions, much of our best and now easily available coal would have been buried so deep below the surface that it never would have been reached by the hand of man, and the existence of our most valuable and vast deposits of iron ores and limestones never would have been even suspected. If they had have been suspected, they never would have done us any good, as they were a mile or so below the surface. The revealing and making available to us of this great hidden wealth of coal, iron, and limestone, rendered especially valuable from the manner in which they were thrown together in close juxtaposition, are not the only beneficial effects that we have received from these upheavals and denudations. They made and left us valleys of great fertility, that form, through our most important mineral section, the great commercial highways between the North-east and the South- west, with firm natural roadbeds, for hundreds of miles, even up to the mouths of our mines. These great results vvere brought about by the Jefferson Coji7ity. simplest possible means, though in a most effectual and interesting way, namely: By the mere pushing up of the valuable strata, and the washing off of their heavy cover, along narrow strips of land. These narrow strips of land, washed out into anticlinal valleys, divide the Coal Measures of Alabama into three more or less distinct parts, that were named by Prof. Tuomey, in 1849, the Warrior, Cahaba, and Coosa Coal Fields, respectively, from the names of the rivers which drain them. These coal fields show that they are not separate coal basins, strictly speaking, in that they do not occur in circular or oval forms, but in long and trough- shaped areas with elevated rims that are the results of uplifting forces. In the washing out of the anticlinal valleys that separate these coal fields the Coal Measures of Alabama have lost several thousand square miles of their original extent, and so Alabama now ranks only eighth of the States of the Union in the acreage of its Coal Measures ; it, however, is one of the very first in the quantity and quality of its coal. One of the cracked and washed-out mountains of the Appalachian region was pushed up across this county, and a second one was in line to cross this county, but died out just as it reached the county. The one that crosses this county is the elevated valley, with raised limits, in which Birmingham is situated. The elevation of this valley is shown from the fact that its floor is higher than the mountainous country on each side of the valley or is a water divide for about 100 miles in Alabama. It is the divide between the waters of the Warrior and Cahaba Rivers, and hence separates the Warrior and Cahaba Coal Fields. Topography, Etc. The topographical features of this county are varied and picturesque, as well as pleasing and striking, and consist principally in the surface configuration, produced by upheavals, denudation, and the geological structure. This county lies between 33° 15' and 33° 45' N. latitude and between 9° 24' and 10° 10' W. longitude from Washington. Its altitudes vary from about 260 feet to 900 feet above the Gulf of Mexico, and its atmos- phere is clear, pure, dry, and crisp, without any dampness or heaviness. Its climate is comparatively mild ; its mean winter temperature, for December, January, and February, being about 42° F. ; its mean summer temperature, for June, July, and August, being about ']'j° F., and its mean annual temperature being about 58° F. It has a winter rainfall, with melted snow, for December, Januarj-, and February, of about fourteen Its Topography, Geology, and Natural Resources. 2 1 inches; a summer rainfall, for June, July, and August, of also about fourteen inches, and an annual rainfall, with melted snow, of about fifty- five inches. Water and Drainage. — This county is well watered with springs and streams of perpetual flow, and is so drained that there are but few marshes and malarial regions within its bounds. It has, extending along its whole length, near, and somewhat parallel, to its two edges, two swiftly running rivers, and crossing its interior, at intervals of every few miles, are large creeks with rapid currents. These large creeks rise on the divide, or in the anticlinal valley, between the rivers and near the south- east edge, in beautiful and bold everlasting limestone springs, and, with but one exception, flow in a general north-west direction, across almost the entire width of the county, and empty into the great drainage channel of the county, the Warrior River. Grozvth. — This county is still, for the most part, covered with its native forest, which includes a vast amount and a great variety of valuable timber. Its large growth consists, in the order of their abundance, of oaks, pines, gums, hickories, dogwoods, cedars, chestnut, poplar, cypress, etc. The oaks are principally post oaks and black jacks, with a consid- erable mixture of red, Spanish, white, and chestnut oaks. The pines are of both the short and long leaf varieties, though chiefly of the former. The gums are of the sweet and sour kind, and the hickories are of the several species. The dogwoods are of the comparatively low grounds, while the cedars cover the limestone ridges, knolls, and glades. The chestnut, poplar, and cypress were once abundant, but are now quite scarce. Soils. — The soils or lands over the greater part of this county have heretofore been held in bad repute, and have been neglected as farming lands simply because they were naturally poor for the great staples of the "Old South," cotton and corn. Within the last few years, however, since phosphatic guano and other fertilizers have come into common use, these lands have grown very much in appreciation, until now those which were formerly considered the most worthless or poorest are being looked upon and sought after as the most valuable and reliable for even cotton and corn. Cotton and corn, however, are not the crops for these lands, or for the " Hill Country of Alabama," and the sooner our people find it out the better it will be for them and for the State. These lands, as well as the climate, are peculiarly adapted to the raising of fruits and veg- etables, crops with which the markets of the world are seldom, if ever, glutted ; and to the nurseryman, vineyardist, and horticulturist, whom Jefferso7i County. the county invites to come and supply its large and rapidly-increasing demands for a greater variety of home-raised, fresh, and wholesome food products, these lands are all that could be desired. Nature intended them for gardens, orchards, vineyards, and pastures, and just in the same proportion as the farming class recognize this fact or law, and act upon it, or put their means, brains, and hands to the raising of vegetables, fruits, and grasses, will they prosper, and will this beautiful and healthy mountainous region blossom and bear fruit. Production. — By the census of 1880, only one-eighth of this county, or about 72,000 acres, was in cultivation. Of these 72,000 acres, 14,220 were in cotton, with a yield of 5,333 bales of 400 pounds each; 30,928 were in Indian corn, with a yield of 429,660 bushels ; 4,708 were in oats, with a yield of 60,038 bushels; 55 were in tobacco, with a yield of 17,649 pounds, and 504 were in potatoes, with a yield of 44,091 bushels. N.\TUKAL Divisions. The topographical features, as well as the geological structure, of this county were, as has been seen, very much effected by the upheav^als and denudation of the Appalachian region, or by the anticlinal valley which crosses this county and divides it into three very unequal and distinct parts. These parts are separated from each other by the raised rims to the anticlinal valley, and therefore consist of the anticlinal valley itself and the portions of the county respectively to the north-west and south- east of this valley. The two outside portions are of one and the same geological formation, as was the whole county previous to the mountain- making epoch of the Appalachian revolution, namely, the Coal Measures ; but the middle or anticlinal valley portion is of pushed-up older and lower rocks, geologically speaking, or contains representatives of all of the geological formations that occur in Alabama between the Carboniferous and Lower Silurian, inclusive. As these parts, or natural divisions, of the county are entirely different, as to their topographical features and geological structure, they will be considered separately, and will be designated, commencing with the most north-western or largest one, as Part I, II, and III. Its Topography , Geology, and Natitral Resources. PART I. Of the Warrior Coal Field. Its Coal Measures and its Coal : Stnicture and Unequaled Thickness, General Section, Extraordinary Ouatttity, Quality, and Value of its Coals — The Warrior Field in Jefferson County : The Nature, Quantity, and Quality of its Coals, with Analyses a?id Tests ; their Adaptation to Cheap Mvdng and Cheap Tratisportation ; the Number of Coal Mines and their Coal Output ; the Uses of this Coal. The Warrior Coal Field embraces all of the Coal Measures in Alabama north-west of the Alabama Great Southern Railroad, or all of those drained by the Warrior and Tennessee Rivers. This area has been estimated at 7,810 square miles, or, as nearly two-thirds as much as the coal area of Great Britain. It is to the north-west of the principal axis of the Appalachian revolution, and the original horizontal position of its strata, away from its uplifted edges, was not very much effected by the upheavals of that revolution, and its topographical features, away from these uplifted edges, have not the same intimate connection with the geological structure that those areas have which are more in the direct line of action of the above named revolution. This coal field, as a whole, is a trough-shaped area, extending length- wise from north-east to south-west, and is much broken, especially along the water courses. It consists, as do all of our coal fields, of a series of sandstones, conglomerates, shales, slates, clays, and coal seams, with, locally at least, a few thin seams of impure limestone. Its measures are characterized by the greatest abundance of fossils, which are well preserved, and are found principally in the shales overlying the coal seams. Among these fossils there are some stems of very large plants that belong to the genera Sigillaria, Lipidodendron, and Calamites. These fossil trunks of trees are usually of light carbonaceous sandstones, frequently distinctly marked, and sometimes as much as three feet in diameter. They are occasionally found standing perpendicularly upon the coal seams and extending up into the roofs or covers, leaving little doubt but that they grew as they were found. This position of the fossil coal plants in place, taken in connection with the richness of the coal seams in well-preserved fossils, would seem to indicate that the vast amount of vegetable matter of which these coal seams were formed, grew and accumulated over the very areas now covered by the coal seams. 24 Jefferson Coimty. The general dip of its strata is a few degrees to the S. -\V.-S. , but as this dip is something less than the general inclination of the surface, the measures continue to thicken to the south-west until they become covered up by a newer formation. This regular and small angle of dip of its strata is characteristic of the Warrior Field when compared with the other two coal fields of Alabama. To give to this area a trough or basin shape, the strata of the south-east side have an additional dip to the north-west, from the elevated south-east rim, and those of the north-^\ est side have a dip to the south-east. The strata of these two sides are also in long, flat waves from north-west to south-east, while those of the center of the trough are in similar waves from north-east to south-west. This field has been conveniently and appropriately divided into a plateau and basin area, without any distinct line of demarcation between the two, the one gradually merging into the other. The plateau is composed principally of the hard, weather-resisting conglomerates and sandstones near the base of the measures, und comprises the elevated north-eastern part of the field and a portion of the south-eastern rim. It is divided into two parts by Brown's Valley, which is the extension into Alabama of the great Sequatchie Vallc\- of Tennessee. The basin takes in the lower or south-west end, and the greater half of the field. It is, as a general thing, more broken than the plateau, for the reason that it is composed principally of softer rocks which have suffered more from denudation. Its upper or north-eastern end is made forked by the extending down into it, between Big and Little Warrior Rivers, almost to their fork, the prolongation of Brown's Valley as an unbroken anticlinal ridge. It is made up, above drainage level, for the most part, of shales and sandstones piled up to a great thickness of successive strata upon the hard conglomerates and sandstones of the plateau. This basin is very rich in workable seams of coal, which increase in number to the south-west until the Coal Measures become entirely covered up at Tuscaloosa. Little Basin. — There is cut off, by a combined fold and vault, from the south-east edge of the Warrior Field, a strip of land, about twelve miles long by over three in width, that has received the name of the Little Basin. It is a complete tray-shape depression, rounding in a general north-east and south-west direction, or with the bordering anticlinal valley. Its upper or north-east end is, however, concave, and its south- east rim. Rock Mountain, the uplifted edge of the Warrior Coal Field, composed of the hard conglomerates and sandstones of the plateau, is Its Topography, Geology, mid Natural Resoiirces. 25 much taller than its north-west border, formed by an anticlinal fold with a fault along it. Along this fault there has been a great vertical displacement of the strata by an upheaval of the south-east or Little Basin side. The Warrior Coal Field and the great Appalachian Coal Field end, so far as can be seen, on the south-west in the rocks in the bed of the Warrior River at Tuscaloosa, or just below the head of navigation of that river. At and near this most south-western visible end, these coal fields are believed to have their greatest thickness of Coal Measures and their great- est number of coal seams. These Coal Measures, under and near Tusca- loosa, are believed to be over 3,000 feet thick, and to contain some 53 seams of coal, with a combined thickness of about 125 feet of coal. Jefferson County comprises about 630 square miles of the Warrior Coal Field. As stated, all that part of the county north-west of the Anti- clinal Valley is of this field. This area is of a rectangular shape, running lengthwise with the Anticlinal Valley. It is a great synclinal trough, or scoop-shape depression, with all of its south-east rim and about two-thirds of its north-west border, parts of great and parallel anticlinal folds. The south-east fold is of the Anticlinal Valley and extends clear through the county, while the fold of the north-west border is the south-west terminus of the great Sequatchie Valley of Tennessee or of Brown's Valley of Alabama, as an unbroken and undenuded fold, or it is the south-west terminus of the mountain that is said to have merely touched or reached this county before dying out. Of these two folds or rims, in this county, the south-eastern one, as a whole, is much the higher, though a portion of this south-eastern rim is of a down-throw along faults, and is not very elevated. This south-east rim is from 300 to 600 feet above the Warrior River, while the fold of the north-west border is only about 200 feet above this river, which runs along close to its base. The elevated south-east rim, with the exception of the portion in the down-throw, is composed, for the most part, of the hard and massive conglomerate, called Millstone Grit, and sandstones near the base of the Coal Measures, and is known as Rock Mountain, while the surface rocks of the fold of the north-west border, though hard and massive, are somewhat softer, lighter, and higher in the measures, except as this fold enters the county in the extreme northern part. The Millstone Grit, in its out-crops capping the south-east rim or Rock Mountain, is usually either perpendicular or is so bent over on itself as to throw its bottom on top or to reverse its north-west dip to the south-east. Along the south-east base of this mountain, or between the capping 26 Jefferso7i County. Millstone Grit and the lower and older rocks of the Anticlinal Valley, there is nearly always a mass of debris that hides the underlying strata, though they are known to cover, through the greater length of this county, a fault that frequently brings Lower Silurian rocks of the valley side in con- tact with the Coal Measures. Next to upheavals and denudations, such hard, weather-resisting rocks as the above Millstone Grit, are the most important factors in determining surface configuration or variety and picturesqueness of scenery. Hence, the surface of that portion of the Warrior field which is in Jefferson County is most irregular, and its physical features are most varied and striking, along the south-east and north-west boundaries, where the upheavals and denudations have been greatest and where these hard rocks are most highly exposed. . As stated, this area is a synclinal trough, and hence, in a general way, it is made up of two water-sheds. These water- sheds are very unequal ; the one on the south-east or the north-west water-shed of the elevated south-east rim forming the greater part of the area. On these water-sheds, and especially on the greater one, there are smaller ridges which run up and down the trough, or parallel to the elevated outside ridges or folds. These inside or smaller ridges are the results of waves in the strata, and of the out-croppings of the harder and more indestructible strata. The Warrior River flows along near the juncture of the above water sheds, or near the bottom of the trough, and owes its general direction to that of the trough. This river, with its arteries, or large side streams, keeps this portion, or the greater portion, of the county well drained. Being a trough the strata of the two sides or of the above water sheds, in addition to their general dip of 3° or 4° to the south-west, have general dips toward the river or bottom of the trough, and are in long, flat waves in the same direction, while those of the bottom of the trough are in similar waves in the direction of the trough. The south-east edge of this field, along the Anticlinal Valley, is especially complicated by folds and faults. These folds have one general direction, that of the Anticlinal Valley, while the faults run not only in this same general direction but also somewhat at right angle to it. Locally the directions of the folds and faults are sometimes quite different from the above, for they have been seen in certain localities to be running almost due north and south and east and west. Along the north-east and south-west faults, or those in the direction of the anticlinal valleys, the vertical displacements of strata are much greater than in the cross faults, or those at right angle to this direction. lis Topos^rapliy, Geology, and Natural Reso^irces. 27 These north-east and south-west faults do not always run parallel to the Anticlinal Valley, or to the south-east edge of the Warrior Coal Field, but sometimes run in and out the Coal Measures, as these measures encroach upon the valley, and cut off, on the Anticlinal Valley side, strips from the Coal Measures. The Little Basin is an example of this cutting-off process. The upper half of this little basin is in Jefferson County. The Coal Measures of the Warrior Field in this county are complicated in other ways than by folds and faults. The same strata, for instance, are always more or less variable, though not more so than in other parts of this same field or in other fields. The number of strata, and the distance between two well-known strata, are sometimes quite different at localities only a few miles apart. This difference is likely due to the splitting up of some, by the interpolation of others, and by variableness in the same strata which may result in the thickening of a mere streak to a stratum several or many feet in thickness, or the reverse. Again, the strata, frequently without breaking, suddenly fall from one elevation to that of another several feet lower, and sometimes, at least, after a short distance, as suddenly resume or jump back to their former place or horizontal level. The strata are frequently also falsely bedded, and are oftentimes cut up by vertical parallel planes of division running in the general directions of the faults. As stated, there are supposed to be 53 searas of coal in the Warrior Coal Field. These seams vary in thickness from a few inches to 14 feet. There are twenty five of them of workable thickness, or that contain 18 inches and over, each, in thickness of pure coal. Of these 25 seams, 14 have 2 feet 6 inches and over, each, in thickness of clean coal ; of these 14 seams, 9 have over 4 feet, each, in thickness of coal, and of these 9 seams, 3 have more than 6 feet, each, in thickness of coal. These coal seams, in their out-crops, are thinner on the north-west side of the field than they are near the center and south-east side. This is doubtless due to the fact that the north-west side of the field is near the north-west edge of the original coal basin of Alabama, whereas the present south-east limits of the field, the Anticlinal Valley, ran through the central portion of the original coal basin of Alabama, and were thrown up and washed out as limits after the coals had been deposited. It has been estimated that, if these coal seams will but hold through- out their entire extent a thickness equivalent to that of their most reliable and accurate measurements, the Warrior Coal Field will contain a sum total of coal of not less than 113,119,000,000 tons, of which amount 108,394,- ■000,000 tons would be of the workable seams, or of the seams which 28 Jefferson County. contain i8 inches and over, each, in thickness of clean coal. There is great significance attached to these figures ; they tell us that the coal in the workable seams of the Warrior Field is three times the estimated available bituminous and semi-bituminous coals of the great coal-producing State of Pennsylvania, and that, if this coal was spread out evenly over the surface, it would cover the whole State of Alabama (52,250 square miles in extent) over two feet in thickness, and that, at the present rate of consumption of coals of all kinds, it would last the whole world over 270 years. This workable coal, at the mouths of the mines, would be worth now about $ 150,000,000,00x3, of which at least 130,000,000,000 is profit. This profit money is nearly two hundred times the present total assessed value of property in Alabama, and would about buy every foot of territory in the State at $900 per acre. Of the fifty-three coal seams of the Warrior Field, forty-five are included in the Coal Measures of Jefferson County. These forty-five coal seams vary in thickness from a few inches to fourteen feet, and contain a combined average thickness of about one hundred feet of coal. Of these forty-five coal seams, nineteen have each an average thickness of two feet and over of clean coal, with an average combined thickness of about sev- enty feet of clean coal; of these nineteen seams, twelve have each an average thickness of three feet and over, and an average combined thickness of nearly fifty-three feet of clean coal ; of these twelve seams, eight have each an average thickness of four feet, and over, of clean coal, with an average combined thickness of over forty feet of clean coal, and of these eight seams, there are three seams that have each an average thickness of five feet, and over, of clean coal, and an average combined thickness of over twenty-five feet of clean coal. A better idea can be given of tl/e thickness, position, etc., of these different coal seams, and of the other strata of the Coal Measures of the Warrior Field in Jefferson County by a section than perhaps can be given in any other way. The reader is therefore respectfully referred to the following general section. Nothing more than an approximation is claimed for this section, though, so far as the coal seams are concerned, it is believed to be a close approximation. Much credit is due to a section by Mr. T. H. Aldrich, and one by Mr. Howard Douglass, for aid received in the making out of this general section. Its Topography, Geology, and Natural Resources. 