The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-09-20
Syndicate Contracts fa 6O,OOO
 Acres of Goal Lands
GULF PORTS IMPORTANT I
They VIII Command Trade of Missis- slppl Valley and the Northwest.
 Wate.' Transportation to
 MoblIe-Nlxon's Views.

Chicago capitalists have contracted for 6ooOo acres of coal lands situated for the most part in Tuscaloosa county, and will at an early date form a company capi- talked at several million dollars to pro- vide cheap fuel for use in developing the export trade from ports on the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic seaboard.
 Plans already formulated indicate that the projec1 Is one that will be national in scope, designed as 1t is to transport the cereal crops of the northwestern and middle western states southward over the Illinois Central railway to New Orleans, Mobile and Pensacola, and thence to the markets of the world by way of the Panama canal.
 Chicago capitalists, of whom William Penn Nixon has recently visited Birming- ham, recognize that the construction of the isthmian canal Is of utmost impor- tanee to the northwest, and they intend to see to 1t that the great crops of that section are transported to Chicago and thence southward to gulf ports. where an easy outlet will be had to foreign mar kets.
 In this connection it is remembered that the Illinois Central ralww~ in building its terminals at New Orleans, so increased the commercial importance of that city as to make 1t rank second among ex- porting seaports in the United States. The men behind the Illinois Central. as we'll as other formidable financiers, intend to make the gulf ports the entreports of the trade in the Mississippi valley and the northwestern states. To do this the Illinois Central will extend its lines either to Mobile or to Pensacola, thereby hold ing, with it's terminals at New Orleans, the key to the gulf trade, and incl dentally to all trade with Central and South America, and when the Paeama canal is finished, all trade with the Orient
 To carry out this enormous project. these Chicago capitalists have recognized the importance of having source of cheap fuel supply, and have determined to get 1t In Alabama.
 They have already contracted for 60,000 acres of coal lands in or near Tuscaloosa county. and. operating from that section, they will gradually increase their hold lngs as occasion may require. They pro- pose to establish transportation by water to the Gulf, loading the coal on the War rior and carrying it to Mobile by way of the Tombigbee.
 William Penn Nixon, who has been in Birmingham several days as the repre- sentative of the Chicago financiers, had this to say last night of the project before he left for Chicago:
 "The construction of the Panama ca- nal will increase greatly the importance of Gulf ports in the carrying trade of the United States The northwest is seeking world markets, and we must reach them by the shortest routes. If you will glance at the map of the United States you will readily understand that the natural route for the northwest export trade is to Chi cago and thence down the Mississip river to points on the Gulf and thence to the sthmian canal.
 "One grat factor in the equation is cheap fuel It is the one thing needful to issure the supremacy of gulf ports in American export trade Chicago financiers