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REPORT 
 
 COL. JAMES L. TAIT, 
 
 C V W' COM1VII SSIONER OF INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES, 
 
 or TUS 
 
 TO THE GOVERNOE. 
 
 MONTGOMERY, ALA. : 
 W. W. SCREWS, STATE PRINTER. 
 
 1871. 
 
REPORT. 
 
 MONTGOMERY, ALA., Dec. 21st, 1870. 
 To His Excellency, 
 
 EGBERT B. LINDSAY, 
 
 Governor of Alabama : 
 
 Having received the appointment of Commissioner of 
 Industrial Resources, vacant on the resignation of Mr* 
 Keffer, in April last, I have the honor to report for the 
 information of the General Assembly the various duties 
 in which I have been engaged in furtherance of the ob-* 
 jects aimed at in the establishment of this department. 
 
 Deeming it a matter of great importance in view of the 
 speedy completion of Railroad enterprises, especially in 
 the mineral region of the State, that a collection of min- 
 erals illustrative of our mineral resources shcfuld be made, 
 I directed my attention thereto, and now have at my office 
 for public inspection and information, a large collection of 
 such minerals collected by mjself and at my own expense, 
 there being no fund appropriated for that purpose by the 
 Legislature. I have directed the attention of the public 
 to these working fields of investment and development 
 frequently during my incumbancy of this office, in the pub- 
 lic newspapers, and have through the same medium in- 
 voked correspondence and specimens from every mineral 
 locality. As an evidence of the interest that has been 
 manifested by the people of the State in this matter, I 
 have had rA>re than one hundred communications relative 
 thereto, and invitations to visit numerous localities for the 
 purpose of examining mineral deposits, most of which I 
 have been obliged to forego, as I had no means at my dis- 
 
posal to pay the expenses of such visits. I have sent 
 numerous copies of reports made by myself, on the coal 
 and iron deposits of the Warrior and Cahaba Coal Fields 
 and Red Mountain, to various sections of the United 
 States and to Europe, and I have reason to know that 
 these reports have been the means of directing considera- 
 ble attention to the Mineral Resources of Alabama ; and 
 will yet, I am persuaded, yield important results. 
 
 As a practical Chemist, I have established a Chemical 
 Laboratory at my office in the Capitol, to which I have 
 invited the people of the State to send specimens of min- 
 erals and soils for analysis, free of expense, and I am 
 happy to say that numbers have availed themselves of my 
 knowledge and labor in this regard. 
 
 I have also in the interests of Agriculture examined the 
 Marl of Alabama, in various localities, ascertained Jts prop- 
 erties, and recommended its liberal use on the poor and 
 worn out lands in the State. 
 
 I have also deemed it my duty to make extended enqui- 
 ries in regard to the practicability of immigration into the 
 State, and the information I have obtained, and the con- 
 clusions at which I have arrived, relative thereto, will be 
 found under the appropriate head in this report. 
 
 I now beg ip discuss the subjects at some length in the 
 following detailed examination to which I invite the atten- 
 tion of the General Assembly : 
 
 THE MINEEALS OF ALABAMA. 
 
 Copper occurs in several of its ores, as copper pyrites, 
 peacock or variegated copper, and' black oxide of copper. 
 It has also been found in small quantities in one or two 
 localities as native copper. The counties of Talladega, 
 Baker, Coosa, and Tallapoosa, seem to have this mineral 
 in notable quantities, but as no mining to any extent has 
 been carried on, and as copper rarely shows to advantage 
 at or near the surface, there is little data to guiSe us as to 
 the probable yield of these deposits, judging, them, how- 
 ever, by the experience at Ducktown in East Tennessee, 
 which is a .part of the same mineral range, I have no doubt 
 
whatever, but that valuable discoveries will reward the 
 mining engineer, who makes this valuable mineral in Ala^ 
 bama a speciality. 
 
 An English company has invested at Ducktown 600,600 
 dollars, and although mining at considerable disadvantage^ 
 and having the serious drawback of being forty 'miles' iTbm 
 the railroad, they are producing annually two millions' 
 pounds of refined coppe*, ai<e deriving a good pr6fit there- 
 from, and are fivingiem^l^ 
 of 500pe6te.^>^ ; aviJijao oJ e-fsd I i d^rni 
 
 Lead is also found in several localities ^thei:- State, in 
 the form of galena or sulphide of lead, and as a carbonate. 
 No attempt up to the presefitf'ilme, so far as I am aware, 
 has been made to rX^^^^p^GS^^ and no develop- 
 
 I 1' ' ' T 1 1 fCJWSU 
 
 that bavyta and flapr spar, especially tjig 
 
 in considerable veins in many places, w< 
 
 there is abundance of that valuably m ! ^rial i }i ) a i jO f .u^,iime- ! . 
 
 stone feick^ of. 
 
 galena have beep examn 
 
 ing 20 pounds was sli 
 
 IT ^ 
 
 Ely ton, and as the formation in that section W;ov 
 
 a lead district, I have great hopes that a good : searcj 
 ^locality will rewa^jhe ^^;;. ^ "^ 
 
 many districts, J^ut the^psjt j^^^ing I have yet se 
 
 on the kinds of .Cql. ;^Wge, lying .m.-th.e ^as^ ide of the 
 
 Coosa river, in Coosa county, , Thajfcv gf^lfflp^Bih^^ 
 
 tge .trouble to separate .%j .^mhfigQ. .from :! soi^ V| pf , : 
 
 crude ;/ m^rial taken out o| .' 
 
 before me a small quantity ;,thj^t, jq^aj |)e.exami^^d 3 try any 
 
 one desirous of doing so. This valuable material is now 
 
 so much in demand, for a tfBffte^ of useful and scientific 
 
 pur 
 
 BS, fihat any considerably quantity of it pure, r wpuld 
 o be literally a 'mfceWf ^e<Htb; ; tP%^pbffie^sor. J 
 
 1 i i 1 : ' >H Ob. 7-i >'f 
 
 have up to the present tinii t 
 
 -11-- UUIViEJJL^idvild i')i STOIfiJ')'! 
 