29 A General Section of the Strata above Drainage Level of the Coal Measures of the Warrior Field in Jefferson County. Sandstones, shales ; surface rocks along the south- west county line. (45) Coal i ft. 7 Sandstones, shales 20 ft. to 35 ft. o (44) Coal 8 in to o ft. 10 Shales, sandstones 10 ft. to 30 ft. O (43) Coal: University Seam . . . . 2 ft. to 5 ft. o Sandstones, shales 1 5 ft. o (42) Coal, slate ; in alternate streaks . . . i ft. 4 Sandstones, shales 20 ft. to 25 ft. O (41) Coal 9 in. to i ft. 3 Sandstones, shales, about 1 5 ft. o (40) Coal i ft. 8 in. to i ft. 9 Sandstones, shales . . 25 ft. o (39) Coal 5 in. to i ft. 6 Conglomerates, sandstones 34 ft. o rCoAL . . . ; I ft. 2 (38) I Fire clay 5 in. to 5 ft. o i Coal i ft. o Fire clay ; fossiliferous 3 ft o Sandstones, shales 8 ft. to 10 ft. o (37) Coal 2 in. to o ft. 9 Sandstones, shales 30 ft. to 35 ft. o (36) Coal 8 Shales, sandstones . . .. 80 ft to 8$ ft. o (35) Coal; with a 3 in. slate parting . . . . i ft. 3 Fire clay ; very fossiliferous 3 ft. o Shales, sandstones 40 ft. o (34) Coal o to i ft. 2 Shales, about 40 ft. o (33) Coal ; Pratt Seam 2 ft. to 7 ft. o Fire clay 2 ft. to 10 ft. o Sandstones, shales, clays . . 20 ft. to 30 ft. o (32) Coal; fire clay seam . . . 1 ft. 4 in. to 2 ft. 6 Fire clay i ft. to i ft. 6 Conglomerates, sandstones, shales, 25 ft. to 40 ft. 30 Jefferson Co::nty. (28) (27) (26) (25) (24) (23) (22) f Coal . . . . i ft. to 2 ft. o in. ) 3 Clay slate . . 6 in. to 7 ft. 3 in. g f,i J Co.AL . . . . I ft. to 2 ft. 8 in. I S 2 ft. 6 in. to Vj'm / -j; 17 ft 2 in I Clay slate . . . O to i ft. 9 in. 5 I Co.'iL o to 3 ft. 6 in. •" Sandstones, shales 25 ft. to 50 ft. o in. (30) Co.\L : with slate partings . . . 10 in. 8 ft. c in. P'ire clay 2 ft. o in. Sandstones, shales ; with black band and clay iron stone . . . 10 ft. to 50 ft. o in. Conglomerates o to 6 ft. o in. (29) Coal ; with a thin slate parting' . . o to i ft. O in. Shales, sandstones, Limestones, 50 ft. to 300 ft. o in. Conglomer.vtes o to 7 ft. o in. Sandstones 10 ft. o in. ' Coal ; with slate partings, '\ 2 ft. 4 in. to 9 ft. 6 in. I Sandstones, shales, clays, ] § 2 ft. 4 in. to O to 12 ft. O in, I g 27 ft. 6 in. Coal ; with slate partings, O to 6 ft. O in. J Fire clay 3 ft. o in. Sandstones, shales 20 ft. o in. Coal o to 2 ft. o in. Sandstones, shales ... . 10 ft. to 50 ft. O in. Coal; with slate partings . . . . o to 8 ft. o in. Sandstones, Conglomer.\tes, shales, slate, 25 ft. to 50 ft. o in. CoAi o to o ft. 2 in. Sandstones; with thin seams of coal . 20 ft. O in. Coal 4 in. to i ft. o in. Sandstones, shales 25 ft. to 30 ft. o in. Coal; Baker's Upper Bed . . 10 in. to 2 ft. o in. Shales, sandstones, fire clay . 20 ft. to 50 ft. o in. Coal; Baker's Lower Bed, Freel's Seam, 2 ft. to 6 ft. o in. Shales, sandstones 20 ft. to 40 ft. o in. Black Band o to 2 ft. o in. Shales, sandstones 5 ft. to 20 ft. o in. Its Topography, Geology, a7id Natural Resources. (21) Coal; with slate and clay parting. Newcastle, Mt. Carmel, Townley, Jaggers, etc. 5 ft. O in. to 14 ft. o in. Sandstones, shales ; with kidney ore, 15 ft. to 60 ft. O in. (20) Co.^l; poor, slaty 10 in. to 3 ft. O in. Fire clay, i ft. to 3 ft. O in. Sandstones, shales 10 ft. to 50 ft. o in. (19) Coal trace to 2 ft. 6 in. Shales, sandstones 15 ft. to 25 ft. o in. Black Band o to 1 ft. 4 in. Sandstones, shales 15 ft. to 25 ft. o in. f Coal ; soft . . . . o to 2 ft. 9 in. 1 , „, Fire clay ... . o to i ft. o in. . ^ . (18) <^ r^, , r . oto 21 ft. 6 in. ^ ' Shales O to 12 ft. O m. I Coal o to 4 ft. 9 in. J Shales, sandstones 20 ft. to 25 ft. o in. Conglomerates 16 ft. to 40 ft. o in. Slate O to I ft. O in. (17) Co.\L ; bony i ft. to 3 ft. O in. Fire clay o to 2 ft. o in. Sandstones, shales; with some streaks of coal, 25 ft. to 125 ft. Gin. (16) Coal ; peacock luster . . . . 4 in. to I ft. 4 in. Sandstones, shales 30 ft. to 50 ft. o in. f Coal ; with thin slate parting, ^ 2 ft. to 4 ft. o in. \ "-^ /N I Sandstones . . to 9 ft. o in. [ ^ 2 ft. to 19 ft. ^ ' * CoAi o to I ft. 6 in. I 2 2 in. Sandstones . . . oto 4 ft. O in. .3 ^ Coal ; very good, o to o ft. 9 in. J Fire clay 3 ft. O in. Sandstones, shales 20 ft. to 50 ft. O in. (14) Coal; Black Creek Seam . 2 ft. 4 in. to 6 ft. o in. Sandstones, shales, Limestones, 50 ft. to 140 ft. o in. ( 1 3) Coal o to i ft. o in. Sandstones, shales, with perhaps some coal streaks 60 ft. to 225 ft. O in. 32 Jefferson Comity. (12) (II) (lO) (9) (8) (7) (6) (S) (4) (3) (2) (0 ° 3 ft. lo in. c/j to 39 ft. 8 in. Co.\L I ft. to I ft. 2 in. Sandstones, shales . . . . 30 ft. to 125 ft. O in. Black Band. The black band' in places becomes coal, 3 in. to 4 ft. o in. Shale ; hard fossiliferous, O to 18 ft. o in. Coal i ft. o in. Shale ... 3 in. to 17 ft. o in. ^CoAL 2 ft. 4 in. Fire clay 4 ft. o in. Sandstones, shales 16 ft. to 20 ft. O in. Coal i ft. 8 in. to 2 ft. 4 in. Sandstones, shales 7 ft. 6 in. Coal ; Naber's Seam 2 ft. 2 in. Fire clay 6 ft. 10 in. Shales, sandstones 295 ft. o in. Coal i ft. 6 in. Fire clay i ft. o in. Sandstones, shales 16 ft. o in. Coal i ft. 4 in. Shales ; with fossil coal plants . . . . 1 2 ft. o in. Coal; good 2 ft. 6 in. Sandstones, shales 500 ft. O in. Coal 6 in. Shales, sandstones 35 ft. o in. Coal i ft. o in. Shales ; about 5 ft. O in. Conglomerates ; Upper Conglomerate of Tennessee 30 ft. to 50 ft. o in. Coal i ft. o in. Shales, sandstones 50 ft. o in. Conglomerate ; Millstone Grit, Lower Conglomerate of Tennessee, etc. 40 ft. to 75 ft. O in. Coal ; about 1 ft. o in. Shales; fossiliferous ... . 3 ft. to 10 ft. o in. Coal; slaty 10 in. Shales, sandstones 30 ft. to 35 ft. o in. Sub-carboniferous Strata. Its Topography, Geology, and Natural Resources. 33 In this county, the coals of the above section cover about the follow- ing areas: From (i) to (12), inclusive, 575 square miles; from (13) to (16), inclusive, 515 square miles; from (17) to (25), inclusive, 440 square miles; from (26) to (28), inclusive, 385 square miles; from (29) to (35), inclusive, 180 square miles, and from (36) to (45), inclusive, 30 square miles. This data, allowing 1,000,000 tons of coal to the square mile for every foot in thickness, gives 26,865,000,000 tons as the sum total of the clean coal contained in the seams two feet and over in thickness in the Warrior Field in this county. At the present rate, 1,400,000 tons per annum, of mining this workable coal in this county, it will take over 1900 years to exhaust the clean coal of the seams that are two feet and over in thickness. Much of this coal, however, will never be mined, from the fact that it is at too great a depth below the surface ; though more than one-fourth of it, or about 7,000,000,000 tons, is within 300 feet of the surface, and can be mined cheaply by drifts and slopes. The above clean coal, of this county, of the seams that are two feet and over in thickness, would be worth now, at the mouths of the mines, about §57,947,000,000, of which sum about §7,589,000,000 would be profit. These coals are all bituminous coals, and, as a class, are better than the average bituminous coals. They are of almost every variety : some of them are bright and hard, and are well adapted to handling and stock- ing, while others are of a duller color, and of a softer or more friable and crumbly nature ; some of them seem to be peculiarly fitted for coking, for iron-ore smelting, and for foundry and blacksmithing purposes, while others do not coke at all, but are excellent heating and steaming coals. They all burn freely, and most of them are well suited for making gas. Some of them have a vertical flaggy structure, or a regular face and butt structure, while others are divided up by joints into cubical and rhom- boidal blocks, and others still are devoid of any regular forms or are solid and compact throughout. Some of them on being exposed to the weather quickly crumble, while others, to the naked eye, are not effected for years. Many of them contain considerable mineral charcoal, princi- pally in thin sheets along the planes of stratification, and some of them are very pure coals or contain a large percentage of fixed carbon with but very little ash and clinker, while others are bony and slaty. Some of them, however, look slaty when they are not ; the dull luster being due to the casts of plants along the seams of division or stratification. The most of these coals have been judged of solely from their exposed out- crops, and it is a well known fact that all bituminous coals deteriorate, or lose in their gas-giving and heating qualities on weathering, though they 3 34 Jefferson County. retain their forms and to all appearances are not effected ; hence it is very likely that most of them have been underestimated. The following analyses of freshly mined and average samples will serve to show the quality of these coals : Name of Coal Seivui. Specific Gravity Sulphur Moisniri' Volatile Matter, Fixed Carbon . . Ash Pratt. 1.200 1.041 l.OL'.i 32.1t;9 63.370 3.3-12 New Castlo XA .SO 28.24 59.69 10.02 Black Creek. .10 .12 26.11 71.64 2.03 AVatt or Warrior. Jefferson or Pierce.. 1.112 1.611 33.004 61. 7S") 2.4S.S 32.24 65.12 1.27 These seams occur in the upper, middle, and lower part of the meas- ures, as may be seen from an inspection of the General Section. Chemical analyses will show the compositions of coals, but will not show how they are put together, and as their true values and fitness for certain purposes are largely dependent on their mechanical make-up or physical structure, the best tests of their worth are actual experiments and uses on a large scale, and hence the following table is appended to show the standing of some Alabama coals, as compared with well known coals of other States for heating or steaming purposes : Name of Coal. Cumberlanil . Pratt Fouiuls of water evaporated from and at 212° per lb. of coal. .8.21. .8.04. Percent, of non- combustible from combustion under boiler. .11.. Relative heatiu.t; or steaming values. Cumberland, Md. being 100. .100.0. Jellico 7.45 ! 6.3 : 90.7. Pittsbur!:; ! 7.63 7.4 j 92.0. Altmont : 7.41 I S.-'i | 90.:'.. St. Bernanl ' 6.73 1 6.0 1 82 0. Warrior i 7.73 ! 4.6 1 94.2. Helena i 7.58 ' 7.7 ! 92.:;. Watt 7.11 t 13.2 j 86.6. Diamond i 6.20 1 10.2 ! 75.."> . Mud EivL-r ! 6.89 4.6 ; 8:!.0 . Memphis [ 6.4.5 i 8.5 ' 7S.ii. Clifton ' 5.74 14.6 60.0. Sewaneu | 7.37. Cahaba 1 7.6.5. Blocton j 7.37. Black Cri.L 7.(i3. Henry Ell'n 7.25. Daisy ' 7.16. .11.;?. 89..S. 5.0. , 5.7. 4.0. 9;?.2. 80.S. 92.0. . 5.2. .11.4. 88.3. 87.2. Name of State. Maryland. Alabama. Tennessee. Pennsylvania. Kentucky. Kentucky. Alabama. Alabama. Alabama. Kentucky. Illinois. Kentucky. Kentucky. Tennessee. Alabama. Alabama. Alabama. Alabama. Tennessee. The above table is an abstract of the results of tests made by Prof. Its Topography, Geology, and A^atiiral Reso?cncs. 35 O. H. Landreth, at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, between March I2th and May 22nd, 1885, In these tests ten tons of coal from each mine were used, and in case of the Alabama coals we have been told that some of them, at least, were not picked coals or were not intended for this purpose, but were taken from their regular marl^^ 1 Knox l)olor:> i:: 1 ,200 ft. j ^"-("(^^ \ Knox Shah In the simplest possible form of this valley, or when it is a simple regular Anticlinal Valley, the Knox Dolomite and Shale, or oldest rocks, occupy the center of the valley, and the others occur in regular succession, as given above, to the north-west and south-east of them. The south-east side or half of the valley is usually, if not always, of this simple form, and shows the above formations in almost unbroken continuity from one end of the valley to the other, but the opposite side or the north-west half of the valley is not so simple in its geological structure, and but seldom, if ever, exhibits the above simple form. On the south-east side or half of the valley the strata have a regular dip to the south-east ; but on the north- west side or half it is the exception to find them dipping to the north- west, as they should be if this valley was of a simple regular anticlinal fold. On this north-west side or half the most common state of things is to find an inversion of the strata, or to find them so lapped together and so bent over to the north-west that their proper dip to the north-west is reversed to one to the south-east, and the newer rocks are thrown to the bottom or under the older ones. This north-west side or half is also most frequently complicated by faults, which run rather up and down the valley. These faults in some instances have doubled some of the strata, and in others have left out or engulfed some of them. This doubling of the strata, so far as has been observed, is confined principally to the Clin- ton, Black Shale and Sub-carboniferous formations, though occasionally it has included the Trenton and upper Chazy rocks. The above faults along the north-west edge of the valley have frequently pushed up and over the Lower Silurian rocks or the Knox Dolomite until they are in contact with the Coal Measures ; for this to be the case there has been a vertical dis- placement of the strata of not less than 1,500 feet, and in some cases a great deal more. Of the formations of this valley, the Upper and Lower Its Topography, Geology, and Natural Resources. 45 Silurian are of special interest and importance on account of their econom- ical or mineral worth. These Silurian rocks are the repository of the great- est accumulations of iron ores in Alabama or perhaps in the world. They occur in the anticlinal valleys of the Appalachian chain from Canada to Central Alabama, but nowhere along this whole line do they possess such a development of hematite and Hmonite, or of red and brown iron ores, as near their south-west terminus in Alabama, and especially in Jef- ferson County. These vast deposits of red and brown iron ores are respectively of the Clinton Group of the Upper Silurian formation and the Sub-group Knox Dolomite of the Lower Silurian formation. I. Clinton Group. — These rocks consist principally of yellowish, brown- ish, and white standstones and shales with inter-stratifted seams of hema- tite or red-iron ore. They are of a most persistent character, and are closely associated with the Sub-carboniferous rocks. They, with the cherty beds of the lower Sub-carboniferous rocks, form well-defined ridges which run up and down the Anticlinal Valley, on each side, parallel to but somewhat lower than the bordering ridges of the Millstone Grit of the Coal Measures. These ridges of Clinton rocks are not always continuous or prominent, but they sometimes sink to the general level of the country to again rise to what is known in Alabama as mountains; in other words, they are rather a range of long, high hills in a line on each side of the valley, parallel to the ridges of Millstone Grit or edges of the valley. Those in this county, near Birmingham, received years ago the local name of Red Mountain, from their seams of ever-present red ore. This name, Red Mountain, has now become so extensive that it is applied not only to all the mountains and ridges in Alabama that contain this red ore, but also to the geological group of rocks of which it is a part. The Red Mou?itai?i group of Alabama is therefore synonymous with the Clinton group of New York and the Dyestone group of Tennessee. The iron ore of these rocks is known as hematite, red-iron ore, red hematite, specidar ore, fossilifer- ousnron ore, lentieular ore, Clinton ore, Dyestone ore, and red oclve. When pure it has nearly 70 per cent, of metallic iron. It is of very great inter- est and value to Alabama, and especially to Jefferson County, on account of its quantity, quality, and position. It is highly esteemed as an iron ore by the iron manufacturers, and is now being extensively used. It is the main dependence of the blast furnaces of Alabama. It is by far the greatest iron ore deposit in the State, and is seemingly almost inexhaust- ible. It occurs in seams or is regularly stratified. These seams, from their very nature and position, would appear to extend down and spread •out indefinitely. In this county there are three of these seams of ore 46 Jefferson Coimiy. within 150 feet of strata, though the seams are usually only from fifteen feet to twenty-five feet apart. Their outcrops are parallel, and are indica- ted by a red soil and by ferruginous fragments scattered over the surface. These seams of ore should occur on both sides of the Anticlinal Valley when not engulfed in faults, and they are frequently duplicated on the north-west side by faults, so that, if the outcrops in this county were stretched out in a single straight line, they would doubtless reach near 200 miles. The combined thickness of the three seams in this county, it is believed, would average twenty-five feet. The quality of the ore is different in the different seams, and frequently from outcrop to outcrop in the same seam. This quality, however, as a general thing is good, and, in places, it is superior in richness to the brozvn ore. It is usually richest on the surface ; seemingly having been leached, as it generally becomes more and more calcareous downward. Doubtless the composition of each scam is constant beyond its line of weathering. It is oolitic in structure ; consisting of glazed grains of various sizes, flattened and cemented together as if by pressure. It is frequently porous on the outcrop. Its impurities consist principally of siliceous matter, usually in rounded grains, and of carbonate of lime, and occasionally of a little argillaceous matter. The carbonate of lime, when present in considerable quantities, causes the ore to effervesce freely on the addition of acids. When this carbonate of lime is constant, and not in too large quantities, its presence in the ore is no serious objection, but is rather an advantage, since it may be made to take the part of a flux. The argillaceous matter is never in large enough quantities to require the washing of the ore. This ore is of a brownish and bright red color ; on a fresh surface it is shiny, but has no metallic luster. It is friable and readily soils the hands. If the outcrops of this ore in Jefferson County formed a seam only forty miles long, that had an available thickness of ore of only ten feet, and if this ore contained an average of only 40 per cent, of metallic iron and had a specific gravity of only 3, all the way down, it would still give to Jefferson County for every foot of descent into it nearly 56,000 tons of metallic iron. The data of the above supposition are known to be far within the real state of things ; for in this county the outcrops of each of the three seams on the south- east side of the valley alone must be near 75 miles in length, and one of them, in places at least, is over fifteen feet in thickness ; the ore, too, fre- quently has as much as 50 per cent, of metallic iron and a specific gravity of 4. The iron made from this ore is of a hard, brittle character, that is well suited for castings ; its quality is improved by mixing with this red ore a little broivii ore. Its Topography, Geology^ a?id Natural Resources. 47 The following analyses will serve to show the quality of the red ores that are now supplying the furnaces of this county : (1) 12) Ferric oxicie 73.930 90.271 Silica 19.680 O.3S0 Alumina 2.710 2.460 Lime 523 .220 Magnt-sia 192 .230 Phosphoric anliydriile 371 .090 Sulphuric anhydride 028 trace. Manganese oxide 390 Zinc oxide .070 Baryta .080 Water and loss 1.438 .199 100.000 100.000 Metallic iron 51.500 63.190 Phosphorus 162 .040 Sulphur Oil trace Manganese 025 jVo. 1. — Alice Furnace Company Red Mountain Ore. Anali/st : Alfred F. Brainerd, Birmingham, Ala. jVb. 2. — Sloss Furnace Company Red Mountain Ore. Analyst : Alfred F. Brainerd, Birmingham, Ala. This group of rocks, besides its vast deposit of red iron ore, is rich, in flagging or paving stones. These flagging stones are of the very best quality ; they are hard, and of uniform thickness, with perfectly smooth and beautifully-rippled marked sides. They do not absorb water, and do not peel off on weathering. They are now being extensively used in Bir- mingham as curbing and paving stones. Many of these flagging stones would make excellent grindstones for common edge tools. 