History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume II, Part 65

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

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HISTORY OF ALABAMA

through Marshall County, to the gap in Sand Mountain called "Davidson's Hollow"; a con- nection with the Tennessee & Coosa Railroad; an extension of the time for commencing and completing the road of six years. Seven and one-half miles more of the Jasper branch, in Tennessee, was opened in 1877, and 5 1/2 miles additional in 1883.

On March 1, 1887, the Nashville, Chatta- nooga & St. Louis Railway Co. took up the construction of the road authorized by the amended charter of the Winchester & Ala- bama Railroad Co., under the name of the Huntsville Branch, and completed it in the early part of 1889. Under an agreement dated January 18, 1881, the Alabama Great Southern Railroad Co. (q. v.) began the use of the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway's tracks from Wauhatchie to Chat- tanooga, 5 miles, at an annual rental of $14,000. This company's tracks from Steven- son, Ala., to Chattanooga, 38 miles, were used by the Memphis & Charleston Railroad Co. (q. v.) at an annual rental of $60,000.

On May 15, 1890, the Nashville, Chatta- nooga & St. Louis purchased the Tennessee & Coosa Railroad, extending from Gunters- ville to Gadsden, 35 miles, and rebuilt it. In 1893 its Huntsville branch was extended 14 miles from Huntsville to Hobb's Island, and transfer of passengers and freight be- tween that point and Guntersville, a distance of 20 miles, was made by boats on the Ten- nessee River. This arrangement served to connect the Tennessee & Coosa Railroad, then called the Gadsden branch, with the main line of the N. C. & St. L. Ry.

Tennessee & Coosa Railroad .- The Ten- nessee & Coosa Railroad Co. was chartered on January 16, 1844, by a legislative act having the following preamble: "WHEREAS, A con- nection by Rail Road of the navigable waters of the Tennessee with those of the Coosa river, is a project greatly desired by the citizens of a large portion of the State of Alabama: And whereas, it would develop its resources, bind together sections now remote, and tend generally to the advancement and prosperity of the State. The authorized capi- tal stock of the company was $500,000; the road to extend from Gunters Landing, the southernmost point on the Tennessee River, to some suitable point on the Coosa River "between the base of Lookout Mountain and the Ten Island Shoals"; and should be lo- cated with a view to future extension to some point on the Alabama River; tolls collectible as portions of the road were completed, but the net profits of the company were limited to 25 per cent per annum.

On January 23, 1845, an act was passed to lend one-half the two per cent fund to this road for 10 years at 5 per cent interest, upon prescribed security. The amount re- ceived by the company under this act was $54,421.67. On February 17, 1854, an act was approved, appropriating $250,000 of the three per cent fund and one-half the two per cent fund then on hand to this company.

In his Report of January 20, 1858, Chief Engineer Joseph R. Abrahams referred to

this loan, as follows: "By another act of the Legislature, at its session of 1853-54, your company received further aid in the stated sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dol- lars ($250,000) with an appropriation of the accumulations of the 2 per cent fund, from the very nature of which it is evident an approximate or speculative estimate alone can be formed. It is assumed by those possessing a knowledge of the condition of this fund, that the entire amount the company will be entitled to under this act, may be safely set down in round numbers, at five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000), and this is be- lieved by many to be considerably below the true amount."

The work of grading the road from Gads- den northward was started in May, 1855, eight different contractors taking portions of the work. "The labors of these gentlemen were formally commenced," said the chief en- gineer, "during the month of May, 1855, which it will be remembered was followed by a season of general gloom and despondency. The prevalence of disease, the severity of the season, the scarcity of provisions at one time, and the ruinously high prices at which they were held when in greater abundance, to- gether with the financial stringency almost without parallel in the history of the country, combined not only to retard materially the progress of the contractors upon your Road, but to create similar and more potent results throughout the length and breadth of the land."

An amendment was passed on January 16, 1856, to define the powers of the directors of the company in collecting unpaid subscrip- tions to its capital stock.

"The Congress of the United States at its session of 1856, donated to several Rail-roads of the State of Alabama, including your own, portions of the public lands located within a certain distance of their lines. Prior to the date of this act, by far the largest portion of the lands located within the six, and even the fifteen mile limit, had been entered, or otherwise disposed of. In consequence of this, it is estimated that your company will receive under this grant, hut about forty-five thou- sand acres, whereas the grant contemplates, one hundred and forty-four thousand, and forty acres (144,040). Should the company be enabled to reserve this land, to be used as a basis of credit, it is believed that it would be greatly to its advantage to do so, realizing in that event, as it would most certainly do, a much larger sum than if used in any other way."

