The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-08-10
BALDWIN IS AFTER PRIZES County Is Assembling a Fine Exhibit. A REMARKABLE DEVELOPMENT Western Men Brought in the
 Growth. Something About The cosmopolitan Character of The Population of the Biggest County In AIabama--
 orange Growing Proves Successful.
BY BRUCE KENNEDY.

baloWin county peOple nave uetoh . mined to win all prizes for agricultural displays that may be offered by the fall fairs at Montgomery and Birming- ham. Persons who are promoting ex- hibits in other counties would do well to watch Baldwin because these pro- gressive citizens of South Alabama have their eyes on the money and they are working hard for the goal.
 A visit to Baldwin County is full of surprises to one who has read only of the great growth of that section of the gtate. When one who knew Baldwin County intimately fifteen years ago goes back there in this year he Is as- founded at the things that have been accomplished. Lands that once sold for s1 and $2 an acre are now grabbed at s25 and $30. Waste places are bfos- soming with fruits. and cotton and corn and vegetables. Roads that were once barely fit for travel have been made first class thoroughfares; orange groves flourish in many places; there are vineyards. orchards, fruits and flowers. Towns, with well kept streets and homes. have been located where once the soughing pines alone pro- claimed the desolation of the country.
 This is the largest county in the State. Indeed. it Is said to cover more area than any other county In the United States. From its Northern bor- der on the edge of Monroe County the distance to Bon Secour Bay, or Fort Morgan, on the Gulf coast is nearly 100 miles. The Southern half of the coun- ty is bounded on the west by Mobile Bay and on the east by Perdido Bay. A great deal of this vast area has, in re- cent years been converted into fertile fields instead of the abandoned coun- try 1t was for many years.
 Builders From The West.
 The development of Baldwin County is du to contemplating Western men who realized its possibilities and, several years ago. purchased large tracts of land. Among these men are John Foley. the millionaire. patent medicine man of Chicago; Charles Barclay, a Philadelphia lawyer, who has built an attractive home at Volanta on the eastern shore Of Mobile Bay; Mir. Bar telling. 4 rich German promoter of Chicago. MT. Ewing, a capitalist of New York and other. men with money to invest.
 After securing hundreds of thousands of acres in Baldwin County these pro- motors began the work of colonization. They have sent thousands of breezy citizens into Baldwin County--men who had $500 and s1.000 to invest and who were seeking homes in the South. A large percentage of these new citizens of Alabama are foreign born. Driving in Baldwin County one will meet on the roads Germans, Scandinavians, French men, Italians. EnGlishmen and oc- casionalIy a native. MinglinR with so many foreign born persons gives one feeling of being in a country diff ferent from other parts of Alabama. These people have new customs and manners and above all they are living earnest, but happy, thrifty lives. They are engaged in developing a waste sec ton of country and in doing So they are making money and are contended in their new homes.
 While there is no friction between the natives of Baldwin County and the newcomers the Westerners will tell you that the natives do not give them the support they ought to have.
 The natives still insist" said one German farmer, that the lands of Baldwin County are worthless Intel- ligent men who have passed their lives here, frequently greet strangers with statements that are at least discourag- ing. This is, of course, not true of all the natives of the county. Some ol them have met us on good terms and are helping us to build and improve conditions In the county"
 As To Land Values.
 Fifteen years ago I saw large tracts of land in Baldwin county sold at the Daphne court house for fifteen cents an acre. Messrs. Foley. Barteling, Ear clay and others paid a great deal more Mir Foley. for example paid $3 an acre for his first tract of 30,000 acres. It | is said that he now owns over 100000 acres in Baldwin County. Some of 1t no doubt cost him as much as $5 an acre. He is operating demonstration farms and he has agents travelling in the northwest proving to the small. but thrifty farmers that they may make money and live happily in Baldwin County Nearly every week a party of these northwesterners Is brought to Baldwin County, where they are shown the small farms that are for sale.
 The new town, Foley. is the terminus of the railroad that started out from Bay MInette, the county seat. to reach deepwater at Navy Cove. It Is inter esting to know that this railroad was stopped at Foley. because B. B. Conner was elected Governor of Alabama. The New York men who were financing the enterprise wrote letter in which they said in substance that they could not furnish any more money for develop ments In Alabama.
 The man you have just elected Gov l ernor," these capitalists said in sub l stance, lis so unfriendly to foreigi l capital that we must withdraw all O
 our money from Alabama for the pres
 ent."
 Baldwin county people are hopefu 1 than when the reaction" Is complet this railroad will be built to the gulf Then they will have a line of rail
 road traversing the center of the coun
 ty. Other railroads are projected iron l East to West and a railroad iron
 VoIanta on the Eastern shore to Pen 1 sacola is one of the possibilities helt l by the future. Such a railroad would | bring quick transportation betweei | Mobile and Pensacola as 1t would con meet Volanta with a boat line to Mo
 bile. a distance of only about twelv' | miles. The distance from Volanta tt
 Pensacola Is about forty-five miles.
 Some of the new towns in Baldwin
 county are Foley. with a population o
 about 1000, a newspaper, hotels ant
 other enterprises; Elberta. a goo'
 sized town composed almost exclusive
 ly of German people; Magnolia Springs
 a resort on Fish river, which Is reach
 ed by a daily steamer from Mobile an,
 Bay MInette, is of course a new town
 But We were discussing the exhibi
 that these people are preparing for tn
 fairs. This exhibit is in charge o
 A. F. Hutchings. of Battles Wharf
 Mir Hutchings was in Montgomery las
 year with the prize winning exhibi
 of Baldwin county. This year he i
 supported by the Baldwin Agrioultura ! .g-r@,t F,.,, 70