The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-08-03
MOTORING TO SIPsEY

| MOlOkING III SlPSE1
And so I chose to go to Spsey to find
out what 1 wanted to know chose
Sipsey for several reasons, one of which
IS that l knew nice Mr. Milton Flies, the
Vice President and General Manager
| there, who, as any coal man who knows
VIII tell you, registers over 100 per cent
any way You analyze him, and 1 felt sure
that he would be good enough to aid me
| In my research; and also because Sipsey
| is typical Commercial mine as the
| laymen (of which l am one) would ex-
press it, "a merchant mine" meaning
that the owners not only mine their coal,
but secure customers for every ton they
mine; and thirdly and lastly as the
preachers say, chose Sipsey because it
| Is young mine, comparatively; new and
| IN its radiant prime and nothing is so
appealing as youth with it's freshness, it's
| buoyancy, its promises of the golden to-
morrows, fleet-footed, hurrying, joyous
| youth,
And so / am going to ask you to make
| the trip with me, if you care to, starting
| from Birmingham early On last Tues
| day morning, promising you that there
1 isn't dull moment in the entire day.
from the second 1 stepped into the auto
mobile that was to carry me to Sipsey
until the wee sma hours of the night
when l dropped into my little downy
couch with my brain whirling and twirl-
ing with the wonderful sights I'd seen
and my dreams a Kaleidoscope vision of
''tipples" and tram cars ''gaIleys and
| picking BELTS" loading booms" and
4 washers" Juices (as the miners call
electric currents), "Old 1ron-clad" (the
machinery as the great battleships the
| Monitor" and others were called during
the Civil war-of egg COAL and fancy
| lump and bug DUST while in the back
ground nestled the beautiful little mining
| town with its pretty cottages, row on
row. with their wide verandas ornate
with vari-colored blossoms and bending
beneath the weight of Towering vines
the happy, contented homes of the min
ers, where sweet-faced children rollic
and frolic and make beautiful the sur
roundngs with their innocent prattle and
their merry laughter.
Let's spin down the broad highway
passing Ensley and Adamsville and Sayre
over excellent roads until we cross the
county line of Jefferson into 1.-The free
state of Walker and just here please
let me offer gentle hint to the Good
Roads people who have an abundant and
fertile field for missionary work, for
worse roads I have scarcely ever seen,
only passable enough to finally convey
US to our destination. dashing into, the
pretty little mining town of Sipsey in
about two hours and thirty minutes after
starting time.
The first visit we made was to the big
department store" which has developed
from the old commissary since the days
when mining camps developed into mining
towns. -
Neat, well kept and up-to-date, thor
oughly sanitary in every respect, the store
offers everything from the most delicious
edibles to the neatest sort of wearing
apparel. And the prices? Well, if quote
them I'm afraid there'n be an exodus of
Birmingham housewives and their little
families to Sipsey and run will be
made on the store that will almost put it
out of business
For instance, I asked one of the clerks
to tell me the prices on some Of the goods
and he at once invited me to see the big
refrigerating plant in the store which
is a model of convenience and modernity;
icy cold store rooms are furnished with
the best cuts of meat which are shipped
directly to the store from the packing
houses; also buckets of eggs, baskets of
tomatoes and all sorts of good things;
and here are the figures on prices: The
best cut of porterhouse steak IS cents
pound all other grades, 30 cents; high
grade rib roasts, IS cents pound; pork,
40 and As cents: pure pork sausage, IS
cents pound: lard Compound. IS cents