USA > Alabama > Hand-book of Alabama. A complete index to the state, with map > Part 36
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GEOLOGY OF THE STATE.
contain are the cypress stumps above mentioned. Some of the most productive soils of Alabama are formed of these second bottom materials and most of the celebrated river plantations of former times rest upon these deposits.
Ozark Sands .- While the terrace deposits just mentioned are confined to the immediate vicinity of the rivers and larger water courses, and are rarely elevated more than fifty feet above these waters, we find, especially in the southern part of the State, a mantle of gray sands, with pebbles at the base, overspreading the country between the water courses up to altitudes as high as 150 to 200 feet above sea level. These sands correspond to the interfluvial phase of the Columbia formation of Mr. McGee, as the second bottoms are the repre- sentative of the fluvial phase.
The Ozark sands usually lie unconformably upon the red loam of the Lafayette formation, with a sharp and distinct line of demarkation between the two, and, while scarcely ever more than four or five feet in thickness and holding very little gravel upon the divides, they increase in thickness and in the percentage of pebbles along the slopes leading down to, the minor streams, often forming sandy terraces one-fourth of a mile in width along the creeks. As above stated, the strat- igraphical relations of these sands to the second bottom deposits are not easily made out, since they rarely occupy the same areas, yet they often form a sort of third or higher terrace along some of the larger rivers, a few feet above the second bottoms and quite as wide.
Biloxi -- Coast Sands .-- This includes the immediate gulf coast and island of Mobile and Baldwin counties and an exten- sion up the bay of Mobile to an undefined limit. The name should not be understood as implying sterility, for much of the region is the choice of the " truck farmers." Mr. L. C. Jonnson, who has recently given this part of the State some study, de- scribes the coast sands as consisting essentially of thin alter- nating layers of sand and sandy clay. The formation is quite variable because, in the course of its structure, old beaches and marshes, both salt and fresh, were worked in with the regular strata, and now, when exposed along the shore, appear as a patch of black bottom often studded with old stumps. Mr. Johnson thinks that these deposits on our coast are the result
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HAND-BOOK OF ALABAMA.
of three principal agencies, viz: the tides of the gulf, the Mississippi river, and the united rivers that pour into Mobile bay. The time of their accumulation was probably, in part at least, contemporaneous with the formation of the second bottom deposits, but, inasmuch as the same agencies are active at the present time that have been for ages, these coast sands grade into the recent shore deposits. Mr. Johnson has recently shown how the waters of the Mississippi in 1890, breaking through the levee at the Nita plantation, poured through Ponchartrain and other lakes into Mississippi sound, carrying its sediments to the very mouth of Mobile bay. Naturally the contributions of the Mississippi river are more pronounced as we go westward, and at Biloxi a boring for an artesian well has given a good section showing the alternations of coarse sand with marsh mud down to a depth of eighty feet. Mr. Johnson has proposed the name Biloxi as a substitute for coast sands.
Recent. - Under this head are included all "soils, first bottom deposits, sand bars. etc., now in progress of formation or attributable to causes now in operation."
Alluvial -- Flood Plain Deposits-Swamp and First Bot- tom Lands .- The current of a river is rarely so sluggish as to allow the complete deposition of the finer matters held in suspension in its waters, but gently flowing streams con- stantly leave on their banks, where the retardation of the current by friction is greatest, a mixture of fine sand and clayey matter. When, however, the waters rise above the banks and spread over the flood plains, the matter held in suspension will be deposited in parallel zones-the pebbles, sands and coarser meterial on the immediate bank of the stream, where the current is swiftest, and the fine sand and clay further back in the swamp, where the comparative still- ness of the water permits the complete settling of all the matter held in suspension. The soils of the river swamps, thus accumulated, are of extraordinary fertility, but have the serious drawback that they are liable to periodical overflow. These deposits are being made at the present time, and they, therefore, represent the most recent geological formations and form the natural transition to the soils, which will be discussed in another article.
PART TWELFTH.
THE AGRICULTURAL DIVISIONS OF ALABAMA AND , THEIR SOILS AND PRODUCTS.
