The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1886-07-08
A CITY OF MAGIC GROWTH.
What tho Discovery Of Iron Ore and Coal
Have Done for Birmingham, Alabama.

A Birmingham. Alabama, correspond
ent of the New York World says: "The
history Of this wonderful place reads
more like legend of magical days, 80
rapidly has it grown from corn and cotton
fields, surrounded by seemingly barren
mountains, to busy city of we'll stocked
stores, solid banks, beautiful churches,
thorough public schools, extensive man.
ufactories and comfortable and elegant
residences in which dwell $4,000 hospita-
BILE, energetic and progressive people, the
whole lighted up by the glow of fifteen
iron furnaces shedding the rays of pros
perity over the place. The first house
was built in Birmingham in 1871. By
referring to the census of 1880 We find
the population had reached only 4,500,
but in 1885 we find 21,347 souls-an in
crease during FIVE years of 16,S47 or 80
per cent. The same percentage of in.
crease during the next FIVE years would
give population of $4,000 in 1890. The
tax receivers books show value. OF taxa
BILE property in 1880 of S3,246,374, value
in 1885 S11, ,079,619. These two conyinc.
ing facts, 40 increase in population Of
$40 per cent. and of 400 per cent. in the
value of taxable property, tell wonder
fut story, and without going further one
must realize at once that great material
wealth, exceedingly desirably located,
must here exist.
"The iron metropolis of the South lies
pillowed on the breast of the Red Noun
tain,. solid mass of ore, supported on
one side by the Warrior and on the other
by the Cohaba coal fields, with limestone
and fire clay lying between. We may
we'll imagine that here the tabled Vulcan
found his chosen home. Here lies the
secret of, the city's marvellous growth.
Think of it! A solid mountain of iron
ore-a huge vein "a feet thick, cropping
out for 100 miles along the mountain, and
hanked on either side by mile after mile
of splendid coal. Nowhere can iron be
made 80 chesply, for nowhere is the ma.
terial for its manufacture 80 plentiful and
at the same time SO conveniently located.
"The ore used here is hematite, and is
divided into three classes. First, the
limonite or brown hematite. About one.
eighth of the ore used here is of this
species, and contains ~ to 30 per cent.
metallic iron. Ordinary hematite, com.
monty called red ore-abont the same
amount is used az of the aboye-contains
from IS to IS per cent. metallic iron, and
the balance, or six-cigh.hs of the ore, is
known rs foasil ore on account of The.
shells and fosaiferoas remains found i'm
bedded therein. All of the above ores
are almost entirely free from sulphur, and
contain from OH to 0.75 per cent. of
PHOSPHORUS, the limonite being most
irregular, while the red and fossil are
more uniform, averaging about OBS per
cent. The limonite contains from 2 to
10 per cent. and the red and fossil s to 16
per cent. of silica.
"The above ores are delivered at the
furnace door tthe following low prices !:
The red and fossil at 70 cents aud the
brown at S1.50 per ton. While this ore,
on account of high PHOSPHORUS, cannot
be converted into steel by Bessemer pro-
cess, yet this same PHOSPHORUS becomes
of advantage by the basic process, which
is now the cheapest manner of making
steel. Steel made by this process in
Germany, the cable has repeatedly III:
formed us, has been shipped to England
and sold at less price than English steel,
the ore and coke used in Germany being
very similar to those used here. There
have also been recent discoveries of the
gray specular ore here, the same as that
of the Lake Superior region, and speci-
mems analyzed show only 0.004 to 0.0O6
PHOSPHORUS, and as high rs 66 per cent.
metallic iron.
Birmingham has surrounding her II, !
900 square miles of bituminouS coal,
equaling in cooking and steaming quail
ties any in America, and nowhere can it
be more cheaply mined. Coal is put at
the furnace doors at from ST. to S125 per
ton, and coke at $3.50 per ton. The
twenty one furnaces in Birmingham have
daily capacity Of 1,475 tons, aud the
monthly payroll of the great industries
centered there amount to S252, ,000."