2. Knox Dolomite. — The rocks of this sub-group generally form the central and larger portion of the valley. In the upper part they are rough, cherty dolomites, and in the lower part they are pure limestones and dolomites. The upper of these rocks on weathering sometimes leave the very finest specimens of concretionary chert, and the lower ones will furnish fine building stones for handsome structures, good lime, and some- times an inferior quality of hydraulic cement. On each side of this central area are usually found belts of limestone, more or less pure, of the Chazy and Trenton ages; the latter often quite pure and excellent for the manufacture of lime. In many places, as, for instance, from Birmingham south-westward to Jonesboro and below, the central parts of the valley are formed by the thin-bedded limestones of Jefferso7i County. the underlying Knox Shale Sub-group. These rocks usually crop out in parallel and rough ledges — running sometimes for great distances — and are usually very highly inclined, and in some cases nearly vertical. These limestone ledges are commonly interbedded with clayey strata, and the soils resulting from their disintegration are calcareous and clayey, and, inasmuch as the areas of the Knox Shale are usually quite level, they are known as "Flatwoods." The flatwoods are generally badly drained, and the soils are cold and unproductive, although not deficient in the elements of plant food. With the increase and decrease of the Knox Dolomite Sub- group as surface rocks, the limonite ore deposits of the valley also increase and decrease, showing most conclusively that there must be an intimate connection between the two. The superficial extent of these rocks, and the number and importance of the limonite ore beds, are not, however, always in the same proportion ; for the disturbances of these underlying rocks also seem to have had some- thing to do with the deposition of the overlying limonite ore beds, as, wherever these disturbances and hence decomposition have been greatest, there, too, the limonite ore beds are most numerous and extensive. The theory, therefore, that the great limonite ore banks of the Anticlinal Valleys are the results of the decomposition of the ferruginous limestones and dolomites of this sub-group, seems to hold good, as has been observed, so far as Jefferson County or Alabama are concerned. The supposition is that, while the calcareous matter of these ferruginous limestones and dolomites was being gradually removed by denudation, their iron was col- lecting together in concretionary masses and was left deposited in beds of varying extent on or near the sites once occupied by the original rocks. This ore generally overlies beds of impure, shaly limestone, though it is not beheved to be confined to superficial deposits. Its beds, like the Knox Dolomite, occupy a zone from two to three miles wide, running up and ■down the center of the valley, or with the outcrop of the rocks, and, with occasional interruptions, may be traced the whole length of the valley. They occur principally in leached knolls, hills, and ridges, of orange and reddish-colored loams, from 50 feet to 200 feet high. These ridges and knolls, in the richer localities, for five and six miles up and down the valley and over areas of 500 and 600 acres, seem sometimes to be made up almost entirely of this ore, though in the poorer localities, of nearly or equal extent, the ore seems to be almost wanting. The ore exists in the banks in irregular masses as hard, solid, compact ore ; as cell- ular and honey-comb ore, and as ochreous and earthy varieties ; and Its Topography, Geology, and Natural Resources. 49 from small shot ore to boulders fifteen feet and twenty feet in diameter, weighing 3,000 tons and more. It has commonly a dull, metallic luster. The surface indications, and the diggitigs into it, go to prove that the sup- ply is very great. It would, however, be a very difficult matter to esti- mate this supply with any degree of certainty. Though its principal occurrence is in knolls, hills, and ridges, it is sometimes found on the low, flat grounds. It has frequently associated with it ferruginous sandstones of fantastic shapes. It is a good ore on account of its purity and rich- ness, containing from 50 to 60 per cent, of metallic iron. It is now being used to a considerable extent in the furnaces of this county as a mixture with the fossiliferous ore of Red Mountain. The Alabama Great South- ern Railroad runs through or near the great deposits of it in this county. The following analyses of samples from the lower or south-west end of the valley will serve to represent the quality of this brown ore: (1) (2) (3) (4) Combined water 11.35 12.14 13.09 Siliceous matter 9.80 2.46 12.16 3.10 Sesquisoxide of iron 72.40 84.46 75.04 84.25 Alumina 3.75 .91 .30 Oxide of manganese .33 0.00 Lime .26 .41 Magnesia .04 .06 Phosphoric acid 0.31 .58 0.00 trace Sulphur 0.00 .14 .14 Metallic iron 50.68 59.15 52.55 59.00 Phosphorus 0.12 0.25 0.00 trace The growth of the iron business in Alabama, and especially in Jeffer- son County, within the last few years, has been something remarkable. This county not only supplies its nine blast furnaces with ore, but also ships a great deal of it. The output of pig iron in Alabama for 1876 has been estimated at 24,732 tons, and for 1885 at 227,438 tons. About four-fifths of this iron was made from the ores and by the furnaces of Jef- ferson County. The present output in this county, it is expected, will be almost doubled within the next twelve months. The iron or middle division of Jefferson County is not only one hot bed of iron ores and limestones, but is, as has been seen, rich in the purest and best of materials for the making of lime, and for handsome, durable, and beautiful building stones. It is also blessed with a naturally fertile soil, and with an abundance of pure, free-flowing water for both man and beast. Nature has, therefore, favored Jefferson County with the best of her earthly goods, and with everything that is necessary for a future great- ness. 4 , J < ..^. ^^•i\y Htjl^Vy. JEFFERSON COUNTY AS IT WAS IN BY-GONE DAYS. B. E. GRACE. CHAPTER II. The territory which constitutes the county of Jefferson is a part of what was formerly known as the county of Blount. Under the territorial government known as the Mississippi Territory the counties were large and but sparsely populated. After the admission of Alabama as a State into the Union, and the adoption of the constitution, at the first session of the legislature, in 1820, great changes were made in the county boundaries, and many new counties established, among which was the present county of Jefferson^ which embraces the territory commencing at Village Springs, in the north-eastern portion, and extends down in a south-western direction to Roupe Valley, which has long been famous for its immense deposits of iron ore, and where the first iron was made in the State of Alabama. The county is about forty-five miles long, from north-east to south-west, and about thirty miles across the other way from a point between the Mulberry and Locust forks of the Warrior River to the Shades Mountain, and at the south-east extremity to Cahaba Valley. Jones Valley extends pretty near through the whole length of 54 Jeffersoii Co7tJiiy. the county, being divided by a low ridge for two-thirds the distance, the most valuable portion running parallel and by the side of the great deposit of red hematite ore and known as Red Mountain. The city of Birmingham is situated in that part of the valley about midway between the north-east and south-west extremities, and within about eight miles of the southern boundary and three miles from Red Mountain. The great Warrior Coal Basin extends for about twenty miles at the widest part, from south-east to north-west, and the whole length of the county the other way. The early settlers say that the Indians did not occupy this portion of their territory as their homes, but seem to have set it apart as a hunting ground, and as a great, magnificent park, in which they, the Creeks and neighboring nations, the Cherokees and Choctaws, held their annual meetings to celebrate notable events in their history, and to perform their national games, like the ancient Greeks. They had a town on the Warrior River, known as Old Town, at which, according to Miss Duffie, a detachment from General Jackson's army had a battle with them and captured one of their principal chiefs. Long after the settlement of Jones Valley a trace leading from Old Town to Mudd Town, on the Cahaba River, now owned by Rev. John Caldwell, and crossing the Shades Mountain, about a mile east of Oxmoor, was plainly visible. After the year 1815, which was about the time of the first settlement of white persons in Jones Valley, there were very few Indians seen here, and no hostile demonstrations ; nevertheless, through abundant caution, the first settlers erected a rude, fort near the present site of Old Jonesboro, but it was seldom occupied. The first settlers, John Jones, Andrew McLaughlin, Samuel and Isaac Fields, and a few others, made the first settlement at the point above named, and the valley took its name from one of them, who, it seems, was a reckless, daring man, but who has left nothing but his name to throw any light upon his previous history. The others have left numerous descendants, who are among the noted families of our old citizens. At that settlement Moses Fields, lately deceased, was born, being the first white child born in the county. The first merchants there at that time were Ben. McWhorter, Mark M. Harris, Edward Sims, John B. Ayers, and John W. Bramlett. Near the same time a colony from Rutherford County, Tenn., settled at the place now known as Woodlawn, a suburb of the new city. This party was com- posed of Williamson Hawkins, Thomas Barton, WilHam Cowden, James Cunningham, probably Jonathan York and others, and soon afterward a large party from South Carolina, consisting of John Brown, Isaac Brown, Early History. 55 John Brown (red), John Brown (black), John Wood, James H. Wood, William Culbertson, William C. Tarrant, Henry Tarrant, James Tarrant, William Reid, and several of the Montgomerys, and others not now recol- lected. The persons above mentioned, and their descendants, constituted a large part of our population, and have filled important offices in our county and State. After several years' residence there, Williamson Hawkins moved to the farm four miles west of Birmingham, where Mr. Thomas is now erecting his furnaces. It is a beautiful plateau of 2,000 acres on Village Creek. At the start he cleared and cultivated much of the land with his own hands, but he afterward became wealthy, and in i860 was the owner of 150 negroes and made 100 bales of cotton per year, and large quantities of grain. Mr. Hawkins died soon after the surrender, and has left a numerous offspring, among whom were the late lamented Dr. Hawkins and his son James, the present able solicitor of our county. In coming from Nashville or Huntsville, and going toward Tusca- loosa, a person would enter the county at Village Springs, in which neighborhood, as far back as 1821, he would meet with many persons whose names have since been well known throughout the county. I think they were mostly Tennesseeans, among whom were Joseph D. Harrison, John Hanby, Sr. , Christopher Deavers, John Cantley, Jeremiah Randolph, and others. A little lower down Turkey Creek they would find Jonathan Liverman and George Powell, and proceeding down the Tuscaloosa road you would soon come upon another neighborhood of South Carolinians, consisting of Dr. Hagood, Robert H. Green, Horton B. Chamblee, James H. Hewitt, George L. Green, George Starns, John Burford, and others, some of whom, and their descendants, have filled the most important offices, from representative in Congress down to justice of the peace. The first regular term of the circuit court, I think, was held in a place called Carrollsville, now owned by Mrs. Nabers. The seat of justice was moved to Elyton in 1821. The principal citizens there at that time were David Prude, John Martin, James Hall, Stephen Hall, John M. Dupuy, J. W. McWilliams, Stephen Reeder, Daniel Watkins, and others. The population increased rapidly, James Mudd, Sr. , Jonathan Steel, E. W. Peck, Thomas W. Farrar, William B. Duncan, Samuel S. Earle, and Baylis W. Earle being among the early settlers. The first merchants in Elyton were Slaughter & Labuzan, Jonathan Steel, Charles McLaran, W. A. Walker, Sr., and Thomas W. Rockett. 56 Jefferso7i County. The bar of Elyton soon after that time consisted of some of the ablest lawyers of the State. Among them were William Cochran, George N. Stewart, George W. Crabb, Harvey W. Ellis, John F. Forest, Walker K. Baylor, R. E. B. Baylor, Pleasure H. May, Daniel E. Watrous, Samuel W. Mardis, John W. Henley, Thomas W. Farrar, etc. Our physicians were Samuel S. Earle, Peyton King, and William B. Duncan. For several years they did most of the practice of the county. There was nothing like a drug store known in the county at that time. The physicians had neat saddle-bags, with numerous departments and pockets for the different kinds of medicines and surgical instruments. Our judiciary system at that time was a supreme court, which was composed of the different judges of the circuit court, who also exercised chancery jurisdiction. A county court, presided over by a judge who, as well as the other judges, was elected by the legislature, and a clerk of the county court, as well as of the circuit court, a sheriff and a coroner, all, except the judges, elected by the people. The judges of the county court, as far as recollected, were P. Walker, John Brown (red), and W. K. Baylor. The clerks of the county court, before the change to a probate court, were James Thompson, H. W. Goyne, Baylis E. Grace, and Joab Bagley. The clerks of the circuit court were James Dodds, M. H. Gillespie, and Hugh Morrow, Jr. The sheriffs of the olden time, before the war, were Levi Reed, Stephen Reader, John McWhorter, John B. Ayers, William A. Scott, Peter Anderson, B. E. Grace, W. C. Eubank, and A. Killough. The names of the general administrators and guardians were Samuel S. Earle, B. E. Grace, and A. J. Waldrop. Our mail facilities in the early history of the county were very poor. The mail from Huntsville to Tuscaloosa was carried on horseback once a week. This state of affairs continued for several years. It was succeeded first by a two-horse hack, and afterward by fine four-horse coaches from Huntsville to Tuscaloosa. For this last improvement the county was indebted to the energy and good management of Robert Jemison, of Tuscaloosa. Before the invention of the telegraph, under the adminis- tration of President Jackson, his enterprising Postmaster-General, Amos Kendall, conceived the idea of an express mail, by which news could be sent through the principal mail routes much more expeditiously than by the old plan. He accordingly established lines of that kind between the principal cities of the country. We had one between Nashville and Early History. 57 Montgomery. He had relays of horses of the best blood every ten miles and boys who were fearless riders. The speed adopted was ten miles per hour. The writer of this lived on the line of that route, and frequently heard them pass at the dead hour of night. The boy who rode that ten miles was one of Birmingham's first settlers, and is now a prosperous and wealthy citizen. I allude to J. B. Webb. But the express mail was unpopular with the mercantile community of the country, as it gave great advantages for favoritism, and was soon abandoned. The mail stage system was carried to great perfection in consequence of the rivalry between two large contractors, Robert Jamison and James R. Powell, and was continued till superseded by the railroad system. About the year 1836 great excitement was caused in Jefferson County in consequence of the hostile attitude of the Seminole and Creek Indians, especially the latter. The treaty which had recently been concluded between the General Government and Indians for their removal to the West caused great dissatisfaction among a large portion of them, and several murders were committed between Montgomery and Columbus, Georgia, and other outrages, which finally resulted in a state of war. The Governor made a call for volunteers, and Jefferson County, as usual in such cases, responded promptly, and a company of near 100 men was soon raised,! and James McAdory was elected captain, I forget the names of the other officers, or I would gladly give them, as they were a gallant set of boys, and spent a hot summer in the sickly climate, at that time, of South Alabama, serving faithfully till the object of the campaign was accomplished, and the hostile Creeks were captured and sent ina Montgomery and Mobile by water to their new homes. The captain and most of his men returned, but several contracted disease which finally proved fatal. About the same time a regiment commanded by Colonel Dent, of Tuscaloosa, was sent to Florida against the Seminoles. There were some of the Jefferson boys in that expedition, but their names are not recol- lected. In that campaign the gallant Mims Jemison was killed. A fine regiment from Tennessee, under the command of General Armstrong, passed through our county near that time on their way to Florida. Some of the best blood of the Volunteer State was spilled on the ' ' Tampas' desert strand. " In that campaign I recollect that Colonel Guild and one of General Carroll's sons were among them, and I think the immortal Cheatham was also with them, but am not certain. They spent several days resting and recruiting for the long march at the fine country residence of Colonel Dupuy, one and a half miles south of Birmingham. 5 8 Jefferson County. At that time the land on which Birmingham is located, and all between that and his residence, belonged to the Colonel, and with genuine Vir- ginian hospitality he threw open his parlors and well-filled cribs to the volunteers and their horses, and they had a good time for about a week, but unfortunately while there the measles broke out in the camp and was left in the family, by which misfortune the Colonel lost twenty likely young negroes, worth about ;g 10,000. I have always thought that he should have been reimbursed from the United States Treasury, but as that kind of property was not very popular with the majority in Congress all applications for compensation by our representatives in Congress have been refused. The remainder of the Creek tribe which had not been sent by water soon after passed through El^^torr, and rested a short time there on their march to their new homes. I recollect noticing the chiefs as they sat on the piazza of the Taylor Hotel, and I think a finer looking set of men, consisting of some twenty or more, were seldom seen together. If there is any truth in phrenology, I don't think they would have suffered by comparison with the Congress of the United States, which, at that time, contained such men as Clay, Webster, Crittenden, Menifee, Underwood, Graves, Bell, Grundy, etc. \ That part of Jefferson County where the first settlement was made, and which seems likely to be diverted into a great manufacturing city by the energy and capital of Mr. DeBardeleben and his associates, was in the early days considered the garden spot of Jefferson County. When I first knew it such was its fame abroad that it had already brought together a large population. In the election for sheriff in 1823 or 1824 John McWhorter, the successful candidate, received 201 votes, equal to the vote of the most popular candidate of the present day. The lands for a few miles east and north of Jonesboro brought as high, at public sale, as $100 per acre. This fine country was owned, when I first knew it, by such men as John Smith, Darby Henley, John W. Terrell, William Nabers, Sr., John Cochran, Wm. H. Cochran, Isham Harrison, Gen. John Wood, Mortimer Jordan, Octavius Spencer, Stephen Hodges, Wm. K. Paulling, John Paulling, Joseph Riley, John Brandon, George Ware, and others; and further south, in the neighborhood of 'Squire Owen, we had Thomas H. Owen, Ben Worthington, Ninean Tannehill, James McAdory and his several sons, Robert McAdory, John Moore, William B. Moore, and I. W. Sadler, who still lives, an honor to his country and his race. Down on Big creek, in the north-west part of the county, the country belonged almost to three or four families, viz: the Waldrops, Parsons, Early History. 