P 326 fl22 Copy 1 \ ALABAMA. What resources has Alabama? is an iniiuiry of decliuing importance. What is being done with them"? has usurped the old interest in tlie first (juery. Not that all her native wealth has been measured and mapjied or even discovered, for much searching below the surface is still in progress, not without reward. But developing wealth means much mere to men than natural riches, and human interest in growing and expanding indus- try is now tense and strained in Alabama. What may be called the industrial literature of the State, affords an apt and unmistakable illustration of the point. In the eighties there was a mighty boom, and the pamphleteers and newspapers ponred a tide of ink through the land. The story was of the ores and the coal and the limber and soil possibilities, and the industries that were coming, while gay maps were showy with dotted lines of railroads yet to be. The literature of this good year 1901, issued by well-organized com- mercial bodies and the railroads, and the trade editions of the papers, deal rather with mines and furnaces and railroads and factories in operation and with farm improvements already here. For an instance, it was for- merly customary in pamphlets like this to say that the soil of Alabama is admirably adapted to the production of rice and sugar cane. Handsome pictures on some other pages of this little book show a rice harvest and a cauelfield ready for the knife. In short, Alabama is in the full tide of an era of development that is the astonishment of her own people ^AMFt^RD. aDcl the best of all invitations to the investor and the worker. True, except in llie nialter of coal and iron, development in Alabama long proceeded slowly and gradually, BO that its extent was hardly realized by the people who were working it out. Comparisons covering periods wide apart show rather startling changes. Latterlj-, comparisons are made of each year with its predecessor. Area. — The area of Alabama is 52,2.50 square miles, or 32,46o,0S0 acres. Of this, three-fourths is arable. One-sixth is underlaid with minerals in workable quantities. At least two-thirds is yet covered with forest growth, much of it valuable as timber. Population. — The population of Alabama is 1,828,697, a gain of 20.8 per cent, since 1890. This is only two- tenths of one per cent, less than the gain of the country as a whole, and exceeds the gains of the East. AN AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. Not without signiticance as indicating the progressive spirit of the people, is the existence of a well-organ- ized Agricultural Department as a part of the State government. Tnder this Department, statistics are gath- ered and information on agricultural subjects disseminated among the people. Lecturers are sent among the farmers and institutes held for the discussion of practical subjects. As a part of the same impulse towards improvement, two regular experiment stations are maintained and an agricultural high school has been estab- lished in each of the congressional districts. The Department works in harmony with the State Agricultural and Mechanical College at Auburn. This Department, also, under special provision of law, makes displays of the products of Alabama at interstate and international expositions, and has now an exhibit at the Pan-Ameri- can Exposition at Buffalo. AGRICULTURE. Tilling the soil is the most important industry of the people in Alabama, and rapid as the gain has been in mining and manufacturing, it does not appear that the farmer is to be left in the race. Not only does he meas- urably keep pace in numbers, but real progress in method and economy and variety of product, is becoming as- 7 :^' ' e / r'5^i5«^2^:f::^^ "»;■■■ *» noteworthy atuoDg the fields as by the streets of Alabama. The fertility of the soil where it was exhausted under the old regime, is being steadily restored by intelligent fertilization, care for the land and rotation of crops, while factory, mine and saw mill are a direct stimulus and aid to agriculture in the markets thej* afford and the transportation facilities they encourage and promote. The census of J900 shows the gain of population in Ala- bama during the ten years to have been liO.S per cent. The gain in rural population was 18.4 per cent. This is a really wonderful testimony to improv- ing agricultural conditions in Alabama, when we consider that for many years farm desertit)n was the despair of thoughtful men. The old time when cotton, corn and the sweet potato patch made up the round of ett'ort, is a long way oft' now. Worn out lands are being reclaimed and made fertile, forests are being -cleared away, the farms improved, the crops varied, and the things for sale and use multiplied beyond the hop© of former examples. The Soil. — The soil of Alabama is of infinite varietj'. In the middle portion, prairie predominates, though interspersed with the rich alluvium of the river valleys and bottoms along the creeks. Taking the State as a ^•hole, the most common soil is the light loam overlying a subsoil of clay. Much of the soil in the pine regions to the south is sandy, though this is inter- spersed with a thin loam on a red clay bed. Between the four dominant soils are found every gradation known to soil composi- tion, including the thick limy loams of the mountain valleys. The products seem, however, rather a matter of climate and fertility, than of soil composition, since scarce a plant or tree that grows in one (loos not flourish in the ottiers. Tlie prai- ries and alluvial deposits are of seemingly inexhaustible fertility; the red lauds are maintained with little manuring and are easily restored when worn; the sandy soils respond to fertilization, and under the stimulus of the mineral ingredients now so abundant and so cheap, they are the seat of a thriving and prosperous popula- THE ALAltAMA KICK HARVEST. ^ IT f L c tion. In large sections of Southern Ala- bama, the home-seeker is following the saw mill, and the thin lands that grew the pine are being transformed into fruitful fields and flowering orchards. Climate. — The cliuiate of Alabama is sunny enoii<;h to bring cotton to its best perfection and to give its sweetest, truest flavor to every frnit tbat grows lu temperate and sub-tropical latitudes. The mercury rarely rises to a hundred as it rarely falls to zero — a narrow range. In the hot- test spells of summer it falls at night fifteen or twenty[degrees, refreshing the sweltering people and saving them from sunstroke and the exhaustion of more northern localities. There is rainfall enough to thread the land with riveis and creeks and brooks and pom from the hillsides every- where many thousands of never fail- ing springs. Dividing the State for meteoro- logical purposes into the noi-ihern or mountain region, the middle or prai- rie and alluvial region, and the south- ern or gulf coast region, we have annual average temperatures as fol- Troi->;o afkica. lows: Northern, 61°; Middle, 04°; Southern, 66°. The average rainfall is as follows: Northern, 149.02 inches; Middle, 47.0.3 inches; Southern, 5.5.87 inches. - The average dates of the first killing frosts of autumn are: At Birmingham, in the Northern district, October oOtli; at Montgomery, in the Middle district, Xo\ember 7th; and at Mobile, in the Southern district, November Itlth. The average dates of the last killing frosts are: |At Birmingham, March 2Sth: at Montgomery, March 12th; and at Mobile, February 20th. These averages are based on observations of thejWeather Bureau of the Vuited States Department of Agri- A RIVER LANDING. culture, covering a series of twenty-eight years. They bear out the statement that the climate is mild and equable, guiltless of extremes. The long range of time between the latest and the earliest killing frosts, shows how and why it is common here to produce from the same land two and even three crops in a single season. With such a soil and such a climate it is no wonder that the farmers of Alabama have caught the quick step of progress, have adopted the lessons of experience and of experiment and of economy, and are making merchandise of that of wliich once they boasted and talked under the grand generic name of "soil possibilities." Agricultural progress is neither a dream nor a theme, but an actual thing turning a growing list of products into the channels of commerce. HeuHh. — Closely related to climate is the subject of health. The well -organized luedical department of the State has carefully gathered statistics through manj years, and the average death rate among the people as a whole is found to be about 13 per thousand. In the cities the average is about 20. with a maximum of 25. With these tignres anyone can institute comparisons for himself with other States and cities. SiufJe Crops. — Historically speaking, the staple crops in Alabama were cotton, corn, and sweet potatoes. The jioint of interest here is uot so much the extent to which we have increased the production of these, but to what extent have we increased the list and thus brought into practical and commercial use the variety (if wealth producing vegetation adapted to our mild climate and varied soil. If by "staple crops" we mean those that are regularly, profitably and systematically raised for purposes of cousumptiou, use or sale, we must greatly increase the list. We must add peas, oats, sugar cane, melons, rye, barley, wheat, vegetables, strawberries, peaches, pears, grapes, mellilotus, alfalfa, vetch, Johnson grass, pea vines, peanuts, clover, timothy, rice and tobacco. Nor must it be overlooked that some of the now staple products of every farm have developed from patches into fields. The potato, the pea, sugar caue, rice, tobacco, and even oats, formerly raised iu a small way for home consumption only, have become money crops, regularly and systematically put upon the market. Cotton. — This great staple is grown in all parts of the State and is still the most general source of the money supply of the people. It brings to the State as raw material more than $30,000,000 per annum. Xotwithstand- ing the increased acreage and production of other crops, it has more than doubled in thirty years. Cotton Seed.— The seed of the cotton never went to waste in Alabama, but was foriuei-ly used as manure in its raw state. It is now a great article of commerce, and a money crop. Every two bales of (cotton lepresents a ton of seed, and the 500,000 tons produced iu the State are worth $5,000,000. If only half the seed are sold, the value to the farmer in money is $2,500,000. These seed are turned into oil, meal and hulls, and are shipped to evei y part of the world as staple articles of commerce. Corn. — Every farm has its corn field and the yield is limited only by the fertility of the soil. Forty bushels to the acre is not an uncommon yield, while the thin lands respond profitably to a little manuring. Street Potatoes. — The farms of Alabama have never been without their potato patch. Next to corn meal, it is and has always been, the most common article of food among the farm laborers. Every cabin has its patch and iu winter its "hill," an earthen mound or bed where the crop is stored for winter use. The yield is from 200 to 800 bushels per acre, practically limitless. The extent of cultivation is limited by the uiarket and the needs of the household. In hard times, poor people have lived and made crops with the potato as the main diet. It is more nourishing than the Irish potato, having a large percentage of sugar, and is more abundant in its yield in this latitude. The market is mainly confined to the local urban population, and the increase of the latter through growth of factories, has largely increased the production of the potato. Improved methods of preservation through the winter have prolonged the marketing season, and the time is already here when last year's crop is obtainable almost until the new crop comes in. I'cas. — No agricultural development in Alabama surpasses the growing value of the common field pea. The pea it>elf is a staple article of food on the table of the humblest cottager and the lordliest hotel. The market is yet far beyond the production. The value of the vine as a soil fertilizer and a rough food for animals has been known for many years, but it is only in the recent past that the body of the people have come to realize its full mamm. TALIL,ASSEB FALLS WATER POWER. importauce and to get the most out of it. Planted npou worn out lauds, the pea produces a fair crop and leaves the soil always richer. The viue turned under, rapidly restores fertility. Its value in this respect is derived from the nitrogen which it draws from the air and that which