The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-04
COOSA GOES THROUGH
 A GLORIOUS COUNTRY
Riches of the Undeveped Properties Along Its Banks Are Fabu- Ious and Embrace Magnificent Timber, Mineral and
 Agricultural Possibilities for Coming Years.
BY HERvEY W. LAIRD.

1 ties is not known. It has given millions of feet of fine timber during the past ] few years and much is now being clear ed and made into farms.
 The iron ore output of these counties Is easily 100000 tons a year. which, at the average price Of s1.4S a ton, amounts to ss 800,0O0 The limestone runs almost 100 per cent in rIvaness Gnd thousands of barrels are shipped every year to Louisiana and Cuba. The Coosa coal field contains $50 square miles will last 165 years if 10000 tons are taken out day
 Manufacturing Wealth.
 In manufacturing the constituency of the coosa river shows up in wonderfully good shape. Beginning at Rome, where there are factories ana plants of several kinds which give 40 900 tons a business a year, Round Mountain, which is just in Alabama, has 0 furnace and exclusive chemical plants, with smaller enter prises. Gadsden, however, promises ..e greatest things In the way of manufae- turing along all lines. There are three modern furnaces already up and three more to be built, and one of the largest and most modern steel mills of the United States. During the past three years more than five millions of dollars have been invested in ana near Gadsden in new enterprises, and It's future is largely bound up in the nope fore ade- quate waterways. Much of the large manufacturing output for the Anniston territory Is right on the river, as well as a great deal from Talladega and other counties.
 Some Eloquent Signs.
 Summed up the following may be re- garded as very conservative figures for the river as 1t stands today:
 Agricultural products........ 50S,VO tons. Timber .......................... lO,OVO tons' Iron ore ........................2O0 GOO tons Limestone, (flux and com
 merciaD ..'..............,.... @0OW tons. Coal ........................... S0,0OO tons Manufacturers ...............1. 1.250,0OO tons.
 Total .."...................... .4S08,0OO tons
 This may be taken as 100000 tons in round figures. which is valued at a low estimate, at s75,000,000. l. is estimated that with water transportation there would be a return valuation of half that much, which would make a tonnage of 100000 and values of SIP. .500,0O0 With the water in good shape for traffic all the time the river should have twenty per cent of the traffic arising which would be in value, s22,5OO.O00 and tonnage, 1.50O.- 00O. These figures take no note of the new enterprises that would be bound to spring up and the unused lands that would be put to service and to producing frops for movement to the sea.
 Where Trouble Is.
 The trouble will be between Lock 1 and Wetumpka, about 140 miles, where the river is full of shoals. It will cost at the lowest estimate $6 6OOO0OO to get this open and require six years to complete the work. Congressman John L. Burnett of the Seventh district and the others who are working for the Coosa, hope to get an appropriation of a million dollars a year until the work is finished. There have been spent on this idea sS0s.752. and the saving of this work is conditioned upon going ahead with the balance, thinks United States Engineer J. B. Cavanaugh of the Montgomery office This officer has also estimated that the cost of opening the Coosa and the Ala bama from Gadsden to the mouth of the Alabama would be $11, FOG.
 There is this important feature to be considered in the work for the Coosa. It is not more than twenty-five miles from the Birmingham mineral section and runs through the Gadsden and Annlston sec tions. With short line from Blrming ham the river could be reached at several convenient points and via It's placid waters the immense iron and steel pro- ducts of the future could be sent to the sea and the outer world. No account has been taken here of the magnificent water power facilities that could be utilized with the dams for locks on the lower Coosa. The fall in this 142 miles is ss7 feet. It would deevlop 3S2 ,SS2 horsepower. and not interfere with the navigation of vessels.
 Lathrop Enthusiastic.
 One Of the greatest enthusiasts for the Coosa river Is MT. F. H. Lathrop, of Bir-