The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-08
coAL-IRoN HISTORY
MANUgCRIPT OF MISS ETHEL
 ARMIES COMPLETE.
Will Be Searching Epitome of the Development in the Mineral
 and Coal ReNl0n.

DGRGAORMAGMN hn NMG NNAuGEHA
 and Coal Rewl0n.
 That the history of the coal and
 iron industry in Alabama is to be soon issued in attractive and enduring form
 manuscript copy Just reviewed and
 criticised by Dr. Thomas M. owen. Di- rector of the Department of Archives
 Snd hs yoFk Ems s 0sng srms! aon as Birmingham, a newspaper writer ot note. She has asked Dr. owen and
 others to advise with her and criticise
 the work before 1t is published and Cir
 Miss Armes Is receiving the hearty
 cooperation of the most notable men
 the industTlai captains who were early associated with the development of
 iron and coal in. the Birmingham dis
 trict. Several of these are still liv-
 plete scope that was ever laid out for
 a history of this kind. The author has been at work on the book for about
 two years and has hot yet completed
 The history will deal with four pe- riods. They are Ante bellum period.
 war period reconstruction period and divided Into various chapters and sec
 tons In which the evolution of coal and ore mining; of blast furnace con- and of transportation In the BirmIng-
 ham region. are traced in clear and reasonable detail throughout every stage, from the beginning to the pres4
 Further detailing the scope of the
 work the following prospectus of the
 bama' is comprised in a single volume, This Is divided into four books, each
 dealing with q separate period of the history nnts Es, The nsroT four periods are the reconstruction period and the modern period. These in turn are subdivided Into various chapters and sections in
 mining; of blast furnace construction, of iron and steel making, and of trans portation in thls section of the South
 are traced In clear and reasonable de- beginning to the present time.
 The first period l800-1S61 sketches the background of the history. gives the setting of the picture of the min eral region of Alabama. recounts the Indian legends of trails and rivers. of Red Mountain and the coal fields of the Warrior. Goose and Cahaba-
 The story travels by the old French and Spanish forts and early American trading posts; glances at the first blacksmith shops and frontier smiths, and Iron veins. It camps for a little space at the various depots of iron supplies. beginning with the Spanish territorial capital of Alabama; then the old United States arsenal at Mt. Vernon: traverses the various counties located. and settles at length. in the second period, at the town of Selma not entering the precise region where sirmingiham nls sinan ,Ss ,was founded until three beginnings the biographies of the piO- neer coal miners and iron makers are also given. of the first State geologlst, a. few railroad men. and certain of the civil and mining engineers The events of this entire period pass by with hobbled step. under shadow of and man. led on by a few stubborn, solitary toilers. Then. quite suddenly, letters are cast of by the conditions brought about by the civil war. business breaks into the war period in a run. Treading upon the discoveries and solld labors of the frontier smiths and early ironmasters and upon the sound accuracy of Tuomey's geological survey the enterprises are spurred on by General Josiah Gorgas. Chief of Or certain showing. attested to in the records of the military. But the busi- ness driven too fast to flower, and fac ing destructive weather Is cut to earth
 The third period following the war interim exhibits the new growth. that, l fostere1 by some few dominating char acters. breeds out of the ashes wing ed activity. This is the period of the founding of the city of Birmingham. l the outlining of the Birmingham dis l trict and the upbuildlng of Anniston l Gadsden. Sheffield and the other towns | and cities of the mineral region. In | every instance the men. the personal | forces back of the enterprises are | given, in as far as they can be given, | to the life. In this period are also | compreh ended the organization of the | big coal and iron companies. the story | of the Louisville and Nashville Rail- | road and the several hundred inter- woven and closely related develop | ments incidents, experiments and | events of import to the industrial, life | of the whole State. closing at length | with the chapter recountlng the first | making the basic iron on a commercial 1 scale which ushers in the fourth and | final period of the book, that of the | present day
 This, period of consolidation, reor- Eanization. concentration and manU- ,