On November 30, 1857, an act was passed requiring the president and directors of the Tennessee & Coosa Railroad Co. to make a sworn statement on December 15, 1857, and every six months thereafter, to the governor of the manner in which the loans from the two and the three per cent funds had been used; a penalty was provided, to be imposed upon the directors individually for neglecting to make such reports.

Practically nothing was done by the com- pany toward constructing its road, except the

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grading mentioned above. On February 2, 1861, the legislature passed an act to post- pone the lien of the State upon the road in favor of the holders and purchasers of certain bonds of the company issued November 1, 1860, aggregating $400,000.

East Alabama Railway .- On account of the complications existing in connection with the loans made from the State's trust funds to this company, it was not found practicable to obtain the State's direct endorsement of its bonds. Accordingly, in 1871, the company turned over to the East Alabama Railway Co. (see Central of Georgia Railway Co.) the only portion of the road which had been built -about 5 or 6 miles between Gadsden and Attalla-so that the East Alabama Railway Co. might secure endorsement thereon. The endorsement was obtained, at the rate of $16,000 per mile, and the road was operated as a branch of the East Alabama Railway until 1884, when it was allowed to revert to its original owners, who extended it to Little- ton, making the total length of the road 111% miles.

Although the Tennessee & Coosa promoters did not secure the benefits of the "State aid" laws directly for their company, they did ob- tain other very valuable concessions from the State. On March 2, 1870, an act was ap- proved which released the company from its indebtedness to the State for loans from the two and the three per cent funds, on condition that no further aid should he extended by the State. Immediately after the passage of this law, the property, then free of incumbrances, was turned over to the East Alabama Rail- way Co., which proceeded without delay to obtain further aid from the State.

Early in 1888, the company was reor- ganized under the same name, and contracts were let for the construction of the whole line between Gadsden and Huntsville. In August, the property was put in the hands of a receiver, and in September, work was sus- pended.

On February 19, 1889, the act of March 2, 1870, releasing the Tennessee & Coosa Rail- road Co. from its indebtedness to the State was amended to provide that such release should not be granted unless the road should be completed within five years from the date of the amendment. On May 15, 1890, the road was purchased, as we have seen, by the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway Company.

Middle Tennessee & Alabama Railway .- At the annual meeting held September 15, 1897, the directors were authorized to pur- chase the railroad and property of the Middle Tennessee & Alabama Railway Co., for $300,- 000 in N. C. & St. L. Ry. first-consolidated mortgage, 5 per cent bonds; and to issue upon the 32 miles of completed road (from Fayetteville, Tenn., toward Decatur, Ala.) thus acquired, N. C. & St. L. Ry. first-consoli- dated mortgage bonds to an amount not ex- ceeding $20,000 per mile of finished rail- road, for the purpose of paying for and com- pleting the construction of the Middle Ten- nessee & Alabama.

The Middle Tennessee & Alabama Railway Co. was organized March 9, 1893, as successor to the Decatur, Chesapeake & New Orleans Railway Co., which was chartered in Ten- nessee in 1887 and in Alabama, under the general corporation laws, in 1888, to build a railroad from Gallatin, Tenn., to Aberdeen, Miss. The projected line of the Middle Ten- nessee & Alabama Railroad Co. extended from Decatur, Ala., to Shelbyville, Tenn., 78 miles. The grading of the entire line had been prac- tically completed when the Nashville, Chat- tanooga & St. Louis Railway Co. purchased it at receiver's sale. In 1902, the Middle Tennessee & Alabama branch was extended to Lax, Ala., making the total mileage 37.

Louisville & Nashville Railroad Control .- In 1880, the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co. acquired 55 per cent of the capital stock of the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway and still controls that company through ownership of 71.78 per cent of its $16,000,000 capital stock.

