USA > Alabama > Hand-book of Alabama. A complete index to the state, with map > Part 42
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Searcy Rope and Yarn Mills .- Geo. A. Searcy, Tuskaloosa. Operations commenced 1891 : capital $35,000 ; spindles, 2,760; looms, none ; cards, 24; steam power; cotton rope, yarn and small cordage.
Tallassee Mills .-- Tallassee Falls Manufacturing Company. At Tallassee Falls, on Tallapoosa river, in Elmore county ; postoffice, Montgomery. Operations commenced under new company, 1878; capital $500,000: spindles, 18,000 ; looms, 360; water power; sheetings, shirtings, osnaburgs, ducks, twine and rope.
Tuskaloosa Manufacturing Company .- At Cottondale, Tns- kaloosa county ; postoffice, Tuskaloosa. Operations com- menced, under new company, 1877; capital $90,000; spindles, 12,000; looms, 300 ; cards, 52; steam power : checks, plaids, stripes, domestics, twines, wicks, rope and batts.
Tuskaloosa Cotton Mills .- Tuskaloosa. Operations com- menced 1879; capital $40,000 ; looms, 172: steam power; cotton plaids. Mills only weave; do not handle any cotton and buy their warps and yarns.
Union Springs Cotton Mills .- Union Springs, Bullock county. Operations commenced 1891 ; capital 845,000 ; spin- dles, 4,000 ; eards, 19; steam power; hosiery, yarns, skein warps, ball sewing thread and twinc. Company now putting in 1,000 more spindles, to be in operation by January, 1893.
West Huntsville Cotton Mills Company .- West Huntsville. Postoffice, Huntsville. Operations commenced 1892 ; capital $100,000 ; spindles, 5,200 : cards, 80; steam power.
West Point Manufacturing Company .- Near West Point,
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Ga., in Chambers county, Ala .; postoffice, West Point Ga. Operations commenced 1882; capital $300,000 ; spindles, 14,000 ; looms. 312 ; cards, 104; water power ; duck.
Total cotton mills, 25; spindles, 162,951 ; looms, 3,433 ; cards, 549. Bales cotton consumed 1892, 42,265 ; 1891, 39,145 .*
The Woolen Mills of Alabama .- Henderson Knitting Mills Company .- Troy, Pike county. Operations commenced 1889; capital $30,000; spindles, 720; knitting machines, 13; sets woolen cards, 2: steam power ; knit underwear.
High Shoals Mills .-- M. F. Ussery, High Shoals, Randolph county. Carding only : steam power.
Killebror Woolen Mills .-- Thos. J. Killebrew, near Newton, Dale county. Postoffice, Newton. Operations commenced 1872: capital $20,000; spindles, woolen, 160, cotton, 128; looms, 12: cards, 6; water power; woolen jeans and spun yarns. Cotton machinery used principally to make warps for the woolen jeans.
Opelika Hosiery Company .-- Successors to Opelika Knit- ting Mills : Opelika, Lee county ; operations commenced 1890 ; steam power : cotton hosiery.
Total woolen mills, 4; spindles, 880 ; looms, 12; cards, 8; knitting machines, 13.+ C
* Year ending August 31st. Actual figures reported by the mills.
t These figures do not include the cards in the mill at High Shoals, or the knit - ting machines in the mill at Opelika, which are not stated.
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PART SEVENTEENTH.
MISCELLANEOUS INDUSTRIES AND RESOURCES OF ALABAMA.
LIME.
Alabama is rich in true dolomite or magnesian limestone, to be found in many localities, of the finest quality, inexhausti- ble in quantity, and easy of access. This limestone is very uniform in composition, and noted for the whiteness of the lime produced from it and the excellence and hardness of the mortar it affords, which is often more or less hydraulic.
Lime burning is already a considerable industry in the State and one that is rapidly growing. The majority of the works for the manufacture of builders' lime are located in or near Calera and Siluria, in Shelby county. There are, also, extensive works in Lee county, near Chewacla: in DeKalb county, near Fort Payne, and at several other points in the State.
The following general statistics of the production of lime- stone in Alabama, in 189, are taken from the census of 1590 : Total value of product, $324,814.00; total wages paid. $199,- 480.00 ; total expenses, $259,118.00 ; total capital. 8853,071.00 ; per cent. of profit on capital, 18.61 : on value of product, 20.23 ; per centage of wages to total expenses. 76,95; percentage of wages to total value, 61.41.