59 Vines, and Smiths, three of which famihes could raise a captain's com pany, and did come very near doing so in the late unpleasantness. At the time of which I write the county was subject to great incon- venience in getting supplies such as they could not raise themselves. The land was productive, and required but little labor to produce the necessaries of life. The woods on both sides of the valley were the hunt- ers' paradise, abounding in deer and turkeys, with some panther and bear and numerous rattlesnakes. We wore long buckskin leggings, reaching from the ankle up to the hips, fastened with brass buttons on each side of the leg all the way up. The winters were not as cold then as now. Cattle and horses were raised in the woods, and afforded all the butter, milk, and beef that we needed. What little cotton was made was hauled to the falls of Black Warrior, as , Tuscaloosa was then called, and exchanged for salt, sugar, coffee, and calico, which was then twenty-five cents per yard. I think the people enjoyed themselves then much better than they do now. They would meet at public places every Saturday and play "Fives" — a game much more manly and interesting than the present game of baseball. When they got too drunk to play ball they would fight on the real Marquis of Queensbury style, and each man would select a second, strip to the waist, and go into a lot or ring and fight it out. It was very seldom that any weapons were used, as it was considered dishonorable and cowardly to carry a weapon. The county between Jones Valley and the Warrior River, and on the south side to the Cahaba River, was full of game. On the north side there were but few settlers. There were Richard B. Walker, Ralph McGee, Tom James, Isaiah Bagley, and a few others. The south side was almost entirely uninhabited. The Warrior and Cahaba Rivers were then beautiful streams, clear as crystal, in which you could see a fish in ten feet of water. The fisherman in his canoe, dug out of a poplar tree, with his gig in his hand and his rifle lying beside him, ready for a deer if he should venture in sight, with the muscadine vines hanging in festoons from the tops of the tall trees that overhung the water with their clusters of black, delicious fruit, and the beautiful red-horse fish sporting beneath his canoe, with their silver sides and red fins and tails, in the most desira- ble and healthful climate in the United States, the thirty-third degree of north latitude, almost entirely free from cyclones and northers, is it any wonder that Alabama's most gifted poet, A. B. Meek, surrounded by such scenes, should have been inspired to write the following beautiful verses : 6o Jeffejson County. Land of the South, imperial land, How proud thy mountains rise ! How sweet the scenes on every hand. How fair thy evening skies ! But not for this, oh, not for these, I love thy fields to roam. Thou hast a dearer spell to me, Thou art my native home. Thy rivers roll their liquid wealth Unequaled to the sea; Thy hills and valleys bloom with healtfi And green with verdure be ; But not for thy proud ocean streams. Nor for their azure dome. Sweet Sunny South, I cling to thee. Thy art my native home. I've stood beneath Italia's clime, Beloved of tale and song ; On Helvyn's hills, proud and sublime, Where nature's wonders throng ; By Tempe's classic sunlit stream, Where gods of old did roam, But ne'er have found so fair a land As thou, my native home. What I have said of Jefferson County in the foregoing pages is intended to apply to it from its earUest settlement up to the year 1861. Over the scenes which occurred here during the next five years I would willingly draw a vail. As for the present condition and status of our county, the public must judge for itself. And as to the future, as I am no prophet or son of a prophet, I shall make no prediction. Trussville was one of the most important portions of our county. That part of the county was settled at a very early day by such men as Warren Truss, the grandfather of our present sheriff; Nicholas Talley, William Perkins, Charles C. Clayton, and Rickets Blythe, Elijah Self, Stephen Garner, B. Praytor, Andrew Bass, Burnell Bass, and others. Our territory extends over a portion of Cahaba Valley, including the present town of Leeds. In that portion of our territory lived John Oliver, for many years one of our representatives in the legislature. Wil- liam Cameron was a resident and merchant of Cedar Grove. There was also a numerous family of the McDaniels, and Worthingtons. In that portion of our county known as the Bethlehem neighbor- hood, in the western part of the valley, lived many good citizens, such as Early History. 6i Wm. Brown, Sr., and his several sons; James Rutledge, Stephen Hodges, WiUiam Snow, Alvis Davis, etc. In the Jonesboro neighborhood lived Wm. R. Sadler, one of the most prominent citizens of that part of the county. He built the first grist and saw mill in that section, and supplied the people with meal, flour, and lumber for many years. Among the lawyers of Elyton was Judge Peck, for many years one of the leading attorneys of the county and of the State. Thomas J. Wright, one of the leading merchants of Elyton, was noted for his candor and integrity in all business transactions. John F. Forrest was one of our last judges of the county court, under the old system. Colonel Green and Captain Hewitt removed to this county at an early day, about the year 1819 or 1820, and settled about six and nine miles north of Birmingham, respectively, which has since been known as the Green neighborhood, and lived there till their deaths, which occurred more than thirty years ago. They were both men of note in their day and time. Colonel Green came from the Abbeville district. South Caro- lina, and while quite a young man had charge for several years of the large planting interest of George McDuffee, the eloquent representative in Congress from that district, and it is said that after a long absence in Washington City, on his return, his large estate had been so skillfully managed and improved that he could scarcely recognize it as his former property. Colonel Green married Jane Young, one of the most amiable and lovely women I ever knew, and after he came to Alabama he acquired property rapidly. Such was his good judgment that everything he took hold of seemed to prosper with him, and at his death he left a fine estate to his family. He was a very public-spirited man, and a great friend of internal improvements, and became a stockholder in the Selma, Rome & Dalton road before it reached Montevallo. He was generous almost to a fault, and I have known him in times of scarcity to send a four-horse wagon- load of corn to his more needy neighbor, and have it thrown into his crib without expecting any compensation. He always took an active part in elections, and supported the candidate whom he considered the most worthy and best qualified to fill the office he sought. Captain Hewitt was, I think, the best informed politician I ever knew, was a strict constructionist, and understood the true principles of the gov- ernment thoroughly. In common with most of the Southern people of that day he was opposed to a protective tariff, believing that the consumer 62 Jefferson Coiinty. had to pay more than his true share of the public revenue. He was a successful farmer, and in the latter years of his life he engaged in the coal business. He, together with David Hanby, Jonathan Steele, and James A. Mudd, were the pioneers of that business in this country. He opened mines near the mouth of Turkey Creek, and David Hanby opened higher up the river. Steele and Mudd had their location near the mouth of Village Creek. They constructed flat-bottomed boats out of the tall poplars that grew in the rich bottoms, and after putting on several thous- and bushels of coal would float them down to Mobile. The Squaw Shoals was the great obstacle, where they always had to wait for a rise in the river, and with plenty of water they generally went over safely, though some boats were lost, and one or two lives. The men who learned to pilot a boat down the Warrior River safely became almost as famous as Mark Twain's pilots described in his "Life on the Mississippi." About the year 1832, John Cantley, a genial, whole-souled man, made his appearance in Jefferson County, and established his home here. He was of the mercantile firm of Audley, Gazzam & Co., of Mobile. In passing back and forth to New York to purchase goods, he became inter- ested in this place, and finally located here. He was a man of splendid physique, and wonderfully magnetic in his nature. He soon became very popular with the people of his adopted county. They gave him the high- est honor in their power, which was to represent them in their State leg- islature. Tuscaloosa was at that time the capital of the State. His dry goods store was located in Elyton, and soon became the ren- dezvous of all the bone and sinew of the county surrounding the little antique village. There were congenial spirits found in this Jones Valley, and among the prominent citizens of that time we will mention Judge E. W. Peck, who has since become chief justice of the State ; another law- yer, John W. Henley, who was the father of one of Birmingham's most prosperous and popular physicians, Dr. Henley, also of Robt. Henley, the first mayor of this city. The descendants of these three men are now living in Birmingham, which has risen, phcenix-like, from the corn and cotton fields of their fathers. Hon. John Martin, the "silver-tongued orator," and congressman from this district, having married the daughter of Judge Peck, is now a prominent citizen of Birmingham. Among others at that time, living in this embryo wonder of the world, was Dr. S. S. Earle, one of the most profound scholars and best physicians of his age. Also Walker K. Baylor and Judge Thomas A. Walker. Any or all of these men would have been ornaments to any society or profession. Major Cantley subsequently removed to Tuscaloosa, which proved Early History. 63 unfortunate for him. He engaged in the mercantile business there upon a large scale, but his partners soon involved the firm in trouble, both financial and otherwise. Major Cantley was quite as popular in the Druid City as he had been in the mountains of Jefferson, and was soon made one of the directors of the Bank of Tuscaloosa. He was a member of that old and time-honored institution, called Masons, and at his burial this fraternity showered every honor known to their order over his remains and grave. At the early age of thirty-seven, in the prime of his life, this man of promise was stricken down, without a moment's warning, by a secreted enemy. So unsuspecting and conscious of having no such enemy that, when dying, a few hours after, he inquired: " Who did it?" His widow is still living with her daughter, the wife of B. E. Grace, Sr. Mineral Interests. About the year 1823, I think it was, that a few gentlemen of means, McGee, and some others, being greatly impressed with the immense deposits of brown hematite ore in Roupe Valley, thirty miles south- west of Birmingham, determined to try the experiment of making iron on a cheap plan, as that article was very much needed by the early set- tlers, whose nearest market (and a very poor one at that time) was the present town of Tuscaloosa, then more commonly known as the Falls of the Black Warrior. The company was so fortunate as to secure the co-operation of Mr. Hillman, of New Jersey, the grandfather of our townsman, and part owner and manager of the Alice Furnaces of Birmingham, one of which was the first erected here, and on a bold little stream which runs across Roupe Valley and empties its waters into the Shades Creek, near its mouth, he erected his little furnace, and with a large hammer propelled by water (which the writer has since seen in operation) hammered out a suflficient quantity of the best kind of tough metal to supply the country for some distance around. The farmers had their plows made and horses shod with it, which is probably as good a test as making car wheels ; but unfortunately for Mr. Hillman, and for the iron business in Alabama, he died soon after getting his furnace in operation, and was buried in the Baptist burying ground near the little town of Bucksville. It has been so long ago that the exact spot cannot now be pointed out, and his son and grandsons have endeavored in vain to find it in order to remove the remains to their splendid home in Nashville, and erect a suitable monu- ment over them. 64 Jejjerson Cottnty. This was, I think, about the commencement of the iron manufacture in this State. After the death of Mr. Hilhnan the property fell into the hands of Ninean Tannehill, and afterward was run by Messrs. Stroup & Sanders, and finally was destroyed by the Union forces, and was purchased by the Thomas Iron Company in 1868, who are now the present owners. Near the same time, or soon afterward, a furnace was erected a few miles from Montevallo, by another one of Birmingham's worthy citizens, Mr. Horace Ware, and afterward he was the principal party in the build- ing up and putting in operation the splendid and widely-known iron works near Columbiana. At an early day there was a furnace or two started near Round Mountain, near the line between Alabama and Georgia. These furnaces were all run by charcoal. It remained for Mr. DeBardeleben and Colonel Sloss, assisted by James and William Thomas, and others, to utilize our bituminous coal in the manufacture of iron, which great discovery was made only a few years ago. At a very early date in our history it was apparent that our great nat- ural resources could not be developed without transportation, and Congress was applied to for assistance, and an act was passed granting a fund of three per cent, of the sales of all the public lands in Alabama to be used exclusively for connecting the waters of the Tennessee River with the waters of the Mobile Bay. This act produced a large fund, which was, from time to time, paid into the State treasury, and loaned out to com- panies, and, I think, finally lost to the State. The plan contemplated at first was to connect the Tennessee and Tombigbee by canal through a succession of valleys, which extend through our State, from northeast to south-west, but that idea was abandoned when railroads became more common, and it was proposed by some enterprising men to connect the two sections by a railroad from Mont- gomery to Decatur, but that idea was ridiculed by many as fanciful. One member from East Alabama declared, in a debate in the legislature on an appropriation for a survey, that nothing but a pelican could travel the country from Elyton to Decatur, and that it would have to carry its rations in its pouch. At last, however, several years before the war, the legislature was induced to grant the sum of ;^io,ooo for a reconnois.sance and preliminary survey of the contemplated route, and Mr. John T. Milner was appointed to make it. He collected his corps and entered upon his duties, which I think consumed the best part of the year, at the end of which he made a report to the proper authorities, which was published in pamphlet form, and made the project look entirely feasible. Early History. 65 The estimates of the quantities of coal and iron that would finally pass over the road were almost prophetic, and have been more than realized. One of our most learned and worthy citizens and best critics, after reading it in the writer's presence, removed his spectacles from his brow and remarked: "Well, if Milner wrote that, he must be a swinged cat, and deceives his looks most egregiously. " It is unfortunate that so few of these pamphlets are now extant, as they would be interesting reading. It would be too tedious to enter into a detailed account of the difficulties encountered in its construction. Mr. Milner was the chief engineer, and has lived to send, himself, a great deal of the freight which he predicted for the road. The names of Hartley Boyle and Colonel Jackson will long be remembered in connection with its construction. At the beginning of the war this road was approaching the mineral region of the State, which caused the development of the Cahaba Coal before that of the Warrior Coal Fields. About this time the company constructing it conceived the idea of erecting iron works near Red Mountain, and did erect two rude furnaces during the war at a point seven miles south of Birmingham, and named the place O.xmoor. One of the furnaces was run awhile, but was destroyed in March, 1865, by Wilson's army. The experiment had not been encouraging up to that time, as the company was imposed upon by incompetent persons desiring to keep out of the war. It was not until it fell into the hands of Mr. DeBardeleben and his associates that it began to show profitable results. Its history since that time is well known. The last named company also established themselves in the coal and coke business at the Pratt mines and demon- strated to the world the fine qualities of the coal of that region. Since the war large investments have been made here by capitalists in mineral lands, but much remains unsold at low prices. About the month of July, 1868, there came to the house of the writer, on foot, with blistered feet, a fine-looking, middle-aged man who reminded me very much of Walker K. Baylor, who is well known to all of our old citizens. He told me he was worn out and tired and wanted to rest, and had heard something about the Red Mountain and wanted to see it ; said he had been engaged several years of his life in constructing the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, and for the last four years in fighting the Yankees and had got whipped. He said that he had belonged to General Polk's staff, and spent all his money in providing for the necessi- ties of the soldiers, and that his name was Tom Peters. He was quarter- master for the corps, I believe. After a night's rest we went up on top of the mountain, and while standing on the twenty-foot bluff of red ore he 66 Jeffet'son County. exclaimed, in the supposed language of the Indian chief, " Here we rest." He afterward made that point his headquarters for a year or two, and soon effected a sale of the Roupe Valley property, which put him in funds and gave him a start, and he probably did more to bring the capabilities of this region for manufacturing purposes into notice than any other man. His untimely death is known and regretted by all. BAYLIS EARLE GRACE. BY D. B. G. The early days of this century brought forth men of hardy frames, indomitable energy, and undying patriotism. On the 12th of November, 1808, Baylis Earle Grace was born inGreeneville district. South Carolina. His middle name was bestowed upon him by his parents in honor of Gen- eral J. B. Earle, many of whose descendants now live in Jefferson County. When an infant the parents of Mr. Grace moved to Jackson County, Tennessee, and when he was twelve years of age they removed to Jefferson County, Alabama, and settled near Jonesboro. He has resided in this county ever since. Mr. Grace entered Alabama at the time it was admitted into the Union, and has seen it rise from a wilderness to one of the proudest and richest of the galaxy of Southern States. But few men are vouchsafed such a privilege by an indulgent Providence. In those early days educational advantages were limited, and Mr. Grace attended school but one year, near the spot where Woodward's furnace now stands, under the tuition of Thomas Carroll. The school- house was a log cabin without any floor. Among his schoolmates were several pupils who afterward rose to distinction, such as John W. Henley, the father of Dr. A. T. Henley, and William King, both of whom became distinguished lawyers ; Drayton Nabers, the father of Dr. F. D. Nabers, also two daughters of Isham Harrison, Eliza and Laura ; the first named became the wife of Dr. B. W. Earle, and Laura married the late Wm. H. Jack, an eminent lawyer of Texas. Mr. Grace was left an orphan at an early age, and being the only child of a widowed mother her support fell upon his shoulders. But he descended from a line of revolutionary ancestors, and the indomitable spirit burned in his breast that his forefathers displayed in their struggles for independence. His grandfather, Joseph Grace, surrendered his life for his country in the battle of Eutaw Springs. His grandmother, Mrs. .^^Jiv jf'^ yf^^/!±^^ Early History. 69 Catherine Elizabeth Grace, set fire to her own house rather than allow it to shelter the enemy. Her Spartan courage was mentioned highly by Mrs. Elliott in her work, "Women of the Revolution." It was this same hardy courage that fired Thomas Grace with the pioneer spirit of Daniel Boone and impelled him to carve out a home in the virgin wilds of Kentucky, and inspired Elihu C. Grace to offer five sons to the Southern Confederacy, and has won success in the battle of life for Rev. W. C. Grace, of Tennessee, Colonel Preston Grace, of Arkansas, and other descendants. It was this high sense of justice and right that has prevented the name from ever being stained by crime. The efforts of Mr. Grace in making his way in the world were successful, and in 1827 he was taken into the circuit clerk's office at Elyton by Harrison W. Goyne, as his assistant, and transacted most of the business. At the end of the term he was elected to this office by a vote of the people over Hugh M. Caruthers, a very popular man, and was re-elected in 1835 and 1839, but before the expiration of his last term, he resigned and moved to the country at the place known as Grace's Gap, where the L. & N. road cuts through Red Mountain. During his term of office Mr. Grace kept the neatest set of books ever known in the county, and they are now in the archives of the county in the courthouse in Birmingham. In 1844 Mr. Grace was elected sheriff of Jefferson County, but as the sheriff can only serve one term he was not a candidate for re-election. When the law was passed requiring the lands to be assessed by sectional divisions, he was appointed by Judge Forrest to make the first assessment, which duty he performed to the satisfaction of all concerned. In 1859 ^^ was appointed general administrator and guardian for the county, and held the office until 1863. In his public trusts as well as private duties he was the same honest, earnest, faithful man. The people delighted to honor his sterling qualities of head and heart. He never had an enemy. His modesty has often held him back from places of preferment. He is a gentle man. In early manhood Mr. Grace wedded Miss Jane Mitchell, a relative of Judge Lawrence Mitchell, of Florida, and Mrs. B. P. Worthington, of Birmingham. His second wife was Miss Ann Eliza Cantley, daughter of Hon. John Cantley, a member of the legislature from Jefferson County. His first wife bore him three sons. The eldest. Rev. F. M. Grace, D. D., is now president of the Mansfield (La.) Female College; the second son was accidentally killed while at college in Athens, Georgia, and the third, 5 ■JO Jefferson County. Baylis E. Grace, Jr., is a leading lawyer of Birmingham. A grandson is part proprietor and manager of the Birmingham Daily Chronicle. Mr. Grace has by hard study made considerable literary attainments, and his articles to the press have been widely read and admired. He was one of the first newspaper men of the county, and edited the Central Alabamian, the successor to the Jones Valley Times, the first paper published in the county, a file of which is now preserved by the Tennessee Historical Society. A vein of poetry runs through his nature, and he has often successfully invoked the muse. He is also a musician, and has delighted his friends with selections on the flute. In years past he was often the winner of the beef at shooting matches then so frequent. His rifle is a very fine one, the gift of an admiring stock drover from Tennessee, who stopped over night on his way South. It was the custom at these matches to divide the beef into five quarters, the fore and hind quarters, and the hide and tallow made the fifth. Mr. Grace was the first person to attach any importance to the Red Mountain as a mineral deposit. He had the first iron made that was ever made from the ore of that mountain, by sending a two-horse wagon load to the puddling furnace of Newton Smith, of Bibb County, who had it smelted and hammered into bars, and it was pronounced by the black- smiths equal to Swede iron. He afterward made the first sale of iron ore for manufacturing purposes. The sale was made to Colonel John T. Milner for the use of the Oxmoor Company, and from this land they now draw their principal supply of ore. He first recognized the abilities of Major Thomas Peters, who came to Jefferson County prospecting after the war, and he took the Major to his home and encouraged him in develop- ing those grand ideas which, now in the full fruition of realization, have challenged the wonder and admiration of the civilized world. For some years Mr. Grace has been the agent of the Thomas Iron Company, of Pennsylvania, and all of their magnificent iron and coal lands, which they are now developing by building furnaces and founding a town near Birmingham, were purchased by him. It was through his faith in the possibilities of this mineral district and his representations of its unequaled advantages that these Pennsylvania iron kings were induced to invest here. Their investment attracted the attention of other capitalists, and the impetus was given to iron making that has carried the Birmingham district to the first place in the new world. Mr. Grace now resides one mile from Birmingham, and surrounded by home comforts and the amenities of an extended social circle he enjoys life with a zest equaled by few, He is a living example of the health- Early History. 