USA > Alabama > Hand-book of Alabama. A complete index to the state, with map > Part 44
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The Tallapoosa river rises in western Georgia, flows through the Alabama counties of Cleburne, Randolph, Chambers, Tal- lapoosa. Maeon, Elmore and Montgomery, and empties into the Alabama river eleven miles below Wetumpka and eighteen miles above Monto mery.
515
WATER LINES OF ALABAMA.
From its month to the foot of the Tallassee reefs (two miles below the town of Tallassee) a distance of forty-eight miles, the river has the characteristics common to all rivers passing through sections composed of drift and alluvial for- mations. The river generally presents long reaches of fine open and navigable water, with a width of 200 to 300 feet, and depths of six to twelve feet. and a current of one-half to three- quarters of a mile per hour. These reaches, however. are separated by sharp bends and by short stretches where the river has been unduly widened by the caving of its banks, and shoal rapid water has resulted.
The banks in the first thirty miles below Tallassee are generally firm and stable, being largely composed of soft rock or hard clay, capable of resisting the eroding action of the water. In this part of the river four reefs of soft rock cross the river bed, and canse shoal, swift water at low water stages for short distances.
In the twenty miles of river just above the mouth the banks are generally of soft. unstable material, which yields to the eroding action of the river when unprotected by a growth of brush or cane. This portion of the river is, therefore, more liable to shifting bars and shoal, due to the caving in of the banks. and consequent changes in the channel.
The river above the falls of Tallassee is very much broken by reefs and rapids, and is entirely unnavigable, but furnishes excellent water powers. At Tallassee a large cotton mill has partially developed and utilizes the water power.
The improvement of the river from its mouth to the foot of the Tallassee reefs was undertaken by the government in 1852, and has since been carried on with small appropriations, averaging about $5,000,00 per annum. The work hitherto has consisted almost entirely of snagging operations and eutting overhanging timber from the banks. and has been carried on by the use of a capstan propelled snag boat. At the close of the season of 1889, the channel was fairly cleared of dangerous logs and snags. No commercial use was made of the improved river, however, and but little work has since been done on it. The river and harbor act of July, 13, 1592, made no appropri- ation for continuing the improvement.
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HAND-BOOK OF ALABAMA.
CAHABA RIVER.
The Cahaba river rises among the hills and mineral regions of Alabama, in the county of St. Clair, and flows down through the great coal and iron counties of Shelby, Jefferson and Bibb, and the rich agricultural counties of Perry and Dallas, and empties into the Alabama river 240 miles above Mobile and nineteen miles below Selma.
During recent years the Cahaba has hardly been navigable at all for boats of any kind, although formerly steamboats have ascended to the town of Centreville, in Bibb county, a distance of abont eighty-eight miles, and much of the cotton crop was transported down the river on flatboats.
The Birmingham, Selma & New Orleans railroad bridge, crossing the river about ten miles above its mouth, and the bridge of the Alabama Central division of the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia railroad, crossing it about twenty-two miles above the mouth (neither of which are provided with draws), now prevent any steamboat navigation on the river.
Under acts of Congress approved June 23, 1874, and June 17, 1880, examinations and partial surveys were made, and in 1882 a plan of improvement was adopted which provides for obtaining for the lower Cahaba river, from its month to the town of Centreville, a navigable channel with a low water depth of three feet, by the removal of snags, etc., from the channel, and overhanging trees from the banks, and by cutting through the soft rock and gravel bars. Under this plan 828,- 989.79 was expended on the improvement of the river up to June 30, 1886, with the result of seenring a navigable channel at moderate stages of water, but on account of obstructing railroad bridges, steamboats were unable to make any use of the improved river.
The river and harbor act of August 15, 1886, contained a provision that no part of the sum therein appropriated (87 .- 500,00) should be expended until the bridges across the river should be provided with good and sufficient draw openings.
Although no change had been made in the bridges, the river and harbor act of September 19, 1890, removed the re-
517
WEITER LINES OF ALABANA.
striction as to the use of the appropriation, and the work of clearing the river below Centreville has been resumed.
Above Centreville the river is obstructed by rapids, which will require a system of loeks and dams to render it navigable.
