New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1874-01-22
The South.
Ten Days n the Iron and Coal Fields OF
North Alabama.
70 tie Elitor Of tie Detroit Post

70 tie Editor Of Ute Detroit Post:
! Briefly and plainly, propose to tell what
[ saw in this region of mineral wealth. Civ
inc only little testimony of highly compe-
I tent Witnesses, to help clearer understand
! inc of the whole matter. I made Birmino
ton Il center, it being in valley nearly in
! the middle of the mineral region, at a rail-
road crossing, and with 4 good hotel-the
Relay House and went cut some 40 miles
! in different directions.
These Alabama hills are the southern
| terminus oithc great Appalachian range and il
would seem as though its richest treasures
! of iron and coal had been pushed out thi,
/ end of the mountain III some prehistoric con-
/ WILSON'S OF Natures Titanic forces.
! Going south To visit a furnace we saw a
! company of men on the railroad track three
! miles from Bennington, and recognized them
/ as pennsylvanians we met the night before,
/ experienced and able iron men. Joining
! their party we stood on the track at gap
cut in the Red Mountain and saw a solid wall
/ OF red hematte iOssiliferous ore. 80 feet long
and Is feet high, and were told thew had
| found the hill for three miles northeast
| almost il mass Oh ore, and these hills reach
SONS 10 miles, and join the ranges far toward
The Georgia iron fields. The ore was rich.
and mixes well with the brown hematics
which are near by. The red hematite was
| late Vienna Exposition. | visited the Red
Mountain furnace, just south of this ridge,
and the Briarlield furnace. near the Rome
and Selma railroad, - miles southwest and
found good iron, made under disadvantages
from charcoal, but facilities, with capital aud
skill combined, to make iroE from bitunin-
Gus coal and coke at rates Of cost below those
yet reached. There are many places where
lion, coal and limestone are all witkn a few
| la,
and thus To be brought to the furnace doors
at less cost than anywhere else. Their
market for iron is at Cincinnati and Louis
vile, and the best OF their car-wheel piu
iron is held equal to any made. The ore is
shipped to Indiana, by Louisville.
] also visited IL field Of heinatite ore
('ncede ore" ''houey-cOmb" and "auil
ore, ~ near iauneiiiil on the Alabama and
Chattanooga railroad, =, mile, southwest of
birmingham, and spent IL day in exploring
the thousand acres we went over. On the
ground were bouIders of fine ore i'm such
abundance that 1 think over l5O, 900 tons
could he picked up without use of pick or
spade, while great masses above and below
the surface would yield millions of tons. As
a sample, crossed a corntield in which the
pillow had turned up ore in almost every foot,
and went 10 a ditch in low ground, the bottom
OF which was solid ore, then climbed the
ID.
100 feet above the alphabetically an iron
mountain-aud this but one of several
others. | was told of a vein of red
hematte on the tract which was visible.
on the end of a bluff for 100 feet up, with
five feet thickness, and within three miles
coal is abundant and limestone equally so.
Going back to the railroad we passed, on an
adjoining tract owned by Pennsylvanians, a
cut made by Coniederates, and from which
Il l. II
that the masses above ground were
but u fraction Of the huge bulk below: for
the space of 90 by Is feet laid bare was
massive in its piles Of fine brown ore, which
makes excellent iron. Let this suffice for
iron, and now a word on coal.
Birmingham is near the eastern edge of
The Black Warrior cOal-lield, which covers
some 1850 square miles west between and
beyond the two branches of the Warrior, in
Il wild and billy region. The edges of the
great bed are supposed to turn up like the
rim OF a platter, and the central and richer
beds to be horizontal.
l went into the Newcastle coal mine ~
miles north Of Birmingham, over 300 feet.
sloring down a little at an angle decreasing
as we went in, and found five feet of coal
with two thin veins of slate | also saw
other beds as tar as II miles below, of eo',aI
thickness or greater, but not worked.
On the Black Warrior, over tie hills .,
miles west Of birmingham, | Saw alone the
river beds OF II feet thick, and troceG the
t"di -"utcropS down to th.. river bottom in
slich way as To make Over 40 feet in dentb
81 coal, with the usua. slate-veins. and This
III Two places, three miles apart. with coal
ABUNDANT between. For many miles along
t'eNe streams coal is practically inexhausti,
oi'' ana these great beds saw are samples
Oh WHAT may be seen clswhere [ was told
by wcll-hnown iron man from the North
OF ms seeing vein of III feet of coal east of
the " atrlor, while was there.
Obtained from Welshman n samule of
! ca1uel coal from vein over 80 inches thick
Nhich ne proposes to work. Semi-btumin.
Gus and softer coal are found of a quality
July equal to the best i'll this country. burn
ing WIN clear flame and strong heat, and
cohlng, 1t is sold, To good advantage. | also
nave sample ct "hli,k-band' iron ore
From Tie Warrior.
Ihe coai-beds | saw on the Warrior were
mostly in the lands of the Alabama Coal and
Navigation Company, who own lands for
mics along the rivers, and have exclusive
| right OF navigation from the State for 20 wears
lhey propose To build dams, open slack
water navigation to Mobile and the Gulf, and
mus hoid the key to a coal trade equal to
supplying the Gulf, the Lower Mississippi.
and the iron furnaces by water Transports
ton. AS the Warrior is from s to Is feet
deep where saw it, and only interrupted by
few shoals and ripples, their great enter
prise seems feasible. They also hold lands
IN the Cahaba coal-fields, where coal is ex-
cellent and abundant in 500 square miles
and the ! 900 acres of iron land | have de-
scrlbed is few miles north Of their coal.
and Is also their property.
East toward Georgia is the Coosa coal
Held, Of some go square miles-and tracts
oi coal are Inierspersed among beds of ore
IN That region, IL is said | have a sample
vi coal mined by the Coniederates eight wears
ago ON the Cahaba, and left exposed on a
PIE OF LOCO tons still lying there, which is
hard and good yet.
oh the Warrior we hauled up blocks from
the solid bed on the river bottom. which
saw burned in a CRATE, the same evenina
sheduing light abundant in their comhus,
ton. N''iio"S
But enough, Alabama is good for SIM.
ply OF these minerals for the world far so,,s
centurles. brought back specimens of coal
;.i ores, gathered with my own hands,
which may help to satisfy inqurers.
G.. Il. STEBBINs.