 Alabama, but I have strong ho 
 
 wards the veins to sorae"' d^bth where . 
 
 emnamna six to \a& to 0iqm^a 
 
stronger, the pure mineral may be developed. If this 
 should be the case in the future, the discovery will be 
 hailed by every civilized country as a valuable contribution 
 to science and art. I wish in this connection to say that 
 a highly carboniferous shale, is found in certain districts, 
 which has been mistaken for plumbago. It will when first 
 taken out of the ground, and still comparatively soft, make 
 a mark similar to black lead, but as its general properties 
 are quite unlike that mineral, and as its value is compara- 
 tively trifling, I wish here to caution those who may be 
 deceived thereby. 
 
 GOLD. 
 
 Of the precious metals, gold has been found in numer- 
 ous places, and in some cases, in workable and paying 
 quantities in the State. It is generally obtained dissemi- 
 nated in quartz, and in some cases, in the sand beds of 
 streams, arising from the disintegration of the original 
 rock in which it was held. No large deposits have yet 
 been discovered, such as has been common in California 
 and other territory of the west ; nor does there appear at 
 present any indications of unusual richness in any of the 
 existing localities. Gold is much more disseminated over 
 the face of the Globe than most persons are aware of, but 
 its great value is derived from the fact, that it is usually 
 found in such small quantities, and associated with and 
 embedded in such hard matrix, that under ordinary circum- 
 stances, the cost of mining and washing it out, is nearly 
 equal to the value of the mineral when obtained, leaving 
 little profit to the minor. I am not prepared therefore to 
 recommend the working of these deposits, unless where 
 special circumstances warrant it. 
 
 SILVEB. 
 
 While on the question of the precious metals, I may 
 take notice of silver, but I merely do so to say that not- 
 withstanding the numerous rumors of silver having been 
 found in certain portions of the State, I have never ob- 
 tained a single sample of any of its numerous ores as 
 
found in nature, although I have done my utmost to 
 try and trace to their source many of these rumored 
 indications. The Indians are said to have had silver in 
 their possession and to have known its value in the State, 
 but the fact that there is no well authenticated case of 
 discovery since, although diligent search has been made 
 by many, is an evidence to my mind that either it was ob- 
 tained elsewhere, by these nomadic tribes, or that some 
 other mineral, such as zinc, may have been mistaken by 
 them for the more precious metal, especially in the newly 
 melted state. I do not mean to say that silver may not 
 be found, I merely state the facts in relation to this matter 
 as at present existing. 
 
 There are various other minerals, such as zinc, manganse 
 ore, iron pyrites, and others that my time will not permit 
 me more particularly to discuss, which have been also 
 found in a greater or less quantity, but as I propose at 
 some length to take notice of our great deposit of marble, 
 marl, iron, and coal, which have a high economic value 
 and are so largely abundant in our midst, I must defer 
 to some future time lesser mineral deposits, which are not 
 so available at present. As the business of lime manufac- 
 ture is a valuable industry of the State, it is I think un- 
 necessary for me to give it more than a passing notice. 
 We have such an abundance of the material that the whole 
 Southern States <?ould be easily supplied with it, and I 
 have reason to believe that in several localities, it has be- 
 come a large and remunerative branch of business. 
 
 MARBLE. 
 
 The marble deposits of Alabama are so numerous and 
 so well defined, and their value so well understood, that 
 more than a passing glance at them in the present case 
 would be superfluous. In examining many specimens that 
 have been handed to me, I can, without hesitation, affirm 
 that not even the far-famed Parian and Carrara marbles, 
 can excel them, in the fineness of their crystaline struc- 
 ture, the beautiful polish of which they are susceptible, or 
 the exceeding purity of their faultless color. In other 
 
s 
 
 specimens, their variegated colors have been so exquisitely 
 blended, by the master hand of nature, that no mere de- 
 scription can do them justice, and I trust at no distant day 
 many stately structures of this handsome and durable 
 material, may be found gracing and adorning our strikingly 
 situated Capitol, adding another feature to its already ac- 
 knowledged beauty and importance. 
 
 MAKL. 
 
 The marl of Alabama has a basis of lime, and contains 
 in notable quantities, carbonic acid, phosphoric acid and 
 potash; properties of the 'highest fertilizing character 
 on worn-out sandy lands ; also on stiff clay soils it is espec- 
 ially valuable, because it yields the elements of which they 
 are found to be deficient for the abundant production of 
 crops; the lime also combining with the silicious or sandy 
 soil, renders a portion of it soluble, and thus enables the 
 tender roots of the plants, to take up the soluble material 
 as nourishment. We have thus in this natural fertilizer, 
 a large amount of the plant nutrition of guano, and this 
 too in such great abundance, that no planter in Alabama^ 
 however limitted his means, but may have at a compara-* 
 tively small cost any quantity desirable. In various sec- 
 tions of the United States, farmers are availing themselves 
 largely of the advantages of this valuable material, and in 
 every case where it has been liberally used, the most bene- 
 ficial results have been obtained. 
 