is stored in the roots. It is even claimed that the vine may be taken oft' for hay and the roots will yet leave the ground in better shape than they found it. But at a certain .stage of growth, the vines make a most nutritious hay, and the yield runs from a ton on the poorest land to three tons on soils of average fertility. It may be truly said that progressive farming in Ala- bama is measured by the attention paid to the tield pea. Siiyay Cane. — The Alabama farmer who does not make his own molasses, and a far better quality than he can buy on the general market, is behind the times. The sugar cane patch is becoming as universal as the garden sjiot. Here and there a farmer has his own mill and boilers, but usually each neighborhood has its traveling mill which goes from farm to farm making up the crop. The molasses thus made is sold in the towns and cities at fair prices. S'or is the home-made sugar left in the bottoms of the barrels a despised item of farm economy. Four hundred gallons per acre is not an uncom- mon product. Manure is recjuired on the soils of Alabama and there is hence no prospect of cane raising on the plantation system. But as part and parcel of general farming, nothing adds so much to the purse or the comfort of tbe Alabama farmer. The cane thus raised m-trF-p scen-e o.v akm,m«a k.v, ... on our lands in Alabama is richer in sucrose than that of Louisiana by two per cent. Through neighborhood co-operation, this cane can be turned into sugar by the most improved proces.ses, and thus a source of wealth is opened up which is so much gain, not interfering with the general oper- ations of the farms as heretofore pursued. Jfdi/. — Much has been written and much said of the grasses of Alabama, an almost infinite variety flourish- ing here. In the Tennessee valley clover has long been successfully grown. Ot its own accord and as a volun- Mm tary visitor, both white and yellow clover are spreading over the old tields and along the highways as far south as Montgoaiery •where it is proving valuable for pasture. The staple grasses for hay crops are, the old native crab grass, the imported John- son grass, niellilotus, alfalfa, timothy, mil- lets of several kinds, and pea vines. Allu- sion has already been made to the last named. The crab nourishes everywhere and has the advantage that it can be alter- nated with other crops without replanting. The Johnson grass makes a coarssr hay and is raised on laud given over to itself. On good soils in the prairies and river lands, it produces from year to year an average of three tons per acre and requires no cultivation. The great grazing grass of the country is Bermuda, which is tenacious, requires no attention, is rich in butter qual- ities, and attbrds pasturage for nine months of the year. Mellilotus has been found to restore fertility to the ba d and worn prairie soils in a few years, and is invaluable in middle Alabama. Other grasses are of areat value, and only await development to multiply many fold the varieties in practical use as money produ'cers 7 I'lr^^ """ ''"•^' '™P ''^ produced with so little labor that will commaud on any market at any tinie Irom *20 to *oO per acre in money. ivps iL'Ivl' COAST H( IE. M. A O. R. R. 0«««.-Alabama produces oats quite equal to those of any other part of the country and forty to sixty bushels per acre is no^ an unusual yield. Rye and barley are raised in s.nall quantities, the local demand not iustifviug their rapid substitution for more profitable crops. t* • i ■ 'L -Precept upon precept has resulted at last in a forward movement in the cultnre of rice. It is being raised on the uplands, though many thousands of acres of bottoms are waiting and adapted tor this crop. Even u the up mds'a crop of seventy-five bushels is not a rarity. Hitherto the rice patches on the farm ha^-e been scarce simplv t^.r lack of mills to clean it when produced. Abont ten rice mills have now however, been put nroperarion in South Alabama, and in 1890 these cleaned over 50,000 bushels for the small larmers who raised it u patches. Some of these patches are being enlarged to fields, and the industry is a rapidly growing one^ The Lue of the rice crop ranges from ^..O to ^100 per acre, being greater than that of any other grain crop grown auv where in the world. v ,„ .. i;ffi«. To/.«.;o.-Alabama has long produced tobacco in a s<.rt of domestic way, tlie poorer farmers raising a little for home use. It is now becoming a commercial crop, expe- ' riment having shown that Cuba has little if any advantage over our southern counties in the matter of quality. At Geneva is a cigar factory that not only uses the home-grown article, but raises its own supplies. Over six hundred acres are under cultivation in that community, and the cigar is popular in the market, ranking high in every respect. Cattif liamiui. — A great stimulus has of recent years been given to cattle raising. Buyers from the West unexpectedly made their appearance at every farm house in the State, anxious to buy up cattle for shipment to the Western grazing lands. It was like a windfall. The farmer hardly looked upon the few head which he had allowed to grow up about him, as being a money asset. There was no market. The in the golu KEfiu.Ns. Western buyer rapidly cleaaert out the country. But the farmer had learned his lesson of the buy and everywhere the effort is making not only to supply the demand but to supply it with an animal that will bring- a better price. Bain/in;/. — The growth of the towns and cities has been accompanied by increasing attention to dairying. Dairymen have multiplied sufficiently to have organized their industry. The demand for milk is everywhere abundantly supplied by the delivery wagons of suburban farmers. Farther out there is increasing production of butter, selling at twenty-five cents the pound, but there seems to be yet a vast margin between the supply and demaud. No industry would seem to be more inviting than butter making in Alabama, where many of the native tarmers still reluctantly abandon the old cotton one- crop habit and leave the more profitable branches of the bus- iness open to their more enterprising neighbors. But little feeding is necessary, and even in winter the cow gets part of her living in the open pasture. It is a fact that an Alabama cow, fed on a Madison county farm, holds the world's