The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1914-10-17
ALABAMA GREAT
\ IRON PRODUCER
STATES MINERAL PRODUCTS
VALUED AT NEARLY
$35, OOO,O OO

If value of output of iron ore is
considered the measure of iron pro-
duction, Alabama ranks eighteenth
among the states in the value of its
mineral products, and second among
the states south of Mason and Dix
on's line and the Ohio river, accord
ing to a report made by the United
States geological survey in co-opera-
ton with the Alabama geological
survey. If value Of output Of pig
iron is taken as the measure Of iron
production, Alabama ranks about
fifteenth among the states. West
Virginia, with its great production
Of mineral fuel = coal, petroleum
and natural gas = Is the premier
mineral producer among the south
ern states. Alabama Is not distin-
guished as the leading producer in
any important mineral substance,
but it ranks third in the value of
iron ore produced, second in guam
tity and third in value in the produc-
ton of coke, and sixth in the pro-
duction of coal. Considerable prog
ress has also been made in the de-
velopment of the clay-working and
quarrying industries of the state.
The rise Of Alabama as a mining
and industrial commonwealth had its
beginning in the last quarter of the
nineteenth century, after the devel-
opment, in 1882, of the extensive
deposits of iron ore hear Birming-
ham. continuous to the already part
ly known and developed coal fields.
The boom and speculative fever that
followed was one of the most spec
tacular incidents in the industrial
development of the United States,
paralleled only by the rushes that
followed Marshall's discovery of
gold in California, the exploitation
of the Comstock lode in Nevada and
the later rush to the Alaskan gold
fields. The speculative fever reach
ed its climax in 1885 and was fol-
lowed by a period of relapse and
liquidation which lasted two years.
Beneath the Birmingham craze, how
ever, there was a substantial foun-
dation for legitimate industrial de-
velopment, and the bursting Of the
original bubble vas followed by
more than a quarter of a century Of
steady healthful growth. The iron
ores of Alabama, though inferior to
those of Lake Superior, have a COM
pensating advantage in lying near
beds of good coaking coal and of
limestone suitable for fuxing, so
that Birmingham, the Pittsburg of
the south, can manufacture pig iron
cheaper than any other place in the
world. Before 1882, when the boom
began, the coal production of Ala
bama had not amounted to as much
as half a million tons in any one
year; in 1918 it was 17,678,522 tons.
The value of the coal product of Ala
bama is approximately two-thirds
that of the total mineral output,
amounting in 1913 to $23,OS3,724.
In 1882 Alabama produced about
100000 long tons of pig iron; in
1913 the marketed production of
pig iron amounted to 1~,924,762 long
tons, valued at $23,242,374.
The coke production of Alabama
increased from 2,975,4S9 short
tons. valued at $S,O9S,412 in 1912,
to 3,323.644 short tons, valued at
$~9.627,17O in 1913.
The total value of the mineral
production of Alabama, exclusive of
the value of the pig iron and includ-
ing the value of the iron ores, was
$34,660,545 in 1918. compared with
$30,641,9 83 in 1912.
Other mineral products of Ala