 In the State of New Jersey, it has become not only an 
 important branch of industry, with something like five to 
 six millions of dollars invested in its prosecution, but it 
 has transformed the worn-out and was*te lands of that 
 State into model farms of fertility and productiveness. 
 Deeming it a matter of considerable importance for the 
 agricultural interests of Alabama, that we should have 
 some knowledge of its operation there, I visited the Agri- 
 cultural College and State experimental farm of New Jer- 
 sey, and from what I saw and heard, was convinced that 
 wherever used, these marls had increased the productive- 
 ness of the lands in a two-fold degree. Dr. Cook, the 
 
accomplished State Geologist, and who has also charge of 
 the Agricultural College and model farm of the State, 
 describes the importance of this marl in the following 
 terms : " Much as this fertilizer has been used in the State, 
 its real value is not yet fully appreciated. It needs a little 
 time to get its full benefit, but when once fairly in action 
 on a farm, its fertility is almost inexhaustible. It gives 
 lasting fertility to the soil, while all other fertilizers are 
 soon exhausted, and the soil worn out. I have yet to see 
 the first field that has ever been well marled that is now 
 poor. One instance I know, where poor sandy land was 
 marled more than thirty years ago, and has ever since 
 been cultivated without manure, and not otherwise well 
 managed, and the land is still in very good condition." 
 Now, what gives special value to the statements of this 
 gentleman is, that he is no mere theorist, but a practical 
 agriculturist, and has experimented himself with the fer- 
 tilizer of which he speaks. 
 
 In corroboration of his statement in this regard, I have 
 visited the model farm under his charge, and can bear tes- 
 timony to the high state of culture and the great fertility 
 which it exhibits. I may also state that some time since, 
 when examining one of these deposits of marl in the 
 neighborhood of Evergreen, I was struck with the fertility 
 of a section of land near the deposit, and was informed 
 by the proprietor that it was the result of marl applied 
 fifteen years ago, by his father, as an experiment, and not 
 since renewed. In New Jersey, this marl has been applied 
 so liberally that all the worn out lands of the State have 
 been entirely recuperated, and there are probably no lands 
 in the United States more productive or profitable. On 
 an examination of the marl there and here, I am of the 
 decided opinion that ours is the more valuable of the two, 
 and I trust we shall soon have a recognition of the fact in 
 its liberal use. When we consider that it takes the same 
 labor and expense to cultivate a poor soil as a rich one, it 
 is surely all-important that the land should be made as 
 rich as it is capable of, and more especially when it can be 
 
 done .at a trifling cost. If the money now expended on 
 inUr/jaofl A 
 
10 
 
 high priced guano, and other artificial fertilizers, was em- 
 ployed in developing this great natural fertilizer, of which 
 probably millions of tons are scattered broad-east over a 
 considerable area of this country, there is no reason why 
 we should mpt add at least one-third more to our agricul- 
 tural products ; and the necessity will still further appear, 
 when we consider that acre for acre, Alabama shows the 
 lowest rate of production in cotton but one of all the cot- 
 ton-producing States. I hope some of our enterprising 
 agricultural friends will make the experiment, and if they 
 do so fairly, I have little doubt they will arrive at the same 
 conclusions and reap the same benefits as the farmers of 
 New Jersey. Regarding this valuable deposit as only very 
 slightly, if at all, less valuable than the coal and iron de- 
 posits of the State, I am especially desirous, of directing 
 attention to its great importance. 
 
 THE COAL REGION OF THE STATE. 
 
 The area of the coal lands of the State is, in round 
 numbers, 5,500 square miles, known, respectively, as the 
 Warrior, the Cahaba, and the Coosa coal fields, of which 
 the first alone contains 5,000, the remaining 500 being di- 
 vided between the two latter. No language that I could 
 employ, could possibly do justice to the immense value of 
 this great natural deposit of mineral wealth, the surface of 
 which, up to the present time, has not even in its length 
 and breadth been surveyed, and yet which, by its position 
 near the surface, its quality, and the facilities which now 
 exist, and which are being yearly added to, in the shape 
 of railroad communication, render these coal fields a most 
 inviting field for investment, and will be the means, at no 
 distant day, of inducing a continuous flow of labor and 
 capital to this almost unpeopled section of the State. 
 "While the gold of California and Australia, the silver of 
 Nevada and Colorado, and the diamonds of South Africa 
 may be more attractive to those who do not look beyond 
 the surface of passing events, it is after all the black dia- 
 mond, less attractive though it appears, that has proved 
 itself to be the most valuable jewel in the diadem of civili- 
 