A project for this improvement from Centerville to Shades creek, a distance of twenty-five and one-half miles, was sub- mitted by Major A. N. Damrell, corps of engineers, United States army, in 1951 (see p. 1232, report of Chief of Engineers for 1881), at a cost of 8382,000.00, but the carrying out of this project has not been authorized by Congress.
THE TOMBIGBEE RIVER .*
This magnificent river, which rivals its great neighbor, the Alabama river, in point of utility to the State, takes its rise high up in northeastern Mississippi, and its waters, seeking their natural ontlet in the Gulf of Mexico, flow southwardly and enter the State of Alabama over the western boundary line of Pickens county. Continuing thence southwardly, the river waters and affords commercial facilities to the counties of Pickens, Greene, Sumter, Marengo. Choctaw, Clarke and Washington, until it unites with the Alabama river, 42.30 miles north of Mobile city, and contributes to form the Mobile river.
The work of improvement of the Tombigbee river by the general government has been as follows :
Walker's Bridge, Mississippi, to Fulton, Mississippi .- The channel was originally only navigable for small rafts during high water, and very troublesome for them.
The present project for the improvement of this section of the river was adopted in Isss. the object being to obtain a channel for navigation during high water, by the removal of snags, logs, stumps, and cutting overhanging trees. at an estimated cost of $11,000,00.
. The name Tomhigher is a corruption of Elombre ly by, which signified Bor Mulerserok. and was the Indian appellation of a creek which flow- into the river at Jones' blunt, and from which the river took its name. The creek was so called from the hut that an old coffin or cabinet maker lived on its bank. at Jones' bluff.
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518
ILAND BOOK OF ALABAMA1.
The amount expended up to the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, was $6,517.18, and resulted in completion of the project.
Fulton, Mississippi, to Vienna, Alabama .-- The channel, before improvement, was not navigable at all from Fulton down to Cotton Gin Port, 693 miles; from Cotton Gin Port · down to Aberdeen, about twenty-five miles, it was navigable for small barges carrying about 125 bales of cotton; from Aberdeen down to Columbus, about 493 miles, navigation was difficult when the river was twelve feet above ordinary low water ; from Columbus down to Vienna the channel was much obstructed by snags and overhanging trees, and there was only one foot of water on some of the bars during low water.
The project for the improvement of the river from Fulton down to Columbus, 144 miles, was adopted in 1873, the object being to give a good high water navigation throughout by the removal of snags and overhanging trees. The project for the improvement of the portion of the river between Columbus and Vienna was adopted in 1879, the object being to afford a channel of navigable width and three feet deep during ordinary low water.
The amount expended to June 30, 1891, was about $$7,- 335.79 (exaet figures cannot be given, for the reason that appropriations were made jointly for Warrior and Tombigbee rivers), and resulted in the completion of the proposed im- provement of that section of the river from Fulton down to Columbus, and in giving such a channel from Columbus down to Vienna that navigation was possible, on a two foot rise, for boats drawing three feet, and the accomplishment of over one-half the work.
The amount of $4,714.26 has been expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1892, in the removal of snags, logs and overhanging trees, in preservation of improvement previ- ously obtained. This section of the river should be designated hereafter as Fulton to Columbus, the portion below Columbus being incorporated by the act of September 19, 1890, with that designated " Tombigine river from Demopolis to Columbus, Mississippi."
Columbus, Mississippi, to Demopolis, Alabama .- The pres- ent channel has a minimum depth of one foot.
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WATER LINES OF ALABAMA.
The present project for the improvement of this section of the river was adopted in 1800, the object being to obtain a channel of six feet depth at an ordinary low water, by re- moval of logs, snags, etc., bank revetment and construction of locks and dams, at an estimated cost of $779,400.00.
The amount expended up to the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, was 8228.00, in the preparation of a portion of the plant and the commencement of the work proper.
The amount expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1892, was 814,712.00, and resulted in clearing 223 miles, from Windham down, in the lower part of this section of the river, of snags, logs and overhanging trees, and in a similar improvement of the greater part of Ten Mile shoals, extending from about ten to twenty miles below Columbus.
Demopolis to Mobile .- At the present time the channel has a minimum depth of two feet.
The present project for the improvement of this section of the river was adopted in 1890, the object being to secure a channel of six feet depth at low water, by removal of logs, snags and bank revetment, and construction of locks and dams, at an estimated cost of $508,898.00. The entire length of this section is 191 miles. The amount expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, was $9,648.98, and resulted in removal of logs, snags and overhanging trees from sixty-tive miles of the lower and best part of the river, and the partial improvement of thirty-seven and one-half miles more.
The amount expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1892, was $38,538.87, and resulted in removal of logs, snags, trees, etc., from Milers Gin to Barneys Shoals, in repair of jetties at Osage and Barneys Shoals, removal of snags, logs, trees, etc., from Demopolis, Alabama, twelve miles down stream, and the partial improvement of MeGrews, Pearsons, and Woods Bluff shoals .*
*The river and harbor act of July 13, 1892, appropriated $169,000 for continuing the work of improvement of the Tombigbee river.
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HAND-BOOK OF ALABAMA.
BLACK WARRIOR RIVER .*
This river is formed by the confluence of two forks, Locust and Mulberry, which have their sources far up in the northern part of Alabama, extending over a wide area of country. Flow- ing southwestwardly, and gradually approaching each other, these two forks unite on the dividing line between Walker and Jefferson counties, and make the Black Warrior. Thence, the Warrior continues in the same general course until it reaches the city of Tuskaloosa, whence its course is more sontherly, through or along the counties of Tuskaloosa, Greene and Hale, until it unites with the Tombigbee.
The work of improvement of the Warrior river by the general government has been as follows :
Daniels Creek to Tuskaloosa .-- The present channel is only navigable during very high water, and is even then extremely dangerous.
The present project for the improvement of this section of the river was adopted in 1886, the object being to afford a water way for the transportation of coal, iron ore, iron, etc., in barges, from the Warrior coal fields to the Gulf of Mexico, by the construction of five locks and dams, at an estimated cost of $741,670.00.
The amount expended to June 30, 1891, was 8247,671.49. resulting as follows :
Lock No. 1-Locktender's house built and used at present as an engineer's office. Masonry completed except laying the bank wall coping, which is in readiness. Area back of bank wall paved, and bank sloped and turfed. A flight of fifty steps down to the lock constructed. Base of dam leveled up to elevation (106) ; 1,300 yards of stone for dam on hand.
Lock No. 2-Cofferdam (550 feet long) built, and pump and boiler placed in position for pumping. Incline into lock chamber graded, 1,500 feet long. Cut stone on hand, 994 yards. Rough ashlar on hand, 130 yards. Backing on hand, 2.600 yards. Sand for mortar delivered, $50 yards.
Lock No. 3-Cofferdam 1,330 feet long completed, inclosing
. In the language of the Choctaw Indians. this river was known as the Taste- loosee. from two Choctaw words, tuxen. warrior, and looser, black.
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WATER LINES OF ALABAMA.
also seven acres of river bed for quarry. Incline to lock and quarry graded, 1,500 feet long.
The amount expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1892, is $76,783.43, and the present condition of the work is as follows :
Lock No. 1-Lock tender's house built and occupied as an engineer's office. Loek masonry completed. Base of dam filled in to within nine feet on the crest. Lock yard paved, and bank sloped and turfed, and steps laid. The stones are on hand prepared for the abutment and dam.
Lock No. 2-The river wall is completed, 1341 yards of masonry have been laid in the bank wall, and the stone for finishing it is in readiness.
Lock No. 3 .-- Cofferdam built and 356 yards of ashlar quar- ried. The foundation for the lock walls is being excavated.
Tuskaloosa to Demopolis .- The channel of this section of the river was originally obstructed to such an extent by logs, snags, overhanging trees, and numerous bars, that navigation at low water was impossible and at high water extremely hazardous.
The present project for the improvement of this river was adopted in 1890, the object being to obtain a channel six feet deep at ordinary low water from Tuskaloosa to its mouth by removal of logs, snags and overhanging trees, the improve- ment of bars, bank revetment, and the construction of locks and dams at an estimated cost of $577,000.00.
The amount expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1892, was 826,831.01 in preparation of plant and the re- moval of snags, logs and overhanging trees, no increased depth being obtained ; but the time required to run the river and the hazard attending have both been reduced.
The completion of the project now in progress will extend the navigable waters of the Warrior river into the chief min- eral region of Alabama (known as the Birmingham district), giving it a water outlet to the gulf. The first result antici- pated is the development of the coal seams adjacent to the river. Under the favorable conditions for mining that exist and the low cost of barge transportation, it is estimated that the output of these mines can be profitably marketed in Mobile bay at $1.25 per ton. At this priec, the Warrior mines could 34
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HAND-BOOK OF ALABAMA.
· practically monopolize the coal business of the gulf, both for local consumption and for export, and the coal tonnage on the river would be so great as, of itself, to justify the cost of the river improvement ; but it seems quite probable that the coal business would not be the only, or even the most important, one to be developed by the improved river ; that to be derived from other mineral resources must be considered.
The present annual output capacity of Jefferson county, in which Birmingham is situated, is estimated, in round numbers, as follows :
TONs.
Coal (daily capacity 14,000)
.5,000,000
Coke .. .1,300,000
Iron ore. 2,700,000
Pig iron (daily capacity 2,500). 900,000
The works producing the above output can readily be con- nected with the Warrior by short extensions of existing rail- ways, and future iron and steel plants, with the river opened, would doubtless be placed on or adjacent to the river banks. At present the Birmingham furnaces have to market their products in the north and west, and the cost of transport over the long rail route by which these markets are reached offsets, to a great extent, the exceptional advantages that these fur- naces possess for cheap production. Moreover, the Birmingham products, by increasing so largely the stocks in the northern markets, have tended to reduce prices, and doubtless have intensified, if they have not caused, the depression that has prevailed in the iron industries during the past two years. Hence a water route, opening new markets to the Birmingham iron trade, would benefit, not only that trade, but the iron industries of the whole country.
Should the Nicaragua canal be opened, the Birmingham furnaces, rolling mills and steel plants will find their best and most cheaply accessible markets along the Pacific coast, ria the Warrior river and the Nicaragua canal. Naturally, their products will move in that direction .*
* The river and harbet act of July 13, 1892, appropriated 875,000 for continuing the work of improvement of the Warrior river.
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WATER LINES OF ALABAMA.
TENNESSEE RIVER .*
The Tennessee is an affluent of the Ohio, and ranks as one of the most important of the forty-three, or more, navigable streams tributary to the Mississippi river. The Tennessee river-so called-is formed by the confluence of two of the many mountain streams draining the Cumberland mountains and the western slope of the Blue Ridge. To the aborigines the stream was known as the Kallamuchee from its mouth to the junction of the Tannassee, and as the Cootela from thence to the mouth of the French Broad. Authorities have differed as to the exact waters whose uniting streams form the Tennes- see, -- the Riviere des Cheraquis or Cherake of the early French explorers, and the Cherokee river of Indian cessions to England in 1767. Some geographers and encyclopedists have held that the 'Tennessee is formed by the junction of the Clinch and Holston rivers near Kingston, Tennessee; others, that the chief town of the Cherokees being at Tannassee, on the west bank of a stream bearing that name,-now known as the Little Tennessee, which, joining the Holston, gave the name of Ten- nessee to the river and the State. In so far as nomenclature is a guide, this would appear to be conclusive, but further con- firmation is given by the State of North Carolina, when, in November, 1786, it erected its county of Hawkins, defining its boundary, in part, to be "along the top of the dividing ridge "between the waters of the Holston and French Broad to its "junction with the Holston, thence down the said River Hol- "stou to its junction with the Tennessee, thence down the " Tennessee to the Suek."
The legislature of Tennessee passed an act in 1889, defining the junetion of the North Fork of the Holston river with the Holston, at Kingsport, Sullivan county, Tennessee, as the upper limit of the river, but this definition has not been acknowledged by the general government.
Subsequent to the above cited legislation, the United States
. The author is indebted to the courtesy and kindness of Lieutenant Colonel J. W. Barlow, corps of engineers, U. S. A., who, until October, 1991, had charge of the work of improvement, for this sketch of the Tennessee river. The sketch was prepared expressly for the present edition of this Hash-Book, under Colonel Bar- low's direction and supervision.
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HAND-BOOK OF ALABAMA.
engineer officer in charge of the improvement of the Tennessee river-Colonel J. W. Barlow-in his annual report tor 18 9, suggested that Congress definitely determine in its next appro- priation for the work of improving the Tennessee river above Chattanooga, the points between which the funds shall be expended. The river and harbor act of September 19, 1890, provides for " making a careful and comprehensive survey of " said river from Chattanooga to the junction of the Holston " and French Broad rivers," thus clearly defining by congres- sional legislation that for national purposes the Tennessee is held to be formed by the junction of the waters of the Holston and French Broad rivers.
That part of the river having its course within the limits of the State of Alabama enters that State a short distance above Bridgeport, in the extreme northeast corner, Hows south- westerly to Guntersville, a distance of seventy-four miles; thence northwesterly to Waterloo, in the extreme northwest corner of the State, a distance of 133 miles, from which point it forms a part of the boundary between Alabama and Missis- sippi before re-entering the State of Tennessee.
Between Brown's ferry and Florence is the absolute barrier known as the Muscle shoals-a series of obstructions desig- nated as Elk River shoals, Big Muscle shoals, and Little Muscle shoals, extending, with intervening pools of deep water, a dis- tance of 384 miles, with a total fall of 1343 feet,* which has prevented, until recently, continuous navigation between about 370 miles of navigable waters with hundreds of miles of navi- gable tributaries above, and over 250 miles of open river below the obstruction.
The importance of connecting these two sections so as to permit continnous transit of vessels, early attracted the atten- tion of the State of Alabama and the general government through the eminent statesmen interested in public improve- ments, notably the Secretary of War, John C. Calhoun, in 1824.
DISTANCE.
FALL.
MILES.
FEET.
. Brown's ferry to head of Elk River shoals
2.6
4.9
Elk River shoals ..
8.6
17.
Lamb's Ferry pool (deep water).
6.3
5.75
Big Muscle shoals
14.5
84.6
Little Muscle shoals
6.5
134.25
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WATER LINES OF ALABAMA.
The initial work of overcoming this barrier was begun by the State of Alabama in 1831, under a donation of 400,000 acres of public lands, the proceeds of the sale of which were applied to this work, and a canal was built around Big Muscle shoals 14} miles long, sixty feet wide and six feet deep, with seventeen locks of 120 feet each between miter sills, thirty-two feet wide, the average lift being five feet. In 1836 water was first let into this canal. Too little attention, however, had been given to its terminal approaches, and boats could only enter at certain stages of the water. The following year the canal was closed for want of funds, abandoned, and fell into rnin.
In 1868 885,000.00 was allotted from the general appropri- ation for rivers and harbors, for the improvement of the Ten- nessee river below Chattanooga, and further appropriation has been made in each subsequent river and harbor act.
That the money thus appropriated might be expended with the greatest benefit to navigation, surveys have been made and projects submitted from time to time by Major Weitzel, Major McFarland, Captain King, and Lieutenant- Colonel Barlow, of the corps of engineers, United States army, the officers successively in charge of the works. The project as approved comprised the building of a canal with two locks at Elk River shoals, the rebuilding, straightening and enlarg- ing of the abandoned canal at Big Muscle shoals, and the formation, by blasting and the construction of wing dams, of a channel through Little Muscle shoals.
Since 1875 work has been as vigorously prosecuted under this project as was possible under the method of making ap- propriations, and in the autumn of 1890, Lieutenant-Colonel J. W. Barlow, of the United States corps of engineers, the officer then in charge, declared the canal open to navigation, the steamer R. T. Coles passing through from Chattanooga on the 8th of November and returning .three days later with car- goes of grain and general merchandise.
The details of the progress and condition of the work in September. 1890, were given by Lieutenant-Colonel Barlow in a printed pamphlet, as follows :
The new project for improvement comprised the building of a canal with two locks at Elk River shoals, the renovation
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HAND-BOOK OF ALABAMA.
of the old canal at Big Muscle shoals, and two sections of heavy channel improvement. It was afterward decided to re- move the old locks and materially increase the size of the canal and lock prisms. The number of locks at the Big Muscle shoals was decreased from seventeen to nine. the lift of each lock being increased.
From 1872 to the latter part of 1875, no work of construc- tion was done at the shoals. the funds available being deemed insufficient for the commencement of so great an undertaking. Ground was first broken in December, 1875, at sections 5 and 7, by Matthew G. Kennedy, and Rice & Reid, contractors. The first lock masonry was laid at Loek No. 4, in November of 1876, by George Williams, contractor.
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