The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-11-29
FOLEY IS SCENE OF
 REMARKABLE CHANGE
How a Cough Medicine Man
 Brought Settlers
GREAT LAND OF PROMISE
on Those Lands the Inhabitants Are Exceedingly Quick
 to "show You"
BY WALTER HARPER

Foley is the present terminus of ths Bay Minette and Fort Morgan division oi the Louisville and Nashville railroad.
 It is near the center of that wonderful southern peninsula of Baldwin county and is about the heart of the most rapid development of the county.
 The great Samatra and Havana to- bacco territory is a few miles to the north at Summerdale and Robertsdale ble lands of the Magnolia Springs region and to the east and south is a broad fer tile land of promise that is being rapidly settled up by prosperous and intelligent immigrants from the north and west
 A few miles to the east is that most interesting colony of German-Americans who are making the sandy plains blossom called Elberta and is one of the most promising communities in all this region Of Alladn-like development.
 Four years ago Foley was a marsh. There is a slight depression in the coun- tenance of the earth just here and log wagons and other chance vehicles that rassed this way skirted the place.
 But the railroad built down into the loarsh and stopped A supply store or two was established to supply the transient demands of wandering adven- turers, the vanguard of the mighty tide of immigration that was soon to set in. The sag was drained out, sidewalks thrown up, plank walks built and some more houses erected.
 The growth has been steady, almost un- noticed. The population in the immedi- ate vicinity now will show something like 750 The town has never been incorpor- ated. The people are too busy to think Of such things. Nobody needs the jobs.
 But the most marvellous development is out through the country surrounding Foley as far as Magnolia Springs to the west and Elberta to the east. The lands are rapidly being taken up and Eut under cultivation-intense cultivation mot the slipshod. makeshift farming that is too often seen in the south.
 Elegant home. are being built, good roads constructed and there is general air of comfortable prosperity that is most pleasing and must be a revelation to the man who saw this country as a tangled cut-over wilderness a few years ago.
 I saw families. good families, who were accustomed to ordinary comforts in their old homes in the north, occupying tents rntn they can clear few acres and build house.
 saw two. yes, three-story farm houses. neatly painted and surrounded b, beautiful flower gardens and orange groves that have sprung up during the east three and four years.
 I vas told that many of these elegant, almost luxurious farm houses had been quilt from the proceeds of the farm dur ing the three and four years. This is not hard to understand when 1t can be seen that two. three and four crops of rrofltable produce can be gathered from inc same land in one year and that the profits per acre are almost invariably more than 500. In some cases the profits go up into the hundreds of dollars.
 And this is not all because the lands are fertile. J have seen people almost starve 10 death on lands that are no richer. These lands are not exceptionally fertile but the farmers who are settling here are people who know how to wiring the maximum of results from every acre tnied. every drop Of sweat that irrigates the soil and also people who know how to appreciate the value of long seasons, falmy sunshine and well-distributed rain fall.
 Al home they were forced to grow one crop well Knowing how to make one good crop a year they are prepared to take advantage Of an opportunity of mak ing more than one crop. They are not satisfied 10 grow one good crop in season and then go to town or fish ins.
 These people down here work like the banker sf his desk, the mill superintend- cut and the puddleT in the rolling mill Most Of them are men with the business ability and education Of store managers, bank clerks or politicians They are as refined as church descons, school teach CTS or college professors Some of them sf1n m nnfi infn