71 fulness of Jones Valley, and his pure and honest life has preserved him to a green old age. He is a firm believer in the great future of this coun- try. He has seen the land for which he gave a few dollars an acre increase in value to $10,000 an acre. It is his daily custom to ride into the city on business, and he meets hundreds of his friends who are glad to grasp his hand and look in the eyes of an honest man — "the noblest work of God." Of all the men who crowd the busy marts of trade there are none whose memories reach farther back into the annals of the history of Jefferson County. He is a link that binds the past to the present. "Birmingham Illustrated" says: "Mr. Grace is one of the most illus- trious characters of the valley planter. Venerable in memories of the past, he is yet active in the new era. The victim of a revolution, he is one of the fortunate beneficiaries of the restored prosperity of Alabama in the new channels." (C«>o^ly Q^^VeYy. CHAPTER III. SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES in the Legislature of Alabama from Jefferson County, ators in italics. Names of Sen- 1822. Isaac Brown, Thomas W. Farrar. 1823. John Wood, JohnJBrown, Isham Harrison. 1824. J. Wood, Thomas W. Farrar, Benjamin Worthington. 1825. Johi Brown, J. Brown, Walker K. Baylor, John M. Dupey. 1826. J. Brozvn, J. Brown, J. M. Dupey, John Martin. 1827. J. Brown, William R. Paulding, J. Brown, John F. Forrest.. 1828. John Wood, John Brown, John M. Dupey. 1829. J. Wood, John Brown, John F. Forrest. 1830. John M. Dupey, John Brown, Peyton King, 1 83 1. J. M. Dupey, Emery Loyd, Harrison W. Goyne. 1832. /. M. Djipcy, H. M. Carithers, Samuel S. Earle. '833. /. Brown, John Brown (red), H. M. Carithers. 1834. Jolin Broivn, John Cantley, William A. Scott. 1835. /• Brown, J. Cantley, Lemuel G. McMillon. 1836. Harrison W. Goyne, L. G. McMillon, Moses Kelly, Jr. 1837. H. W. Goyne, Octavius Spencer, Benjamin Tarrant. 1838. Walker K. Baylor, S. S. Earle, L. G. McMillon. County Officers. 1839. C- C. P. Farrar, S. S. Earle, L. G. McMillon. 1840. C. C. P. Fatrar, L. G. McMillon, Jeremiah Randolph. 1841. Walker K. Baylor, L. G. McMillon, J. Randolph. 1842. IV. K. Baylor, S. S. Earle, L. G. McMillon. 1843. Moses Kelly, William S. Mudd, L. G. McMillon. 1844. John Ashe, W. S. Mudd, Octavius Spencer. 1845. Jolin Ashe, J. Randolph, Christopher Deavers. 1847. M. Kelly, W. S. Mudd, L. G. McMillon. 1849. M. Kelly, John Camp, Hugh Copeland. 185 1. M. Kelly, William S. Earnest, S. A. Tarrant. 1853. M. Kelly, John Camp. 1855. H. W. Nelson, J. Camp. 1857. John T. Storrs, O. S. Smith. 1859. H. IV. Nelson, Alburto Martin. 1 86 1. John P. Morgan. 1863. Mitchell T. Potter, John C. Morrow. 1865. G. T. Deason, John Oliver. 1868. John Oliver, Thomas Sanford. 1870. /. Oliver, G. W. Hewitt. 1873. G. IV. Hewitt, R. S. Greene. 1874-75. /. J-V. Inzer, R. S. Greene. 1876-77. R. W. Cobb, J. J. Jolly, I. W. McAdory. 1878-79. Dr. W. A. Rosamond, W. A. Walker, Jr., J. J. Akers. 1880-81. Dr. J. B. Lnckie, Dr. Kout, H. J. Sharit. 1882-83. Dr. J. B. Luckie, James Hawkins, C. McAdory. 1884-85. R. H. Sterrett, C. McAdory, S. E. Greene. 1886-87. P- H. Sterrett, G. W. Hewitt, I. W. McAdory. County Officers from the year i860: PROBATE JUDGES. W. L. Wilson was elected in May, 1862, and served until August, 1865. John C. Morrow was appointed to fill the vacancy and served from 1865 until November, 1884. Mitchell T. Porter was appointed November 10, 1884, and in August, 1886, was elected for a term of six years. 74 Jefferson County. CIRCUIT CLERKS. A. J. Waldrop, 1858 until 1865. James M. Ware, 1865 until 1874. R. S. Montgomery, 1874 until 1879. R. C. Bradley, 1879 ""til 1886. William Burgin, 1886, for a term of six years. COUNTY TREASURERS. Nathaniel Hawkins, i860 until 1864. W. P. Hickman, 1864 until 1873. C. L. McMillan, 1873 until 1877. W. P. Hickman, 1877, term ends 1888. COUNTY SHERIFFS. Richard Hudson, i860 until 1862. Abner Killough, 1862 until 1865. W. F. Hanby, 1865 until 1868. Marion A. May, 1868 until 1871. James T. Eubank, 1871 until 1874. R. H. Hagood, 1874 until 1877. John T. Reed, 1877 until 1880. T. A. Anderson, 1880 until 1884. S. R. Truss, 1884, serving second term. TAX ASSESSORS. T. F. Waldrop, i860 until 1871. John A." Baker, 1871 until 1875. Samuel W. Downey, 1875 until i88r. A. J. Tarrant, 1881, term expires 1889. TAX COLLECTORS. W. B. Cofley, 1858 until 1868. T. B. Ayres, 186S until 1874. William H. Riley, 1874 until 1880. W. J. Mims, 18S0, still in office. County Officers. 75 CITY JUDGE. H. A. Sharpe, appointed December, 1884. Elected for a term of six years in 1886. CITY CLERK. Frank M. Irion, appointed 1884, and reappointed 1886 for a term of six years. CITY SOLICITOR. James E. Hawkins, appointed 1885, elected 1886. Term six years. CIRCUIT SOLICITORS. Lucian Martin, i860 until 1864. Alburto Martin, 1864 until 1865. Judge J. T. Luper, 1865 until 1866. Alburto Martin, 1866 until 1868. COUNTY SOLICITOR. William A. Walker, Jr., 1868 until 1876. CIRCUIT SOLICITORS. T. B. Nesmith, 1876 until 1880. T. W. Coleman, 1880 until 1886. James E. Hawkins represented the latter in Jefferson County. J. T. Martin, 1886, for a term of six years. SURVEYORS. Jarrell Waldrop, i860 until 1873. H. L. Wheeler, 1873 until 1876. J. A. Ray, 1876, still in office. 76 Jefferson County. REGISTERS IN CHANCERY. Joab Bagley, i860 until 1868. James M. Ware, 1868 until 1879. A. O. Lane, 1879 until 1883. E. L. Clarkson, 1883 until 1886. Charles A. Senn, 1886, for a term of six years. 4 c^. a c<:^ Z\ie BeT\(k ar\^ Baf. A. O. LANE, Of the^ Birminghs^m Bar. CHAPTER IV. The history of the Bench and Bar of Jefferson County, Alabama, covers a period of more than fifty years. As usual with new counties Jefferson was sparsely settled, and the administration of justice was begun, and for several years prosecuted, in the crudest and most primitive man- ner. There was no courthouse, and a log cabin was substituted therefor. The first court was held in a log hut, about a mile from the Worthington place, which is situated about one mile east of Birmingham. This seat of justice was never dignified with a name, and after three or four terms of the court were held there, Carrollsville (four miles south of where Bir- mingham now stands) was selected as the place to hold the courts. Here, too, the court accommodations never exceeded the limits of a log cabin, in which two terms of the court were held, and then the county seat was removed to Elyton, about two miles south of the present flourishing city of Birmingham. All this time the county was rapidly filling up with a thrifty and hardy population, whose aspirations reached out and secured a brick courthouse. The courts of record continued to be held at Elyton until the fall of 1873, when the county seat was removed to Birmingham. Work was at once begun on a courthouse that promised to be a "beauty", if not a "joy forever"; certainly a suitable temple of justice for even a 8o Jefferson County. growing county for many years to come. But the foundation proved to be a failure, and the acoustics of the courtroom are simply execrable. The growing demand for more space and the unsafe condition of the rickety structure will soon necessitate the erection of another edifice, which, let it be hoped, will be worthy of a people second to none in push, vim, enterprise, and public spirit. While the present courthouse was^ building in 1874, the courts were held in Sublett Hall, in the city of Bir- mingham, then used as a theater. From the formation of the county in 1819 until 1825, the supreme court was composed of the several circuit judges of the State. It has been referred to by one of Alabama's most witty and far-famed lawyers, as the ' ' court on horseback. " By the Constitution of 1819 the general assembly was authorized to establish a supreme court, and thus a burden was lifted from the circuit judges that should never have been placed on their shoulders. In those days the circuit judges had chancery jurisdiction, and this continued until after the adoption of the Constitution of 18 19, soon after which the chancery courts were established, and from that time to the present day separate and distinct jurisdictions have been maintained, except where city courts have been established, which, as a rule, have been clothed with common law and equity jurisdiction, as is the case with the city court of Birmingham, established in December, 1884. In the early history of said county there was a county court, which was the same as our probate courts of the present day. There was then no county court as the same is now understood. It might be added here, in addition to the above, there were justice courts with jurisdiction not materially different from those of the present day. From 1825 to 1828 the presiding judges were A. S. Lipscomb, John Gale, Jr., and John D. Flinn. Then the judges exchanged circuits, which is now done only to a limited extent. Judge Lipscomb was a man of more than ordinary ability. From 1828 to 1883 the courts were presided over by Henry W. Collier, S. L. Perry, Reuben Chapman, A. B. Moore, Eli S. Shortridge, Thomas A. Walker, Robert Dougherty, Thomas D. Shortridge, and W. S. Mudd. Of these Colyer, Perry, Chapman, and Moore afterward became Governors of Ala- bama. Eli Shortridge was a learned and able judge. He was possessed of fine sense, clear perception, and vigorous intellect. Dougherty was a great wit, but at the same time a profound lawyer and a good judge. Collier was a close student and a fine lawyer, and he utilized and illustrated his learning on the bench. Perry, Chapman, Moore, Walker, and George D. Shortridge were all good judges and men of more than '/f The Bench and Bar. 83 ordinary ability. William S. Mudd became judge in 1857 and remained on the bench until 1883, when ill health compelled him to resign. It is safe to say Alabama never had a sounder lawyer or more accurate circuit judge than Mudd. The writer well remembers the first time he ever saw Judge Mudd ; he was on the bench at the time, and his love of justice was noticeable in every ruling. He presided with dignity, and was so careful to always try to do exact justice that the unfortunate litigant rarely complained. He had no patience for falsehood, and whenever it showed itself he would turn away, as if ashamed of his race, and look out of the window that the jury might not see his disgust. The confidence of the people in his honor and integrity was simply boundless. If a little exag- gerated, it was pretty well illustrated by a remark of one who knew him well, that a certain individual "was as honest as Jesus Christ; yes, as honest as Judge Mudd." He was, perhaps, the best poised man, intel- lectually, that the writer ever knew. He was not brilliant, but sound, safe, logical, deep, and practical. Give him twenty-four hours to investi- gate a case and his opinion would be almost infallible. He was succeeded by 5. H. Spratt, of Livingston, Ala., a compara- tively young man. The latter's term expired the first day of November, 1886. He is a bright, active, energetic man, and his record as a judge was endorsed by his renomination for a second term. However, in redis- tricting the circuits in February, 1885, Jefferson was put into the Fifth Judicial Circuit. Le Roy F. Box was elected judge of this circuit in August, 1886, and will sit for the next six years. He is a lawyer of ability, and, with his clear perception and love of justice, does credit to the bench. He is hardly more than forty-six years old, and many years more of usefulness lie before him. The circuit court docket was getting sadly overcrowded, mainly on account of the rapid growth of the county, and in 1886 the city court of Birmingham, with common law and equity jurisdiction, was established. This court is in session the year round, with the exception of June and December. It has taken long strides toward relieving the circuit court, and it has almost absorbed the civil business of the county. The county was most fortunate in the selection of a judge for this court. Henry A. Sharpe was appointed by the Governor in December, 1884, and he was re-elected by the people in August, 1886, without opposition. Although under 40 years of age, he is a profound lawyer, and his administration of justice has given extraordinary satisfaction to the bar and to the people at large. He is dignified, painstaking, patient, courteous, and learned. While he is not a disciplinarian in the ordinary sense of the term, still he ^4 Jeffcrso7i County. effects the same object by the esteem and confidence which he wins from the bar. Not one who practices before him could be induced to treat him with disrespect. His method may well be illustrated by a little incident that occurred during the present year. Two of the bar had become quite heated over a question "before the court and began to wrangle over it. He quietly reminded them that he would settle the matter if they would be seated. Their blood was up, and they found it difficult to desist from giving each other a few parting words. Apparently unmoved the judge quietly remarked, " Gentlemen, if you persist in this wrangling you will incur the displeasure of the court." That remark was "oil upon the troubled waters," and from that time on not a ripple occurred upon the current of the proceedings in the case. Since the civil war, chancery court has been held in this county, with the following named gentlemen on the bench, who presided in succession as named : J. B. Clarke, J. Q. Loomis, Wm. B. Woods, Charles Turner, and Thomas Cobbs. Chancellor Clarke was a man of marked ability, and had the finest dis- cipline in his court. He was painstaking, and his decisions exhibited pro- fundity of thought, extensive learning, and careful research. He was dis- placed by the Republicans in 1868, and was succeeded by Charles Turner, then of Selma, but formerly of Connecticut. He proved a worthy suc- cessor of even such a chancellor as Clarke. His ability to dispatch busi- ness was remarkable. Although not in political sympathy with the bar he soon won their respect. His mind was clear, and his love of justice dominated every other influence. He was succeeded in 1880 by Thomas Cobbs, of Livingston, Ala., who soon afterward removed to Birmingham, where he has ever since resided. He was a ripe lawyer, and by his exceptionally courteous bear- ing he soon won a high place in the esteem and affection of the bar. He, too, dispatches business with facility and ease, and the docket will never become crowded with Cobbs on the bench. So satisfactory was his admin- istration of the office that he was re-elected without opposition. He has just begun his second term, and will, therefore, hold for the next six years. The business of this court has been largely absorbed by the city court of Birmingham, because it sits continually and the chancery court sits but twice a year. Chancery business has largely increased in recent years. Some idea of its former insignificance may be derived from the fact that some twenty years ago the register had forgotten when his court would meet, and when the chancellor arrived the register had gone a-fishing with the docket in his pocket. It is hardly necessary to add that when he The Bench and Bar. 85 returned he found the only business transacted was his own removal. However, no one considered it very seriously except the chancellor, for the bar, and especially the register (who was a noble, whole-souled old gentleman), treated the matter as the "best joke of the season." The probate court, formerly called county court, was first presided over by Peter Walker. He was a man of bright intellect and genial manners. He hailed from Virginia, and was a lawyer of moderate ability. He was suc- ceeded by John Brown, commonly known as "Red" Brown on account of his ruddy complexion, to distinguish him from the other John Browns in the county. Walker K. Baylor was next in succession. He was highly educated, but was not studious, and was not regarded as a profound law- yer. He afterward became circuit judge. In the fall of 1844 he came in from his circuit and was making preparations for visiting his brother in Texas. At that time Texas was a wild and turbulent country. His friends prevailed on him to carry with him a Colt revolver, then a very rare weapon and a great show to the people, few of whom had ever seen one. He said he had never owned or carried a pistol, and that he had bought that one against his better judgment. He seemed to have a pre- monition that it would, in some way, prove his own destruction. While showing it to his brother and other friends in Texas it was accidentally dis- charged and killed him. He was then about fifty years old and had never married. When he left Kentucky he parted from a pure, sweet girl, who was soon to become his wife. When he returned for her, her new-made grave was there to tell him if he would meet her it must be in heaven. He remained loyal to her to the last. He would take a "spree" of a few days every few months, and when about to "sober up" he would go with horse, dog and gun into the woods and remain a week or so, when he would return, as bright as a silver dollar, and then stick to business for several months. He could draw as sweet strains from the violin as ever issued from the throat of the sweetest warbler of the forest. Before he left for Texas he gave his violin to James Wilson, then and now one of Jefferson County's best citizens, to keep until they should meet again. Moses Kelly succeeded Judge Baylor. He was not a lawyer, but a man of fair native ability, which, however, had not been improved by a liberal education. But he was popular with the masses. Next in succession was W. L. Wilson, who now resides in Birming- ham and is still a leading citizen of the county. He was not " learned in the law," but, withal, was a man with good, practical sense, and performed his duty faithfully and well. 86 Jefferson County. He was succeeded by John C. Morrow, who held the office about twenty years and resigned two years ago. He is a born Chesterfield, and it is safe to say no man can converse with him and not like him. In spite of the fact that he administered his office loosely, the people have always stood by him when he contested for their suffrages. On Judge Morrow's resignation the Governor appointed to fill the vacancy M. T. Porter, an exceptionally pure and upright man. He was elected without opposition in August, 1886, to succeed himself. He is a sound, safe lawyer, and is quite accurate in his rulings. He acts as county judge, to try the smaller grade of criminal offenses, which consumes a very large part of his time. This and the crowded condition of the court present very serious obstacles to a proper administration of his office. As a rule, it is the worthless man who has no enemies. This rule finds an exception in the life of Hon. M. T. Porter. A more worthy man or a truer citizen it would be hard, if not impossible, to find ; and yet perhaps the county might be searched from one end to the other without finding a single man to say aught against " Mitch " Porter. It used to be a favorite diversion with a former influential and humorous member of the Birmingham bar to try to put dissatisfied litigants to finding fault with Porter for some fancied wrong. Invariably the grumbler would say, "No, 'Mitch' Porter never did it; some of his associate counsel were the guilty parties." Courts are held throughout the county by justices of the peace, but these courts have little to do outside of Birmingham. But the business conducted by these officers in Birmingham is simply immense. Some of them often have fifty or sixty cases a month and their fees amount to $1,500 to $2,000 per annum each. ■ For some time after the formation of the county there was but little business in the courts, and the demand for legal services was filled by three or four legal practitioners and by several lawyers from adjoining counties. The earliest attainable data give the names of Thomas W. Far- rar, Francis Bugbee, Walker K. Baylor, and E. W. Peck as the lawyers composing the Jefferson County Bar. General Farrar came from North Carolina, and was about forty years old, corpulent, big-hearted, genial, and an epicure. No dinner party was complete without him. His appetite always relieved any deficiency of the caterer. He had little energy, but, withal, was a good lawyer. Francis Bugbee hailed from Connecticut. He was highly educated and cultivated, and for those times an excellent la\v'yer. He married Miss Lavinia Tarrant, of Jefferson County, in 1878, and soon afterward removed to Montgomery, Ala. The Bench and Bar. 87 Walker K. Baylor was from Kentucky, as hereinbefore stated, being the same party alluded to above as circuit judge. E. W. Peck immigrated to the county in 1824 from the State of New York. At that period a law student had to study law seven years under the tutelage of a lawyer before he could be admitted to practice law, unless he was a graduate of some college or had pursued classical studies, in either of which cases the time might be reduced to three years, but not less — every year of classical study being counted as a part of the seven years, up to four years. Young Peck's education was obtained in the common schools of that day, supplemented by a three years' course in the academies of New York State. He began the study of law in 1 8 19, at the age of twenty years. He pursued his studies until 1824, when he was admitted to the bar and came South in quest of fame and fortune. He came with a young friend in a one-horse wagon (the vehicle now called buggy), and after traveling six weeks reached Huntsville, Ala. There he took a horse and started alone on horseback to Cahaba, then the capital of Alabama. He fell in with Simeon Streeter on the way, who advised him to locate at Elyton. He accepted his advice and stuck out his shingle in that little village. He was received with an old-time Southern hospitality. Writing of it years afterward he said : " I at once regarded myself as perma- nently located to do the best I could to make a living, and if possible to do something better. The people with whom I had cast my lot treated me with such real Southern cordiality and heartiness that it relieved me of many of my anxieties and troubles and inspired me with a good hope that my life among them would prove a success." The four years' training he had received begun to show its good fruits from the first, and, though quite young, he began to work right to the front. He was sober, industrious, and talented, and soon engaged the best practice at the bar. About that time Matthew W. Lindsay was solicitor, and he was one of the finest pros- ecuting officers the State of Alabama ever produced. He was a terror to evil doers. They feared him and yet they admired him. Generally, whenever they had to encounter his eloquence and logic, they would pit against him the wiry and gifted Peck. He continued to practice in Jeffer- son County until 1833, when he moved to Tuscaloosa, which had been made the capital of Alabama. Here he has ever since resided. In 186S he became chief justice of the supreme court, and his decisions were marked for learning and ability, especially on all questions of pleading. In 1825 Peter Walker, of Virginia, and John F. Forest, of North Carolina, moved to Elyton and practiced law together. They were good 88 Jeffersoti County. men, but had indifferent success in their practice. Afterward each of them became judges of the county court. About the same year P. N. Wilson, a young lawyer from Tuscaloosa, settled in Elyton. He remained only a few years, when he removed to Sumter County, Ala. He was a young man of fine ability, and after- ward became one of the best lawyers in the State. Thomas A. Walker, a young lawyer, settled in Elyton about 1828, and practiced there several years. He was a man of fair abilities and great purity of character. He removed to Calhoun County, and was twice elected circuit judge. Wm. S. Mudd entered the professional arena in 1839, and met with phenomenal success. He has already received a notice in this sketch, and it only remains to add that he was for some years circuit solicitor and filled the position with credit. He had a great reputation as a collector. In those days merchants were nearly all solvent, but many of them were "slow." Mudd, on getting a claim, would at once remit the money to his clients and afterward collect from the tardy debtor. By this he attained two objects ; in the first place he pleased his clients and built up his business,, and in the second place he got interest on the money he had advanced and remitted. In 1851 M. T. Porter began the practice of law at Elyton, and met with considerable success. He continued to practice there until the county seat was removed to Birmingham. Alburto Martin, then a young man, removed to Elyton from Pickens County. He was a bright fellow and the soul of honor, and met with good success.