The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1881-06-23
SOUTHERN TOWNS.
The MUshrOOm Places Developed since
1he Wnr-HrOn manufactures.
lGath's Southern letter.

IGahs Southern Letter.
The average Southern town which has
grown up since the war, surrounding O
railroad station, consists of two to five
drinking saloon, few stores and series
of cabins or shanties of planks or logs,
set hither and thther, without much
reference to town in the future.
Through long range of country there
arc no fences on the side of the railroad
track. The trains are kept constantly
whistling to avoid running over cattle or
mules. This is the case within sight of
Montgomery, Ala, where there are some
10000 Inhabitants Occasionally one
finds a steam saw-mi!l put up since the
war in the midst of the wood, saving out
lumber. The rivers are full, almost to
the level of the landscape, in high water,
and they are principally efficient as to
flooding the surrounding bottoms and
creating new soil for agriculture. Alto
gether tue most hopeful country in tho
South, for various occupations, is eiong
the mountainlines of Alabama, Tennessee
and Georgia, where [ saw number of
iron furnaces, and i'll two or three cases
cotton mills, built by Northern capital
i'll perfect manner. One of the furnaces
which gives the name to the railroad
Stonewall Jackson. The next was called
"Tecumseh," after Gen. William Te-
cumsch Sherman, and is operated by ex-
Senator Warner, of Alabama, who was
on Gen. Shermans staff. Warner got
into the train at his station and talked to
me as far as Rome, Ga, and said to me:
''Thcre arc just four towns in the South
which arc picking up rapidly-Chat-
tanoogn, Rome, Atlanta and Birming-
ham, Ala. My b1other-in-law, Justice
Woods, of the Supreme Court, is inter-
cstcd with me in the Tecumseh furnace
We worked along for some years during
hard times without much returns but
we are now making money, and so are
the furnaces generally in this section, of
which there arc n dozen or more. All of
them are charcoal furnaces. and two of
these nre said to be the largest charcoal
furnaces in the world. We have orders
for iron n long way ahead The ad-
vantages of making iron here are cheap
ness Of materials and of labor"
He said that they paid about one dol
lar day for labor, and paid about forty
or fifty cents for cut wood per cord. I
also understood him to say that the ma
terial entering into ton of iron procured
on his land cost only about sixty-five
cents. L presume he meant without Ia
Dor. This was disputed by Mr. Folger,
who thought Warner must have had said
six dollars and half, but 1 am pretty
sure he said sixty-fvc cents. Warner
said that the present Governor of Ala
bama was n pretty fair man, and that,
while the State was not improping much,
industry would soon start up. A bank
had just burst at Rome, Ga, and Sena-
tor Warner was just going up to see
what had become of So, 900 of his furnace
money deposited there. Throughout
the South there is q rising opposition to
any moreS State banks, and general op-
position to my further noise about what
is called estates right" L have shown
you in another communication how the
transportation against Estates rights" So
called, has broken out among the most
dOgmatic soldiers of the rebellion. who
want better living for their families and
less political theory.