Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-02-01
Dome Department.
AMERICAN LETTERS, NO. a.
ALABAMA. CONTINUED,

Alabama lies between latitude 800, 10
minutes and $50 north, and longitude
$40, SO minutes and $50, 30 minutes
west. Its area is 5O,722 square miles
80, 462 $50 acres. The population, in 1880,
was l,262,505.
Alabama has four Islands, that lie IN
the Gulf of Mexico, near the entrance to
Mobile bay. She has only about 60
miles of sea coast, as Florida extends on
the sea coast nearly to Louisiana. The
Allegheny mountains end in northeastern
Alabama, making that portion uneven
and broken, although the elevation is no.
where very great The range extends
west, with slight bend to the south, and
forms the dividing line between the wa
tiers Of the Tennessee river and the other
rivers of Alabama, the former empty
ing into the Ohio at Paducah, and all the
others ultimately flowing southwark into
the Gulf of Mexico. From this range the
face of the country slopes to the south,
and is somewhat uneven, as far as the
centre of the State, where begin the roll
ling prairies, pine barrens and fertile al
luvial bottoms. The extreme southern
portion is fat, and but slightly elevated
above the level of the Gulf
Birmingham, the county seat Of Jeffer-
son county, is situated about 80 miles
northward Of the center Of the State. Its
climate is mild and pleasant. The Their
mometer ranges in summer from 60o to
100 Q, while in winter it rarely gets be-
low 200.
Every section and nearly every coun-
ty of Alabama is watered and afforded
commercial facilities by some one or
more Of its navigable rivers; whilst the
large creeks, and other streams, which
flow through and irrigate the soil, are al
most innumerable. The principal rivers,
aside from the Tennessee, which, though
a foreigner, makes itself curiously at home
in the northern part of the State, are the
Alabama and Tombigbee, which flow to-
gether, forming the Mobile, that empties
into Mobile bay near the city. The bay
is 80 miles in length from its mouth to
the city wharves. The Chattahoochee
river is the boundary for over hundred
miles between Alabama and Georgia, and
is navigable to Columbus, Ga. There are
no lakes in Alabama; hardly any east OF
the Mississippi in the Southern States
outside of Florida and Lake Pontchartrail
in Louisiana.
am largely indebted for the above sta
tistics on Alabama to a very eXcellen
small work entitled: "Hand-Book o
Alabama, by Saffold Berney, Mobile
1875" and from the same work / eXtrac
the following article on "The Forests o
Alabama and their Products" by Charlie
Mohr of Mobile.
"The fifty thousand square miles whicl
make up the area of this State were, orig
inally, a nearly unbroken forest-it ma.
be said up to the end of the first quartz
of this century; with the exception Of
comparatively small area of prairie LAM
and grassy savannas in the southern poi
ton of its center. According to the LAT
est statistics, seven-tenths of this fores
are still existing, amounting to 2O,63O,9 SO
acres some of it culled of its larges
timber growth, but the greater part in 1t
virgin state, scarcely touched by the axe
One-half of the lands owned by the farm
ers are yet wood lands. The heavies
timbered lands are found in the souther
part of the State within the great mar
time pine belt, where the forest are
amounts to sc per cent; in the centr'
counties, situated in the prairie regio
and embracing the cotton belt, it amount
to As per cent; In the broken mountain
Gus part, embracing the mineral regio
! and extending to the waters Of the Tel
4 nessee river, to nearly 20 per cent; an
/ in the northern part, with the rich ayr
I cultural land in the Tennessee valley,
q 60 per cent.
according to the distribution Of tn
: prevailing trees, determined by climat
= influences, the nature of the soil and II
| topographic features Of the country, tn
| forests of this State present three chara
teristic regions. Distinct as they are b
| peculiar features, their boundaries cal
| not be defined by distinct line-one r
| gion passing almost imperceptibly I'M
| the other.
| "The first, or lower region, is formed b
| the great pine belt of the Gulf coast-tf
continuation of the immense pine fore
which extends from the eastern bank I
| the Mississippi to the shores of the Alta
tic ocean. 1t covers the southern par
| uninterruptedly, from east to west, al
extends from one hundred to one hundrt
! and fifty miles into the interior. Tn
area is almost exclusively occupied t
coniferous trees-the undulating dry al
i sandy uplands entirely by the lor
leaved, or yellow pine, the most impo
tant while most valuable Of our limb
trees, which arrives here at its create
perfection. On the lands more level al