The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-04
MINERAL
 RIGHTS IN ENSLEY
How Practice Started 25
 Years Ago
RK CONTROVERSY
Belief Is General That Fee Simple Deed Can Be Secured If the Commissioners
 Wish It
nr CRAWFORD PERKINS

The controversy which has arisen over the Ensley park purchase has created con siderable interest owing to the nature of the title to the property and the com ments that have been made regarding the sale. With the exception of about loV acres across Village creek in the vicinity of the K. c. depot, the mineral and min ing rights clause exists in every deed or conveyance that has been executed in and around Ensley for the past % years.
 The reservation clause was established after a series of large deals which vitally effected the early industrial period. The Pratt Coal and Coke company. owned by Col. II. F. DeBardeleben. Col. J. w. sloss and Truman H. Mdrich in 1882. was the first investor of note in the Ensley territory They owned considerable acre age in and around Pratt City.
 In 1882 Col. Enoch Ensley and asso- ciates purchased the Pratt Coal and Coke company, the Linn Iron works and the Alice Furnace company and eonsoli- dated them into the Pratt Coal and Iron company with capital stock at s2,250,Oo0.
 These deals attracted the attention of
 
 company. which at that time was owned exclusively by Col. A. M. Shook, Thomas O Connor, w. II. Cherry and pr. William Morrow, and their holdings consisted only of coal and coke properties at Tracy City. Tenn. and a railroad from Tracy City to Cowan. The capital stock was s400,0o0.
 In 1885 at the instance of T. T. Hillman, Colonel Shook and Nat Baxter, Jr., se- cured an option on the Pratt Coal and Coke company, which option was consum- mated after difficulty in the summer of 1886. the purchase price being g, 2,25o,0oo
 After this deal Colonel Ensley conceived the idea of building a town of his own and subsequently purchased from the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad com pany about 1000 acres of land. which comprises the townsite of Ensley and a portion of Pratt City. When this deal was made the mineral and mining rights clause went into effect. and 1t has existed to this day. The business houses and the homes of Ensley are erected on property carrying the reservation. The deeds held by the owners of the 40 odd acres com prising the park site contain the reserva- ton, and through them and the Tennes- see company and Ensley Land company it is thought that the required fee simple deed can be made by executing quit claim deeds as Was done in the sale of the post office site to the government.
 The six large public school sites owned by the city of Birmingham carry the reservation clause, and since Greater Bir- mingham became a fact the city pur- chased through Mayor OBrien and the ,nH ahn TVaf, fnt street. Ensley, for stables and the pound The reservation exists in the deed to this property. Dupuy & Burke, the Ensley agents who submitted the park site to the city commission, stated yesterday that they were surprised at the turn Of af- fairs regarding the title.
 When we offered the property for sale to the city the matter of the mineral res ervation was not considered" said MT. Dupuy. When the commission decided to buy the property we felt that if any flaw existed in the title the city attorney would discover 1t. The clause regarding the minerals is not considered as a flaw. but as a condition which has existed for 9 years, and one which can easily be corr rected, as we feel sure will be the case. The idea that we were trying to put one over the commission is absurd, and reflects upon the intelligence of the com missioners as this could not have pos- sibly occurred.
 ''The city of Ensley is built upon land which has the reservation clause. but anyone who desires a fee simple deed can obtain such by applying to the proper au- thorities. The satisfaction that has pre- vailed among the citizens at the acquIsi- tion of the park site would indeed be rudely upset should the purchase be turned down upon a technicality such as appears to have arisen. We feel sure that the title. will be cleared up and a fee simple deed executed for the city at an early date"