The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1884-05-29
AlRiiiNIihhaI.

"fhe Magic City Of tho S0nth"-Rnpld
Growth hnd reschoOl Facilities.
birmingham Correspondent Philadelphia Pres.
When in this part Of Alabama four years
ago l heard nothing but Birmingham.
Twelve years ago the first house was built
on Its site, aud today its population Ia esti'
mated at $1,000. 1t did not push ahead
with great rapidly at fr1t, and Its second
growth began In 1878. Since then the
population and the number Of houRes have
increased iour.iold. Within three years
the value Of property has increased 400
percent. This progress may be wholly at.
iributed to the establishment Of iurnacee,
rolling mills, machine shops and, more
recently, = cotton factory. Outside
OF Great Britain I know OF no city
so iavorably situated for iron and
coal rs Birmingham. II has the Warrior
coal field Immediately on the North, four
or five k,iles distant, and the Cshaw ba field
about nine or ten miles eff. Along the
edge OF both these coal fields, like great
Chinese wall, extending Southwest about
eighty miles and Northeast to Chattanooga,
is q vein Of red hemati,e iron and brown
ores and lime rock. 1t is, in fact, an iron
mountain. The one ia stratifed, varying
from two to fifteen feet thick, Of workable
ore. The amount Of ore in the Red Noun.
tain, as estimated by biologists is 500 .000,.
900, 900 tons. while that In the celebrated
Cleveland Dctrict, in Yorkshire, Is only
only estimated at {, 900. 10000 tons. E. Is
In close proximity with these iron mines
liz the various coal.tields Of Alabama. The
fields South OF tho Tennessee River cover
$3.50 fauare miles, the Black Warrior 5000
square miles, the Cahawba 200 square
milea, and the Coosa, Northwest OF the
CooeR River, $50 eeusre miles. Tho Ga.
hswbs field ia about twelve feet thick, the
Black Warrior field, in gome place., 100
feet. The daily output Of the Alabama
mines Is now about 1000 tona, or 1900
tons for the year.
In 1873 the total product Of the State
was only l0,050 tons. Mr.. G. D. Fitzhugh,
engineer here OF the Louisville & Nash
vile Railroad Company, informed msyes.
tsrday that he was opening two coal mines
at Warrior with al aggregate capacity OF
$1,000 tons daily, and that other mines
were being opened south Of here. The
coal product o. Alabama for 1854 should
reach nearly 100000 TONS The census
of lS79-S0 gives tho total pig iron pro-
duction Of the State at 90 $50 tone; the an
nual produc! at the present time Ia close
100000 TONS Situated in the center OF
this mineral region the thriving city Of
Birmingham may be said to represent the
industrial growth OF the State, and though,
as we ehall hereafter see, it has in part
been shared by other towns, this place
must continue to be the center Of tho in
duslrial energy that is likely to change Al.
ALBANIA into great manufacturing State,
and that, too, in the life OF the present gen
Grafton. h
Referring to the educational advantages
Of the town., they are not what they ought
to be. Several persons have expressed a
hope that Senator Blair's bill providing
money Tor educational purposes will .pass
the House and become q law.
Said An intelligent coal miner, who had
once worked in Illinois. 1.-THE working
man is well of here, except that the schools
in the South are bad. I know when l
lived here beiore lett on that account. I
went to Illinoie, and worked in several
places in the United States, but this is the
worat place for schools that l ever saw."
"Wha. is the trouble with them 2" il
II don't know what is the trouble; but
we can't get any schools for our children.
There ia population out ut the Pratt mine
Of something like o,4O0, but We have no
schaol ut all, except one that widow wo.
man teaches at her own house, and she
teaches for dollar head, and, if man
has four OF five children to 60 to school, he
can't sGord it. In fact, our children are
growing up without instruction"