- In 1857 ^^^ formed a partnership with M. T. Porter under the firm name of Porter & Martin, and they enjoyed a large prac- tice until Martin's death in 1879. Porter continued the practice alone for a few months, when he formed a partnership with his son, M. A. Porter. They practiced together until M. T. Porter was made judge of probate in 1884. In 1858 John C. Morrow and G. W. Hewitt, then young men, were admitted to the practice of law, and soon afterward formed a partner- ship under the firm name of Morrow & Hewitt. They practiced together about two years, when Morrow was elected probate judge. Hewitt con- tinued the practice until the civil war, in which he enlisted for the Con- federacy. After the war he resumed the practice, and met with great success. He has a vigorous intellect, and conducts his cases with skill. In 1867 W^ A. Walker was admitted to the bar, and Hewitt and he, in 1870, formed a partnership under the firm name of Hewitt & Walker, T!ie Bc?ich and Bar. 91 and they practiced together until 1884, when they took into the firm M. A. Porter, and the firm is now known as Hewitt, Walker & Porter. V*'. A. Walker, Jr., is one of the best poised lawyers in the county. Take him any way you will and he is always found "level headed." He has the confidence of all the people. W. S. Earnest began the practice of law at Elyton about 18 — , and continued the practice until his death in 1S82. He was a warm-hearted, genial man, but loved his fun and did not " stick close " to his professional duties. In 1872-73 there came to Birmingham the following lawyers : R. H. Henley, R. H. Pearson, George S. Cox, H. A. Young, Eugene McCaa, E. L,' Clarkson, John T. Terry, W. W. Moore, E. K. Fulton, W. W. Shortridge, and A. O. Lane. Henley was a brilliant man, but was in wretched health, and soon died. Pearson walked into a good prac- tice from the start, and his professional life has been a great success. He is a sound lawyer, a close student. He has fine personal magnetism, which, with his native talent and loyalty to his profession, will always insure him a large practice. Eugene McCaa was a brilliant man, but he was in Birmingham onl)- a few months when he returned to Marengo County. John T. Terry was a man of great native ability, and for years he enjoyed a fine practice. He was a safe counselor, and few lawyers had greater strength before a jury. Latterly he did not devote much time to his profession ; warm-hearted and genial, he spent most of his time in social intercourse with his friends. Being a fine conversationalist, he had many friends seeking his companionship. Having formed a partnership with A. O. Lane in 1874, they practiced together until 1885, when Col. Terry retired from the practice, having accumulated a fortune. W. W. Moore was a warm-hearted, genial young gentleman ; but his health was most wretched, and he was unable to devote himself to stud}- and research. Consumption carried him away in 1879. A nobler citizen or a truer friend never lived. James E. Hawkins, a native of this county, was admitted to the bar in 1872. He practiced here for about two years when he removed to Shelby County, and after remaining there one year he returned to Bir- mingham. He is a gentleman of great, good humor and pleasing address, and a fluent speaker. He is solicitor for the city court of Birmingham, and discharges his duty with credit to himself and satisfaction to the public. 92 Jeffei^soJi Comity. E. K. Fulton came to this city from Sumter County in 1873. He has enjoyed a liberal practice, and is always faithful to the interests of his clients. John J. Jolly began the practice here in 1874, having come from Eutaw, Ala. Already possessing a good reputation as a fluent and attractive speaker, he commanded a large practice from the start. His health failed him and he returned to Green County in 1877. E. L. Clarkson began the practice in Birmingham in 1873. He sus- tained himself well as a young lawyer of research, clear perception, and stu- diousness. He practiced here until 1878, when he removed to Green Count)', where he remained for two or three years. He then resumed the practice here, and has sustained a Hberal patronage to the present time. Ellis Phelan began the practice at Elyton in 1 871, and enjoyed a good practice for several years, when he was elected secretary of state and removed to Montgomery. He is a man of sterling worth, but has not much taste for his chosen profession. No man has ever possessed more completely the confidence of the people. R. A. McAdory began the practice at Elyton in 1870, and while possessing a fine mind he had little inclination to law and abandoned the profession in 1883. J. M. Russell was admitted to the bar in 1877 at Birmingham, where he has since practiced. By his indomitable energy he has amassed con- siderable means. W. W. Shortridge was a bright young man, but he remained in Jeffer- son County too short a time to work himself into practice. He returned to Shelby in 1873. This brings the history of the bar down to within the last four or five years, and as the number of lawyers has increased to nearly one hundred the limits of this sketch will not allow of anything more than to give their names, whence they came, and their length of residence in this city and practice at this bar. The Bencli and Bar. 93 MEMBERS OF THE BIRMINGHAM BAR, No. Years Names. Where From. in Birmingham, E. T. Taliaferro Fort Smith, Ark 2 B. H. Tabor Fort Smith, Ark i M. A. Porter Elyton, Ala 4 C. F. Eastman Rappahannock County, Va. . .3 W. E. Martin Columbus, Miss 3 Robert Hagood Elyton, Ala 6 mos. Jas. E. Webb Greensboro, Ala 2 J. P. Tillman Selma, Ala 2 D. D. Smith Randolph County, Ala. ... 4 R. J. Lowe Huntsville, Ala 5 C. A. Mountjoy King George County, Va. . . 5 Jno. W. Tomlinson Tate Springs, Tenn 3 Jno. D. Strange Ashville, Ala 8 J. J. Altman Livingston, Ala 6 J. B. Earle, Jr Birmingham, Ala i J. J. Garrett Greensboro, Ala 4 O. W. Underwood Louisville, Ky 2 J. M. Gillespie Jonesboro, Ala .7 E. J. Smeyer Cherokee County, Ala. ... 4 J. P. Stiles Columbus, Miss 4 R. H. Sterrett Selma, Ala 4 W. C. Ward Selma, Ala 2 J. W. Chamblee Ashville, Ala 6 W. T. Poe . . . . ' Greensboro, Ala i J. J. Banks Union Springs, Ala i B. M. Allen Greensboro, Ala 4 E. K. Campbell Abingdon, Va 2 Jno. T. Heflin, the nestor of the bar, Talladega, Ala 5 M. J. Gregg Greenville, Tenn 6 W. J. Cahalen Birmingham, Ala 7 D. F. Myers Augusta, Ga 6 mos. W, O. Berryman Georgetown, Ky. ... 6 mos. R. C. Redus Columbus, Miss 6 mos. S. E. Greene Elyton, Ala 6 S. L. Weaver Warrior, Ala 3 H. C. Selheimer Pittsburg, Pa 2 94 Jefferson Comity. L. C. Dickey Greensboro, Ala 2 J. F. Gillespie Decatur, Ala i J. M. Martin Tuscaloosa, Ala 4 mos. J. S. McEachin Tuscaloosa, Ala 3 mos. J. M. Vanhoose Tuscaloosa, Ala i Walker Percy Greenville, Miss i W. M. Brooks Selma, Ala 3 mos. Jno. Vary Marion, Ala 2 Leigh Carroll New Orleans i Joseph Carroll New Orleans I James Weatherly Montgomery, Ala 4 Samuel P. Putnam Pulaski, Tenn 2 W. W. Wilkerson Union Springs, Ala i N. B. Feagin Anniston, Ala 6 mos. W. B. Mitchell Georgetown, Ky i B. L. Hibbard Mobile, Ala 9 mos. C. A. Senn Graniteville, S. C 3 W. M. Bethea Talladega, Ala 3 F. B. Hemphill Tuscaloosa, Ala i Geo. P. Zimmerman Pensacola, Fla i G. R. Horst Nashville, Tenn i Frank S. White Mississippi 6 mos H. Patty Mississippi 6 mos Robert P. Duncan Clarksdale, Miss. ... 6 mos Most of the above named are young men, and it may safely be said that no bar in the co^. '^•y can produce a set of more sober, industrious, energetic, active, brainy young lawyers. Many of them are able lawyers already, and still others need nothing more than experience and age to insure them fame and fortune. '^^'/''^yy>'^/f//^^ "-»'-'.'- J\)e /r\edieal profession. JOHN D. S. i)AVIS, M. D. CHAPTER V The medical history of Jones Valley dates from the year 1819, one year previous to the formation of Jefferson County. Until the year 181 5 the territory of Jefferson County was known as the favorite hunting ground of a few Creek, Choctaw, and Cherokee Indians, who lived on the banks of the Warrior and Cahaba Rivers. If these Indians had their medicine man, the war records give no account of him. About the year 18 1 5, a small party of whites made the first settlement near old Jones- boro, about twelve miles south-west of Birmingham, and began the development of the Valley, which took its name from one of the settlers. Until the year 18 19, when a member of the party would become ill some one of his friends would administer a purgative or bleed him, and leave him to Nature for the rest. In the year 18 19, Dr. Peyton King, a grad- uate of the University of Pennsylvania, located near old Jonesboro and began the practice of his profession. He continued to practice in that section until the year 1833, when he emigrated to Pickens County, Ala- bama. Dr. James Keller was the first to locate in the Valley after the formation of Jefferson County in the year 1820. He located near the Smith place, where Wheeling is now situated. He was a first-course student from Lexington, Ky., and never took a second course of lectures. He did a large practice in that section for twenty years. fefferso)i Coioity. Of the successful practitioners of medicine in Jefferson County during the early history of the county, who were non-graduates of medicine, were Drs. Samuel S. Earle, of Elyton, and Daniel Davis, of Davis Place. The first of these, Dr. Samuel S. Earle, attended one course of lectures at the University of Pennsylvania in the winter of i8 18-19. ^^ '^^^ ^ native South Carolinian, of honorable birth and good education. He was one of the most prominent citizens of the county for fifty years. He was born in 1799, and came to Alabama in 1820. He represented the county in the legislature in the years 1832-42. His high literary attain- ments, his polished manner, his practical good sense, and many excellen- cies of character soon gave him prominence. The Elyton Sun of Dec. 21, 1870, contained the following on his death : " Dr. Earle died Tuesday, the 20th of December, at 7 o'clock p. m. Dr. Earle has been for fifty years past the most prominent citizen of Jefferson County, and his death obliterates one of the very few landmarks which now connect the present with the far-distant past of fifty years. He was a man of grace, of cul- ture, of literary attainments unusual, of rare medical skill and science, and of qualities of both head and heart that rendered him a distinguished and exceptional man in any land and amongst any people. * * * He lived to the ripe old age of seventy-one years, and his death was caused more from worn-out nature than from any specific disease." It was said of him by the rich, the poor, the high, the low, the good and bad, that "he was to all alike." Though he had but poor advantages in the prose- cution of his studies in medicine, he never remained idle or lingered in the field of study and investigation until his knowledge of medicine was unexceptionally thorough. In the practice of his profession he was hon- orable, in politics he was noted as fair and correct, and in private life a congenial companion. His conversational powers were exceptional. Having a brain guided by a pure heart he truly lived a life of honor and usefulness. Brewer's Sketch of Public Men of Alabama closes the sketch of his life in these words: "To add greater honor to his age than man could give him, he died fearing God." The last of the men of this period was Dr. Daniel Davis. Dr. Davis moved to Alabama from North Carolina in the year 1818, and settled in Tuscaloosa. In 1820 he returned to South Carolina to marry. After his marriage he came to Tuscaloosa, where he began the practice of m.edi- cine, after a course of home study. He came to Jefferson County in the year 1822, and did a successful practice until the year 1844. He was one of the pioneers of this country. He left a home of culture, luxury, and ease to cast his lot with the adventurist — I say adventurist, for it was- Tlie Medical Profession. 99 nothing less. In Alabama, with his cultivation, in the midst of a new and ambitious people, he applied the skill of his ingenuity to the development of the country. It was not his pleasure to practice, nor was it a neces- sity, as he had of money, lands, and negroes a sufficiency, and far beyond that possible for his professional income to supply ; but realizing the great need of medical aid in the country to direct hygienic regulations and to administer to the suffering, he was, from a sense of duty to his friends, persuaded by them to resume the practice of medicine in Jefferson County. And he gave it his time and study as though his living was in it. He was popular among his medical associates, and no greater eulogy can be paid to his memory than the words uttered by Dr. Jos. R. Smith, while in conversation with the writer a few days ago. Dr. Smith said : " Dr. Davis was the young man's friend and the people's servant. When I came to the county in 1841 he was doing the practice of the neighbor- hood gratis. He gave me my first case at Bucksville, and aided me in my first attempt at surgery in the dressing of a fracture of the neck of the femur, in which he gave me the consideration which he would have accorded to any surgeon in the land." Once a young man, he knew the feelings of an aspiring boy, and never failed to assist him. This was not confined to his profession alone, but was evinced many times in other fields. I remember one occasion (as related to me) when a nephew left his father's home, in an Eastern State, Mr. Davis received a letter from his sister requesting him to refuse her son shelter and force his return home. The boy sneakingly approached the house of Dr. Davis, and when discovered Dr. Davis opened his arms and home and took the boy in with a loving, familiar and fatherly " God bless you." It was so differ- ent to the reception which he had been in the habit of receiving that he was inspired to new effort, and receiving an education at the hands of Dr. Davis became a very successful physician, and when he died at the age of forty years he left an estate worth over $200,000. Dr. Davis was widely renowned for his extensive knowledge and profound learning. In another department of this work will be paid a tribute to his intellect and culture, more fitting than can naturally be expected of a grandson. Of a large family of sons and daughters, he had two sons to select the chosen profession of their father. The elder, Elias, was the father of Drs. J. D. S. and W. E. B. Davis, now of Birmingham, and the younger, Ralph, now resides at Montevallo, Alabama, and is doing a large practice. Dr. Davis' ancestry dates back to Dr. Daniel Davis, a Welshman by birth, who practiced medicine in London, England, during the sixteenth cen- tury. To meet Dr. Davis was not only to see the polished exterior of a Jefferson County. gentleman, but to soon learn that he was in truth a gentleman. In the year 1861 he fell from the platform of his plantation ginhouse and broke his right forearm, from the effects of which he never recovered. He was characterized with the faith of a true believer in Christ, and ever rejoiced in a hope of the future. From pneumonia, on the 12th of July, 1S69, like the full blown leaf that has lived and fluttered away its spring and summer, and has lived out its full life drops in autumn, draped in gor- geous funeral robings, like the fruit which has ripened and fell, he passed away to the realms beyond. Dr. John Spearman Edwards came to this county in the year 1830 to engage in the practice of medicine. He located at Elyton, and soon afterward removed to Trussville, twelve miles north-east of Birmingham. He was one of the wealthiest men in North Alabama, of good South Carolina birth, of fine education and pleasing address. He was a true type of manhood, culture, and honor. Soon after beginning the practice of medicine in Alabama his health gave way, and he retired from the active service of professional and business life. He had four children, one son and three daughters. The son, Merideth, a respected farmer, still lives at Trussville, and has a son. Dr. R. S. Edwards, who has selected the profession of his grandfather; the eldest daughter, Georgiana, died at the age of fourteen years ; the second daughter, Pollie, married George Robinson, and had a son, Dr. J. B. Robinson, of Woodlawn, Alabama, to follow in the footprints of his ancestor; the youngest daughter, Rhoda T. , married Sinkler Lathem, of South CaroHna, and left a family of three children, a son and two daughters — John E. T. Lathem, a planter, mar- ried the granddaughter of Dr. Zachariah Hagood, of this county ; the eldest daughter, Sarah T., married Dyer Talley, and after a widowhood of fifteen years from his death she married Alfred Griffin, and both died in the year 1885 ; the youngest daughter, Rhoda Georgiana, married Dr. Elias Davis, the son of Dr. Daniel Davis, and is the mother of the Drs. J. D. S. Davis and W. E. B. Davis, of Birmingham. Dr. Edwards came to Alabama to invest his wealth and to practice his profession. He was simple, yet brilliant in literature and in science ; he was pure, and ever held up a high standard of medical ethics; he was practical as well as theoretical. Though prevented, by reason of bad health, from following the profession of his selection, he did not fail to stamp his impress upon the profession of that age. Many of his papers on medical subjects are now in the library of his great-grandsons, the Drs. Davis, in Birmingham. They show the results of a progressive, investigative, and logical mind. Dr. Edwards was born January ist, 1791. and died January i8th, 1841. ^'^ Tlie Medical Profession. 