11 
 
 zation, and has done more to promote the comfort, the en- 
 terprise and the wealth of nations, than all the precious 
 metals and rarest gems in the history of the world have 
 ever accomplished. Alabama I regard one of the richest 
 States of the Union to-day, not because she has gold, or 
 silver, or diamond deposits, however valuable these may 
 be, but because she has in untold plenty that without 
 which no nation can be great, viz., the twin powers of coal 
 and iron, which are rapidly placing a belt of steam and a 
 band of iron around the circumference o the globe, aud 
 that are as rapidly developing the commercial, manufac- 
 turing, agricultural and mechanical greatness of every 
 civilized nation. If one pound of coal can raise, as it is 
 clearly shown to do. steam power equal to the capacity of 
 a man's daily labor, what must be the latent energy of the 
 millions of tons of that mineral, which lies scattered within 
 easy reach of the surface, over 5,500 square miles of this 
 favored land. In this view of the case, the miner who ex- 
 cavates two tons of coal per diem increases the working 
 capacity of the State enormously, when the product is ap- 
 plied to the generation of steam. If this is so, we have 
 no numbers to compute, we have no capacity to grasp, the 
 unlimited wealth and power that is slumbering in our 
 midst, and that only requires in a moderate degree energy, 
 capital and skill to develop. But let us go a step further, 
 and see the commercial value of our coal area. In an ex- 
 amination of a portion of the Warrior coal fields, adjacent 
 to two of our leading lines of railroad, I came to the con- 
 clusion, by actual observation, that five seams of coal were 
 easily traceable at the surface, showing an aggregate thick- 
 ness of nineteen feet four inches. Assuming this to be the 
 limit of our coal strata, it would show an aggregate 
 amount of nineteen millions of tons for every square mile ; 
 and if we further suppose that only one half of the area 
 is productive, the sum total would figure up fifty -two bill- 
 ions two hundred and fifty millions as the product of our 
 coal fields. If, further, we were to attain to a mining ca- 
 pacity equal to the State of Pennsylvania at the present 
 time, it would take two thousand years to exhaust the 
 
12 
 
 
 
 supply. But we are not for a moment to suppose that this 
 estimate, enormous as it appears, tells the whole story. 
 Let us look at the coal development in other States on this 
 continent, and in Europe, where coal mining has advanced 
 farther than we have any experience of here. The coal 
 strata of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick shows an aggre- 
 gate thickness of forty-five feet, as discovered up to the 
 present time. Missouri shows upwards of fifty feet, Ken- 
 tucky nearly sixty feet, and Pennsylvania, which has de- 
 veloped this great branch of industry more largely than 
 any other State on the continent, has eighteen seams in 
 working operation, showing an aggregate thickness of one' 
 hundred and twenty feet. The Pittsburg seam is known 
 to extend over an area of one hundred and twenty-five 
 miles long by one hundred miles broad. The Mammoth 
 seam, in the same State, also occupies nearly as extended 
 an area, and is thirty feet thick. In England and Wales 
 more than fifty seams are at present known to exist ; the 
 thickest yet discovered is of an average thickness of thirty 
 feet, and lies at a depth of two thousand feet. In Erance 
 and Belgium, where coal mining has been also carried on, 
 to a considerable extent, and at considerable depths, ex- 
 tensive deposits exist, and in more than one case seams 
 have been found to measure upwards of sixty feet. I 
 might multiply cases indefinitely, but I think enough has 
 
 1 1 i 'l j 1 t* 'I*;* / "I 
 
 :.:.- . . - . 
 
 when deep boring has been tried here as 
 
 there. It is by boring more or less deep that others nave 
 arrived in other fields at these enormous results, and it is 
 therefore not too much to expect that the future will de- 
 velop equally great results in Alabama coal fields, when 
 the strata Has .been .examined at. lower depths than is at 
 present practicable to 'us. All experience teaches us. that 
 there are no limits to coal seams but the limit of attain- 
 able depth. Coal can be found in coal areas as far down 
 
 as mining operations Have been, up to the present time, 
 
 ; -1 V 1.1 ii ;: - , / i i i e -i 
 
 carried, viz.. three thousand ieet below the surface. In 
 
 Alabama, however, the dip of the seams is in most cases 
 fnza oa eisa^ Dflteatioaj owj oiUij L, 
 
13 
 
 so gradual and unimportant, more particularly in the War- 
 rior coal fields, that probably for a generation to come, 
 mining will be carried on at inconsiderable depths, and 
 consequently the expense in this direction will be reduced 
 to a minimum. In considering the value of coal lands, 
 let us suppose that an acre will yield one hundred tons per 
 annum, and this is a very moderate computation ; let us 
 suppose further, that twenty-five cents per ton is charged 
 as a royalty for proprietary interest ; we have then twenty- 
 five dollars per acre per annum, which at ten years pur- 
 chase would show a value of two hundred and fifty dollars 
 for every acre of coal land in the State. In Pennsylvania, 
 where the value of these lands is better understood, four 
 times that amount, I am quite satisfied, could not purchase 
 them ; and nowhere in Great Britain could ten times that 
 amount buy a single acre. The fact is, that the mere sur- 
 face or agricultural value of land bears no proportion to 
 its mineral value, and the sooner we are alive to this fact, 
 the sooner will the development of these mineral regions 
 of ours be an assured fact. 
 
 As an illustration of the value of coal lands in Pennsyl- 
 vania, I read recently a paragraph taken from a leading 
 paper published in that State, in which was asserted, that 
 Simon Cameron, the well known politician, purchased 
 some twenty years ago 100 acres in which coal was subse- 
 quently discovered, and he has now for some years been 
 deriving therefrom a revenue of 30,000 dollars per annum. 
 I myself know an instance, where a mining company in 
 South Wales, England, are paying a yearly rent of 85,000 
 dollars for the privilege of mining less than 200 acres of 
 coal lands, and this, too, with the great disadvantage of 
 mining, at from one to 2,000 feet below the surface. Coal 
 mining, unlike agriculture, is not affected by the seasons, 
 it is therefore more certain as an investment, and more 
 reliable as a source of labor, and profit. It accumulates 
 wealth more rapidly, gives more employment directly, and 
 indirectly, than almost any other pursuit, and also adds 
 greatly to the demand for agricultural products where car* 
 ried on. If Pennsylvania is yielding 25 millions tons of 
 
