Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1895-10-09

attained by some, the wild savage
roamed through these valleys and over
these hills and mountain ranges. OF the
four score years of Alabama's history full
three score years have been but a record
of calm peaceful and uneventful sub1u-
cation of her virgin soil and forests, the
mild and slow developing pursuits of the
husbandmen, the quiet progress OF nat
ural increase and decay. And today
there are sections and communities In
Alabama which show almost the iden--
teal environments. the same ways and
methods of daily life, the same mild IN
ertia of scores of years ago.
And SO, looking forward, we cannot
question that years hence there will be
sections and communities in this coun-
try of ours, showing then no noticeable
advancement upon the present, giving no
evidences of any progressive develop
ment, with a people content to live and
die as their fathers before them. Even
today, in New England the scenes of the
first substantial and progressive settle
ment in the new world, of it's intellectual
and industrial awakening. the fountain
head of the free institutions which have
spread over and now dominate the land,
there are sections and communities which
show decay and serious retrogression;
abandoned farms, decaying towns and
diminishing populations. History re-
peats itself. The world is an enigma
Man, with all his work. is but as grams
of sand in comparison with the stupen-
dous, mysterious and incomprehensible
workings of nature, of the universal God.
In the light of the experience which the
records of the ages give us, and in the
face of the opportunities which we be-
heve are available. what have we to ex-
pect in our time? What destinies will
we be bile to work out of the present?
= Past history shows that civilization,
nd assemble
at commercial or trade centers, where
the products of nature and mans hand
are exchanged and distributed, and at
industrial centers where natures more
valuable resources are found in large
abundance and converted to mans uses.
The natural wealth of Alabama, as
shown in her soil and forests, is widely
diffused, but seems only subject to slow
development, or in many instances that
remains stationary or even retrogrades,
but as shown in her mineral resources,
the richness and extent of which is
largely the discovery of the last score of
years. the Imagination is hardly capa-
BILE of a safe and conservative compre-
tension
The two prime mineral products of
this section. the great sources of power
and strength in the industrial and me-
chancal world, coal and iron. are des-
tined to exert a most potent and sur
prsng influence, in their mining and con-
version into commercial products upon
the concentration of wealth, population
and all the concomitants of the highest
civilization in this section.
1t is comparatively a few years since
the extent of these resources became suf-
ficiently known to predicate an estimate
of the duration of the supply and to base
a Judgment of the progress, the devel-
opment of the industry of their mining
and manufacture would effect in this ter
rit Ia
cally workable coal seams within radius
of less than forty miles Of this valley will
afford a supply five times the present out
put Of the whole state for at least five
centuries to come Geological eXplora-
ton discloses 120 feet of aerate coal in
the Black Warrior field, most of it in
seams practically workable. The mil
lions and billions of tons of coal thus
covered is almost incomprehensible, and
for ages the possibility Of exhaustion
will occasion no concern to this people
nor to their descendants
We can speak in like terms of the iron
ore supplies and especially of the red
stratified ore, which forms the bulk of our
consumption. Their existence Is not con-
fined as indicated on some geological
maps, to the narrow margin of the Red
mountain range, though extending 100
miles through this territory. but this
great seam of ore extends far into the
showing miles from the apex of Red
mountain, where tested, solid strata of
30 feet Exhaustion of such can only be
a question of centuries.
1t is upon the existence of this mex
haustible mineral wealth, SO essential to
the needs and progress and hence civil
ization of mankind. that we predicate
future beyond even the most sanguine
expectations. Can these two prosaic,
homely elements. iron and coal. accom-
plish the work outlined in the onward
progress of still higher and greater CIV
ilization? Iron. next to bronze, was the
first metal utilized by man. The records
of 1000 years past give evidence of its
use. Wherever civilization prevailed it
was an Important agent. and as civiliza-
ton advanced and spread in still greater
proportion were its uses multiplied.
Eliminate it and the grand structure of
civilization would weaken and fall, and
yet today we seem to be barely upon the
threshold of it's domain. The iron age is
at hand and with the intellect of this
day 1t seems rapidly approaching the ell
max of human capablity.
4 Its great coadjutor, coal, though trac-
ing it's uses back nine centuries ii Is
only within the few past decades that the
magnitude of Its power has challenged
the credulty of mankind. No factor
known could ever replace it In the econ
omy of the world.
These two great elements--these two