Telegram-herald., 1889-05-16
TheObSerVer
BIRMINGHAM. ALABAMA.
I'VE D@ys' ssas ia The Magic cisy Cen
siacs. - az IA Greas Fss4Fe.

Birmingham = l9c&ted Ia jefferson
county, Alabama, 4bout thirty m3es
north u TIE center Of the state. ll 4,
situated ou plateau ia 4 beautiful
valley oEeE sx hundred feet above tae
level IT the SEA, surrounded by ranges
0f iron mountains, covered with bsaut-
ful folage. Birmingham, the magic
city, hes l6s feet higher than Blount
springs. Alabama's famous health re
sort 200 feet higher than Chattanooga
l0l feet higher than Nashville, Tenn,
and 80 feet higher than Louisville,
~.
Inc highlands around the city aver
age from 7o0 70 200 feet shove the sea
level. and furnish delightful sites Tor
residences. They are beng rapidly occu-
pied ~ beautiful homes.
There are no stagnant pools of water
ia oroutsideof the city. Thecity has an
excellent system OF sewerage, and Is
supplied with pure mountaineering
water. though 1t has not the sparkling
clearness OF our Michigan water.
Ten years ago Birmingham Was
scarcely heard OF. The census Of 1850
reports a population of 5,0so, she now
has a population OF 1900.
There are over twenty furnaces IN
blast in and around the city. Besides
these there are SIX or more III conStruc-
ton, II We have been rightly Informed
and We have taken great deal OF
pains u 20 about and inform ourselves,
FOR the benefit or the TELEGRAM III Err
AID.
The furnaces now in working order
will produce over one hundred tons of
pig iron a day, and if run 800 days a
year each, Will yield some 100000 tons,
which at the average price OF sl4 ton
on cars here, Will return To the capital
and labor employed IN its production
! the round sum OF about Sll 100000.
They are also beginning 10 operate
! successfully fine steel works. Their
daily Outpu: Is about ten tons of good
soft steel. This promises 10 work great
! revolution III the use made OF Alabama
| IRON.
Birmingham has five trunk lines of
railroads. The well managed Louisville
~ Nashville, going north, connects with
| Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati, Chi
cago, Grand Rapids, and all cities north
and east. Going south, with Mont
! gOmery, Pensacola, Mobile, New Or
leans, and all roads beyond. The man
agement of this road deserves the pat
| rOnage of our Northern cities. We
have not the space TO give connection:
of the other through lines, but may dc
50 for the benefit OF Grand Rapids and
other Michigan cities.
This is beyond doubt the best iron
coal, and suitable stone region IN the
world, and is already shipped into Pitts
burg for less money than they can pro
duce il ut home. There are four new
roads IN course of construction, anC
when finished Birmingham will have
nine roads, giving her direct connection
and competing routes to all the prlncl
pal markets OF the country.
The freight furnished in pig lrOr
alone Will amount to 400 ,000 tons year
| which Will be nearly three times the ton
mage furnished by an average cotton
crop of the entire State of Alabama
The raw material used in making thi
IRON Will give the roads say, in rOunC
numbers, 1000 900 tons of additlona
freight, without taking into cOnsidera
ton the wonderful increase of genera
freightage which must be the natural re
suit of so large an addition of the iron
and coal trade. 1t will not be amiss tC
say right here that the Birmingham
Mineral, the shortest road that rum
INTO the city, viii move more tons dur
ing the year of 'S9 than the entire cot
ton crop of the United States vii
amount to.
Birmingham has ten banks, with ;
JOINT capital of $3.50, 900, deposits o
=, i46 go, and surplus fund of Sl03, 900
We Will render a statement of /
problem, and leave It's solution to time
II starting IN 1850 with two railroads
one blast furnace, two fOundrics, on
machine shop, 1886 inhabitants, Will
8, ,9j3, ,375 of assessed values, and COul,
swell her population IN 1889 To some
sixty thousand, with assessed value
amounting TO some forty millions o
more, and increase her industries t.
SIX railroads, with four more IN cOurs
of construction, and about one hun
drcd various factories, MILLS and shop:
with many other enterprises giving en-
ployment 10 capital and labor, wha
Development may she expect 10 reac
during the eight years to come?
1t may be well to know that durin
the long period of severe depressiO
which characterized the iron marke
! throughout the entire country, begIr
= | nlng OF the Fall Of 1882 70 the Fall q
lSs6, not one Of the furnaces of Tn
| Birmingham district went out of bla:
| because of the then uuprecedcnte
= | low prices. So. too, now. when iron
| lower than ever before IN the hstor
Of TINS country, ell of the Birmingham
/ | furnaces are running, while more tina
| half OF those In the United states al
D idle.
With equal clearness do the numbs
of p0stOthccs in this new settled count
, indicate prosperity. There are no
& some scvCnty-fve offices, and more I
a De added for the accommodation 4,
public enterprises of thrifty village
with a population OF from FIVE hundre
/ o. five thousand, which are beng mad
& substantial feeders 70 birmingham.
The free schools of Birmingham al
= good and they are well pstrOnizcd 3
All CLASSES. some seventy i've teache'
1 are employed. and there is a constal
o demand for greater Accommodation
/ There = also 2 training school attacne
o. the system. in which the graduat
al the high school, who propose
teach. are taught free for one yea
r The city has already invested son
$500 coo. ard vii oxpend about Si0f
> coo more during tbs year.
. There are several good private schoC
q which are well patron 1ed II