14 
 
 coal per annum, there is no reason why Alabama should 
 not, with greater advantage, produce 10 millions ; this would 
 give at least employment to 100,000 men directly, acd with 
 their families support at least double that number ; and if 
 we add the 50,000 that would be required to support them 
 with food and other necessaries, we should have at least a 
 quarter of a million of people added to the population of 
 the State, from this source alone. But this is not all ; every 
 one knows that a large and important industry permeates 
 with its beneficial influence, every interest of the commu- 
 nity. Our railroad system would be greatly benefitted ; 
 our commercial, manufacturing, and mechanical interests, 
 would all feel the effects of such an impulse ; and every 
 profession and trade in our midst, would feel its benefits, 
 either directly or indirectly. In making these statements, 
 I am drawing no fancy picture ; we have experience of older 
 countries and States to verify, and more than verify every 
 calculation I have made, and every view of the subject I 
 have advanced. Would it therefore speak well for the 
 intelligence, the enterprise, or the forethought of the peo- 
 ple of the State, having such unlimited resources within 
 their reach, to allow others to come in and grasp the prize 
 which God and nature has endowed them with, as a herit- 
 age ? But the question comes up, where are we to find 
 markets for 10 million tons of coal per annum, even if we 
 were in a, position to supply it ; and again, is there no dan- 
 ger that our supply would largely exceed the requirements 
 of this section of the country. In this connection, let us 
 examine the probable sources of demand, and first, we will 
 take the probable railroad demand. An experienced rail- 
 road engineer of this State, says, in one of his reports : 
 Goal as a fuel for railroad engines, is destined to save mil- 
 lions of dollars. It has been found by actual experiment, 
 that the cost of running a locomotive with coal, is less than 
 one-half the expense of running with wood as a fuel. Ex- 
 periments have been made on the Illinois Central Railroad, 
 and the New Jersey Central So ad, and on other important 
 lines, all over the Northern States, even where coal costs 
 six dollars per ton, and upwards, and even then with wood, 
 
15 
 
 estimated at two dollars per cord, the saving in expense is 
 equal to one-half. From a calculation made by an experi- 
 enced railroad Superintendent in the Northern States, he 
 estimates that if all the railroads would use coal instead of 
 wood, the saving would be ten million dollars per year, or 
 one per cent, on the cost of railroads of the United States. 
 The following report of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, 
 where the cost <?f fuel is about the same as is paid by rail- 
 roads here, is, I think, conclusive on this point : The report 
 says, "Much attention has been paid to the introduction 
 of coal and coke, as fuel for the passenger engines, and 
 especial attention is requested to the report of the maker 
 of machinery on this important subject." The results 
 have proved highly satisfactory ; the engines operating 
 very economically, and efficiently. Experiments with fuel, 
 made with the same engines, running with mail and express 
 trains hauling in each case, five cars, resulted as follows : 
 With wood 7 1 cents per mile, with coke 5J cents per mile, 
 with coal a fraction over 3J cents per mile. The cost of 
 running an engine from Baltimore to Wheeling, 397 miles, 
 tested respectively with coal, coke, and wood, resulted as 
 follows : Wood cost $29 56, coke cost $21 22, coal cost 
 $13 64, a saving as between coal and wood of nearly $15 J 
 per train, or 55 per cent., and this, too, with wood estimated 
 two dollars per cord. The report then concludes : The great 
 economy to be thus effected, must attract the attention of 
 managers of railroads generally, and add largely to the 
 consumption of bituminous coal ; the very coal I wish it 
 to be understood, that we have here. If we add to this 
 exhibit the detention of trains in wooding, the loss of speed 
 and power in slackening and gaining headway again, and 
 and the expense of wood hands ; this statement would 
 show a still further advantage, on the side of coal. With 
 these facts before us, can there be a doubt that every rail- 
 road in the whole Southern country, including the projected 
 line of the Great Southern Pacific, will be customers to an 
 enormous extent to the central coal fields of Alabama ? 
 But there is still another more important, and yearly in- 
 creasing source of demand, which bids fair to tax all our 
 
16 
 
 energies for its supply. I mean steam navigation, not only 
 on our rivers, bat for our extened sea coast. It is un- 
 necessary for me here to state that steam is much more 
 quickly raised by coal than wood and that equal bulks of 
 coal and wood are in favor of the former fuel, as at least 
 three to one for steam purpose. This question of bulk 
 alone in steam navigation would settle the question irre- 
 spective of cost, because the wood space taken up in a 
 steam-ship with fuel the less capacity remains for freight, 
 but when to this is added upwards of fifty per cent, as a 
 money value, it is not difficult to perceive the advantage of 
 coal for river and coast navigation, over the more costly 
 and bulky fuel. Now, let us see what the extent of this 
 demand is, and what it may become ? I need not remind 
 you that sailing ships are fast disappearing from the ocean 
 highways, before the swift and capacious steamship, as the 
 old stage coach and canal boat, are disappearing before 
 the swifter and surer railroad train. Ocean navigation by 
 steam, has become a necessity of the times, and is an ac- 
 complished fact. It is equally necessary that these steam- 
 ships should have deposits of coal at convenient points. 
 A glance at the coast line of the United States, and also 
 at the geological map of this continent, will show us, that 
 the coal fields of Alabama, are nearest to all the South 
 Atlantic ports of the United States, all the shores of the 
 Gulf of Mexico, and West Indies, and the vast eastern 
 coast of South America. Commodore Maury, no mean 
 authority on this subject, thus speaks of the commercial 
 mportance of the Gulf of Mexico, which, from its position 
 in relation to us, ought to be beyond competition our 
 market exclusively for coal. The river business he says, 
 drained into the Gulf of Mexico and Carribean Sea, greatly 
 exceed in extent of area, and capacity of production, the 
 river basins of the Mediterranean. The countries in Asia, 
 Africa, and Europe, which comprise the river basins of the 
 Mediterranean, are in superficial extent, but .little more 
 than one-fourth the size of those, which are drained by 
 this sea in our midst* The Gulf of Mexico is the Medi- 
 terranean of the New "faorld, and nature has laid it out on 
 
