The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-10-15
HOW THE CONFEDERATE
 STATES OBTAINED SALT

Dearlng being one of the pioneers of Alabama, built at St. Stephens above Mobile. the first steamboat that ascended the Alabama river in 1s19 She ran suc- eessfully to and from Tuscaloosa to Mo- bile until 1924 when. by some mismanage- ment. she sank at the wharf near Tusca- loosa. All that remained of this histori- cal craft was her boiler, IT feet long and feet in diameter, % of an inch thick. If could get this monster boiler out of the river and cut it open lengthwise I would have two caldrons sufficient to make a great quantity of salt. l explained to Colonel Jones my plans. He saw they were feasible and practicable and pro- posed lending me the men for two weeks. The confederate government would be benefited to the extent of one-tenth of all the salt made We were paying a tithe of all products, etc, made to the govern ment during the war.
 My undertaking was a perfect suc- cess. I engaged Dr. Leach, a practical foundryman, paying him sufficient re- muneration to assist me- We got the boiler out upon the bluff, where he su- perintended the cutting of this huge boiler open lengthwise as proposed, af- ter which he inserted staples so as to att tach rudder for steering at the end of each, fixed attachments upon each side for the support of two seats, near which were oarlocks riveted for the use of two oars: staples on each side for half-dozen bent hoops or wagon bows, which were covered with common wagon cover so as to protect the occupants from wind and rain.
 When my irnprovised caldrons were complete and placed in the water one of my men imprudently, in getting on board one of my floating crafts, made 1t dip water. He was ordered out. Dr. Leach remarked, I have in my foundry cypress timber inches square and 20 feet long. I will attach one piece upon either side. which will prevent them turn ing over and make them float better This we did, which made our undertak- ing a perfect success. The iron mon- 'sters were now completed; they were provisioned for a cruise of ten days.
 These improvised boats were launched into that water where they had rested near a half-century. Three men getting on board each, one steering and two ply ing the oars, they started on their cruise of 260 miles to Clark county, Alabama. Upon arriving there, the boilers were placed upon brick furnaces and in them were made thousands of bushels of salt. With this stan of life. I was enabled to clothe, feed and shoe my other negroes, which others found very difficult to do during the four years siege, which we were subjected to, environments being thrown around us on every side.
 up to a very few years ago the old cai1rons were still in a remarkable state of preservation, and being held in the same old position by the brick furnaces that had been hastily erected so many years before. The last I heard of them, the brick furnaces were crumbing away under the great weight of the iron mon- sters that had first done duty as a boil CT for the first steamboat that piled the Alabama and Black Warrior rivers, and afterwards as the supply store for salt for the Confederate government. They served their purpose, and served it well, and, like unto many thousands of us followers of that lost cause, they are slowly, but surely, passing away to give room to more modern and more porten- tious looking Improvements"