103 The following are the names of the physicians who practiced in the county before the year 1850: Dr. Nimrod Randolph (non-graduate), who was located four miles south-west of Birmingham at a place called Car- rollsville, the county seat, now known as the Mrs. Nabor's place. He practiced from 1823 to 1827. He died in the year 1829. Dr. William English (non-graduate) came to the county in the year 1830, and removed after one year to Talledega, Alabama. Dr. VVeaks practiced in the ■county from 1843 to 1845. Dr. Jones Hay from 1843 to 1856. Dr. Lipsicum at Jonesboro from 1841 to 1842. Dr. Bagsdale on Cahaba River, near the place of the old Indian town called " Mudd Town," in the year 1850, and afterward practiced in St. Clair a number of years, and then returned to Trussville in the year 1864, and remained until the year 1870, when he went to Texas and died of malarial fever. Dr. Zacha- riah Hagood lived and practiced at Hagood's Crossroads, in the north-east- ern part of Jefferson during the years from 1840 to 1856. It now becomes my duty to record the history of Dr. Jos. R. Smith, the most remarkable practitioner and successful business man this county has ever been blessed with. It is no desire of the writer to attempt any- thing like fulsome laudation of a friend, nor is this a tribute presented with the hope of adding to the fame of one whose life has been devoted to active, fruitful industry in usefulness to his fellowmen, governed by a singlemindedness to truth, and unswerving fidelity to the discharge of every duty pertaining to his position as a citizen, a genuine philanthropist, and a much-beloved and highly-accomplished physician. Dr. Smith's fame is written in the annals of scientific medicine, and though retired he yet exerts an influence upon the members of the profession which he has done so much to advance. In him we find a rare type of exalted man- hood. My father. Dr. Elias Davis, once s^id of him, "He is honor," and he spoke the whole truth. Dr. Smith graduated at the Transylvania Medical College of Lexington, Ky., in the year 1841. He was given his first case by Dr. Daniel Davis, whom Dr. Smith ever recognized as a friend and honored companion. Dr. Smith attended a course of lectures in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the winter of 1846, and during the Mexi- can war he was present and saw Generals Scott and Butler leave the St. Charles Hotel for Mexico. Dr. Smith was very successful in the practice of his profession, and performed many operations in surgery. His sound, practical method of dealing with all cases, together with his success as an operator, gave him the reputation of the surgeon of the county. Dr. Smith is truly a medical philosopher. A mere glance at the list of his contributions to medical literature will show the versatility of his genius. I04 Jefferson County. Most of his papers are to be found in the volumes of the Western Lancet and New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal. The following papers were from his pen: "Typhoid Fever and its Treatment, with reference to an epidemic which prevailed in Elyton and vicinity during the spring of 1858," "Iodine in Snake Bite," "Removal of an Iron Scale from the Eye by Chemical Solution," " Notes of a case of Dropsy, where paracen- tesis abdominis was performed, and after the operation a silver tube introduced," and others. In the practice of medicine he was noted for his unmeasured scorn and contempt for the impostor and polypharmacist. In the study of the natural history of disease he was a very close observer, and possessing a strong and analytical mind naturally became the leader of the profession in the county. Every prescription he made was with a definite purpose, guided by a remarkably charming simplicity, and may he live to see the "shot-gun" prescription of modern times buried beneath the slow lashing waves of oblivion. As a citizen his life has been one of exemplary habits ; of this, however, the reader will learn more from another department of this work. There are few men in this county who have become so endeared to the people as Dr. Smith. May he live long and enjoy the wealth of his toil, the experience of his age, and feast on the hope for the future. Dr. Elias Davis, a son of Dr. Daniel Davis, read medicine at Elyton with Dr. Joseph R. Smith in 1852-53, and graduated from the Medical College of Georgia in 1856, and located at Trussville, where he did a large and successful plantation practice until the year 1861, when he volunteered for the Confederate service. In all things Dr. Davis was a man of marked independence and fearlessness — not that so-called inde- pendence and fearlessness which manifest themselves in acts of turbulence and indifference to public opinion, right or wrong, but they were of that character which animate chivalrous manhood and dare to brave public censure when panoplied with truth and right. In the secession move- ment of 1 86 1 he promptly offered his services to the Confederate Govern- ment and went on duty. It was said of him by the Rev. Dr. J. J. D. Renfro, Chaplain of the Tenth Alabama Regiment: "He discharged his duties with an efficiency and noble daring unsurpassed by any son from Alabama. * * * Many hard-fought battles all conspire to attest his devotion to the cause and his gallantry in action." While an eminent and dearly-beloved physician, he possessed a mind of varied and rare endowments for philosophy and history. His assiduous and systematic study during the years of his college course and short pro- fessional career made him quite proficient in these branches as well as in c/ui - }l^c^---,Ji/^-a-yL^ ^(^ . oc/- Tlie Medical Profession. 107 medicine. He was a surgeon of no small ability, and had an unmeasured contempt for the surgical jobber — dexterous in using the knife, but ignor- ant of the higher and better parts of the science. During his private career as a practitioner of medicine and surgery, as well as when called upon to serve his poor wounded companions, he. was never known to attempt the so-called brilliant operations, but he proceeded under all cir- cumstances slowly, with a conscientious view to the best interest of the patient. He would make all possible preparation, and then taking the knife would proceed slowly and systematically to the work, the results showing a marvelous skill. He never contributed to medical periodicals, but he left in his library many valuable papers. These papers, which were the fruits of a clear, logical, and analytical mind, prove the constant and steady progress of the student and physician. His papers have been bound, and are in the library of his only sons, Drs. J. D. S. and \V. E. B. Davis, of Birmingham. He never made merchandise of principles in order that popular approval might signalize his efforts. He was benevolent, and his donations to charitable institutions were always liberal. He was ever ready and willing to help the needy, and it is remarkable, nevertheless true, that no applicant for aid ever left his presence unprovided for. He was warm- hearted, friendly, hospitable, and generous to a fault. In his treatment of classes he displayed to all alike such a gentleness, tenderness, and sym- pathy that the patient soon saw that he was in the hands of a wise, prudent, and considerate friend. He delighted in argument, and was always prepared to maintain a thesis, and above all a paradox, with logic which few could answer and wit which fewer could emulate. He seldom failed to conquer, but perhaps, almost as rarely to convince. He was eager to persuade, and hard to be persuaded. Though somew^hat impulsive, his wit was such as "loves to play, not wound," and an antagonist left him with increased esteem and respect. In the year 1857 he was married to Miss Rhoda Georgiana Lathem, whose ambition for his success was unexcelled in the history of the true Southern women. No loftier type of honor ever blended than in this marriage. Miss Mary Gordon Duffee's tribute to Mrs. Davis' memory and devotion to her love is beautiful and true : "She was in her youthful days ' divinely tall and most divinely fair,' with a modest timidity of man- ner peculiarly becoming and graceful, and the kindest of hearts. Two little boys were left her by the war that made them fatherless, and set the chrism of perpetual heartache and regret upon her fair young brow. She has watched and wept over their lives, and trained them up to the worthy 1 08 Jefferson CoiDity. standard of their noble sire, until now they stand forth on the threshold of a superb and useful manhood as physicians of Birmingham, alike noted for their morality as for their talent and culture. Truly, she is a widow indeed, rich in patience and resignation ; steadfast in the faith of the saints, prayerful and strong in works of charity, like those few right- eous ones who have kept their souls clear, ' and shall walk with him in white.' " On the 2ist of August, 1864, while commanding a company of a battalion of sharpshooters of the Tenth Alabama Regiment in that bloody battle on the Weldon Railroad, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, he was snatched from the din of battle and from the career of a Confed- erate soldier to appear before the Great Physician and Officer beyond, " Where the Great Physician heals. Where the Heavenly armies sing." Dr. Renfro says he was "a man of fine native mind, a well-informed and accomplished physician and gentleman, a man of fine personal appear- ance, a brave soldier, a competent and faithful, yet mild and affectionate officer, and, above all, a meek and devout Christian. It was not aston- ishing that he was the pride and idol of his company, that he was honored by the regiment, and that he died leaving his praise in the mouths of all who knew him." Dr. Francis M. Marshall read medicine under Dr. Rufus Haywood, of Tuscaloosa, in the year 1849; graduated from the University of Louisiana in New Orleans in the year 1852 ; located at Trussville in 1852, and did a good practice for twelve years with assiduity and success. In the year i860 he moved to Hagood's Crossroads, where he continued his practice for four or five years. Early after his removal to Hagood's Crossroads his health began to give way, and he gave up the practice of medicine. Since that time he has taught school when in a state of health to allow. He is a natural poet, and his song on "The Lost Life," in stately verse, gives true evidence that in this poem he mastered the " stately verse " as completely as did Byron. In the failure of his health the people have lost a benefactor, and the profession a ray of genius which would have reflected its light into remote ages. But the arm of disease and family troubles have stretched their gigantic forms to blast and darken a brilliant and prosperous career. His life has been one of adventure and disaster, upon which volumes could be written. In all his misfortunes and troubles he has held himself aloof from the corruption of the world, and is untouched by the stain of dishonor. His health is much Tlie Medical Profession. 109 improved, and it is to be hoped that he will yet be in a condition to reach that acme of fame he so much desired. Dr. G. T. Deason practiced at Elyton from 1859 to 1861, when he joined the Confederate army. After the war he returned to Elyton and practiced until his death, which was caused by small-pox. Dr. Nathaniel Hawkins graduated from the University of New York in the year 1846, and practiced at Elyton from 1847 to 1877, the year of his death. He was a successful practitioner. Dr. James E. Kent came to Jefferson County from Selma, Ala., in the year 1874, and located at Oxmoor. He did a large country practice for two years. He represented the county in the legislature two years. He died in the year 1882 in Birmingham. Dr. J. B. Vann graduated from the University of Louisiana at New Orleans in the year i860. He practiced in Montevallo, Ala., about six months, at Trussville about six months, and then located at Elyton, where he practiced successfully for fifteen years, and had to retire to farm life on account of bad health. In 1885 he came to Birmingham and went into the undertaking business. He is now in the real estate business in Birmingham. Dr. Ralph Davis, a son of Dr. Daniel Davis, graduated from the Medical College of Georgia in the year 1858, and practiced a few years in Jefferson County, about fourteen miles south-west of Birmingham. He is now doing a large and successful practice at Montevallo, Ala. The first medical society organized in the county was formed in the year 1865, with Dr. Joseph R. Smith President, and Dr. G. T. Deason Secretary. In 1869 the Jefferson County Medical Society was organ- ized under the old constitution, with Dr. F. M. Prince, of Jonesboro, President, and Dr. R. N. Hawkins, now of Shelby County, Secretary. The organization did but little more until the year 1873. It was revived to active work during the cholera epidemic. The members of the society did faithful and honorable service in the relief of suffering humanity in Birmingham. The society records and transactions of the Medical Asso- ciation of Alabama can show the true activity of this .society at the time. I cannot pass this period in the history of the profession without making honorable mention of the heroes who stood the test during the cholera epidemic of 1873 in Birmingham. Some of these were Drs. J. B. Luckie, J. VV. Sears, M. H. Jordan, and W. P. Taylor, deceased. The latter mentioned gentleman, who worked in concert with his co-laborers in that fearful scourge of 1873, died at his home in Birmingham in the year 1883. He was a man of remarkable culture, and of that polished gentle- Jeffe7'Son County. manly appearance and gallant bearing that won for him friends among every class of people. The other three have been honored and exalted by the people and profession from time to time. They still live to enjoy the praises of an appreciative people. Dr. Sears has been President of the Board of Medical Examiners of Jefferson County for nearly ten years. Dr. Luckie has been a member of said board, and filled the position with dignity and impartiality. He represented the county in the State Senate in 1881-82. While in the Senate he made no offensi%'e display of learning; no dogmatic prejudices, pedantr}', or egotism ever deformed his character. He developed no adventurous spirit, but, on the contrary, that conservatism that would safely keep and justly administer what was already achieved. It was mainly through his efforts that a bill was passed through the legislature of Alabama authorizing Birmingham to issue bonds for sewerage, and the present system of sewerage in Birmingham was introduced by him. When representing the people he was just to the country, just to himself, and just to his office. He was defeated for the mayoralty in Birmingham in 1886 by Hon. A. O. Lane. We feel that if he had been elected he would have treaded the walks •of such a station with true judicial dignity, proving himself just and honorable. Dr. Jordan has filled every office in the Jefferson County Medical Society, been a member of the State Board of Medical Examiners, and was made president of the Medical Association of Alabama in 1883. He has made many valuable contributions to medical literature. In October, 1886, he was elected to the Chair of Materia Medica in the Alabama Medical College at Mobile, Ala. He has ever been an earnest man, with an earnest work to do. He is a social favorite, and full of humor. To be associated with him is to be pried up by his witticisms, be shocked with laughter until your eyes are closed, sides split, and prayers offered for a solid brace to prevent an explosion. He is a hard worker, and while much of his time is spent in serving jokes in all kinds of dishes, with them we see the foaming, sparkling crest of the ocean that carries upon its bosom a magnificent cargo. He is a very entertaining man, and we trust that as he goes from us to refresh and build up his feeble constitu- ti onin the institution of medical learning in Mobile he will help mold and shape the hearts and intellects of Alabama's medical students. In the year 1873 Dr. J. W. Sears was elected President of Jefferson County Medical Society, and Dr. M. H. Jordan Secretary. Dr. Sears filled the chair of President until 1879, and Dr. Jordan remained Secretary Tiie Medical Professiofi. until the year 1878, when S. M. Gillespie, Ph. D., was elected to serve until the year 1879. In the year 1879 D""- ^^- P- Taylor was elected President and Dr. W. H. Cook Secretary. This last election was under the new constitu- tion of the Medical Association of Alabama. Dr. Taylor remained President until the year 1881. Dr. Cook was Secretary one year, and Dr. S. L. Ledbetter was elected for the year 1880. In the year 1881 Dr. M. H. Jordan was made President and Dr. Ledbetter reelected Secretary. Dr. Jordan remained President until 1883, when Dr. Henry N. Rosser was elected to the Presidency and Dr. Ledbetter reelected Secretary. In 1884 — Dr. H. P. Cochran, President; Dr. A. J. Douglass, Sec- retary. In 1885— Dr. J. C. Dozier, President; Dr. B. G. Copeland, Sec- retary. In 1886— Dr. Charles Whelan, President; Dr. E. P. Earle, Secretary. In 1887— Dr. John D. S. Davis, President; Dr. R. L. Wyman, Secretary. THE ALABAMA SURGICAL AND GYNECOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION. The above Association was organized December 15, 1886, in Bir- mingham. In November, 1886, in the office of the Drs. Davis, Dr. Henry N. Rosser and Drs. J, D. S. Davis and W. E. B. Davis, in consultation, decided to organize an association to advance the science of Surgery and Gynecology in Alabama and the South. These three gentlemen called a meeting of a few of the physicians of Birmingham and Pratt Mines to take the preliminary steps to organize such an association necessary to advance these sciences. An enthusiastic meeting was held November 14, 1886, and a temporary organization was effected by the election of Dr. H. N. Rosser, of Birmingham, Chairman, and Dr. W. E. B. Davis, of Birmingham, Secretary. December 15, 1886, was the day appointed for permanent organization. The association was organized and elected the following officers, committees, and honorary members : Drs, H. N. Rosser, of Birmingham, President ; C. Toxey, of Mobile, First Vice-President ; Benjamin H. Riggs, of Selma, Second Vice-Presi- dent; W. E. B. Davis, of Birmingham, Secretary; H. P. Cochran, of Bir- mingham, Treasurer. Jejferson Co?tnty. Orator for the next annual convention, Benjamin J. Baldwin, of Montgomery. Judicial Council — J. D. S. Davis, Birmingham, for five years ; J. F. Heustis, Mobile, for four years ; J. H. McCarty, Birmingham, for three years ; R. D. Webb, Livingston, two years ; Benjamin H. Riggs. Selma, one year. Publication Committee — W. E. B. Davis, Birmingham ; Peter Bryce, Tuscaloosa; Benjamin J. Baldwin, Montgomery. Committee on Arrangements — J. B. Luckie, B, G. Copeland, E. H. Sholl, of Birmingham. Committee on Voluntary Essays — Peter Bryce, Tuscaloosa ; C. Toxey, Mobile; W. Locke Chew, Birmingham; Benjamin H. Riggs, Selma ; Frank Prince, Jonesboro. Essayists for Next Convention — J. F. Heustis, Mobile; Charles Whelan, Birmingham; John C. Parham, Gainesville; O. L. Shivers, Marion ; J. R. Hoffman, Athens. Committee to Obtain a Charter — Frank Prince, J. B. Luckie, C. Toxey. Honorary Members — Robert Battey, Rome, Ga. ; H. F. Campbell, Augusta, Ga. ; W. F. Westmoreland, V. N. Taliaferro, Wm. Abram Love, Atlanta, Ga.; W. T. Briggs, Duncan Eve, W. D. Haggard, Nash- ville, Tenn.; D. W. Yandell, W. H. Wathen, Louisville, Ky.; Dr. Maury, Memphis, Tenn.; J. F. Y. Payne, Galveston, Te.xas ; A. B. Miles, E. S. Lewis, New Orleans, La. The following letter to Drs. J. D. S. and W. E. B. Davis, editors of The Alabama Medical and Surgical Journal, December, 1886, gives good evidence of the thorough work being done by the profession in Jefferson County : " Editors Alabama Medical and Surgical Journal : When I received the first number of your valuable journal last July, I predicted for Alabama a new era in her medical literature. That prediction is beginning to be realized. In the November issue of the Journal I see a notice of the temporary organization of the Alabama Surgical and Gynecological Association. Originating in the office of The Alabama Medical and Surgical Journal, and supported by such surgeons and gynecologists as Birmingham affords, means much for these sciences in Alabama. It is apparent that these branches have long been neglected in Alabama, and while our State Medical Association, from year to year, gives us some valuable contributions to medical literature, very little is said and done for the sciences of surgery and gynecology. No profession The Medical Profcssioft. 113 in the Union is so well organized as Alabama's, and yet the medical literature of Alabama is far in the rear. The founding of the Journal for Alabama was the stepping-stone to her future attainments. Evidently so, for, as a result of that move, we have the Surgical and Gynecological Association. I congratulate the originators of this Association for invit- ing only fifty of Alabama's doctors to become charter members. It is too often the case that a new organization is stagnated by the too large- ness of its membership. With the contemplated charter membership of fifty plans can be perfected for a grand and glorious work for Alabama doctors. I infer from your notice that the membership will not be restricted to numbers, but to qualification, which, I think, is a display of wisdom and policy. The selection made for the charter membership is as good as possible to make it. I feel honored and flattered to be remembered in the invitation extended by the committee on membership. I am eager to see this work pushed to success. I will be present at the permanent organization December 15, 1 886, and you can count on me in every movement look- ing to the elevation of the profession of Alabama. Wishing your journal every success, and thanking you for your hon- orable efforts to do something for the medical profession of Alabama, I subscribe myself, A Friend to The Alabama Surgical and Gyneco- logical Association." Below is a list of the members of the profession in the county, with their colleges, dates of graduation, offices filled by each, and post-office addresses, who are members of the Jefferson County Medical Society: Dr. Tillman Purifoy Burgamy, Jefferson Medical College, 1845, Bir- mingham. Dr. William Dudley Cooper, Jefferson Medical College, 1869, Bir- mingham. Dr. Hardin Perkins Cochrane, University of New York, 1874, Bir- mingham. President Jefferson County Medical Society in 1884. Dr. Benjamin Grigsby Copeland, Jefferson Medical College, 1883, Bir- mingham. Secretary Jefferson County Medical Society in 1884 and 1885. Dr. John Daniel Sinkler Davis, Georgia Medical College, 1879, Bir- mingham. Member of the American Medical Association ; Censor in St. Clair County in 1879 and 1880; one of the founders of the Alabama Surgical and Gynecological Association ; one of the founders of The Ala- bama Medical and Surgical Journal ; member of the Council of the Ala- bama Surgical and Gynecological Association for 1887 to 1892 ; President of Jefferson County Medical Society in 1887. 