The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-09-10
THE BIRMINGHAM BOOM.

How Fortunes are Made in BOOms,
and How Booms Often Originate.
In 1871 there was an old worn out
field in the central part of Ala
bama. It had been both corn field
and cotton field alternately, and was
not much good for either. The
ground was broken into ridges and
was difficult to cultivate. In dig
ging and blowing up the ground a
vein of very hard, dark metallic
substance had been noticed. Some
body said it was iron ore, but no
particular attention had been paid
to it. A few more years passed
over the shabby, neglected field: In
1877 Col. Sloss saw man digging a
hole in the mountain side near the
old field The digger threw out
Jumps of coal with the clay. An
idea struck Col. Sloss. May be
there was coal mine worth some
thing here. In 1879 Henry de Bard
laben visited the neighborhood of
the old cotton field. The existence
of both coal and iron were known
now. Providence had put the two
together on purpose for the conve-
nience of man. Sloss just escaped
being ''dead broke" and Bardlaben
was a clerk on very small wages.
But the two joined hands and
bought on credit large tracts of the
new mineral lands.
To day the city of Birmingham,
Ala, stands upon the old cotton
farm. Birmingham has $4,000 in
habitants, all since 1879. All about
the city are rich mines. They pro-
duce every day nearly 10000 tons of
coal, $500 tons of iron ore and 1900
tons of limestone. There are 1900
coking ovens, smouldering night and
day. Every day 1890 tons of pig
iron and 200 tons of finished iron
are turned out of the great furnaces
and rolling mills that fill the lands
cape with smoke by day and with a
red glow by night.
Henry Bardlaben is to-day worth
S5,OO0,000, amassed in less than nine
years. Col. Sloss is worth 100000.
One lot in the old cotton field has
been sold for $4,000, another for
$4,000. Eight hundred dollars a
foot is no very uncommon price
One man went to Birmingham with
nothing six years ago, and now has
$1,500,000. A drummer from Gin
cinnati visited the charming spot in
1880 and became a bookkeeper. He
is now worth 100000. A crippled
Confederate soldier started a bar
room IN Birmingham in 1881. His
figures now round up 100000.
A druggist from Greenville went
to Birmingham thirteen years age
and became president of a land com
pany. He now owns property worth
$1,2OO,OO0. A Mr.. Pinkard, who is
only 80 years old, made half mil
lion dollars in three years. Nearly
all these men are southerners. There
are many others who have done quite
as we'll, ex-Congressman Cummings
who tells the story in the New York
Sun, says. Birmingham has almost
parslleled the early days of Cali
fornia in growth and wealth. Iron
is as great magician as gold. The
list of wage earners here is 5000
and a million and a half of silver
dollars are paid to them every month
There is now strong talk of a great
trust to unite and control all the iron
Industries at Birmingham. It will
then become the center of the most
powerful iron combine in the world.
So, amid orchards and gardens
and lakes, with her great trip ham
'mers literally keeping time to the
music of hooking birds, Birming-
ham grows mighty and rich.