The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-01-02
Ten Days In the Iron and Coal Fields
Of North Alabama.

of North Alabama.
To tho Editor Of the Detroit Post:
Briefly and plainly, l propose to tel
what l saw in this region Of minera
wealth, giving only a little testimony 0
highly competent witnesses, to help
clearer understanding of the whole mat
ter. 1 made Birmingham a centre, /
being in a valley nearly in the middle 0
the mineral of the mineral region, at
railway crossing, and with a good hote
the Relay House-and went out somt
forty miles in ditEerenfdirections. -e
These Alabama hills are the southern
terminus Of the great Appalachian range
and It would seem as though its riches
treasures Of iron and coal had been push
ed out to this end Of the mountains IN
some prehistoric conYulsion Of Natures
Titanic forces. efs
Going south to visit a furnace we saw
o company Of men on the railroad track
three miles from Birmingham, and recog.
nized them as Pennsylvanians we had
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 solid wall of red
hematite fossiliferous ore, fifty feet long
and fifteen feet high, and were told that
they had found the hill for three miles
northeast almost q mass Of ore, and these
hills reach some forty miles and join the
ranges far towards the Georgia iron fields.
The ore was rich and mixes well with the
brown hematites that are near by. The
red hemitite was awarded high prize
among the best at the Vienna Exposition:
/ visited the Red Mountain furnace, Just
south Of this ridge, and the Briarfeld fur
mace, near the Rome s. Selma Railroad,
fnrty-five miles southwest, and found
good iron made under disadvantages from
charcoal, but facilities, with capital and
skill combined, to make iron from btu
minious coal and coax at rates Of cost be-
low those yet reached. There are many
places where iron, coal and limestone are
all within few miles, accessible by tram.
ways easily built, and thus to be brought
to the furnace doors at less cost than any.
where else. Their market for iron Is at
Cincinnati and Louisville, and the best OF
their car.wheel pig iron Is held equal 10
any made. The ore is shipped TO In
diana, by Louisville.
I also visited a field OF hematite ore
needle ore,"" honey. comb and quill
ore "), near Tannehill, on the Alabama s.
Chattanooga Railroad, twenty five, miles
southwest of Birmingham, and spent q
day in exploring the thousand acres we
went over. On the ground were boulders
offine ore in such abundance that l think
over 100 900 tons could be picked up with.
out the use of dick or spade, while great
masses above and below the surface would
yield millions Of tons. As a sample, l
crossed a cornfield in which the plow had
turned up ore in almost every foot, and
went to ditch in low gyound, the bot
tom Of which was solid ore, then climbed
the bluff close by, over masses Of ore, to
It's top, one hundred feet above the
alphabetically an iron mountain-and
this but one Of several Others. Twas told
Of vein Of red hematite on the tract
which was visible on the end of q bluff,
for one hundred feet up, with five feet
thickness, and within three miles coal is
abundant and limestone equally 80. Go.
ing back to the railroad VIC passed, on an
adjoining track own by Pennsylyanians,
a cut made by the Conlederates, and from
which ore was mined in the war. This
revealed the fact that the masses above
ground were but fraction Of the huge
bulk below, Eorthe space OF sixty.flve bv
fifteen feet laid bare vas massive in It's
piles OF fine brown ore, which makes ex-
cellent iron. Let this suffice for iron, and
now word on coal.
Birmingham Is near the eastern edge of
the Black Warrior coal field, which GOV.
ers some 5000 square miles west, be.
tween and beyond the two branches Of
the Warrior, ina wild and hilly region.
The edges Of the great bed are supposed
to turn up like the rim Of q platter, and
the central and richer beds to be horizon.
tai. .e .r.. - -. --
l went into the Newcastle coal mine,
twelve miles north Of Birmingham, over
three hundred feet, sloping down q little
OF an angle decreasing as we wentin, and
found five feet oi coal with two thin veins
of slate. / also saw other beds as far as
fifteen miles below, of equal thickness or
greater, but not worked.
On the Black Warrior, over the hills,
twenty-five miles west of Birmingham, !
saw along the, river beds Of eleven feet
thick, and traced the coal outcrops down
10 the river bottom, in such a way as to
make over forty feet In depth of coal, with
the usual slateVeips, and this In two
places, three miles apart, with coal abun.
dant between. For many miles along
these stre.rls coal Is practically mex.
haustible, and these great beds I saw are
samples Of what may be seen elsewhere.
I was told by q well known iron man
from the North, Of his seeing q vein Of
eleven fest Of coal east OF the Warrior,
while was there.
] obtained from q Welshman a sample
ot camel coal from q vein over thirty
inches thick, which he proposes to work.
Semi. .bltuminous and softer Goals are
found Of quality fully equal to the best
In this country, burning with clear flame
and strong heat, and coking, 1t Is said, to |
good advantage. also have sample OF
black bandp iron ore from the Warrior.
The coal beds l saw, on the Warrior
were mostly in the lands OF the Alabama
Goal and Navigation Company, who own
lands for miles along the rivers, and have
exclusive right Of navigation from the
State for twenty years. They propose 10 |
build DANA open slack water navigation |
70 Mobile and the Gull, and thus hold
the Key 70 the coal trade equal to supply.
the iron furnaces by water transportation.
AS the Warrior Is from eight to fifteen
feet deep where I saw 1t, and only inter. |
rupted BY q few shoals and ripples, their
great enterprise seems feasible. They
also hold lands In the Cahaba coal fields,
where coal Is excellent and abundant In |
tiye hundred square miles, and the one |