The age-herald., 1900-10-29
PROSPEROUS ENSLEY CONTINUES TO GROW Great Industrial Improvements
 Are Being Made.
 MANY BUILDINGS GOING UP The Snnnnt-S s nl..a1r Ca..a..a.,.r Is. Sraand-
The Semet-S olvay Company Is Spend- ing Half Million Dollars-Munici- pal Matters Engage Atten-
 ton of the People

Ensley October 2S.-(Speclal.)-F peo- pie have any conception of the amount of new work going on now at Ensley. Aside from the building of residences, brick blocks, etc, quite extensive improvements are being made in a number of the plants, notably the duplicating of the present coke oven plant of the Semet-Solvay Company and the building of a finishing mill for the manufacture of rails, small billets and structural material at the steel works. It is stated that within short time work will commence additional buildings at the blow works to provide for the manufacture of blows complete, including both the wood and steel work. The present layout of the Austin Bryan Manufacturing Company is adapted for making the blow shapes only, and when the addition to the plant is made the complete blow will be turned out.
 An extensive force of men and teams are now engaged in excavating for 120 ovens at the Semet-Solvay coke works. A similar number of ovens are now in operation, so that when the new batteries are completed the plant will consist of 240 ovens, which will be the largest Semet-Soivay by-product coke plant in the United States by more than two-fold, as the present plant, as 1t stands today, is the largest plant owned by that company in this country. The new work represents an investment of approxi- mately S500,000
 Rail Mill Extension
 The rail mill extension at the steel works will put the Tennessee Company in position to finish practically its total steel tonnage, and when this mill is in operation, it is probable that the two plants of the Ten nesse Coal, Iron & Railroad Company and the Alabama Steel & Wire Company will finish, ready for the market, all of the steel tonnage now produced at Ensley in the shape of rails, small bilets and structural material on the finishing mill now being built by the Tennessee Company, and wire nails, barb wire, etc, as now turned out by the Alabama Steel & Wire Company.
 The cement company has commenced to rebuild it's plant, recently destroyed by fire.
 All of these things bespeak a prosperous future for Ensey and it seems that the only thing necessary to make the town Is water and sewerage, both of which are practically assured. The City Council, at a meeting held last evening, granted to the Birmingham Waterworks Company an or dinanee conveying the right to lay pipe lines. There is nothing now in the way of the accomplishment of a complete water works system for the town.
 The Zig County Sewer
 Much interest is felt in the proposed county sewer and in the event it is so lo- cated as to enable cross sewer connec- ton to be made from Ensley, our people will strongly advocate and endorse the pro- ject. It has been stated that the main sewer ,as proposed, will not run by Ensley, but on the south side of the divide be- tween Ensley and the old fair grounds. In this event the people here fear they would not be able to in any way avail themselves of the new sewer. There is no reason, however, why a sewerage system adequate for the present requirements of the town could not be built for drainage into Village Creek at some point below the present pumping station.
 With water works and a sewerage sys- tenn, the enlargement and extension of the present industries, and the assurance that others will in the near future locate here, Ensley is destined to be the largest and most prosperous suburb of Birmingham. It Is today the scene of the greatest actiy ity in the Birmingham district.