The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-11-04
GADSDENS PRESENT AND
 ITS GREAT POSSIBILITIES

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 dinary. But they have a convincing they have a fine reserve of exhibits and proofs to support their claims when they are called for. They have records. statistics. maps. profile draw ings and what not to show for every claim they put forward And they have Gadsden's prosperity. which is a very But MT. Mitchell had other things to point out and from the roof of the pig mill Our attention was now di- rected to the beautiful valley with spread out at our feet
 The day Is coming. and 1t Is not far distant" said MT. Mitchell, when a great city will fill this valley. In SaS the yslsy is Tss isss llss of Attalla on the right touch the cor porate limits of Alabama City in the center and the corporate limits of Ala limits of Gadsden on the left It Is practically one city from the eastern limits of Gadsden to the western lim- It's of Attalla, a distance of five miles. l that axpanse to be built up. but the houses, the stores and the indVstries I will all be put there in good time. There are two projects dear to the heart of public spirited Gadsden. Its | optimistic citizens dream about them by night and talk and write aoout | them by day.
 | great mineral wealth of the district. ! Second the opening up of the Coosa river for navigation to the gulf by ] Montgomery.
 The first problem is solving itself. | The mineral riches contain too many | fortufses to lie idle and hidden under 'A The @ second @ problem is not so cer- | tain of quick solution. Its energetic promoters have met with some dis appointments. But they are bent on II nay not be accomplished next year nor in the year following. but 1t will be done in good time.
 On both their projects, so Inter woven with Gadsden's prosperity Y. P. Lay is an authority secopd to none. | He Is a real estate man dealing in ore | and coal lands and he Is the head ana front of the movement Tor the openins | of the Coosa river from Greensport to
 Srhe Gadsden mineral district. is the richest mineral district in the Soutn. r1,,acnam said MT; aay' aistrict. @ ~ The he time has | come for the world to know what we of Gadsden have known for years. The | Gadsden district has greater mineral wealth than any other sectoh ol 'he
 Now I have here a report of Charles D. walcott director of the geological survey of the United States. Of the red iron ore in the Coosa valley ne says: . x,.t r,ora or less | continuously throughout the entire Ap- | paIachian belt, but it reaches its great est development both In quaNty ana furnaces at Rome, Round Mountain, Gadsden and Attalla, all on the Coosa River besides very large number or furnaces in the Birmingham dlstrlct only thirty miles distant. The supply of this red ore in sight Is sufficient 10 meet a demand much larger than the present for many years: A..
 Isn't that all right? Now listen to what he says of the brown hematite ore: A belt of these deposits extend from the vicinity of Rome southwark more than a hundred miles along the eastern margin of the Coosa Valley. IL Is probable that this belt contains more brown iron ore than all the rest or the Appalachian provinces combined, ana it is nowhere more than fifteen or twenty miles from the Coosa River. It sup plies ore to the furnaces at Rome' Cedartown, Aetna, Rockrun. Tecumseh, Anniston, Ironton and Talladega, and besides furnishes a large amount Of ore for shipment to the Birmingham dis- trict and elsewhere. The Gadsden enthusiasts say that the time is at hand when the Gadsden district can challenge the Birmingham district They claim that their miner al wealth entities them to strive to emulate the prosperity of the Brming- nam ~ Greatness of 6adsden.
 It is a pretty picture they draw of the greatness of the Gadsden district, with Anniston on its western cage, It's northern edge extending nearly 10 Chattanooga.
 The maps they show have that twen- ty-five mile radius circle drawn about | fa faal railroads give a rate of 12 1-2 cents | a ton for twenty-five miles on raw 1 material for the furnaces, This circle | cuts into the rich brown ore deposits these brown ore deposits, Talladega the southmost point and the northern edge cuts into Cherokee County
 Between Gadsden and this big brown ore bed are immense fields of limestone | essential and invaluable as Aux in the l manufacture of iron. Adjoining these limestone fields and reaching into the | very city limits of Gadsden are | splendid veins of fosstliferous herma- 1 tite iron ores.
 They are mining these ores right at l the corporate limits of Gadsden. Nearby runs Shinbone ridge which Is rich In these valuable ores clear to Chatta- l nooga, ntnety-three miles away by rail. Then a few miles over are the great l deposits or Greasy Cove and a few miles of Attalla are the rich Crudup mines.
 The Gadsden takers claim that Bir- mingham's mineral riches are not near so great. Birmingham, they say, has
 grown great solely on the mineral de- posits of Red Mountain running from Birmingham to Bessemer. These are rich enough in themselves. the Gads- denites say. but they do not equal the enumerated advantages of Gadsden's
 tributary territory.
 Montgomery and Mobile each hold n Rivers and Harbors Convention early in November 4 Gadsden. which has 1 been leading at times in the fight for l deepening the channel of the Coosa
 River was not invited to either of the Conventions.
 This may have been due to an over sight or 1t may have been due to an agreement between Montgomery; Selma
 and Mobile to have first of all six bars removed from the Alabama river, the six bars which have stopped naviga- l tion in the Alabama river during long dry spells. These three cities appear to have reached an agreement to ahan- 1 don the Coosa river project tempora- l riIy. to bend all their energies to the improvement of the Alabama river. |