Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-03-30
Dixie Goes Ahead
nI.-BIRMINGHAM's NEW RIVER
BY FREDERIC J. HAsKIN

manner. A strip of land about 200
yards wide reaching from the city
to the river will become part of the
incorporation. Upon this will be built
fine macadamized boulevard and a
passenger and freight electric line
owned and run by the city. This line
will carry both passengers and freight
during the day, but will handle the
bulk Of it's freight at night. At the
end of the strip will be the municipal
terminals.
This at least seems to be the plan
most generally agreed upon. There Is
, abundant difference of opinion. where
fore this is not offered as authorita-
tive. The project has already gone as
far as preliminary survey of two
routes by the county engineer, and
a hot battle of words has been waged
as to which route ought to be accept
ed There are bound to be delays,
but the people have fully made up,
their mind to the project. and there
Is little doubt but what it will ulti-
mately be carried out. tits estimated
that it will cost the city million dol
lars to finish the project, terminals
and all.
The completion of this great govern
ment work has opened to Birmingham
wealth Of opportunity at single
the city lies In the fact that it has i'm
mense quantities of iron, coal and
limestone so located in the mountains
surrounding it that the force of grav-
ity literally carries them to the doors
of the furnaces, making Birmingham
a natural center of steel and iron
manufacture. Her weakness has been
the lack Of cheap transportation. The
Black Warrior project has supplied
the opportunity to make up that de-
ficiency. For example. by the river
freight may be shipped to New Or
leans for less than half of what it
costs by rail.
The most immediate and obvious
opportunity the river affords is to
ship coal to Mobile by water: and
this already is being done by several
com panies One of them has estab-
lished line of self actuating barges
great shallow draft steamers de-
signed to carry 1000 tons of freight
each. Another has made a great saw
ing in the leading process by dump
ing coal from a bridge directly into
the barges, thus making the force OF
gravity do most of the work. The dis
lance to Mobile by water is 425 miles
and the river has minimum depth of
six feet all the way all the year
round. This is sufficient for all tug
boats and barges. More than half of
the coal that goes from Birmingham
to Mobile is already taking the water
route and the development of new
mines has been stimulated by the
trah1c.
The Birmingham coal people are
now bent upon having the navy use
Alabama coal, 80 that Mobile may be-
come a coaling station for vessels
operating in gulf waters. They claim
that a government test has proved
the value Of this coal for use on the
gunboats and submarines. Birming-
ham also plans to renew her overtures
to the government to build gun and
armor plant here. This has long been
favorite project. and now that the
city has water transportation to the
sea, the people feel that their argu-
ment has been immeasurably streng-
thened.
So far these barges that carry coal
to Mobile have been coming back
empty for the most part. This is
manifest waste. and the Birmingham
business men are eagerly investigat-
ing to find what supplies the city
could best obtain by the water route.
The most available cargoes seem to
be the ferro-manganese ores, which
Birmingham imports from Cuba, and
the pebble phosphate that comes to
the city from Florida for use in max
ing fertilizer. Both of these com
modities could be brought much more
cheaply by water, and it is believed
that they ultimately will be.