The age-herald., 1900-05-20
COOSA SHOULD BE
 MADE MANAGEABLE Interesting Information Present. ed Rivers and Harbors Committee VALLEY RICH IN PRODUCTS Description of the Country Lying Along the Track of This Famous River,
 Which Was Discovered by
 DeSoto in l540
VALLEY RICH IN PRODUCTS

| Washington, May 19. -(special.)- The | hearing before the river and harbor com | mittee of the delegation from Alabama and | Georgia asking an appropriation that will I aggregate six or seven millions for the im- | provement of the Coosa river, though only | half million dollars is asked starter, l developing much valuable and especially in- 1 teresting information regarding the possi- | bilities of that section of the country. The | delegation wants the Coosa river put on the | continuous contract plan.
 | It is instructive to members that the river | was discovered by De Soto in 1540; that in 1913 it was the scene of General Jackson's campaign against the Creek Indians, and | that it rises in the mountains of north Georgia and flows southwesterly and southerly until it helps to form the Ala bama river few miles below Wetumpka, | Ala The river is formed by the junction of the Oostanaula and Etowah rivers at Rome, Ga. From the most northerly navi- | gable point to the Gulf of Mexico it flows l S63 miles as follows: Oostanuaula river, 10S 1 miles; Coosa river, 315 miles, Alabama river, 390 miles, and Mobile river, 50 miles. There would be continuous water route of trans portation over the bosom of these rivers to the gulf if it were not for the shoals and rapids of the Coosa for distance of only 142 miles from Greensport to Wetumpka. These shoals intermingled with long pools of deep water. The volume of water flowing in the Coosa at low water is about equal to that of the Mississippi at St. Paul, about 2.S times greater than the Hudson at Albany and 3.5 times greater than the Ohio at Pittsburg The comparison for the Coosa is made with the discharge at Wetumpka The Original Project
 It appears that the original project for the improvement of the Coosa contemplated the opening of a continuous water route for transportation from the Mississippi to the Atlantic by way of the Ohio, Tennessee Coosa, Etowah, Ocmulgee and Altamaha rivers, canals being constructed from the Tennessee to the Coosa and from the Eto- wah to the Ocmulgee Of course, this plan was long ago abandoned Navigation by steam began on the upper Coosa fifty years l ago, and since then that part of the river has been travelled continuously and success | fully by steamboats between Rome, Ga | and Greensport, Ala, a distance of 175 miles. By the opening of Lock Four this distance has been comparatively recently | increased by forty miles. The drainage area | Of the Coosa basin above Wetumpka, Ala | is about $500 square miles, a territory rich l in agriculture, forests and minerals Nine Alabama counties lie immediately l upon the Coosa and are cut off from water
 communication with the Alabama river | These are Cherokee, Etowah, Calhoun St. l Clair Talladega, Shelby, Coosa, Chiffon | and Elmore Their area Is about 3566, PIP
 acres, of which about 632, ,S55 are in a high | state of cultivation. There are great op- | portunities for stock raising and for dairy | and poultry farming here. The popula ton | of these counties is about two hundred | thousand, the assessed value, $45 000, 900, | with 100000 acres in cultivation, producing | 10000 bales of cotton, 3,500,0O0 bushels of | corn, 750, 900 bushels of oats, half million | bushels of wheat and other farm products, | as well as stock, in proportion. The total | annual tonnage of agricultural products | grown in the portions of Alabama and | Georgia lying immediately upon the Coosa | river is 5o2, 900, of which 50,000 tons are cot | ton, 900 cotton seed, 224000 corn, 40,500 l oats, 67500 wheat and 10000 cattle, sheep l and hogs.
 Rich Virgin Forest
 | In the nine Alabama counties that lie | immediately upon the Coosa are 2,S35, 900 | acres of unimproved land. This is clothed | with virgin forests of the long leaf yellow l pine, interminged with white, red and | chestnut oak, hickory and other valuable timber. These forests average not less | than three thousand feet of timber to the | acre, or a total of 8,505, 900 feet of tim Der in these counties, or about twenty million tons, worth, perhaps, $65,OOO, OoO The mineral resources of this section are enormous There are masses of rich red and brown iron ores, and many other minerals. There Is gold in Coosa county A fine grade of kaolin in Calhoun and Etowah counties, abundant marble in Tal- ladega county, plumbago in Chiffon, ana some tin has been found in Clay and Coosa counties, but brown and red iron ores' coal and lime are the predominating minerals. Inexhaustible deposits of iron ore are found on the banks of the Coosa, with an abundance of coal and lime. The present iron ore output of the Coosa valley mines reaches 1,600,000 tons annually, worth $z'- 100000. What would it be with the Coosa improved?
 The lime interests in the Coosa valley are remarkable, and the deposits perhaps the richest and most extensive in the united States The lime assays 9S to 100 per cent. pure in the cliffs along the river. The coal fields of the Coosa valley are estimated to contain $50 square miles. There are great
 factories in the valley, including some
 twelve furnaces with an output annually of 670000 tons, as well as cotton factories
 making 21, 900 tons of cotton goods each
 year. Manufactories of car wheels, bar iron
  ton aggregate 170,000 tons, worth $5,3OOOOO,
 and at the same places 100000 tons of iron
 pipe worth $4,0O0,000 are made, while the
 output of the carpet and cordage mills at
 Anniston is 525 tons worth quarter of
 million.
 This recapitulation of the annual re-
 sources of the Coosa is interesting:
 Agriculture, 500000 tons valued at. .$16, ,000 900
 Timber, 150, 900 tons valued at ...... $500, 900
 Iron ore, 1600, 900 tons valued at.... 2,400, 900
 IT vol Inn O
 Coal, 100000 tons valued at ........ 300,00O
 Manufactory, 961,5& tons valued at 2S.050,0 900
 3361 525 tons valued at... =. .S52, ,766, 900
 Such showing certainly deserves large
 appropriation to make the Coosa navigable
 to the gulf.
 ALBERT HALSTEAD.
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