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STOCK RAISING IN ALABAMA.
Prior to the war the planters in Alabama were so given up to agriculture, especially the cultivation of cotton, that little or no attention was given to this important industry. Now, however, stock raising is rapidly growing in favor among our people and the importation of blooded stock yearly increasing. The Durham, the Ayrshire and the Jersey thrive remarkably well with us, particularly fn the more northern portion of the State, and are easily acclimated. The grasses of that section are rich and afford excellent pasturage and hay. The immense cane tracts of middle and southern Alabama also afford excel- lent pasturage for stock. Our climate being almost exempt from snow and ice, and our winters mild and pleasant, stock here does not require the great and expensive care necessary to shelter and provide for it during the long, bleak winters of higher latitudes. Horses and mules are, also, successfully raised in many parts of the State.
SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN ALABAMA.
For the same reason (exclusive attention to cotton culture). sheep raising has, heretofore, received but minor considera- tion at the hands of Alabama planters, notwithstanding there are few sections where shecp can be raised more profitably than in this State. Now, this husbandry is beginning to be appreciated by our farmers and wool growing taking its proper rank among our other > dustries.
GAME.
The woods of Alabama abound in game of nearly every description-such as wild deer, turkeys, ducks, partridges, woodcocks, snipe, etc., which affords, not alone, fine sport, but
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contributes largely to the table. The markets of Mobile, in proper seasons, are filled with game, brought from the imme- diate vicinity of the city of the interior of the State.
FISH.
Nowhere is to be found a greater variety of fish than the waters of Alabama afford, and the quality of many of these varieties is unsurpassed. The bay of Mobile is famous in this respect, and the rivers of the State are filled with many kinds of fish. The United States government is now engaged in stocking our rivers with shad, one of the most delicate and highly prized of the finny tribe, and, in time, a bountiful harvest of this most excellent fish may be expected.
POULTRY.
In every section of Alabama poultry of all kinds may be successfully raised, and nowhere does the domestic turkey and and duck do better. The most improved breeds of fowls find a congenial climate in this State, and thrive well.
VEGETABLES.
Every variety of vegetables is successfully cultivated in Alabama, and, owing to our mild climate, in many parts of the State fresh vegetables may be gathered from the garden throughout the entire year --- summer and winter.
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COTTON SEED OIL.
The manufacture of cotton seed oil is a large and profitable industry in Alabama, and there are quite a number of mills in the State; but, owing to the indifference of operators, it has been found impossible to compile anything like a complete and accurate list of such mills, and the author has been forced to forego the publication of any list.
WATER POWER.
The trend of the water courses south of the Tennessee river is southward. The natural fall gives the water flow great rapidity. In many places, on all the more important streams, the beds are solid rock. Many of the courses supply from 1,000,000 to 5,000,000 gallons of water per diem at all seasons of the year, and none of them are interrupted by ice in winter. The Tennessee river, at any point along the Muscle shoals. could furnish water for the canal, and, it is believed, have enough left to turn all the machinery of New England. The Coosa river, in extent of available water powers, offers yet greater advantages than the Tennessee.
PART EIGHTEENTH.
THE CLIMATE AND HEALTH OF ALABAMA .*
a
The State of Alabama lies between the thirty-first and the thirty-fifth parallels of latitude. It may be inferred, therefore, that the climate is temperate in winter and not excessively hot in summer. It is bounded by Tennessee on the north, and the Gulf of Mexico and a part of Florida on the south. About midway between the gulf coast and the Tennessee line the land rises considerably, and culminates in a semi-mountainous distriet. reaching an elevation in some places of 1,200 feet above the sea level. As every county is more or less popu- lated, and as many of the counties are in affiliation with the Medical Association of the State, we are enabled to have a pretty correct idea of the sanitary condition of every part of the State.