17 
 
 a scale for commerce, far more grand than its type of the 
 old, that is, about forty-four degrees of longitude in 
 length, by an average of seven degrees of latitude in 
 width. Ours is broader, but not so long ; it is therefore 
 more compact. Had it been left to man to plan the form 
 of a basin for commerce on a large scale, a basin for the 
 waters of our rivers, and the products of our lands, we 
 could not have drawn one better adapted for it than that 
 of the Gulf of Mexico, nor placed it in a position half so 
 admirable. The Mississippi and the Amazon, are the two 
 great commercial Arteries of the continent ; they are fed 
 by tributaries with navigable length of channel, more than 
 enough to encircle the Globe, and when we consider that 
 this mighty commerce of which the talented Commodore 
 so eloquently, truthfully, and graphically speaks, must be 
 carried on by steam navigation, and that our coal supply 
 is their nearest point ; is it not a just conclusion, that the 
 demand upon our coal fields must be constant and enorm- 
 ous from this source alone. 
 
 Again, in a military report to the government of the 
 United States, by an officer of experience, we find the fol- 
 lowing statement pertinent to the same subject : 
 
 " Considering that war steamers would enter largely, if 
 not exclusively, into our naval forces in the Gnlf of Mexico, 
 it is important that convenient depots of coal should be 
 established there. Depots could be made at Bahia Honda, 
 and at Key West. At Tortugas, a three years supply for 
 thirty steamers should be constantly maintained ; this 
 alone would be, at a moderate estimate, nearly eight mil- 
 lions of tons for one depot. Tampa Bay would probably 
 afford the requisite depth of water for heavy steamers, and 
 convenient sites for the depot and its defense. Thus held, 
 it would give also protection to vessels seeking refuge from 
 an enemy. A coal deposit would also be established at 
 Pensacola and Mobile Point, under the protection of Fort 
 Morgan. Another depot of coal would afford great facili- 
 ties to steam operations, if established at Ship Island. A 
 depot at Fort Jackson would also be necessary to enable 
 the steamers descending from Memphis, to take in a full 
 2 
 
IS 
 
 supply of coal before proceeding to sea." Here we have 
 seven large depots of coal in the Gulf of Mexico, deemed 
 necessary for war steamers alone, and one of these depots 
 would require about eight million tons for a three years 
 supply at a moderate computation, tive hundred com- 
 mercial steamers would be none too many, for the extended 
 line of sea-coast that Alabama should supply with coal, 
 and at least five million tons would be required by this 
 branch alone. 
 
 But there is still another great source of demand for the 
 coal of Alabama, which, although important in itself, will 
 develop a great additional industry in our midst, second 
 to none in the benefit it will confer, or the wealth it will 
 distribute. I allude to the manufacture of iron in the 
 State. It is here, that in natural advantages, we stand un- 
 rivalled by any State of the Union. Possessing as we do 
 a ridge of iron ore one hundred miles long, with an average 
 thickness of little less than fifteen feet, skirted along its 
 whole length by one of our most important railroads, no 
 where more than a mile distant, we have an inexhaustible 
 supply that may challenge the world to equal. Nor is even 
 this our only supply of this valuable mineral ; we have 
 large deposits of brown hematite also, scattered along our 
 coal region, scarcely inferior in quantity, and equally rich, 
 if not superior in quality to the first mentioned deposit. 
 In addition to this, we have interstratified with our coal, 
 the celebrated black band iron ore, which supplies to Great 
 Britain almost exclusively her immense demands. The 
 great value attached to these iron ore deposits, arises from 
 their close proximity to the coal beds. Iron ore without 
 coal, would be of comparatively little value, because in 
 order to make it available for useful purposes, it must be 
 reduced, or in other words, made more or less pure by the 
 process of smelting. This can be done with charcoal, but 
 the value is so enhanced with that fact, that we could not 
 successfully compete as regards cost, with coal smelted 
 iron. It is for this reason, among others, that the British 
 iron competes successfully with all other manufactured 
 iron as to cost, because their abundant coal production 
 enables them to smelt iron cheaply, and thus overcome the 
 
19 
 
 cost of transportation to the markets of the world. Now 
 what they have done and are doing, we have also the natu- 
 ral advantages to do, and we have the further advantage 
 over them in the fact, that our iron ores have a higher 
 per centage of pure iron than theirs, as thirty per cent, is 
 to forty-five. That is to say, the principal ores of Great 
 Britain yield on the average only thirty per cent, of iron, 
 while those we have here, range from forty to fifty-five per 
 cent. Another advantage we have is, that a large portion 
 of our ores, are at or near the surface, and can be mined 
 at comparatively small cost, while theirs being interstrati- 
 fied with the coal, and in most cases, at considerable 
 depths, would at least double the cost of production, and 
 thus more than equalize any benefit- they may have from 
 cheaper labor. 
 