With reference to their soils and agricultural products, the State may be divided into three tolerably well defined divis- ions-a middle, a northern and a southern division-and, while these divisions, in their agricultural features, have much that is in common, they have marked peculiarities in this respect, which would be worthy of extended notice here but for the fact that the several counties of the State, and their soils, etc., having been so fully described in "Part Eighth," pages 267- 338, of this HAND-Book, it would be, in great measure, to go over the same ground. In view, therefore, of what has been said of the counties in " Part Eighth," it is only necessary in this place to outline, in a general way, the boundaries of these divisions ; to group the counties in one or the other of them, according as they show the same agricultural characteristics, and briefly to describe each division with reference to agri- culture.
MIDDLE DIVISION.
A line drawn on the map from the northeast corner of the State southwestwardly to Tuskaloosa, and thence southeast- wardly, through Centreville, Clanton, Wetumpka and Tallas- see, to Columbus, Georgia, would mark approximately the
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HAND-BOOK OF ALABAMA.
boundaries of this division. It includes the chrystalline schists or metamorphic region, and the Coosa river valley and its outliers-the Cahaba, Roups, Jones, Wills, Murphrees and Browns valleys .*
The Chrystalline Schists or Metamorphic Region .- This region occupies a somewhat triangular shaped area in the eastern part of the State, bounded by a line running ap- proximately as follows : From the Georgia line, near the north- eastern corner of Cleburne county, southwestward through Clay and Coosa counties, into Chilton county, and thence east- ward, through Elmore, Tallapoosa, Macon and Lee counties, to the Georgia line again, about opposite Columbus, Georgia.t
Soils .- The two principal soil varieties of this region are those which make the gray and the red lands respectively. Of each of these, however, there are numerous subvarieties, exhibiting all grades of color and fertility.
In the present state of our knowledge it is impossible to mark with accuracy the localities where these several soil varieties occur throughout this region ; but what can at pres- ent be said of their occurrence will be found under the head of each county, pages 267-338, ante.
Of the true gray soils, there is only. a limited area in this State, but a belt of this kind passes through Rockford and Bradford, in Coosa county. It is seen again near Blake's ferry, in Randolph county, and near Louina, in the same coun- ty, then near Milltown, in Chambers county.
The gray soils are in general quite fertile ; but in localities they are almost barren. They are easily tilled, are certain of eropgeven with moderately favorable seasons and are better suited than the red lands to the cultivation of cotton. Their native timber growth consists of the various species of oaks, and hickory, with a few short-leaf pines.
The soils of the red lands of this region, the color of which comes from the iron of the rocks from which they are derived. are also generally fertile and in places rank high in productive- ness, but in others they frequently lie at the other extreme.
. The Coosa and the Cahaba coal fields are included also in this divisjon, but they are best described in connection with the coal measures of the Warrior field, under the next (northern, division.
t See Sketch of the Geology of Alabama, page 389, ante.
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AGRICULTURAL DIVISIONS.
They are considered best adapted to corn and the other grains, and this native forest growth is much the same as that of the gray lands. that is, oaks, hickory and some short leaf pine.
The top stratum of the red soil, from two to three inches in depth, has often a dark, chocolate brown color, but below it becomes a brighter red and at varying depths, from ten to fifteen feet, becomes a yellowish, hard clay. In places, the color is yellowish, rather than red.
When first cleared. these red lands were thought to be the best in that section and many fine farms are still found on them; but the majority of the farmers now seem to prefer the gray soil, as being more certain of crop, more easily tilled and even more fertile. The red lands, however, being the first to be cleared by the original settlers, most of the older farms and fine old country residences are located upon them.
Topography, Products, Etc. -- This, the metamorphic re- gion of the State. is considerably elevated above the level of the sea, in many instances rising to the height of 800 feet, and the scenery shows very great variety-high and mountainous ridges alternating with rolling and sometimes rugged low- lands and valleys. The waters of the region, obtained from running streams and never-failing springs and wells, is both abundant and excellent for all domestic purposes, and in many localities affords very fine water powers. The health is good and the country comparatively free of malaria. The section is well settled. and the lands, though all occupied, are, much of them, not in cultivation. The chief agricultural products of the region are cotton, corn, wheat, oats, sweet potatoes, peas, tobacco, Ctc. The lands produce, also, very fine garden vege- tables, and many of the orchard fruits, such as apples. peaches and pears, do well on them. The section seems to be well suited to peaches, pro lucing the largest and most exquisitely flavored ones to be found anywhere. Grapes, too, are grown with great success. Wild plums and blackberries are every- where to be found in great profusion. There are many rea- sons for believing that this country was designed by nature for stock-raising. It is everywhere well watered, and the na- tive grasses, beginning in early spring with the buffalo clover, followed by the bermuda and crab grasses in the summer and fall, and the cane in winter, furnish abundance of sustenance
28
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HAND-BOOK OF ALABAMAA.
for horses and cattle throughout the year. Limited experi- ments have been made in this direction with good success. Interspersed between the hills are many fertile valleys and hammocks formed on transported material brought down from adjacent hills and partaking, more or less, of the character of the hills. They are usually very productive and are much esteemed as farming lands. Many of these bottoms, if left uncultivated and protected during the summer from stock, afford large quantities of cane, upon which cattle and horses can be kept the entire winter.
The Cuosa Valley .- This valley, deriving its name from the Coosa river, which traverses its entire length, and having an area of about 2,580 square miles, is embraced in the coun- ties of Cherokee, Cleburne, Etowah, Calhoun, St. Clair, Tal- ladega. Shelby, Coosa and Chilton, and is a belt of territory, thirty to forty miles wide, east and west, lying between the nietamorphie region on the one hand and the coal measures of the State on the other, and extending from the eastern border of the State, in the counties of Cherokee and Calhoun, south- westward for 120 miles.
With reference to these mountain borders, it may be con- sidered as one valley, but in reality it consists of several par- allel valleys, separated by ridges of greater or less height, the highest of which are found in the southeastern part of the valley, where they attain true mountainous proportions.
The Cahaba Valley .- This valley, which takes its name from the Cahaba river that drains it, lies between the Coosa and Cahaba coal fields, in the counties of St Clair, Jefferson, Sheby and Bibb, and has an area of about 400 square miles.
Roups and Jones Valleys .-- These are the names that are given to the two ends (upper part called .Jones' valley, lower part Roup's valley ) of the valley lying between the Cahaba and Warrior coal fields, in the counties of Jefferson, Tuskaloosa and Bibb, and having an area of about 300 square miles.
Wills Valley. - This valley lies between Lookout and Sand mountains, in DeKalb, Etowah and St. Clair counties, and has an area of nearly 500 square miles.
Murphrees Valley. - This valley lies in Etowah and Blount counties and has an area of about 110 square miles.
4:27
AGRICULTURAL DIVISIONS.
The Blount Springs or Browns Valley. - This valley is a prolongation into Alabama of the Sequatchie valley of Tennessee and runs through Jackson, Marshall and Blount counties, and has an area of about 460 square miles.
Soils of the Coosa and Outlying Valleys .- Classified ac- cording to color and general physical characters, the soils occuring in the valleys just named are either red or brown loams ; or the lighter colored to gray soils, usually filled with angular, flinty gravel and resting on a yellowish clay subsoil, or light sandy loans.
In Cherokee county, below the town of Gaylesville, and extending down to Gadsden, in Etowah county and thence below Gadsden, in the direction of Springville, in St. Clair county, nearly to the latter place ; also in Jones' valley be- tween Elyton and Jonesboro, in Jefferson county, and in small patches further south in Jones' and Roup's valley, are exten- sive level tracts of land, known as "flatwoods," where the clay in the soil predominates and the drainage is defective. These tracts are usually uncultivated, though the timber on them indicates a soil by no means sterile. The soils of the flatwoods are usually of a greenish, yellow color, sometimes red in places. occasionally nearly black, and the prevailing timber is post-oak and short leaf pine. Where roads cross the flatwoods, they are easily cut up into deep, muddy ruts, in which the water stands for a long time. Occasionally high places are found, with sandy soil and under cultivation, but these spots form a very small proportion of the whole area of the flaty pods. Throughout these flatwoods, the outeroppings of limestone are frequent, and, in cases, there is very little ยท soil, the rocky surface being then occupied by cedar glades.
In Bibb county, northeast of Centreville, near Pratt's ferry, and in the vicinity of Montevallo and Ilelena, in Shelby county, and along the southeastern flanks of some of the sandstone ridges in Talladega, Calhoun and Cherokee counties, are found soils of chocolate brown red, greenish and gray colors. These soils are usually thin and though considered productive in good seasons, are liable to injury from drought.
The mountains which form an uninterrupted chain skirt- ing the western border of the metamorphic region and extend- ing through the counties of Cherokee, Calhoun and Talladega,
a
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HAND-BOOK OF ALABAMA.
have, as a rule, a sandy soil, which, in many places, is thin. withi seanty and stunted vegetation, but occasionally with a vigorous growth of upland oaks, chestnut and short leaf pine. By reason of the mountainous character of the country, very little of this soil is under cultivation, but there are many spots of good grazing ground.
In the Coosa valley, in Cherokee, Calhoun and Talladega counties and southward in the same direction in Shelby and Bibb counties, are found soils which are clay loams of light yellowish to orange or red colors. and of varying thickness, the average being, perhaps, one and a half feet. The subsoil is usually heavier, being rather stiff elay, or clay loam, of a red or yellow color. Both soil and subsoil are often filled with lumps of limonite or brown iron ore.
The characteristic timber upon these lands is red, Spanish, post and blackjack oaks, hiekory and short leaf pine. Some of the best farming lands of the State are found here, and the fine crops that they still bear, after having been in cultiva- tion since the early settlement of the country, attest their value.
The second class of soils-the gray soils, which are usually filled with angular chert fragments and have subsoils mostly of a yellowish to red clay-is quite generally distributed throughout these valleys, and vary between wide limits, from the brown loams, on the one hand, to the gray siliceous and nearly barren soils, on the other. When the chert is promi- nent as a surface material the soils have little to recommend then and the country is almost uninhabited ; but where the chert is less prominent, the gray lands are of very fair quality, and, while not so fertile as some of the red lands, are thought to be better adapted to the cotton crop, especially where com- mercial fertilizers are used.
The better grades of these gray, gravelly lands are tim- bered with oaks and short leaf pine, hickory, dogwood, etc., while those of a sandier nature have the long leaf pine. associated with post, Spanish and blackjack oaks and small hiekories.
In the eastern part of the Coosa valley, as forming the southeastern side of the valley range, and in the other valleys of this region, as narrow belts, are found soils of good, strong
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AGRICULTURAL DIVISIONS.
loams, but so limited in extent as to be of no agricultural importance. These lands have frequently a dense growth of cedars.
The red iron ore ridges of these valleys, the usual position of which is on each side of the valley, skirting the esearpment of the coal measures, which forms the borders of the valley, yield sandy soils of considerable fertility, but their location on the steep hillsides makes them of little importance in agricul- ture. Where the red ridges are not too steep for cultivation, their soils are well adapted to most of the southern crops, especially grain. The color of these ridge soils is usually red or brown on one side of the ridge and gray, flinty, gravelly, on the other.
In these valleys, occurring only in narrow belts, occupying the depressions between the red ridges and the escarpment of the coal measures, and in the Coosa valley, as forming the surface of four small basins, are yellowishi, reddish or brown loams, similar to some of the soils of northern Alabama. These soils give some of the most desirable farming lands in the State, and their prevailing timber growth is red, post, white and spanish oaks, hickory, persimmon, chestnut, black gum, sourwood and second growth of short leaf pine.
Products of the Coosa and Outlying Valleys .- In deserib- ing the soils of these valleys in the pages immediately pre- ceding, their agricultural products and forest growth were necessarily pointed out to considerable extent, and we need not enlarge upon them in this place.
TIO principal crops of this region are cotton, corn, oats, wheat, rye, sweet potatoes, peas and tobacco, and the prevail- ing timber consists of the various species of oaks common in that latitude, hickory, chestnut, poplar, gum, long leaf pine, short leaf pine, etc. These lands produce, also, fine native grasses and excellent clover, and, being abundantly watered, are well adapted to stock raising. All kinds of fruits common to that latitude come to perfection in this section of the State, notably the apple, and the peach and the grape. The Blount county apple is esteemed one of the best grown on this continent.
This district, as a whole, is very desirable for homes. The health and climate are excellent, the water pure and abundant,
.
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HAND-BOOK OF ALABAMA.
the country is well timbered, and the district possesses many other advantages recommending it to those in search of homes where life may be comfortably supported and intelligent labor well rewarded.
. .
NORTHERN DIVISION.
.This division adjoins the middle division on the northwest. and embraces most of the State lying north and west of a line drawn from' Chattanooga, Tennessee, through Birmingham, nearly to Tuskaloosa, and has an area of about 10,000 square miles. As regards structure of the country and soils, this division may be divided into the cool measures and the sub- carboniferous region.
Coal Measures. - These measures are . embraced in the counties of Lawrence, Winston, Walker, Cullman, Morgan, Madison, DeKalb, Cherokee, Etowah. Jackson, Marshall, Blount, Jefferson, Tuskaloosa, Fayette, Marion and Franklin .*
The coal measures present everywhere substantially the same characters as regards soils : but important variations result from differences in latitude and elevation above the sea. The plateaus seem to be specially suited to the growth of fruits and vegetables and nutritious grasses, but neither the plateaus nor the other parts of the coal fields have hitherto been in good repute as farming lands. As yet, this part of the State is comparatively thinly settled, but its many advantages are gradually being appreciated. All the soils are saudy and more or less deficient in vegetable matter and lime. The better classes of these soils are light colored loams, with yel- lowish or reddish subsoils, and these are capable of improve- ment, since they will retain all fertilizers. The gray soils of the coal measures, with light colored to whitish subsoil, defi- cient in clayey matter, are too porous and draughty to be profitably cultivated, and they do not retain fertilizers well.
Topography, Products, Etc .- The plateau region of the coal
. For the number of square miles of coal measures in each of these counties. and further information concerning them. see description of each county, pages 265-338, ante.
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AGRICULTURAL DIVISIONS.
measures consists of the high, wide, flat and plain-like areas of the tops of the Cumberland mountains, Sand mountain, Raccoon mountain and Lookout mountain. The mountains of which it forms the tops are separated from each other by, and have running into them, deep valleys.
As above marked out. this plateau region comprises about 4,500 square miles. It is from 1,000 to 2,000 feet above tide water level, and from 300 to 1,200 feet above the level of the adjacent valleys. It is most elevated in the northeast corner of the State and gradually slopes from this point to the south- west. This plateau region is a country of beautiful, wild and interesting seenery. It is, away from the edges of the moun- tains and the water courses, generally an open woods country, with but little undergrowth and with a luxuriant growth of grasses and ferns, and is just enough rolling and indented with hollows and ravines to make the landscape pleasing to the eye, but on the edges of the mountains and on the water courses it is quite different and the scenery is often grand, wild and picturesque. The elevated high bluff's of its borders or of the tops of its steep mountain sides, and the high water falls of its creeks and branches often produce sights that are well worth the travel of many miles to see.
This plateau region has a mild and salubrious climate and an atmosphere that is pure, dry and light. The drainage is perfect and it has no marshes or malaria.
Under the high bluffs capping the mountain sides are nu- merous fine free-flowing springs of freestone, chalybeate and alum waters. These springs, from 200 to 1,000 feet above the valleys, furnish the coldest natural waters of the State.
The soil of this region, though naturally sandy and thin, produces choice root and fruit erops and grasses, and, with suitable compos., can be made to yield a good diversity of crops. Thus treated, it will bring good cotton, corn, oats, rye, rice, sorghum, Irish and sweet potatoes, turnips, peas, etc.
The country for the most part is still covered with its vir- gin forests of post oaks, Spanish oaks, scarlet oaks, tanbark oaks, black oaks, chestnuts, hickories, gums, short and long leaf pines, dogwood, sourwood and sassafras. The steep mountain sides and the coves have, in many localities, been covered with a fine growth of the best of hardwoods, as red
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ILAND-BOOK OF ALABAMA.
cedars, black walnuts, chestnut oaks, yellow poplar, white ash, red or sweet gum, linden trees, elms, hickories, beech, etc. These lands are now, however, being rapidly cleared up and as the virgin soils are becoming better understood, are grow- ing into favor as desirable horticultural and farming lands.
The Tennessee Valley Region. - Under this head are included not only the immediate valley of the Tennessee river, but also the whole region in Alabama drained by its tributa- ries, except the valley down which the river flows in Jackson county, the table lands of DeKalb county, the Cumberland spurs in Jackson, Madison and Marshall counties and the pebble covered belt in Franklin, Colbert and Lauderdale coun- ties. The region embraces an area on both sides of the Ten- nessee river extending from the State line on the north to the coal measures of the Warrior field on the south. The average width of this drainage area from north to south is about forty-five miles, and includes parts of Jackson, Marshall, Morgan, Lawrence, Franklin, Colbert and Lauderdale counties and all of Limestone and part of Madison counties, aggregating about 4,500 square miles.
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