It may be said, without fear of contradiction, that Alabama is one of the healthiest States in the Union. The various papers which have been read before the Medical Association for the last .thirty years -- accompanied, as they have been in many instances, by valnable statistics -- go to prove that very few portions of the State are unhealthy, and these few locali- ties suffer only at certain seasons of the year. The great agricultural and mineral regions of the State are unexception- ably healthy. while the pine district, reaching 100 miles from the coast, and intersected by numerons clear and cool streams of purest water, is free from every kind of disease. The lon- gevity in this region is proverbial, and the climate is so bland, equable, and delightful that this portion of the State is fast
. This article was written by the Jate Dr. Wint. H. Anderson. Professor of Phys- iology in the Medical College of Alabama. Mobile. expressly for the first edition of this Hasp Book. Dr. Anderson has since died, and the article is printed here as he wrote it, with only such change- as were necessary to bring it to date.
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becoming a popular resort, during the fall and winter months, for invalids from the northwest, who are forced to seek, at that season, a more genial climate than their own.
As this paper is designed to give a truthful account of the sanitary condition of Alabama, we will divide the State into northern, middle, and sonthern Alabama, and treat of each section separately. Northern Alabama embraces a district of country bounded by Tennessee on the north, Georgia on the east, and Mississippi on the west. The whole division is a fine farming country, and is interspersed by many lofty hills, aver- aging 400 to 1,200 feet above the level of the sea. It is well watered and possesses a delightful climate. The diseases in summer consist of light bilious fever, intermittent fever, and, sometimes, mild dysentery and bowel affections. These dis- eases are brief in their course and, generally speaking, very amenable to medical treatment. They are seldom fatal, and the robust and healthful appearance of the population proves that they seldom make serious inroads on the constitution. In the autumn the type of fevers is rather more severe, but still the vast majority of the cases are relieved by medicine intelligently prescribed. The winter diseases consist principally of lung troubles, such as pneumonia, pleurisy, bronchitis, etc. On the whole, the health of northern Alabama, all the year round, will compare favorably with that of the same extent of terri- tory in any part of the United States ; while the temperature in winter is milder than that of Tennessee, and in summer, owing to the general elevation of the country, the climate is, in every way, delightful.
The middle division of Alabama comprises the principal cotton growing section of the State. It is comparatively level, and is watered by numerous streams. As compared with the northern division, it is not as healthy, and portions of it are visited in the latter part of summer and the early autumn with fevers of a severe type. Before the recent civil war, this was a comparatively healthy section of country, but the neglect of proper drainage and a more careless system of agriculture have had the effect of developing, in the hot season of the year, bilious fevers of a dangerous type. Every year, however, remedies this evil, as the drainage becomes better, and the method of farming more consistent with the suppression of
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malarial poison. As a consequence of this, the past years have been more healthy, and there is every reason to believe that the summer and autumnal fevers will annually become lighter and more easily managed.
Southern Alabama countains a small portion of the cotton region and the whole district of country bounded by Florida and the gulf coast on the south. This region, except on the margin of the water courses, is covered with a growth of lofty pines and has a sandy soil. With the exception of the immedi- ate coast, it is rather sparsely populated. It is a delightful region of country, well adapted to the growth of grapes and some of the tropical fruits. The whole district is exceedingly healthy. The climate is softened in winter and refreshed in summer by the sea breezes from the Gulf of Mexico. No more beautiful country for the residence of man is to be found than Southern Alabama. The elevation above the sea level rarely reaches more than 350 feet, and the table lands, at this eleva- tion, are noted for their salubrionsness and for the comfortable residence of invalids from the north and west, both in winter and summer. Abundance of fruit and large vineyards are found in this region. It is here, also, that the charming city of Mobile is located, immediately on the bay of Mobile and within forty miles of the Mexican gulf. The climate of Florida, for a winter residence, although more noted, is not so agreeable or so wholesome as the gulf coast of Alabama. The chilly eastern breeze from the Atlantic, which is so disagree- able in Florida in February and March, is here replaced by the soft wind from the tropics. If it should happen that, for any period of a week or two in winter, the gulf breeze is loaded with too much moisture for invalids, they have but to retire from twenty to forty miles' from the coast, where the elevation is too great for the fogs to ascend, and where pure springs, a sandy soil, and a bracing winter atmosphere furnish all the avenues to health that could be desired.
