The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-23
Rx D. ". McIyer.


 Birmingham was founded by the Eiyton Hand Company of which the noted ana lamented James K. Powell was tne f,es- fdenr. The town was iain or ihiH iVtS 1871, the first house having been punt August g, and it was incorporated as d city December 18th. 1891, with popu- iation of 1.200. It lies in the heart or the rrear mineral region and the population as shown by the last census was 5s,4lo, as compared with 26.17s in lSso. There are a great many. more people m su, blrbs and surrounding towns. more than twice the number named, and II IS claIm- Cd that they all of right belong to birm, inxham and really they do. ana VII 6irminsham. I first remember the new city when I used to stop at the oio Relay House, kept by MT. Ward with a former fellow townsman from Inskegee, Nr, John Brown. as Clerk. and that was when there was g freight car Tor a ticket ofiice and a depot. The old Lynn Park was here then, about wnere tne U lion Depot now stands d.1,.n and thst ever permitted that Park to os puirs uR, n 1t was in the very heart or tpe ous,- nees district and what great pIesEus 1t would bs if it were here toGay. an. rrpunc became too valuable, however. and as the old Elyton Company had its rox erees the sacred ground had to 9o. It would now give breathing spen sy mon and to the laborer after the oAys Iorh is done. and I shall always regret that 1t was not preserved Tor tnese and nlaces for breathing and fresh afr are scarce, But the business man VII VII cay the ground wss too vaiuanie am1 st that 1t Is preposterous to think ,ro.. aDou. ureeerying 1t, and though the business eve We will all see that 1t waA To eee N now as a great city. I stand vita " and amaxement as look at its tall spsies and handsome. elegant ,nc,ric Iu'iS,ht 11rhts its Seautfful and spacious streets and broao M avenues and can hardly realize that N is in Alabama at all. The fact s. BIT ,.., .-its Streets are full of people from morninK until night-of all coiors ana nationalities. bustling and 1umplnt against each other in their h, wi,d hunt hunt of the globe. and with such an uncer- tain, moving population. this city Is ike no other in this section and Is constan,is creaving. We are all proud of Birming- hsrn and her rapid growth and marvel ous progress The story Is one that reads ike a novel and it's magic-like advane" me. the tales of fiction. but they are trus and realize 1t as I stand on the front steps of the great Temple of Justice erected by the county ana I3os. ioox m ,es evers and dwellings in every direction, all that % to make up a great city, With US many large and cofnmodious hotels they are all crowded nearly every night SD fiat people have to be turned away. It n no boom now. for Birmingham has parsed all that period, has been through the fire of that experience ana is nov tns South and with her push and hurry Is goinx upon solid, substantial basis along to surpass any city in the soutn I'd describe the present and the promises If fbe future I cannot do better than to adopt the language of another In speak iae of Birmingham:
 Twentieth Century South, Birmingham combines the rush and hurry of boom city. the push and go of c successrul mining csmp With Wa,, 1ns ss,hc..y strs.t ana man
 swide. well-paved streets. excellent electric street car service. fine buildings both public and private, with me, DE new ones under way on every hand; busy merchants. blazing furnaces and coke ovens, grooming freight trains ana pas eeneer trains radiating to nearly all msroiaI and manufacturing center throb- bing with activity and pulsing with lie, to degree inconcedvabie to those Wno kn,w of Birmingham merely by hearsay;
 aNestling oh the northern slope or Hed Mountain within whose bowels Is a sup piy of ore, coal and lime suncient 10 supply the world for generations to come, Birnnfngham sits mistress Of as fair
 
 he future of any metropolis
 'sBriedy. Birmingham is but newly born. When Pittsburg was great, 5arm- lnRham was not. A brief decade has sur. 0ced to see her already well begun Tn the great race for supremacy which is her manifest destiny. With her great
 cplenaid bituminous coal lying at her very doors: with the proximity of these to limestone in abundance the cost or producing pig-iron here Is reduced 70 . kAinimum. a condition existing In no otn- = spot of the known world. Add to kheae the fact that she is one-third near CT to tide-water by rail than Is Pltts- fcrsst. Considsr further the fact that nha is located where. with less aad than hos been granted many inferior streams. Ehs Warrior River will float unbroken EIu1{ of Msxico and 1t is easily seen how remarkable is her environment.
 ssNor does this complete the tale. That lxtszsive territory known, generahX; ,sss T1s as Norfolk to Galveston; from Memphis to khe southernmost tip of the Peninsula of Florida, new life, new activity, new en- mills, factories thrive and multiply sv, Srywhere. And this uplifting of the head pf splendid industries over an empirs ol puch wide extent means an extennve ds. hand for iron, for steel, for coal. That The cost for transit for these must os Auly considered goes without saying Steel buildings require steei suppnes Ttsel Is heavy and must logically be got len at the nearest available point.
 "And for the entire New South tha boint Is Birmingham. It Is. therefore, no kificult to believe that the prominenc' pf Birmingham as an industrial factor not only in the Twentieth Century Soutf and in the worldwide importance CT tn' limited States as well, but also In all tn' Industrial centers of the globe IS ou Faintly outlined by what exists today Dr that the ensuing decade will disclos' yet greater wonders as regards this Dus' Southern city, than those now discover able. Ia,
 With the smoke of her great mills Factories and coke ovens obscuring th' sun by day and the blazing light of he' huge furnaces and burning coke illumi hating her sky hN night; with the reson mt tramp of her marching industrial ar mics scarcely dying nut at night err taken up bv the feet of new legi'ns aler tor action with the rising sun with din oustle energy growth. 4U tVl.E on ever! hand. Birmingham. Ala. sits today al unuues.luned queen an 'nG the 'ndustrla eities of the world assured of her posi- lion. fortified by unchIlienged natura advantages and destined to work Ne greater marvels in the future.
 The story is well told, but it is no ever-drawn nOc is Il all told. The .futur of Birmingham cam Il )c cNagerdted an that she will be one of the largest cite of all the South. T do not doubt. ln
 verv few years The ion furnaces ar now numerous and it will he of interes to know that tho Red Mountain lro Works was the first p!G-.ron furnac
 lyfN, ha t1n n