The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-11-11
ANOTHER RAILROAD | IS GREATEST NEED OF MARION COUNTY Farmers Get Winters Coal Along Banks of the
 Streams SOIL ADAPTED TO ALL KINDS OF CROPS Agricultural School Has Done More Than Any Other One Thing To
 Stir Citizens To Their
 Opportunities
BY HUGH w. ROBERTS

| tnelf WlnIer cOdl.
 | The Aldrich mines are located at Bril- liant which place is reached from Win | field by the Friscos branch The coal
 mined at Brilliant is of high grade, l and is easily obtained from the earth. There are no other mines in the county, 1 but there is coal, 1t Is evident, every where. In the creek amove the mill of A. J. Hamilton, Jr., near Hamilton, coal in
 small quantities is to be seen protruding from the graveled banks. Below Hamil- 1 ton, for distance of five miles, every branch or creek is coal lined, and the | farmers in the neighborhood, armed with picks gather enough to carry them through the winter. A considerable quan- tity, probably as much as 10 tons, is sold | annually to the people of Hamilton. No washing is required to prepare the coal
 for the grate, and 1t burns to fine, white ash leaving behind nothing of the
 nature. of slate or slag.
 | As soon as a railroad pushes its way through the heart of Marion county there | is no doubt but that numerous shafts will be sunk, and that the county's supply of | coal will be many times quadrupled Cotton and Corn | The soil of Marion county is as rule admirably adapted for cotton and corn.
 Formerly large quantity of wheat was l grown, but at the present time the rlour mill of MT. Hamilton, hitherto referred to, consumes not more than 1000 bushels per annum.
 From Guin to Hamilton, or rather in the southern portion of the county, only a small amount of cotton is grown, but the farming lands above Hamilton to the line of Franklin county are as fine as can be found anywhere. In 1910 the county pro- duced 11,000 bales of cotton. This season
 the crop will total as many as 13,OO0 bales.
 Corn is a great crop in the county. | George Howell, who lives Il miles
 northeast of Hamilton, won the state premium last year for having grown
 more corn to the acre than any other
 farmer of the state. His brag acre
 yielded 142a bushels.
 L Vegetables grow in profusion every | where. Fruits, which at the present time supply only the homes of the residents, will eventually reach Bir-
 mingham and other large markets to net the farmers neat incomes. Peaches and grapes are especially easy of pro- | duction and but for the lack of rail- road facilities would receive the prime attention of a large number of the l farmers of the county.
 While there Is comparatively little
 wealth in Marion county the people as rule are comfortably situated, this
 being the deduction reached on noting | the fine condition of the horses, cows and pigs. Blooded stock, as rule, does not obtain, but the traveller in | Marion seldom sees a horse underfed,
 or a hog with razor back.
 Minerals in Abundance Oil has been struck close to the Winston line, near Haleyville, and a company has acquired or is acquir-
 ing the rights to develop wells l At Chalk Bluff. five miles from Hack !leburg, excellent chalk can be ob- tained and 1t Is probable that the Illi- nois Central will soon begin branch
 to that place.
 l The county abounds in iron ore and | there Is reason to believe that lead exists in large quantities.
 l Lining the banks of the Buttahatchee | river is enough sand rock, IS stated yesterday, to build a dozen temples of
 Solomon, and the courthouse of Ham, | ilton is an excellent monument to it's value as material for building purposes.
 It is as durable as the pyramids and its white fronts will never fade. The sand rock stretches for miles along the river banks and a pick and a blast of powder are alone necessary for its
 dislodgement.
 l The white sand about the Bntta-
 hatchee contains, it is believed, suffi- cient silica for the production of a high grade of glass. Dr. Eugene A. | Smith, state geologist, is making a test
 of this sand at the present time
 The Agricultural School
 As stated yesterday Marion is not a
 pcpulous county. It's principal towns are
 Hamilton, the county seat; Guin, Win field, Bear Creek, Hackleburg, Bexar and Shottsvile.
 Of them all, in spite of its distance from railroad, Hamilton Is the most
 pretentious. It's chief claim to fame con-
 sists in its possession of the West Ala bama Agricultural school This school
 was established about IS years ago, and
 has done a marvellous work. Plans are | on foot at the present time to erect a s7500 school building to take the place oi the frame structure in use today Tc this end the state has appropriated S2o0t
 with the understanding that Marion coun.
 ty will produce the remaining s5ooo.
 H. O. Sargent is principal of the school and under him are five other professors The total number of matriculates Is 206 of whom 146 are boarding students, th' counties represented being Marion, Frank lin, Colbert, Walker. Fayette, Lamar Tuscaloosa and Randolph.
 There are three churches in Marion the Methodist, Baptist and Christian. The Marion County Banking company has banks at Guin and at Hamilton, eacl
 of which Is doing an excellent business ] Between Hamilton and the railroad cen tcrs on the north and south, there art two daily mail services. From Hamiltor four rural free delivery routes radiate The towns of the county are connected l by system of telephones. The Marion County News is an excellent weekly paper. | Hamilton possesses an artesan well the water rising from a depth of 40 feet. The towns of the9 county are equipped with good hotels and because of the lack of railroad facilities, witt good stables possessing splendid teams The Buttahatchee River
 The county, situated on the highlands of western Alabama, and thoroughly 1 drained, is absolutely free of malaria. | There is water everywhere.
 The greater part of the county is drained by the Buttahatchee, which rise. in the northern portion and flows rapidly southward, eventually finding it's way into the Tombigbee near Columbus. Miss Its numerous tributaries run in every direc- tion.
 Bull Mountain creek flows across the northwestern part of the county. The