On the eastern shore of Mobile bay are several delightful watering places, much frequented in summer, and serving also as winter residences for some of the inhabitants. The climate on this shore is delightful all the year round, and parties are now contemplating the building of a sanitarium for invalids in the winter as well as the summer season. At Point Clear,
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about twenty miles from the city of Mobile, there is a large · and elegant hotel, filled in summer with visitors from Alaba- ma, Mississippi and Louisiana. It is also open in winter to all who may desire to take advantage of the salt air from the gulf. This watering place is the finest, most healthy, and most commodious in the south. The bathing houses are within fifty yards of the hotel. In the rear, and at the eastern end of the building, may be found the magnolia, growing, in many instances, to an enormous size, and filling the surround- ing air, in spring, with its agreeable perfume. Some orange groves, in full bearing, already exist, and others, on a large - scale, are coming to maturity. The whole shore, for twenty- five miles, is studded with cottages and handsome residences, which are filled to their utmost capacity during four or five months of the year. The gulf breeze on this side of the bay must be felt to be appreciated. The Atlantic coast has no wind that can be compared with it, either for health or agree- ability. Its temperature is the same, whether it rises into a gale or blows lightly enough only to ruffle the quiet water of the bay. For this reason, it is allowed to blow night and day through the cottages, where the doors and windows are left open continually to receive it.
From this brief sketch of the climate of Alabama, it will be seen that no State in the union possesses more desirable advantages for the new settler, and none can surpass it in comfort for the population already living within its borders.
It may be well here to mention some of the various diseases which the experience of the past half century proves to be benefitted by a winter residence at or near the gulf coast :
First, consumption of the lungs. About forty years ago Mobile was a great resort for consumptives from the northern States. It was thought that the mild climate would check the disease, and in time restore the patient to health. At any rate, it was reasonable to suppose that the disease would be much mitigated and that ontdoor exercise, always so impor- tant, could be indulged in much oftener than in the north. The consequence was that hundreds of patients came annually to Mobile to pass the winter months. But the hope was delu- sive, and the city soon lost its reputation as a good winter climate for consumption. Experience, indeed. proved that
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during the greater part of the winter the patients were com- fortable and seemed to rally : but, every now and then, there came from the gulf heavy fogs, which interfered seriously with continued improvement. But for the warm and oppressive atmosphere during the prevalence of these fogs, Mobile was all that could be desired. At the period we speak of. however, there was no retreat from the moist atmosphere in question. There were no railroads to transport the invalids, in an hour or two, to a location above the influence of the gulf fogs ; nor was there any inhabited country to receive them, if they could have been moved off temporarily. The case is now different. In less than two hours the railroads will take us to a beautiful country, more than 300 feet above the tide water, well culti- vated with vineyards and orebards, populated by intelligent and hospitable inhabitants, and entirely out of the reach of the lowland mists. Under such circumstances, Mobile is re- gaining her reputation as a winter home for consumptives. Patients may remain in the city and enjoy the comforts. amusements and , elegancies of city life at least three weeks in every winter month. When the damp season comes on, they can go, in an hour's notice, to the pine hills in question, and never suffer from the oppressive weather. After spending a few days in this dry and healthy region, where the time may be occupied, if desired, in hunting and fishing, they ean return to the city, to meet again the sunshine and the numerous enjoyments of city life. If this high country north of Mobile had been opened up and inhabited thirty or forty years ago, the city and the gulf coast would never have lost reputation as a. location suitable for consumptives from the northern States. Invalids, particularly consumptives, ought to spend much of their time in the winter season in or near a city. The mind has a powerful influence over the body, and, while the latter requires to be invigorated by soft atmosphere and an agreeable climate, the former must also be nourished by the psychical stimulants of amusement in its various forms and the conventionalities of elegant and refined society. Thousands of consumptives from England and northern Europe are sent by their physici: is to the cities on the Mediterranean to spend the winter. This is not altogether because of the climate --- since Maderia and some of the islands in the temperate lati-
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tude are known to possess a rather better climate -- but it is because in these islands there is nothing but the congenial atmosphere, while at Nice and other cities of southern Europe there are associations and diversions which occupy the mind and daily sustain and animate it with agreeable reflections.