butter record for a year's product. Sheej) (1)1(1 Goats. — The same impulse that is drawing atten- tion to cattle, is moving the farmers to increase their flocks of sheep and goats. The market has developed and there is movement to supply it. Special inquiries by the State Agri- cultural Department brought uniform replies that the increase in the numbers of these animals is quite general and is er at his door attended with profitable results. There are wide ranges of unoccupied laud where they almost raise themselves. The wool produced by sheep iu the climate of Alabama is of long fibre and soft texture and commands a ready^ market. Hogs. — Iu former times Alabama raised uearlj' all her own meat. The long neglected hog is regaining his lost prestige, and home-raised meat for the table is becoming a rule, while the market towns are increasingly supplied with native and juicy hams as of yore. Storlc. — Alabama is still a large purchaser of mules from Tennessee and Kentucky, for use iu raising cotton. But she is raising an increasing number of her own. A few large stock farms have proven wonderfully success- ful in the breeding of line hoi'ses,and the impulse toward blooded stock is general. Xo community is now with- out the best strains from Tennessee and Kentucky, and horses with pedigrees are found everywhere. But the most gratifying progress in this respect is found in the fact that the small farmer is raising one or two colts as a part of the general farm economy. He is taking advantage of the natural increase of the horse and displac- ing the expensive mule. This plays no small part iu the evidently increasing prosperity of the small farmer. On the open pastures of the open Southern winters, it costs less than -^25 to raise a colt to maturity. Market Gardenmg. — For a good many years the business of market gardening on a large scale iu Alal)ania was confined to the gulf coast around Mobile. But the business has spread northward. Evergreen and Brew- ton and Cullman have become great shipping points, and the industry is growing around all the larger towns. The development of local markets has furnished the stimulus, and thus the general development of manufac- tures and commerce has reacted upon agriculture to the latter's benefit. Fruit. — Melon growing for shipment has long been profitably carried on in Southeastern Alabama. But no part of the State seems favored above another for the general growing of fruit. Strawberries are grown and shipped without regard to locality. Peaches are grown for sale in all localities, generally for the local markets. But there is an ever-growing surplus finding its way northward and westward. Fortunately, we can leave gen- eralities here aud paint the Alabama fruit story by the simple statement of a fact, viz: Xear Huntsville, Ala.> are two of the largest nurseries in the world, aud one of them is a branch of a nursery at Rochester, New York. There are successsul nurseries at Montgomery, Evergreen, Mobile, Ashland, and iu Washington aud Covingtoa A GENERAL, FIELD SCENE. .-^^-^iMaBi&t i.iill^k::'^lt<- aud other counties. It must be confessed, howevei', that the grand possi- bilities of fruit as a money crop in Alabama are just begin- ning to be realized and made available. Hitherto fruit has contributed to the pleasure, the comfort and the health of the inhabitants rather than to their protit. The people of Alabama can have, with only the trouble of planting, the tig, pomegranate, scupperuong, raspnerry, currant, pecan, peach, apple, pear, quince, plum in infinite variety, cherry, etc., and on the coast the luscious orange. Growing wild, in utmost profnsion, are the blackberry, haw, locust, per- simmon, chestnut, chinquapin, muscadine, wild grape, common plum, wild cherry, huckleberrj- and hickory nut. lie near the surface, outcrops are numerous, and mining is easy and cheap. The principal deposit of iron ore is the great ledge running along Red Mountain for more than a bundled miles and reaching its best perfection at Birminghain Here tlie vein is from fifteen to thirty feet thick, and it mined to a depth of only four thousand feet would mij) ply all the furnaces of the State for three hundred and fifty years to come. The general average of metallic iron is, in the hard ores, 37 per cent.; in the soft, 52 per cent. The brown ores are found in several localities, about Talladega, Anniston, in Blount, Shelby and Franklin counties, and have 51 per cent, of metallic iron. The limestone and dolomite used for fluxing are in the same locality with the ores and coal, all three being assembled within a radius of five or six miles at the point of greatest advantage. It is the cheapness of mining and the nearness of the materials to each other, that has made of Alabama the center of the cheapest iron pro- v«. t»K>IOP(>LI!- diiction iu the world, giveu her the primacy of the Southern States, and made her a rival of Ohio and Pennsyl- Ocher mineral deposits in Alabama, all of which exist in workable quantities and most of which have beea more or less developed, are gold, copper, pyrites, graphite, mica, kaolin, magnetite, limestone, bauxite, clays, achre, marl)le and phosphate. _ Developed. — The magnitude of the indus- try built around this basis of mineral wealth, is shown by the following figures of production, compiled for 1900 by the statistical department of the State geolog- ical survey: Glial, short tons, Coke, short tons, Pig Iron, long tons, Iron Ore, long tons, Limestone for Flux, long tons, Dolomite for Flux, long ions, Biiikliug Stone, cubic feet. Bauxite, long tons, . 