 I make these comparisons, not from any spirit of jeal- 
 ousy or rivalry, but simply because if I can shew that we 
 can compete as regards cost, with Britain, in the manu- 
 facture of iron, we can have nothing to fear from any other 
 quarter. Great Britain can produce pig iron at about fif- 
 teen dollars per ton ; if, then, we can here manufacture it 
 it as cheaply, we need fear no rival on this continent. 
 From a careful examination, I have come to the conclusion 
 that this can be done, and on submitting my estimates te 
 the managers of two iron manufactories, the one in Ten- 
 nessee, the other in Alabama, they agree with the conclu- 
 sions to which I have come. If we can then produce pig 
 iron at fifteen dollars per ton, we can produce railroad iron 
 at fifty dollars per ton. I may here mention, that I have 
 a detailed estimate of cost prepared for both classes of 
 iron, that I will be happy to show any one who wishes to 
 examine this subject more thoroughly. 
 
 I have taken some pains to ascertain what pig iron and 
 railroad iron is produced at in Pennsylvania, at the princi- 
 pal iron works there, and I find that the profitable produc- 
 tion per ton of pig iron would average at least twenty-five 
 dollars per ton, and railroad iron sixty-five dollars per ton. 
 I do not know what the aggregate amount of railroad iron 
 brought into the State, within the past two years may be, 
 
20 
 
 but it must be very considerable, and the fact that we are 
 paying to others, fully a third more than it can be made 
 for here, is something at least to be surprised at. Ala- 
 bama should supply all iron, including railroad iron, to 
 Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas ; the West In- 
 dies, Brazil, and in fact, all South American States, be- 
 cause she is the nearest point of supply, and if we do not 
 do so in the future, it will not be for want of ability to 
 distance all competitors, but because we are not equal to 
 the advantages we possess, nor have the energy and the 
 enterprize to make these natural advantages our own. 
 
 In concluding this part of the subject, I may explain 
 that it was my intention only to give a sketch of the min- 
 eral resources of Alabama, not a complete delineation of 
 them. In the limit of a single report, such a broad field 
 of inquiry as is here presented, not even a volume could 
 embrace all the facts, but if the mere sketch which I have 
 now given, should serve the purpose of directing the at- 
 tention of earnest men to the subject, it will produce all 
 the effect that I can reasonably desire. I may further add 
 that I have purposely abstained from theorizing on the sub- 
 ject, mentioning only facts either observed by myself, or 
 that have come from what I regard as reliable sources. I 
 have also endeavored to fortify my opinions by the state- 
 ments, experience, and conclusions, of eminent men who 
 have written on kindred subjects. I look upon their state- 
 ments as particularly valuable in the present case, because 
 while they strengthen our position, such was not their in- 
 tention ; they therefore come before us as disinterested 
 witnesses in the case. There is no doubt, that within the 
 boundaries of Alabama, we have mines of wealth in our 
 mineral deposits, about which there can be no controversy ; 
 but there is one thing we lack, and without which no nat- 
 ural resources however vast, and no lands however fertile, 
 can be of any avail ; I mean the labor and the capital that 
 must develop them. I believe I am correct in stating that 
 there is not another State in the Union that has done so 
 little to encourage immigration as Alabama ; and I believe 
 further, that every State but this has an organization more 
 
21 
 
 or less complete and operative for that special purpose. I 
 have put myself in communication with all the Soulhern 
 States in this matter, and many of the Western States also, 
 and I find that all of them have bureaus of immigration at 
 home ; and many of them, especially the Western States, 
 have agents abroad encouraging and directing immigra- 
 tion, by every means in their power, to their respective 
 States. They reason thus, and I think their reasoning 
 conclusive : If we can induce, by a wise expenditure of 
 ten thousand dollars yearly, one thousand immigrants to 
 make their homes in our midst, we add one hundred thou- 
 sand dollars to the wealth of the State ; and this is found 
 to be practically the case. Every immigrant has at least 
 a productive power of one thousand dollars, and this is the 
 reason why the Western States are increasing so rapidly 
 in population and in wealth, and are destined at no distant 
 day to become the controlling power in the political and 
 material destinies of this continent. If they had any ma- 
 terial advantages that the South does not possess, it would 
 be our wisdom here to bow to the inevitable necessity of 
 the case ; but it is far otherwise. We have a superior cli- 
 mate to theirs, a soil unrivalled in its fertility if properly 
 cultivated, and enriched, and we have in our mineral wealth 
 an element of greatness which, like a slumbering giant, 
 lies powerless until the hum of busy industry shall habili- 
 tate it with life and power. It is a fallacious opinion, en- 
 tertained by some, that our climate is not suited to white 
 labor. Why ? what have we in the whole northern portion 
 of this State but white labor? If white men can 'and do 
 work on the levees of New Orleans, they surely can much 
 more stand the climate of the upland mineral regions of 
 Alabama. It is our duty and our interest to tell the immi- 
 grants that come to these shores, that the summer of the 
 West is hotter than ours, while the winter is longer and far 
 more severe, and that the alternations of heat and cold are 
 far more trying to European constitutions there than any 
 they will find in the Southern States. I think this ques- 
 tion of immigration is the overshadowing one of the pres- 
 ent day for us. Without increased population, what are 
 