What has been said of climate as regards consumption, will apply also to other chronic diseases of the chest. Bron- chitis is a very general ailment in the north and northwest in the winter season. It is almost impossible to cure it when the patient is daily exposed to the rude blasts of the north. No amount of warm clothing will keep the cold air from affecting the system. It must be drawn into the lungs, and there the air, at a temperature of 20° to 30º Fahrenheit, suddenly comes in contact with a delicate, inflamed membrane of the tempera- ture of 98' to 100°. Ilow is it possible, then, that the latter should not suffer? Various devices have been used to soften the air, by drawing it through woolen eloth placed over the mouth, and sometimes substituting for this a net work of fine wire, which, being warmed by the escaped air, would heighten the temperature of the ingoing breath. But these have little effect. All physicians know that they are poor substitutes, and that they retain the poisonous volatile animal inatter of exhalation and give it back again with the air that is inhaled. For these reasons, southern climates in winter act favorably on bronchitis. Another good effect produced by residence in a southern climate during the harsher seasons is, that the mild atmosphere assists the action of remedies which are often required in chronic bronchitis. It is through the skin that some of the most important of these remedies act; and the more temperate the climate, within certain bounds, the more active are the cutaneous exhalations. So mild is the tempera- ture in Mobile and on the gulf coast in winter that several days together are often passed without the necessity of light- ing a fire. These mild spells of weather may be spent by invalids in the open air, where, in addition to the grateful sunshine, the moral effect of the rich foliage and the gay flowers of winter insures that restorative influence which the mind aiways has over the body.
In this short sketch we cannot particularize all the diseases that are benefitted by a residence in a southern climate during
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winter. We must mention, however, the benign effeet of a soft climate on chronic affections of the skin. The writer has known cases of eczema and psoriasis of forty years standing to be apparently cured by a continued residence of twelve months, consecutively, in Mobile. These cases came from Virginia, where the temperature is never so low as in the northern and western States. The cure is attributable to the mild breezes of the gulf, which are never harsh, and which prevail abundantly both in winter and summer. Chronic affections of the skin, although quite prevalent in the northern parts of the United States, are comparatively rare on the gulf coast. Few originate here, and the greater number of persons who come to the south from northern climates, troubled with those affections, are either soon eured or very much relieved. Such diseases, also, are more amenable to treatment in southern than in northern climates.
It has been the custom, for several years past, for physi- cians in the higher latitudes to send to Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida patients suffering with Bright's disease and other chronic affections of the kidneys. This custom, suggested by theory, has been found to work well in practice. Any climate, not too debilitating, that favors continued action of the per- spiratory glands of the skin, must have a salutary effect in relieving congestion of the kidneys. We do not know of any case of Bright's disease that has been enred by being trans- ferred to the south, but there is no doubt that the change is beneficial in winter, and makes the condition of the patient much more comfortable. This is proved by the amelioration of many cases that are annually sent to Mobile and New Orleans. Doubtless the free exercise in the open air, which cannot be enjoyed in the north, has much to do with this temporary improvement.
It was the opinion of the late Professor J. C. Nott, whose honesty of purpose and critical acumen were never doubted by those who knew him, that the gulf coast is the healthiest portion of the United States, and is particularly adapted to the amelioration of meny diseases made worse by passing the winter and early spring in northern districts. Certainly few men were as competent to judge in such matters as himself. A residence of forty years in Mobile, with a reputation spread-
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ing over the entire union, brought to his notice many sufferers from the north, who sought his medical aid during their winter sojourn in the south. The eminent Dr. Warren Stone, of New Orleans, shared the same opinion .*
The health of the people of Alabama can compare favorably with any other country on the globe. Violent epidemics are very rarely found within her borders, and whenever, after long years, yellow fever or cholera find lodgment on her soil, it is due entirely to immigration, and the disease soon spends itself in the locality where it first finds foothold. The thermometer seldom goes above 100°, and only now and then in years does it range a degree or so below zero. It is considered to be ex- tremely cold when the temperature reaches 10°, and intensely hot when the thermometer records 100' in the shade. Not more than two or three days in the year give such high tem- perature, and only a few localities in the State. The atmos- phere is moist enough to produce a cooling sensation on the skin when the breeze passes across the heated person as it sweeps in from the west and northwest. The average rainfall for the entire State is only 52.12 inches, and at no place does the normal precipitation run above 65.00 inches. It is thus seen that the atmosphere is neither too dry nor too moist for the most luxuriant production of vegetation and for the best condition for the health of the inhabitants of the State.
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