The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-12
From an Early Developer.

Birmingham, Ala, November II, 1907.
 Mr. II. F. DeBardeleben, City.
 Dear Sir-When you stop to counsel the people of Alabama we should listen. You do not write simply to be heard. but when you do write there must be danger indeed. You have, as no other Alabamian, the right to ask your fel- low citizens to think deeply When
 that great strip of the state now known as it's mineral belt was not pro- ducing revenue sufficient to carry on the various county governments, you, then living in Prattville, became one of the party who decided to build railroad from Montgomery into this wild waste. Through this movement was the discovery of our red ores. Be- fore the seventies you and your asso- ciates started the building of the fur naces at OXmoor, and discovered and opened the great Pratt vein. Putting these two facts together We have the basis of Birmingham. To more fully develop these great discoveries, you set about building modern furnace plant, the Alice, another step up the stair leading to this mighty develop ment for 1t was a nervy undertaking 10 erect a 1Oo-ton blast furnace at that time. The erection of this plant brought MT. T. T. Hillman to this dis trict, but you did not stop to consider when an emergency arose and an up to-date furnace plant was necessary now. How successful this undertaking was to be was shown by the erection of the great rolling mill just across the street from the Alice, to lift the pig iron a step upward to the man ufactured product. Few of our peo- pie know of your help In pulling the city itself from all kinds of difficulties. Soon following the erection of the Alice came the building of the Mary Pratt. a modernized hot blast furnace, re- quiring much less coke than the Alice, and giving a far larger output to it's eubical capacity. The building and operation of this furnace proved and demonstrated the fact that pig iron could be produced with our materials. This would seem enough for any man to rest his laurels on. but tn ere seemed no rest for you. The city of Bessemer with all the advanced ideas of a mod ern manufacturing city you projected next, and then backed 1t up with one of the best furnace plants ever es- tablished here, five furnaces, coal mines. coke ovens and lime quarries under the ownership of the DeBardeleben Coal and Iron company. To secure a larger supply of ore for these furnaces you planned the building of the railroad up Murphrees valley. This road Is now a part of the great Louisville and Nashville system. taking in Gadsden, Anniston and Calera. Mixed in With all of these wonderful achievements you discovered and brought to life a large number of coal enterprises. among them the Belle Ellen and the Henry Ellen. I must stop this enumer- ation, 1t goes beyond me; but 1t seems when this was done you might have rested, and your friends hoped you would as the storm of 92 was mutter- ing in the distance. Yet the panic had done it's work leaving Wreck ana rum everywhere over this field so beloved by you and hardly had it lifted when you were again at work, now develop ing that unknown part of our mineral field. the Cahaba field, and today we find you opening perhaps dozen coal mines from St. Clair to Bibb county, connecting them up with railroads, and within a short time the entire held Will be grid-ironed with tracks carrying into the market thousands of tons of coal daily. Nothing will cause you to stop, I believe, but death. and how we shall miss you; for if all the mouths that you have fed, and the bodies you have clothed through the pay rolls you have created were marshaled lnto an army it would surpass Napoleon's at AusterlitZ; and were it possible to trace out the tax values you nave added to the properties of Alabama with the accompanying good we feel sure 1t would amaze your most intimate as- sociates.
 It is an honor to the people of Ala hama to have such a man talk to them. and at this time when the people hlindly rush to tear down the great railroads of the state. which they have done so much to make it possible to accomplish the wonderful results shown in all airections 1t is high time that somebody speak in no uncertain words.
 Bv this letter I do not mean to flat ter YOU. but to express appreciation of your wonderful services to this dis trict. and to have you further urge the neople to heed your timely warning. Yours truly. FRED SLOSs.