22 
 
 railroads or steamboats, or any system of internal improve- 
 ment"? They are simply as the husk is to the kernel. We 
 may talk till doomsday about our mineral resources, our 
 fertile soils, our fine climate, our natural advantages ; but 
 without the bone and muscle that raises from the dark re- 
 cesses of the mine, and from the generous and fruitful 
 earth, their garnered wealth, we can expect no advance- 
 men in the path of progress. The Bureau of Statistics at 
 Washington has published recently a most valuable report 
 on this important subject, which places in a clear view and 
 on reliable data, the value of immigration to the United 
 States. The following extracts from it are worthy of our 
 most serious attention. The report says : 
 
 "The unexampled development of the Northwestern 
 States is largely owing to the influx of skilled and com- 
 mon labor during the period of the two last decades- 
 Within the past few years especially, owing to the com- 
 pletion of the railroad to the Pacific, and other great 
 works of internal improvement in the western portion of 
 our domain, and to the changed system of labor in the 
 Southern States, extraordinary inducements for immigra- 
 tion have been presented, and the subject, always interest- 
 ing, now possessess a peculiar claim on public attention. 
 During the entire period from 1820 to 1870, the increase 
 of each year over the one immediately preceding it, if uni- 
 form, would average 13 per cent. The aggregate number 
 of immigrants who arrived between October 1st, 1819, and 
 December, 1870, was 7,553,865, and if the 250,000 estima- 
 ted as arriving previous to the first named date be in- 
 cluded, the total number of aliens who have been perma- 
 nently added to our population by direct immigration since 
 the formation of the government, will reach 7;803,865. 
 Referring to the money value of an immigrant, it may be 
 stated that the sum of one thousand dollars has been 
 usually regarded as the average worth of each permanent 
 addition to our population ; but Mr. Knapp, one of the 
 Commissioners of Immigration of the State of New York, 
 who has given much consideration to the subject, assumes 
 the average value to be one thousand one hundred and 
 
23 
 
 twenty-five dollars. At this rate, those who landed upon 
 our shores during the year just closed added upwards of 
 three hundred and eighty-five millions of dollars to our 
 national wealth, while during the last half century, the 
 increment from this source has been six billions two hun- 
 dred and forty-three millions eight hundred thousand dol- 
 lars. It is impossible to make an intelligent estimate of 
 the value to the country of those foreign born citizens who 
 brought their educated minds, their cultivated tastes, their 
 skill in the arts and sciences, and their inventive genius. 
 In almost every walk of life their influence has been felt, 
 alike in the fearful ordeal of war, but more eminently in 
 the pursuit of peace. In our legislative halls, and in the 
 various learned professions, the adopted sons of America 
 have obtained eminence. Their work also appears in the 
 form of productive fields reclaimed from the wilderness, 
 buildings and fences erected, agricultural implements and 
 stock accumulated, and mineral wealth developed. Being 
 the result of voluntary industry and self-imposed economy, 
 it is an increase directly to the State in which they settle, 
 conferring that highest form of wealth, a sturdy, intelli- 
 gent and independent yeomanry, the very balance-wheel . 
 of national machinery." Now this picture a picture and 
 yet a reality presents only its dark side to us. Of the 
 380,000 immigrants from Europe that reached these shores 
 last year, with their estimated added wealth to the country 
 of three hundred and eighty millions of dollars, probably 
 not one hundred persons came to Alabama ; and the rea- 
 son is obvious : while other States are straining every 
 nerve, and making use of every legitimate means within 
 their reach, we are, up to the present time, taking no 
 means to divert even the smallest rill of this mighty living 
 stream that is flowing into the West with its burden of la- 
 bor and wealth. Immigration must be invited here. It 
 must be sought out at its source, and encouraged to come 
 by every argument and every fact that we can place before 
 it. This being done, we may reasonably hope to have at 
 least a share of the benefits so eloquently and truthfully 
 portrayed in the report from which I have quoted. 
 
24 
 
 If the State would give five thousand dollars per annum, 
 and the leading railroad companies, who are also largely 
 interested in this matter, would make up among them five 
 thousand dollars more, a permanent and effective organi- 
 zation could be secured, that would not only operate here 
 at home, but secure at least two leading agencies abroad, 
 at the principal shipping ports, whose business it would be 
 to supply such information and give such advice as to in- 
 duce immigration to the State. If this was done, I am 
 persuaded that in a year or two we would be reimbursed 
 one hundred fold all that we expend in this important 
 work. Our State Agricultural and Mechanical Association 
 might also do much in establishing a central depot at the 
 fair grounds for the reception of immigrants until they 
 could be permanently located. Each county association 
 could also lend a helping hand in their respective sections ; 
 and the proprietors of uncultivated lands should, by a lib- 
 eral and wise arrangement, alike profitable to themselves 
 and the immigrants, help on in the great work. 
 
 But not alone do we require labor ; we also want capital, 
 without which our progress would be slow and our efforts 
 unimportant. Two conditions are required to be clearly 
 shown before obtaining it, viz., that the investments are 
 safe, and that they will be profitable. Capital is habitu- 
 ally cautious, and no capitalist will embark his means in 
 an uncertain project, if he so understands it. Now, I think 
 in our mineral resources we can show clearly those requi- 
 sites which capital demands before investment. Coal and 
 iron lands have everywhere been considered both safe and 
 profitable, and the working of them, when properly con- 
 ducted, has been a source of wealth not only to the pro- 
 prietors, but also to the countries where they have been 
 developed roost. In inviting capital, therefore, all we re- 
 quire to show is, that we have in abundance these sources 
 of wealth which are acknowledged by all, and if we do so 
 where capital is abundant and cheap, our success in this 
 particular will be assured. 
 
 J. L. TAIT, 
 Coi)un.i**i(ntti' of Industrial Resources. 
 
YC 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY