History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume II, Part 51

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869-
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 724

USA > Alabama > History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume II > Part 51

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REFERENCE .- Smith and McCalley, Index to mineral resources of Alabama (Geol. Survey of Ala., Bulletin 9, 1904), p. 70.

MINE SAFETY STATION. A station at Birmingham in charge of experts in first-aid and rescue methods, maintained by the United States Bureau of Mines for the prevention, investigation, and study of mine disasters, and for training miners and mine foremen in rescue and first-aid work. The bureau was established in temporary quarters in the early part of 1911, and a building for its use was completed in September of the same year. The ground upon which this building stands was given to the Government by J. H. Wood- ward of Birmingham. The station is in charge of a district engineer, assisted by a foreman miner, both of whom have been specially trained in first-aid and rescue methods. It is equipped with a rescue motor-truck and other first-aid appliances. The chief duties of the engineer are to go to mine disasters, make investigations into their causes, and de- vise methods of prevention; to assist in mine rescue and recovery work; to conduct inves- tigations into the general safety conditions in mines with respect to the use of explosives, method of ventilation, the presence of gas, the use of mining machinery, the conditions surrounding mechanical haulage, hoisting and loading, methods of timbering, causes of spontaneous and other mine fires, and other conditions affecting safety and efficiency in mines. The foreman miner assists at mine disasters under the direction of the district engineer, and travels in the mineral district, teaching first-aid and mine rescue methods.

The Bureau of Mines publishes a statement of coal-mine fatalities, the data relative to Alabama being furnished by the chief mine inspector of the State who is assisted in his investigations by the officers connected with the mine safety station. During the fiscal years 1913-1916, 10 coal-mine accidents were thus investigated. In addition to the fore-

going activities the Bureau of Mines through the officers of the safety station studies other mining questions and problems of the Ala- bama mineral district, such as sanitation, water supply, disposal of garbage, etc. In- vestigation of the quarrying industries of the State is also being conducted through the safety station and a report is being prepared for publication.

REFERENCES .- Bureau of Mines, Sanitation at mining villages in the Birmingham district, Ala. (Technical Paper 33, 1913); Ibid, Publica- tions of the Bureau of Mines, Nov., 1916.

MINERAL DISTRICT. The mineral dis- trict of Alabama comprises about one-third of the total area of the State, including 28 coun- ties. The whole or a part of practically every county north of a line drawn east and west through the northern boundary of Mont- gomery County, would be included within the mineral district. The city of Birmingham is situated in its approximate center. Because of the development of its mineral industries, and the great mineral resources of the im- mediate vicinity, Birmingham is the center of the district industrially and financially, as well as geographically. The Alabama min- eral district is distinguished particularly for its wealth in coal and iron deposits. Of the former, there are three extensive and widely known fields, namely, the Cahaba, the Coosa, and the Warrior. Details concerning these fields will be found in the article on coal. The iron mining and manufacturing indus- tries are discussed in the article on iron and steel. Geologically the mineral district is a part of the southwest extension of the Ap- palachian Mountain Range, and its topography for the most part is quite rugged. Agricul- turally it is not so important as the exceed- ingly fertile belts of the Coastal Plain, ex- cept in certain of its river bottoms, for ex- ample, the Coosa and the Tennessee, which take rank with any other section of the State in fertility of their soil and variety of their products. During recent years consid- erable progress has been made in many local- ities of the plateau region in the development of agriculture, especially in the growing of fruits, vegetables, berries, etc., and the rais- ing of livestock.

See Agriculture; Blountsville Valley; Broomtown Valley; Brown Valley; Coal; Coosa Valley; Geology; Iron and Steel; Jones Valley; Moulton and Russellville Valley; Murphrees Valley; Soils and Soil Surveys; Wills Valley. The more important moun- tains and mountain ranges are described under the individual names.

REFERENCES .- Publications of the Geol. Sur- vey of Ala .: McCalley, Warrior coal field ( Special report 1, 1886) ; Squire, Cahaba coal field (Ibid. 2, 1890); McCalley, Coal measures of the plateau region of Alabama (Ibid 3, 1891) ; Gibson, Coosa coal field (Ibid 7, 1895) ; McCalley, Valley regions of Alabama, pt. 1, Tennessee Valley, pt. 2, Coosa Valley (Ibid, 8 and 9, 1896, 1897); and Warrior coal basin (Ibid 10, 1900) ; Smith, Agricultural features of the State (Monograph 1, 1883) ; Phillips,

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Iron making in Alabama (Ibid 7, 1912); and Lower gold belt of Alabama (Bulletin 3, 1892) ; Brewer, Upper gold belt of Alabama (Ibid 5, 1896) ; Alabama's new era (Dept. of Immigra- tion Bulletin (1912), vol. 2, pp. 87-90; Armes, Story of coal and iron in Alabama (1910) ; Ibid, "Mineral resources of Alabama," in Alabama's new era (1911), vol. 1, pp. 24-38.

MINERAL PAINTS. These are mainly the iron ores; the red, brown, and yellow ochres, and barite. See those titles.

MINERAL SPRINGS. The Geological Sur- vey of Alabama, under the direction of Dr. Eugene A. Smith, State Geologist, has con- tinued the investigations begun for the pub- lication of the Survey "Underground waters of Alabama," published in 1907. The Sur- vey has endeavored to gather together infor- mation concerning the medicinal qualities of all mineral springs in this State. No sani- tary analysis has been undertaken, and only a chemical analysis has been made. Under exceptional circumstances sanitary analyses are undertaken.

Acknowledgment is made to Dr. Eugene A. Smith for helpful suggestions and per- mission to use facts and figures from his report in this article.

Alabama White Sulphur Springs, DeKalb County .- Situated in the southwest corner of section 10, township 4, range 10 east in Wills Valley. There are five of these springs, three of which show more or less sulphur, though none very strongly. The rocks at the springs are cherty limestones of the suhcarhoniferous, but Devonian shale which underlies the sur- face is without a doubt the source of the sul- phur water.

Appalachian Valley, Springs in .- There are a large number of springs appearing in the Appalachian Valleys. The geological forma- tions occurring in these range from Cambrian up to lower carboniferous. The prevailing rocks are limestones and dolomites, but along with them are subordinate beds of shale sand- stone, and conglomerate. It is not possible to enumerate all the great limestone springs in this section, hut the following are best known: in the Coosa Valley, the springs about Piedmont, Alexandria, Jacksonville, Cold Water Spring, near Anniston, Oxford, Talladega Town, Kelley's, ahove Talladega, Fayetteville, and Montevallo; in the lesser valleys, Village Springs, Springville, Hawkins, Elyton, Bessemer, Jonesboro, Buckville, Tan- nehill, Roup's, and Guntersville.

Ashford Springs, Choctaw County .- Lo- cated in the east half, southwest quarter, sec- tion 15, township 15, range 2, west, is a spring of the Naheola formation, once a cele- brated resort for the wealthy planters of Sumter and Choctaw Counties. Nothing now marks the former place except the marble basin of the spring. At this place one of the springs is white sulphur, one sulphur- chalybeate and one vichy.

Aus-Kel Springs, Geneva County .- Lo- cated between one and two miles southeast of Slocomb. They are of blue colored lime

water hoiling up through white sand. The water issues from contact of St. Stephens limestone with Claihorne marl. It is diffi- cult to determine which formation is more potent in determining the character of the water.

Bailey Springs, Lauderdale County .- Lo- cated nine miles from Florence. There are five springs here, namely: Rock Spring, Free- stone, Alum, Chalybeate, and Soda Spring. They are enclosed hy a rock wall. At a short distance away Cave Springs is situated, and lies hetween the main group and the creek. Large quantities of water are shipped from Rock Spring.

Baldwin County Springs .- Analyses of the mineral waters in Baldwin County show that the waters are in the main salty. All the wells, whether bored or shallow, show a touch of salt water. Wells in this county are even more salty than the water to be found in the Gulf. Some of these salt wells are in the northeast quarter, section 12, town- ship 9, south, range 3, east, on the eastern side of Bay St. John. Others are in the northwest quarter, section 7, township 9, south, range 4, east.

Ball Flat Well, Cherokee County .- The calcareous shales of the flat woods of Coosa River above Gadsden yield also mineral water of very decided character.

Beavers' Well, Sumter County .- This well located one mile east of Cuba, was drilled in May, 1905, by Dr. J. A. Beavers, to supply his family with water for domestic use. It is claimed by Dr. Beavers that this water is to he credited with the curing of his family of malarial fever. It contains a good percen- tage of chlorides and a large amount of iron.

Bladon Springs, Choctaw County .- The most important of the springs of the Hatche- tighee are Bladon Springs, emhracing a num- ber of springs which yield different kinds of water-sulphur, soda, vichy, etc. The chief of these is Bladon Spring, of sulphur water, in the extreme northeast corner of the south- east quarter, section 20, township 9, range 2, west. A few yards away, in the southeast corner of the northeast quarter of the sec- tion, is the vichy spring, close to the line between sections 20 and 21; the grounds of the springs include parts of both sections. Before the War of Secession Bladon was a noted resort for the inhabitants of Mobile and New Orleans. There are a number of springs containing alum in close proximity to Bladon, principally the Cullom with a simi- lar variety of water.

Blue Springs, Barbour County .- This spring is of limestone, and comes from the Choctawhatchee River and occupies an area of about 25 feet in diameter. The water, considerably lower in temperature however. is clear and blue like the Big Springs of Florida.

Blount Springs, Blount County .- Located in the southwest quarter of section 6, township 13, range 2, west, Blount County. These springs are possibly the most noted sulphur springs in the state. They are sit-

At Greenville

At Tuscumbia

At Tuscaloosa

Raphael Semmes At Mobile

At Auburn

CONFEDERATE MONUMENTS

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uated near the end of Sequatchee (Brown's Valley). They contain some constituents in relatively large quantities of mineral waters not found in the State. There is much sul- phuretted hydrogen and lithium, and salts of barium and strontium also present in them.

Borden-Wheeler Springs, Claiborne County. -These Springs are situated on the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, and are frequently visited as a resort.

Bromberg Springs, Mobile County .- Lo- cated near Bayou La Batre, on land owned by F. G. Bromberg, of Mobile.

Butler Springs, Butler County .- These springs are situated near the western border of the county just south of Redick's Creek. There are hotel and cabin accommodations for visitors.

Cahaba Well, Dallas County .- The old town of Cahaba was probably one of the first places where artesian borings were made in Dallas County. One of these, "The Great Well," is said to yield 1,200 gallons of water per minute, which if true would make it probably the largest in the State except the Roberts' Well in Escambia County. The Great Well on the Picken's place, in Hale County, yields now only about 850 gallons per minute, and it, also, had the reputation of being the largest in the State. It is prob- able that the flow in both these wells has much diminished since they were first bored, by reason of leakage and the stopping or partial stopping of the pipe by stones and other obstructions. In the proceedings of the American Association for the Advance- ment of Science, 1856, section on geology, page 99, Dr. Winchell, also records a well on the opposite side of the river, near Cahaba, on the plantation of E. P. Watts. He also mentions two wells on the plantation of Free- man King, five miles below Cahaba, on the opposite site of the river, each of which were 560 feet deep.

Calhoun County Springs .- Sulphur and chalybeate springs are located in the north- west quarter, southwest quarter, section 30, township 15, range 6, east, and also in south- east quarter, northwest quarter, section 1, township 15, range 6, east, of Calhoun County. These springs occur in black shales interstratified with seams of resinous-looking brown and grayish sandstone. The water is pleasant and not very strong with sulphur.

Chalybeate Springs, of the Tennessee Val- ley .- Perhaps the most numerous of the min- eral waters of this section. These springs are located: in the upper or Chester or Bangor limestone division of the subcarboniferous, one or two thick beds of sandstone are inter- laced between the limestones, and at the contacts of the two rocks mineral springs are often seen, the most numerous of these being chalybeate, though sulphur springs occur. Examples of these are the Ligon Springs, in the northwest corner of township 6, range 11, west; and the Franklin Springs, in Section 16, of the same township and range. Ac- cording to Professor Toumey's analysis of the water of the Ligon Springs, it contains free carbonic acid, sodium chloride, sulphate

of iron, and a trace of sulphate of magne- sium. Pettusville Spring, in the southeast quarter section 10, township 1, range 4, west, also contains limestone water.

Chambers Springs, Talladega County .- Lo- cated a few miles from Chandlers, the water of these springs is derived from the Hillabee Schist.

Chandler's Spring, Talladega County .- Lo- cated on the eastern flank of Talladega Mountain range, a number of springs are derived from the Hillabee Schist. Chief among these are Chandler's, Chambers (q. v.) and Jenkins'.

Cherokee, or Wedgeworth Springs, Mobile County .- Located two or three miles east of Citronelle, and is strong of chalybeate or sul- phur water.

Choeco Springs, Talladega County .- Lo- cated near Talladega in the southeast corner of section 17, township 18, range 5, east, comprising two chalybeate and several free- stone springs. There is also another chaly- beate spring in the northeast corner of sec- tion 2, township 15, range 9, east, Calhoun County.

Choctaw County Springs .- The following springs are located in this county: Scarlock Springs, in the southwest quarter, section 2, township 12, range 2, west, contains chaly- beate water.

Jackson Mineral Spring, containing a strong flow of white sulphur water is located in the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 4, township 13, range 2, west.

Chalybeate Spring is located near the bridge over Wahalock Creek, in the south- west section 3, township 12, range 2, west. This spring has a strong taste of sulphur.

Spangenburg Spring is located in the city of Butler.

At Pushmataha, a few hundred yards north of the negro church, there is a bold chaly- beate spring in the edge of a branch. The water rises in the "gum" about two feet above the general surface.

Chapman Springs, located in the southeast corner of the southwest quarter of section 36, township 13, range 3, west, about three miles southwest of Butler, while it has no improve- ments has a strong chalybeate water.

Walker Springs, located one and one quar- ter miles southwest of Butler has a fine flow of chalybeate water.

There are a large number of sulphur springs to be found on Turkey Creek. Dansby Springs in the northeast quarter, section 6, township 9, range two, west, is a collection of iron, sulphur, and soda springs and sucks. There are also springs at Zeb Taylor's, Zack Rogers' and one near Conner's Natona Bed.

Citronelle Waters, Mobile County .- The Citronelle plateau is composed of red loam, sand and pebbles. The wells and springs that are derived from these formations are filled with alkaline bicarbonate, and strong chalybeate.

Clarke County Springs .- The springs of this county resemble those of Choctaw County in that there is always to be found a large

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uated near the end of Sequatchee (Brown's Valley ). They contain some constituents in relatively large quantities of mineral waters not found in the State. There is much sul- phuretted hydrogen and lithium, and salts of barium and strontium also present in them.

Borden-Wheeler Springs, Claiborne County. -These Springs are situated on the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, and are frequently visited as a resort.

Bromberg Springs, Mobile County .- Lo- cated near Bayou La Batre, on land owned by F. G. Bromberg, of Mobile.

Butler Springs,

Butler County .- These springs are situated near the western border of the county just south of Redick's Creek. There are hotel and cabin accommodations for visitors.

of iron, and a trace of sulphate of magne- sium. Pettusville Spring, in the southeast quarter section 10, township 1, range 4, west, also contains limestone water.

Chambers Springs, Talladega County .- Lo- cated a few miles from Chandlers, the water of these springs is derived from the Hillabee Schist.

Cherokee, or Wedgeworth Springs, Mobile County .- Located two or three miles east of Citronelle, and is strong of chalybeate or sul- phur water.

Chocco Springs, Talladega County .- Lo- cated near Talladega in the southeast corner of section 17, township 18, range 5, east, comprising two chalybeate and several free- stone springs. There is also another chaly- beate spring in the northeast corner of sec- tion 2, township 15, range 9, east, Calhoun County.

Choctaw County Springs .- The following springs are located in this county: Scarlock Springs, in the southwest quarter, section 2, township 12, range 2, west, contains chaly- beate water.

Jackson Mineral Spring, containing a strong flow of white sulphur water is located in the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 4, township 13, range 2, west.

Chalybeate Spring is located near the bridge over Wahalock Creek, in the south- west section 3, township 12, range 2, west. This spring has a strong taste of sulphur.

Spangenburg Spring is located in the city of Butler.

At Pushmataha, a few hundred yards north of the negro church, there is a bold chaly- beate spring in the edge of a branch. The water rises in the "gum" about two feet above the general surface.

Walker Springs, located one and one quar- ter miles southwest of Butler has a fine flow of chalybeate water.

Clarke County Springs .- The springs of this county resemble those of Choctaw County in that there is always to be found a large

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HISTORY OF ALABAMA

amount of sulphur and chalybeate. In this county most of the brines are derived from bored wells.

Clairmont Springs (formerly known as Jenkins Springs) , Clay County .- Located east of Talladega on the Atlanta, Birmingham, and Atlantic Railway. There are eight of these springs, containing sulphur and free stone water.

Coffee Springs, Geneva County .- Located near the northern boundry of Geneva County. These springs are blue in color and resemble greatly the Aus-Kel Springs (q. v.) in another part of the same county.

Cold Springs, Blount County .- This spring is located one mile south of Blount Springs Hotel, near the bank of Randolph Creek. It derives its name from the fact that the temperature of its water is 59 degrees while the temperature of the air surrounding is 79 degrees. It is principally composed of car- bonate of lime.

Cook Springs, St. Clair County .- Located in the Coosa Coal field and is situated on the Seaboard Air Line Railway. At the place where the springs are located there are sev- eral different kinds of water, among them a chalybeate and a sulphur spring.

Cox Spring, Jefferson County .- This spring is located in Shades Valley, a short distance from the wells and springs about Gate City. They are the property of E. T. Cox.

Crook's Spring, Monroe County .- See Mon- roe County Springs.

Crutcher Springs, Madison County .- These springs are situated near the boundary line of Limestone County, and not a great distance from Wooley Springs (q. v.).

Cullom Springs, Choctaw County .- Situ- ated one mile west of Bladon Springs (q. v.) and similar to them.

DeSoto Springs, Jefferson County .- This spring is located on Shades Mountain, near Oxmoor.

Dixie Spring, Walker County .- This spring is located at Oakman and is now coming into prominence for the medicinal qualities of its waters. The water is derived from the shales of the coal measures.

Eureka, or Sharon Springs, Choctaw County .- Located in section 33, township 15, range 3, west. This spring is full of white sulphur water and is of the Tuscahoma for- mation.

Entaw Sands, Waters from .- "Practically all these waters belong to the saline and alkaline-saline classes, mainly the latter. With few exceptions they contain large amounts of common salt and are therefore to be classed as muriated. They all contain notable amounts of carbonates. These facts find their explanation in the circumstances that Eutaw sands are marine sediments and contain the salts of the ancient seas in which they were deposited."

Forman's Well, Center Grove, Morgan County .- The water of this spring has a strong saline taste.

Franklin Springs, Franklin County .- These springs are located in section 16, town-

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History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume II, Part 51

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869- Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company Number of Pages: 724

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869-
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 724