0('hre, long tons, Lime, iu barrels, Vitrified or Paving Brick, Eefractory or Fire Brick, Common Brick, )-Sheff-isi.i> S. Jk I. Ct, No mention is here made of the gold out- turn. That industry is being pursued iu a small way in several of the counties where 8,504,327 f, 992,561 f, 155,583 3.095,406 534,061 351,934 210,817 650 62 650,664 7,000,000 6.760,000 50,700,00a stamp mills are in operation. The mines are not as yet operated sfientifically on a large scale, though Alabama has been a gold-producing State for over sixty years. The emphasis in the above table is found in the comparison with former years, sliowing the rapid, progres- sive and substantial character of the development. The gain has been coutinnous from year to year for more than twenty years. In 1880 the output of coal was 380,000 tons, in 1890 it was 4,090,400 tons, and in 1900 it was S,504,3'27 tons. STEEL MILL AX ENSLEX— Ten: ; OOAL. iRt.v A- Ha In 1880 the production of pig iron was 68,925- tons, in 1890 it was 816,911 tons; in 1900 it was 1,155,583 tons. The most impoi'tant fact connected with this great development, and lighting up the splendid future pf the State, is the simple item that in 1900 Alabama exported 238,615 tons of pig iron, mainly to England and the continent of Europe. An indus- try that in its infancy has the world for its market, cannot he limited or measured in its future growth and expansion. The center of the mineral wealth and development of the State is the city of Bir- mingham and the county of Jefferson, and the record of their growth stirs the pride of all our cit izeas. In 1880 the population of Jefferson county was 23,272, in 1890 it was 88,501, and in 1900 140,000. The growth of Birmingham from a little city of 4,000 people in 1880 to 38,000 in 1900 (and nearly as many more in suljurhs covered by her street railways), is marvelous even in this laud of city building. FUItXACES AT . TIMBER. In the matter of timber in Alabama we are confronted by a most plentiful lack of statistics as to the quan- tity available for cut, and its value. Except in the matter of yellow pine, no attempt has been made at esti- mates. Eoughly speaking, two-thirds of the area is still covered by the native forest growth. The wood of chief value is yellow pine. The pine is found principally in two belts, the larger along the gulf coast, though streching up to the borders of the middle prairies. The other belt occupies the foot hills between the moun- ^ 25 tains aud the prairies. These pine lands were, not many years ago, obtainable in large quantities at $2 and $3 per acre, but have risen much in value with the great increase in the demand for the lumber, both for export and home consumption. The annual cut of yellow pine is now about 700,000,000 feet, and the pine forests also contribute largely to the turpentine supplies of the country. Cypress is abundant along the lower rivers, and five mills near Mobile are engaged in the production of cypress shingles. The principal hardwoods are oak, hickory and aslj, the supply of which is well distributed. The principal mills are in the northern part of the State. Local hardwood factories here and there procure local supplies of hickory and oak. Cedar is abundant in some locali- ties, and there are mills in Madison aud But- ler counties. The hardwood wealth of the '■<" f'<>«tinu on mobm-e h.w. ji. & o. k. r. State has been hardly touched and is an exceedingly inviting field for development. RAIT^ROADS. Much might be said of the facilities of railroad transportation in Alabama. This State is the seat of the- most important operations of the two greatest southern systems — the Louisville & Nashville and the Southern. Railroad. The Central of Georgia, the Plant System, the Seaboard, the K. C., M. & B., and the Illinois Cen- N£W5 f/wfr- 5 BTjACK CRKKK FATST>Er«^, AT^.V. tral have also important lines, the first named running as many as four feeders through rich sections of the coiintry. In 18S0 the railroad mileage of Alabama was 1,851 miles; in 1890 this had increased to 3,244:, and in 1900 to 4,042 miles. Since the opening of the present year nearly 100 additional miles have been completed and put into operation. The large systems are stead- ily extending their branch lines and feeders. MANUFACTURE S. If the progress of a people is to be measured by the extent to wiiich ihey incieiise the value of tlieir raw material throngli the various processes of manu- facture, Alabama is no laggard in the race. The advance everywhere is one of those iuduslrial mar- vels which has attracted world-wide attention to the South as the growing and developing section of tlie United States. If pig iron, usually classed here as a mineral product, be included in manufactures, we have a value in this one item of more than ten mil- lions of dollars. She has over half a million cotton spindles. She manufactures more cotton gins than any State in the Union, the Pratt gin works at Pi att- Ax AI.ABAMA F-i...vi.,.s,i 2,1,,.,.. ville, an illustration of which is given elsewhere, being the most famous in the world. Her oil mills consume all the available cotton seed. Her fertilizer factories supply the bulk of the 200,000 tons of commer- cial manure consumed in the State. Her pipe works are six in number and their products go to all parts of the world. The value of the saw mill output of the State is over ^5,000,000. Two steel mills are in operation, with a combined capacity of 1,160 tons per day. The product of fifty iron furnaces is not all shipped away as raw material. It is being made into steel, wire, engines, sugar mills, boilers, plows, bridges, car wheels, uuts and bolts, stoves, and an ever-increas- ing variety of the articles of commerce. Her wheat is made into flour, iher tobacco into cigars, her lumber into wagons, furni- ture, sashes and doors and blinds, spokes and handles; her native stones into build- ings, her cloth into clothing and mattresses. She has five breweries. She builds more freight cars than are required to haul liei- increasing products. She manufactures Tjrass into articles of use, her broom^corn into brooms, the waste of her furnaces and i'hatt gi>- works. pr-»ttv.i,i.e. ala. coke ovens into byproducts. She makes crackers and candies, corrugated iron and cement, barrels and powder. She manufactures her own ice, turns her ochres into paint, knits stockings and makes trunks. She tans the hides of her cattle, and is beginningito spin the wool of her sheep. The increasing variety of her industries and their magnitude is nowhere better shown than in the great portland cement works now about to go into operation at Demopolis, where a half million dollars is invested. This developing industry is confined to no section of the State. The impulse. is among all the people. In the southeast, where the railroads have but lately come and where agriculture, 'going hand in hand with lumber mills and cotton factories and fertilizer ■works, combines to give the greatest increase to population known in the history of the State. In the Tennessee Talley, where cotton spinning has its principle seat at Huntsville and iron a leading place at Sheffield and Flor- «nce and uiachiue shops at Decatur. In the mountaius, where coal, iron and steel combine with varied manu- factures to give pre-einiiieuce to Birmingham, Aiiniston, Talladega, Gadsden and Tuscaloosa. In middle Ala- bama, where ^lontgomery, Eufaula, Union Springs, Opelika, Troy, Selraa, Prattville, Demopolis and Greens- boro are spinning cotton, grinding cotton seed, making fertilizers, and varying their manufactures year by year. On the gulf coast, where the rising commerce of Mobile is accompanied by the spirit of manufacturing industry^ Everywhere the thoughts of the people are on the future and their hands are busy in the present. Cotton Factories. — Alabama has done her share in the development of the cotton mill industry, and the build- ing of new mills goes on apace. It is the one manufacturing industry which is distributed throughout the State, one locality being as well adapted to it as another. Nor does the supply of lal)or — as good as any in the world and the most tractable — seem greater at one point than another. That the advantages of labor, raw material, fuel and climate are on the side of Alabama, is witnessed by the fact that some of the largest mills have been built by eastern capital and some of these have doubled their original capacity. Many of the mills have from time to- time enlarged their size out of their own profits. The num- ber of cotton factories in Alabama in 1890 was 38. with 3(57,87-1: spindles and 7,208 looms. The number in the beginning of 1900 was -14, the spindles 566,778 and the looms 12,892. The number at present, including those being built, is about 50. This is a great and rapid growth, and one of its most gratifying features is in the small mills being built by small communities with money subscribed by their own citizens in proportion to their means. The superb advantages of every section of Alabama for profit- able cloth-making has awakened our people to a knowledge of their possibilities. ALABAMA RIVER BRIDCiE AT SELMA. EDUCATION. The haudsome illnstrations of the four leadiug colleges in Alabama leave no. room for doubt that in the- higher department of education, Alabama is abreast with the most progressive States. The State University at Tuscaloosa, the Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic lustittite at Auburn, and the Girls' Indus- trial School at Montevallo, afford the very best modern facilities for the highest and most complete literary and industrial training. The illnstrations of the Normal Institute at Tuskegee, the famous school of Booker T. V/ashiugton, are selected lo show the practical work which has placed the institution so far at the front of all the plans and work of negro education. Besides these, the State maintains a medical college at Mobile, four normal scliools for whiles and three for negroes, all of which are flourishing institntions. The State also maintains an agricultnral high scliool in each congressional district. The Southern University at Greensboro and the Owenton College near Birming- ham are higher institutions maintained by the Meth- oilists, and the Howard College at East Lake, near Birmingham, is sustained by the Baptists. There are many colleges for young ladies, some of them private enterprises and others under the care of the religious denominations. The Catholics sustain most excellent colleges at Cnllman and Mobile. At Birmingham are medical and dental colleges, both being private enter- prises. Common Schools. — The department of education of most general interest is the common school. Within the last few years theie has been a great awakening upon this subject in Alabama and the State has come- >Lt) .SOL'THEKN ytA \ fffl-'j^iiiFii 1' 'Wf' I Kill' i«fi?s^*^ ,H'ii>tsti f4| S f T^-' yyewjt/^*^ 9KbvAJ STATK L'NIVKK.-SITY, TU.SC.-VLOOt^ A. up to a leading place among the Southern sislerhocul. The people have come to share liberally with education the increased wealth iii.d prosperity of farm, forge and mine. The enlightened appreciation of the common school is not couliiied to any class, but the growing appropriations are the spontaneous answer to a universal willingness to he tuxed f.)r this one purpose to whatever extent may be necessary. In all the larger cities and towns, modern and well e(iuipped school houses have been and are being built, the money being generally derived from the sale of municipal bonds. Many of these buildings are \ ery handsome and imposing and some have cost as high as *,50,000. All of the incorporated towns contribute out of municipal taxes to the school fund. Thus while the State Treasury contrib- utes .f 1,100,000 per annum to the com- mon schools, this by no means measures the whole amount of the fund derived from taxation. The growth of public education in Alabama is well shown by the following comparisons of amounts drawn from the State and municipal treasuries: lu 1880, $650,000; in 1890, $775,000; in 1900, .fl,.500,000. Under positive law iu Alabama, every township must maintain a com- mon school for five months of each year, and thus is education guaranteed to th« children of the remotest communitT MILLIIMKKY ROOM. TT7SKEGKE TISISTITUTE. i»iuv^LCOI/ v^u 111 HI u U 1 1 J . The school fuuds are divided among the races iu proportion to children of school age. Benevolence. — If the highest civilization of a people is manifested in the care bestowed by the government on the unfortunates, Alabama has no cause to blnsh. Upon the education of tiie deaf and the dumb and the blind, she expended in 1900 the sum ot •'?t>0,(;il.S6. This is not a tixed amount, but the appropriation is so much per pupil, audlevery little unfortunate iu^the State can go, without money aud without price, and learn all that modern science and expert teaching permits them to know. Under the same head may be put the expendi- ture of $1.52,178.00 for the Insane Hospital, one of the leading and most progressive institutions of the kind in America. Here, too, the generous policy is pursued of appropriations per capita, .so that the door is never shut on any applicant because the money is exhausted. The main hospital is at Tusca- loosa, with a branch for colored insane at Mount Ver uon, in Mobile county. FORElGJs" TRADE. Alabama has a single seaport — Mobile. Her trade ■with foreign countries, however, is by no means to be estimated by what goes through that single gate- way. Her cotton aud iron are well distributed to all the gulf and South Atlantic ports, while Peusacola is the rival of Mobile iu the exportation of Alabama coal and Inniber Thus in determining, the volume of the total exports, we are reduced to estimates ba.ed oa known value of the leading articles. Cotton raw, manufactured and in oil and meal from the see.l ficrures at ovei- $00,000,000 Mr. E. E. England, Secretary of the Mobile Chamber of Commerce, our higle 't ar.thority on the subject estimates the total foreign trade of the State at over *100,000,000. With the increasing export of pig H-on and steel, and the increase in value of cotton sent abroad in the manufactured state, Alabanm's con- tribution to the tore.gn trade ot the country will in the near future exceed the above gratifying estimate. The th"is Stl". " '■',"" 'T "i^'^ '■"' '' "" '"""' '' ^'*"^^'"" *^" unprecedented development, the coal of thi S a e being the nearest in distance and the least in price of any deposits in the world. It is n^w laid down in Mobile at a freight rate of $1.25 per ton, and the tesc of the panic in the early nineties showed that the mines could live and put their output on board the cars at less than $1.00 per ton. The greatness of the future of the State, when work shall once begin on the water _ way between the oceans, cannot be measured by the estimates of her most sanguine citizens, for the stim- ulus will affect every interest in her borders. Mobile has already a great trade with the countries and states around the gulf, some glimpse of which is given in the picture of a banana warehouse on another page. Her trade in this fruit is larger than that ot am (Mt\ in the country, and the whole country is supi)lied In the long train loads that leave her wharves. < ofT«!VA.Li:X>. ALA. POPULATION BY COUNTIES. Counties, Total Autauga Baldwin Barliour Bibb Blount Bullock Butler Calhoun Chambers Cherokee Chilton Choctaw Clarke _. Clay Cleburue . Cotfee Colbert Conecuh Coosa .. Covinston Oreiisliaw Cullman Dale Dallas DeKalb Elmore Escambia Etowah Fayette __ Franklin Cxeneva Greene Hale ^ 1880 1,262,505 13,108 8,60H 33,979 9,487 15,369 29,066 19,649 19,591 23,440 19,108 10,793 15,731 17,806 ]2,9i8 10,976 8,119 16,153 12,605 15,113 5,639 11,726 6.355 12,6 48,433 12,1 17.502 5,719 15,398 10,135 9.155 4,342 21,931 26.553 1890 1,613,017 13,330 8,941 34,898 13,824 21,927 27,063 21,641 33,835 26,319 20, J 59 14,549 1 7,526 22,624 15,765 13,2 18i 12,170 20,189 14 594 15 906 15'42 13,439 17,225 49,350 21 106 21.732 8,666 21,926 12,823 10,681 10,690 22,007 27,501 1900 ,828,6971 17,915 13,194j 35,152| 18,49SI 23,119, 31,944! 25,761 34,874| 32,554| 21,096i 16,522 18,136' 27,7!t() 17,099. 13 201)1 20,972, •;2,341 17,5141 16,144 15,3 ili 19,66S 17,849 21.189 54,657 23,558 26,099 11,32(1 27,361 14,132 16,51 1 19,096 24,182 31,011 Counties. Heury Jackson Jeflerson Lamar Lauderdale . Lawrence Lee Limestone ._ Lowndes Macou Madison Marengo .Marion Marshall Mobile Monroe ._ Mont.gomery Morgan Perry Pickens Pike Randolph^-- Russell St. CJlair Shelby Sumter Talladega .__ Tulhi] sa ._ Tu.'^caluosa ., Walker Washington Wilcox Winston 1880 18,761 25,114 23 272 12,142 21,0.35 21,392 27,262 21,600 31,176 17,371 3/. 625 30,890 9,364 14,-585 48,653 17.091 52,3.56 16,428 30,741 21,479 20,640 16,.575 24,837 14,462 17,2.36 28,728 23,360 23,401 24,957 9,479 ■1,5.3,S 31,828 4.2.53 24,84 28,026 88.501 14,187 23.739 20,725 28,694 21.201 31,550 18,439 38,119 33,095 11,34; 18,935 51.587 18,990 56,172 24.089 29,332 22,470 24.423 17,219 24,093 17,.3.53 20,88) 29,574 29,346 25,460 ,30,3.52 16,078 7.935 30,816 6,552 36,147 30,508 140,420 16,084 26,559 20,124 31,826 22,837 35.651 23,126 43.702 38,315 14,494 23,289 62,740 23.666 72,047 28,820 31,783 24 402 29,172 21,647 27,0.S3 19,425 23,684 32.710 35.773 29,675 36,147 25,162 11,1.34 35,631 9,554 SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND, TA LL A L)Kti A. A\ ATER POWER. Whatever luav l)e the rank of Alabama among her sister States iu the extent and \ariety ot her resources- and her products, we l)elie\ e .she hukls the lirst phiee in the number, length and volume of her streams that alford po^^■er for moving machinery. These are not confined to creeks or even the smaller ri\ers, but to streams of such note as the Tennessee, the Coosa and the Warrior. The long falls and rapids of the Coosa above ■\Vetumpka, even shoidd they be made navigable by locks, would \et supply power enough with the surplus ■watei's, to t\-.rn all tiie machiner\ now in the .-tate. The project to utilize the vast volume of water that flows around tlie locks on the Tennessee, is an old one, and will \ et be cairied out when industrial devel- cjimcnt in that \ alley has gained more strength. '1 he A\ arrior is a ri\ er of falls and high banks. 'I he Sipsey and other tributaries of the \\"arrior are large enough to he dignified with the luimes of ii\ ers. The Tallapoosa, above the head of naviga- tion, turns (0,000 spindles with hardly an impres- sion on its capacity. The same stream has been utilized to liring an unlimited supply of electric po«er to Montgomery, a distance of forty miles. The great power of the Chattahoochee, which turns the spindles at Columbus, Ga., is the line between the States, and some of the mills are on the Ala- lianui side. 'J he Conecuh, the < hoctawhatchie and the Pea arc long ri\ ers of Southeast Alabama, nav- igalile far down, but capable above the head of navigation of sujjplying power to spin all the cot- ton raised in the State. Outside the prairie levels,. there is hardly a neighborhood without water power to grind its coin and gin its cotton. A hundred creeks rua from the hills with power to operate the largest cotton mills of the country. Coming long distances through the wooded hills and mountains, the streams of Alabama do not go dry in summer, and reserve reservoirs have not been found necessary-. These could be made to increase the water power of the State to an indefinite and limit- less amount. If it be true that the long tendency to give steam the preference over water, has aliout run its coiu'se, and that nature's power is coming into its own again, then Alabama is the most inviting of all the States for manu- facturing in which cheap power is a consideration. If it l)e true that cotton mills do best when off siniiewhat to themselves, the numerous sites by the rivers of Ala- bama invite the mill builder's attention, sites reached by a few miles of branch railroad. IMMIGRATION. Alabama has a cordial welcome lor the iKinic seeker. Ihe object of this pamphlet is not merely t(j call the attention of capital to the resources and to the protilable use l)eing made of money in this State. Investment in commercial and industrial enterprises is sought and encouraged. It l)euetits all the people. All the people welcome it, and there is no disposition by any influential section of public opinion to deny to capital the most liberal encouragement. But the Agricultural Department of the State, by which this pamphlet is issued and l>y which all displays are made at expositions, is primarily concerned with the mec-hanic-al room, tcskegee i-n.-^titute. Is there objectiou to CMMiiiiig amonj;; the negroes? home seeker, the man wlm Mill come and be one of the people and till the soil and lielp build up llie rural w t-alth and social life of the State. Thousands of good citizt'us ha\e ali'eady come. The people are anxious foi' more. The time has long g(me by when the northern man or the foreigner had any prejudice to encounter. He stands among his neighbors on his merits. Many have come singly, others in colonies. They have found comfort, a fruitful soil, a generous climate, a hospitable people. 0^er half the State is without any. The whites iu the districts where the negroes are mainly congregated, do not wish to part with them. The white sections do not seek their coming. In the black belt, laud-own- ing is as profitable as land- working. The negi'o is a profitable tenant. The investment is inviting. But if the home-seeker wants a home among the whites, over half the State holds out the invitation. The soil, climate and products and conditions of life ai'e as they iiave been described. The growth of mines, factories, railroads and commerce, gives assurance that markets will increase and wealth increase and the State grow in power ami ability to do more and more for the education, the protection and the encouragement of her people. The people of Alabauia are religious and moral. All chui-ches are strong and contend with each other on a liberal plane. Church and school-house go side by side, separate and independeut, but offering a joint PHYsioAi, LABOKATOKv. tTNivEKsiTv. iuvitatiou to uicu legardful of their posterity. A. &; M. College and Rolvtechxic Institute. AtriiORN. CITIES OF OVER 1,000 POPULATION. Alabama City... Alexander City. Anuistou Athens Attalla Auburn Avondale Bessemer Birmingham Brewtou Bridfj;epi)rt Columbiana ._ .. Cullman Dadeville Decatur Demopolis Dothan Ensley City Eufaula Eutaw Evergreen Florence Ft. Deposit Ft. Payne Gadsden Geneva Girard Greensboro Greenville Huntsville Jackson ,998 940 ,254 ,440 ,642 ,.544 ,178 ,115 6.54 ,017 873 i,765 ,394 ,115 ,783 1,012 618 i,698 1,901 637 ,759 ;,806 ,995 2,276 1,061 9,695 1,010 1,692 1,447 3,060 6,358 38,415 1,382 1,247 1,075 1,2.55 l,l.':i6 3,114 2,606 3,275 2,100 4,532 884 2,458 6,478 1,078 1,037 4,282 1,032 3,840 2,416 3,162 8,068 1,039 Jacksonville Jasper LaFayette Lanette Marion Mobile Montgomery __ New Decatur.. Opelika Oxanna Oxford Ozark Phcjenix City._ Piedmont Pratt Citv Prattville _..:.. Kuan. ike Kussellville Seottsboro Kelma Sheffield Talladega Troy Tuscaloosa Tuscumbia Tuskegee Union Springs. Uniontown Warrior Wilsonville Woodlawu 1,237 780 1,369 777 1,982 31.076 21,883 3,565 3,703 748 1,473 1,195 3,700 711 1,946 724 631 920 959 7,622 2,731 2,063 3,449 4,215 2,401 1,803 2,049 854 1,506 1,176 1,661 1,629 2,909 1,698 38,469 30,.S46 4,437 4,245 1,184 1,372 1,570 4,163 1,745 3,485 1,929 1,155 1,602 1,014 8.713 3,333 5,056 4,097 5,094 2,348 2,170 2,634 1,047 1,018 1,095 THE ALABAMA WHEAT HAKVE-ST. CITY GRO\^^TH. Ill these days, it is coiiunoii to attiieli great importauce to the growth of cities as the better iiidex to the growth and progress of States. The reason of this is self evident. Since the settlement of the West, the race of development has been in the line of manufactnres, and more uianufactni'es means more cities and larger cities. Hence the value of the table on another i)age, showing the population of the cities of Alabama at the beginning- and the end of the last dccaid growth, Ibr which mauufactiu-es are largely responsible.. Other cities and towns showing remarkable progress are Talladega, Pieflinout and Eussellville, the result of mini ug or manufacturing. In Southeast Alabama OHBMICAI. LABORATORY. rTNT all tlu' (owns have t;i'(i\vii, luaiiily from comiuerce with saw Jiiills and new settlers. The growl h ot Greeusboro and Deinopolis indicates the jirogiess ot the black belt, and pi'o\i-s that the pres- ence of the negro is not a bar to the npltuilding of the country. The growth of the cities of the State shows tliat all sections have their advantages and are \ icing \\ ith each other. There is growtli in the luonnlains, in the jirairies, among the pines and on the gulf. Nature has done her part in Alal)ania. At every point, her newly awakened and enterprising men are doing theirs. SCENERY. A word in conclusion about the nalnial scenei'y in Alabama, for it is worth attention from lovers of the beautiful. We haven't any towering monutains, but the gentle slopes and far perspectives that eharactei'ize the feet of the AUeglienies, are none the less beautiful for want of grandeur. Even the latter quality is here in some measure among the broken ledges, which please where they do not awe. There are river scenes in Alabama which rival the Hud.soii. notable among them being stretches of the Ten- nessee between Chattanooga and Decatur, famous in the old steamljoat days. The Black Creek falls, near Gadsden, a picture of which adoins another page, is one of the most Vieautiful in the world, and it is not by itself in appealing to the lover of nature. The traveler nowhere sees a more varied and picturesque series of landscapes than greet his eyes from r 'SivJ* the decks of an Alabama river steamer. At Mobile and in the surround- ing country, the peculiar foliage and wide-stretching forests of the gulf are seen to the best advantage, and the increasing flow of Southern tourists is every winter spreading their fame. ^ LIBRfiRY OF CONGRESS 014 497 214 4 ALFATjFA HA_RVEST Farm of- Jno. C. Webb. Marencjo Codntt. % \ HUH