7 114 Jefferson County. Dr. William Elias Brownlee Davis, Bellevue Hospital Medical Col- lege, 1883, Birmingham. Member of the American Medical Associa- tion ; one of the founders of the Alabama Surgical and Gynecological Association ; one of the founders of the Alabama Medical and Surgical Journal ; Secretary of the Alabama Surgical and Gynecological Asso- ciation, and Chairman of its Publishing Committee for five years, from 1887 to 1892 ; Treasurer of Jefferson County Medical Society in 1886. Dr. John Calhoun Dozier, University of Nashville, 1858, Birming- ham. President of Jefferson County Medical Society in 1885 ; Health Officer of Jefferson County in 1887. Dr. Charles Drennen, Alabama Medical College, 1880, Birmingham. Dr. Edward Pickens Earle, Medical College of South Carolina, 1880, Birmingham. Secretary of Jefferson County Medical Society in 1886, and Censor for 1887 and 1888. Dr. Robert Smith Edwards, Georgia Medical College, 1871, Truss- ville. Dr. John Moore Hayes, Nashville Medical College, 1857, Pratt Mines. State Physician. Dr. Albert Thomas Henley, University of New York, 1869, Bir- mingham. State Physician. Dr. Brice Martin Hughes, University of Louisiana, 1S82, Birming- ham. Censor from 1S82 to 1886. Dr. Mortimer Harry Jordan, Miami Medical College, 1868, Birming- ham. Secretary Jefferson County Medical Society in 1873 and 1874, and President in 1882 and 1883 ; Censor in 1885 and 1886; Senior Counselor in Alabama Medical Association ; member State Board of Censors in 1881 and 1882; President Alabama Medical Association in 1883. Dr. Edward P. Lacy, Vanderbilt University, 1883, Wheeling. Dr. Samuel Leonidas Ledbetter, University of Louisville, 1869, Bir- mingham. Secretary of Jefferson County Medical Society for 1881, 1882, and 1883. Dr. James Buckner Luckie, University of Pennsylvania, 1853, Bir- mingham. Health Officer for Jefferson County from 1881 to 18S4; Cen- sor for 1885 and 1886. Dr. Percy Bradford Lusk, University of Louisiana, 1883, Birming- ham. Dr. James Henry McCarty, Atlanta Medical College, 1880, Birming- ham. Professor of Anatomy in the Atlanta Medical College in 1881 and 1882; Member of the Judicial Council of the Alabama Surgical and The Medical Professio7i. 1 1 5 Gynecological Association ; Vice-President of Jefferson County Medical Society in 1886. Dr. John Mortimer Naff, Vanderbilt University, 1885, Pratt Mines. Dr. Francis Marion Prince, Jefferson Medical College, 1849, Jones- boro. President of Jefferson County Medical Society in 1869, and Vice- President of the Alabama Medical Association in 1877 and 1878. Dr. Thomas F. Robinson, Vanderbilt University, 1881, Jonesboro. Dr. Henry N. Rosser, Atlanta Medical College, 1869, Birmingham. President of Jefferson County Medical Society in 1883 ; one of the found- ers of the Alabama Surgical and Gynecological Association, and made its first President in 1887 ; Censor of Jefferson County Medical Society from 1887 to 1890. Dr. John William Sears, University of Pennsylvania, 1850, Birming- ham. President of Jefferson County Medical Society in 1S79; Censor of Jefferson County Medical Society for ten years, and Counselor of Ala- bama Medical Association. Dr. Wooster Ney Shoemaker, Columbus Medical College, 1878, Bir- mingham. Treasurer of Jefferson County Medical Society for 1883, 1884, and 1885. Dr. Edward Henry Sholl, Pennsylvania Medical College, 1856, Bir- mingham. -Orator for Alabama Medical Association for 1883 ; Counselor in Alabama Medical Association, and Censor in Jefferson County Medical Society from 1884 to 1887. Dr. Henderson Stallwart Duncan, Vanderbilt University, 1880, Bir- mingham. Dr. Charles VVhelan, University of Louisiana, 1866, Birmingham. President of Jefferson County Medical Society in 1886; Censor of the Society of Jefferson for five years, and Counselor of the Alabama Medi- cal Association. Dr. Cunningham Wilson, University of Pennsylvania, 1884, Bir- mingham. Dr. B. L. Wyman, College of Physicians and Surgeons, N. Y. , 18 — , Birmingham. Secretary of Jefferson County Medical Society in 1887. Dr. Henry Jasper Winn, University of Louisiana, 1858, Birming- ham. Health Officer of Jefferson County in 1884 and 1885 ; now Post- master of Birmingham. Dr. Samuel Harvey Wooleston, University of Pennsylvania, 1880, Birmingham. Dr. Joseph B. Robinson, Vanderbilt University, 1882, Woodlawn. 1 1 6 Jefferson County. REGULAR PHYSICIANS NOT MEMBERS OF JEFFERSON COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY. Dr. John Pattisoii Abercrombie, Alabama Medical College, 1880, Cedar Grove. Dr. Barwell Gideon Abernathy, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore, 1879, Birmingham. Recently removed to Florida. Dr. Jones Cadwallader Abernathy. University of Louisiana, 1859, Birmingham. Surgeon in the Confederate Army. Dr. Samuel W. Acton, Alabama Medical College, i860, Trussville. Dr. James Madison Bevans, certificate of the Madison County Board, 1871, Warrior. Dr. Andrew Jackson Brewster, Alabama Medical College, 1880, Bir- mingham. Dr. George Washington Brown, Atlanta Medical College, 1877, Pratt Mines. Dr. Thomas Jefferson Brown, Vanderbilt University, 1885, Pratt Mines. Dr. Samuel Mardis Cross, Georgia Medical College, i860. Wood- lawn. Dr. Andrew Jackson Crow, Atlanta Medical College, 1868, Warrior. Dr. Russell McWhorter Cunningham, Bellevue Hospital Medical College, 1879, Pratt Mines. Dr. Gideon Wesley Ellis, certificate Elyton Botanical Association, 1872, Morris. Dr. Albert Gallatin Douglass, Vanderbilt University, 1881, Birming- ham. Dr. A. C. Pidwards, , Birmingham. Dr. Ezeva Foster, certificate County Board, 1880, Toadvine. Dr. Robert Smith Green, Alabama Medical College, i860. New Castle. Dr. F. P. Lewis, , Coalburg. Dr. John P. Gillespie, Miami Medical College, 1883, Birmingham. Dr. Robert Julius Mathews, Georgia Medical College, 18 — , Warrior. Dr. J. W. McClendon, , Irondale. Dr. D. D. Oates, University of Pennsylvania, i860, Leeds. Dr. William Felix Posey, Alabama Medical College, 185 1, Mt. Pinson. Dr. Milton Rag.sdale, Medical College of Atlanta, 18—, McCalla. The Medical Profession. 1 1 7 Dr. Martin Roberts, certificate County Board, 1878, Hagood's Cross- roads. Dr. J. J. Duncan, Kentucky School of Medicine, 1886, Birmingham. IRREGULAR PRACTITIONERS IN THE COUNTY. Dr. Albert E. Meadows (homeopathist), Hahnemann Medical College, 1883, Warrior. Dr. Julius J. Faber (homeopathist), Homeopathic Hospital Medical College, 1884, Birmingham. Dr. A. L. Monroe (homeopathist), now in Louisville, Ky. Practiced in the county during the years 1883 and 1884. PHYSICIANS WHO HAVE RETIRED FROM PRACTICE. W. A. Cook, University of Louisiana. Removed to Atlanta, Ga. T. D. Nabors. Now in the drug business in Birmingham. George W. Morrow, Miami Medical College, Ohio, 1868. Now in the drug business in Birmingham. J. W. Maddox. M. S. Sykes, University of Louisiana, 18 — . Removed from the State. T. W. Garner, Vanderbilt Medical College, 1880. Removed to St. Clair County. James Bird Vann, University of Louisiana, i860. Now in the real estate business. DECEASED PHYSICIANS. Arthur R. Jones, Miami Medical College, Jonesboro. Dr. Jones died in the year 1883 while on his knees reading a mock prayer. He was ■a man of culture, and had every advantage to train his mind in several of the sciences. During his college course his mind took a strange line of skepticism, which resulted in making him an infidel. He did much to influence his friends and associates to follow in his footprints and accept his theories, but with little success. His name has been flashed to every civilized land on account of the memorable circumstances surrounding his last moments. I can but paint his life as one of night, his death of night, his future of night. What a solemn thing is night in the wilder- ness of skepticism ! Night among the mountains of temptation ! Night I I S Jefferson Cotinty. on the sea of learning ! Frightful night among tropical groves ! Flash- ing, fearful night amid Arctic severities ! No calm night on Roman Cam- pagna! No glorious night 'mid sea after a tempest! Oh, thou blind mariner, with so many beaming, burning, flaming, glorious truths to guide you, you failed, I fear, to find your way into the harbor. Dr. Joseph M. Burton, Nashville Medical College, 1877. Died near Birmingham in the year 1S84. He had done a successful practice in the county for several years. Dr. H. P. Heard, graduate of the Georgia Medical College at Augusta, 1857. Practiced one year in Birmingham, and died of angina pectoris. THE ALABAMA MEDICAL AND SURGICAL JOURNAL. The profession of Jefferson County has ever shown a spirit of progress, and it has given to Alabama the first and only medical and surgical jour- nal. Its editors are Drs. J. D. S. Davis and W. E. B. Davis. We mod- estly refer to the following extracts on the journal : The Alabama Medical and Surgical Journal. — This is just such a journal as we should expect from a land hallowed by the footsteps of J. Marion Sims. It is essentially different from any other journal on our table. There are forty-six pages of original communications, embracing such articles as "Pelvic Inflammations," "A Case of Meniere's Disease," "The Immediate Restoration of Parts to their Normal Position after Tenotomy," "Boric Acid," "Spontaneous Rupture of a Large Multiloc- ular Ovarian Cyst," "A Case of Opium Poisoning," "Simultaneous Double Primary Amputation Complicated with other Injuries, " " Destruc- tion of an Eye by Calomel." Each of these articles is ably presented, and there is a tendency throughout to simplicity in style. The good old Anglo-Saxon words are used far more plentifully than we find them used in any of the Northern journals. Of course, this is an element of vigor. It is a comfort to read articles in which the writer is telling facts with as little fuss as possible. We find a page and a half devoted to original translations, and eight pages to society proceedings. In the salutatory a fine tribute is paid to literature, and afterward the importance of medical literature is pointed out. The editorial department has the following under " Criminal Abor- tion:" "The low muttering thunders of destruction and roaming blizzard of the birth-strangled babe have just swept over our sister city, Atlanta, and now begin to disturb the gentle zephyrs of the Magic City. It is The Medical Profession. 119 rumored that a lady (?) of Birmingham, who contemplates marriage at an early date, had an abortion committed on her about the 20th of May. The infamous scoundrel and she devil who are guilty of this heinous crime will be remembered and watched. They have been cunning and sly, but our promise for it, if they are not careful, law and public sentiment enough will yet be stirred up to get a verdict of guilty. May something be done to eradicate this wholesale slaughter of the helpless!" Amen and Amen. Here is the very place where the chivalry of the South and North can unite and work for a grand good. This journal is good in its youth ; it will be grand in its old age. — Denver Medical Journal, The Alabam.\ Medical and Surgical Journal. — Filled with pro- fessional patriotism and State pride, Messrs. Davis undertook to supply the State of Alabama with a first- class periodical, devoted to the interests of the medical profession of that State. The effort has been successful beyond the average ; it has the real stamp of enterprise and editorial ability. One of the leading features of interest may be found in the depart- ment of diseases of the eye, conducted by Ben. J. Baldwin, M. D., of Montgomery. Dr. Baldwin is an accomplished physician and a graceful writer. The Alabama Journal came into existence at the same time Progress made its first appearance. We submit it to the profession that Progress and the Alabama Journal have already attained a growth and development amply sufficient to establish their claims to a perpetual existence. — Progress, of Louisville, Ky. 1 1 III 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 BIRMINGHAM. Q^aVly Ra(lyo^A Boy Road, near Meridian, Mississippi, a distance of two hundred and ninety-five miles, about the year 1870. There are forty-eight stations, including the termini. The lands in Alabama, of which we particularly speak now as the property of the Alabama Great Southern, were granted by the United States to the road. They comprise about 600,000 acres and lie in the counties of DeKalb, Jackson, Marshall, Etowah, Blount, St. Clair, Jeffer- son, Shelby, Tuscaloosa, Bibb, Greene, Hale, Sumter, and Choctaw. Some of these are mineral lands, but have not been geologically surveyed to fix the value or extent of their mineral deposits. Timber abounds on all, and much of it is merchantable. Passing beyond Alabama we find the Queen and Crescent s}'stem of railroads, of which the Alabama Great Southern is a part, extends from Cincinnati, southward, to include the Vicksburg & Meridian, and the Vicksburg & Shreveport. This system controls upward of 3,000,000 acres of land, the great bulk being agricultural. They lie in alter- nate sections of one mile square (640 acres) fifteen miles on each side of the line. This princely domain commences at the dividing line Jefferson Coimty. between the States of Georgia and Alabama, and terminates with the dividing line between Louisiana and Texas. The great variety of soils contained by it and the situation it maintains, in the heart of the civiliza- tion of the country, give it rare value. Frank Y. Anderson, who is Land Commissioner of this great land system, resides in Birmingham, where the headquarters of the Land Department are located. Mr. Anderson is a Marylander by birth, his ancestors being of English extraction. He was born in 1847, and reared and educated in Washington, District of Columbia. At the age of twenty- three he graduated from the law department of Columbia College, and at once entered upon the practice of his profession in Washington. Two years later he removed to Mobile, and gave his attention to the division of the practice respecting lands. After eight years in Mobile he came to Birmingham. As an efficient agent and manager of great corporate interests, Mr. Anderson ranks high. The land he controls is wholly owned by English capitalists, who can know their agent only by the worthy manner in which he discharges his trust. Mr. Anderson is happily established in the societj* of Birmingham, not alone by virtue of his own intelligence and public spirit, but by the long-fixed influence of his wife's family in Alabama. Mrs. Anderson is a daughter of B. F. Paine, of DeKalb County, and descended from the Winston family, so distinguished in wealth and political honors in the State. '6\)^ /Alabama Qeptral. Governor Moore and State Aid — John T. Milner — A Great Work of Engineering — The Gulf Commerce — Cullman Colony. The line of railroad now known as the North and South Division of the Louisville & Nashville system was originally projected as the Ala- bama Central. The legislature appropriated, at its session in the winter of 1858, ^10,000 for making a reconnoissance for a route for a railroad from the Tennessee River to some point on the Alabama & Tennessee Early Railroad Building. 131 Rivers Railroad, and to make a thorough survey of the most practicable route to connect the Tennessee River with the navigable waters of the Mobile Bay with reference to the development of the mineral regions of the State. The original conception, it will be seen, did not make Mont- gomery, but "some point on the Alabama & Tennessee Rivers Rail- road," now the Selma, Rome & Dalton, the southern terminus. The original plan was to connect the Tennessee River in Alabama with the Alabama River by the shortest and most available route consistent with the proper development of the mineral resources of the State. The Governor wisely appointed John T. Milner, Chief Engineer, to make a survey and to report to him respecting the cost of the projected ■road, the character of the country to be traversed, the value of the min- erals to be reached by the road, and the general recommendations of the public policy of the enterprise. John T. Milner became, from that time until now, a conspicuous character in the industrial revolution in Alabama. He has been emphat- ically a leader in the new path which leads to that greatness of develop- ment so plainly now in view. Mr. Milner studied nearly four years at the University of Georgia, and is a native of that State. He had pursued the profession of civil engineering in various parts of the Union, even as far as Oregon. His judgment had been ripened, and his faculty of observa- lion quickened by long and wide acquaintance with countries and with men. So varied had been his experiences he had even rolled a wheel- barrow and worked for years with a pick and shovel in a California gold mine. When Governor Moore selected him to locate a line for the new railroad, there was a condition annexed, as we have said, that the engineer should report to the Governor his impressions, received from observation of the country he was to explore, respecting its capacity to support a railroad, when built. Mr. Milner wrote to the Governor, on sending in his report, Novem- ber 1st, 1858, " It was my first duty to ascertain where the mineral region of the State lay. In this I was guided mainly by the valuable and reliable report of the late Professor Tuomey, State Geologist." The engineer recommended that Decatur, on the Tennessee, be •selected for the northern terminus, and that some point near Montevallo be made the southern terminus of the line of the Central Railroad. Finally the intersection with the Alabama & Tennessee Rivers Road was made at a point in the woods seven miles east of Montevallo, as a legislative compromise between Selma and Montgomery, it being precisely 132 Jefferson County. the same distance to either city from Calera. At the crossing a village sprung up, called Calera. Calera now justly entertains aspirations toward the mission of a city. Streets have been laid off by a land company ; a good hotel has been built ; the most extensive manufactory of lime in the State is there, and a company has been organized to build a blast furnace. But the engineer explained that his selection of "some point near Montevallo" for the southern terminus of the survey ordered by the Governor had an ulterior as well as a present motive. He thought the point thus selected would be " easily accessible by railroad from Mont- gomery, and from South-East Alabama, and also from Mobile, via Jackson, Uniontown, Marion, and Centreville." The line has been extended, as we have seen, in a straight line from Calera, "near Montevallo," to Montgomery. The line "from Mobile, via Jackson, Uniontown," etc., is now being built, and the line from East Alabama will soon be under contract. " Examine the map of Alabama herewith submitted, and the projects thereon indicated, and these facts will become evident," wrote the engineer. Birmingham then had no place on this map. The general views of the engineer were accepted by the Governor. Now, all roads in Alabama lead to Birmingham, and roads of other States seek connection at the " Magic City" with the original Ala- bama Central. Engineer Milner stated in his report to Governor Moore, when his laborious and painstaking surveys had been completed, that he had been successful in obtaining a line for the Alabama Central which would com- pare favorably "in cost, grades, alignments, and everything else with the railroads in the neighboring States, and is far better in these respects than any other route across the Alleghany Mountains, except, perhaps, the Georgia State Road." He considered the long season of doubt and per- plexity, which for forty years had embarrassed and confused the desires of the people to build the road, finally settled. The cost would be moderate, say 823,000 in round numbers per mile; the air line would be one hun- dred and four miles and the surveyed line was only one hundred and twenty-one miles. The difference, per cent., of variation from the airline in the Georgia State Road was more than double the variation in the Central Alabama. Having offered convincing proof of the practicability of the road, at moderate cost, he proceeded to demonstrate its great importance. When the engineer set out in obedience to the instructions of the Governor "to locate the mineral regions of the State," which might be penetrated most profitably by a line of railroad, he successfully accom- Early Railroad Lhiildmg. 133 plished a great work, the importance of which cannot be described. He began to do that which has, at last, unlocked the greatest mineral wealth of the world, contained in any connected area. A man small in stature, taciturn, as strong men of action usually are, quiet and well bred in manner, and more ready to hear than deliver opinions. Southern born and educated, possessed of the instincts of the Southern gentleman in his walk among men — this is the man who, near thirty years ago, came into the wilderness of Alabama, far from the trails of commerce, to go back to the State capital to speak the portentious words to the Governor: " We are now at the beginning of the development of gigantic National resources." He wanted the Governor to press forward the action of the legislature in the project to aid the Central Railroad. "The ports of the Gulf of Mexico are destined soon to be the recipients of the richest commerce the world ever saw. Even now one half of the exports of the United States pass over this inland sea of ours." These eloquent words of states- manship found utterance before their time. In 1858 Alabama was more busily engaged in discussing "the rights of the South in the Territories," than in the line of Mr. Milner's explorations. The predominant prosper- ity, great as it was, and benign in its influences, did not see that it was not self-poised or self-sufficient. Slavery had even then passed the "dead line." The battle waged for its perpetuation, with gunpowder as the arbitrament, came as the inevitable. The pioneers of the new industrial life of the State, the civil engineers, whose weapons were compass and chain, had indeed decided the problem of slavery by preparing the way for its most insatiable enemy, the manu- facture of iron by free labor. "We are now in the beginning of the development of gigantic National resources," Milner warned Alabama; so gigantic indeed, that the disclosed power to reverse- the seat of National influence, to bring it South from the North, to make of "the ports of the Gulf of Mexico the recipients of the richest commerce the world ever saw. ' ' Tiiirty years ago Engineer MUner — the young Southerner, silent, meditative, and enthusiastic, told the Governor of Alabama, for publication to the world, "we can safely say that coal can be delivered by the Central and connecting roads at Mobile and Pensacola, at from five to six dollars per ton." This high price for coal stood as an argument in 1858 in favor of railroad connection with the mineral region. We find the Mobile Register of September 1st, i860, announcing that Alabama (Montevallo) coals, even at eight to twelve dollars per ton, were fast driving out Pennsylvania coal from that market and had materially reduced prices by competition. 1 34 Jefferson County. The Central Railroad now having been completed and become a part of the Louisville & Nashville Railway line, and the way opened to the half score of great coal mines opened in reach of it, we find the eng- ineer's estimated prices of Alabama coals delivered at Mobile to be not "five or six dollars" in fact, but