REFERENCES .- Acts, 1843-44, pp. 170-175; 1845- 46, pp. 39, 260; 1849-50, p. 171; 1851-52, p. 213; 1853-54, p. 281; 1855-56, pp. 11-12, 314-319, 322; 1857-58, pp. 162, 310; 1859-60, p. 306; 1861, p. 80; 1888-89, p. 479; N. C. & St. L. Ry. Co., Report to Ala. Railroad Commission, 1915; Railroad Commission of Ala., Annual reports, 1889 et seq .; J. R. Abrahams, chief engineer, Report, exhibiting surveys, location, construc- tion and expenditures upon the Tennessee & Coosa Railroad (n. d.) ; N. C. & St. L. Ry. Co., Annual reports, 1880, 1881, 1882 and 1884; Poor's manual of railroads; Martin, "Internal Improvements in Alabama," in Johns Hopkins University Studies is historical and political science (1902) ; Fleming, Civil War and Recon- struction in Alabama (1905), p. 602.

NASHVILLE, FLORENCE AND SHEF- FIELD RAILROAD COMPANY. See Louis- ville and Nashville Railroad Company.

NATCHEZ. Branches of the well-known Natchesan linguistic family or stock, who after their wars with the French, migrated to the Creek country and formed towns and settlements. This tribe is found originally on the Mississippi River, in the vicinity of the city which bears its name. They num- bered a large population ahout 1700. The French waged wars with them successfully in 1716, 1722 and 1729. In the year following the last war the Natchez abandoned their villages and took refuge among other tribes .. The Tensaws (q. v.) were also of Natchez stock. The unidentified town of Wihasha (q. v.) was settled by the Chickasaws and Natchez.

The principal body of the refugees settled in Talladega County, on Tallasseehatchee Creek, a tributary of the Coosa. It appears that the first comers settled among the Abikudshis. Later, on the arrival of other refugees, they located a town, to which the name Natche was given, 5 miles above Abi- kudshi, and extending irregularly for 2 miles on the rich flat below the fork, and across the creek between two small mountains. The

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HISTORY OF ALABAMA

town was situated on Tallasseehatchee Creek, sometimes called Natche.

Hawkins describes the town as follows:

"Nau-chee; On Nauchee creek, five miles above Aube-coo-che, below the fork of the creek, on a rich flat of land, of a mile in width, between two small mountains. This flat extends from the town three-quarters of a mile above the town house. The settle- ments are scattered on both sides of the creek for two miles; they have no worm fences, and but little stock. One chief, a brother of Chin-a-be, has a large stock of hogs, and had ninety fit for market, in 1798.

"This town is the remains of the Nat-chez who lived on the Mis-sis-sip-pi. They estimate their number of gunmen at one hundred; but they are, probably, not more than fifty. The land, off from the mountains, is rich; the flats on the streams are large and very rich; the high, waving country is very healthy and well watered; cane grows on the creeks, reed on the branches, and pea-vine on the flats and hill sides. The Indians get the root they call tal-e-wau, in this neighborhood; which the women mix with bears' oil, to red- den their hair."

The date of the coming of the Natchez among the Creeks is not accurately recorded. Gen. Woodward says they were established in the Upper Creek Nation in 1756. Swan writing in 1791 says that they "joined the Creeks about 50 years since, after being driven out from Louisiana, and added consid- erably to the confederative body." Milfort describes the village as situated at the foot of two mountains, remarkable for their height and sugar loaf form. The small stream re- ferred to, south of and along which the town was located, is an insignificant stream, flow- ing at the foot of two mountains. These mountains are now known locally as Ande- luvia.

The sketch from Hawkins would indicate their strength. Swan's comment would lead to the inference that the influence of the Natchez among the Creeks was good. The Dog Warrior was one of their chiefs. In speaking of Abikudshi, the Indian town to the west, Hawkins refers to certain informa- tion "obtained from Co-tau-la Tus-he-ki-ah Mic-co, an old and respectable chief de- scended from Nauchee," which would sug- gest a Natchez intermarriage during their residence in the town.

In the Creek War of 1813-14 they did not join the hostiles. In 1832 they migrated with the Creeks to the Indian Territory west.

In the Alabama Department of Archives and History is a copy of the history of the Creek Ispocoga Indians, prepared by George Stiggins, one of the tribe. In the manuscript he traces his origin, and gives much aboriginal history of this region.

See Abikudshi; Tensas; Wihasha.

REFERENCES .- Gatschet, in Alabama History Commission, Report (1901), vol. 1, p. 404; Hawkins, Sketch of the Creek Country (1848), p. 42; Handbook of American Indians (1910), vol. 2, p. 35; Bureau of American Ethnology, Nineteenth annual report (1900), p. 509; Wood-

ward, Reminiscences (1859), p. 79; Swanton, Indian Tribes of the Lower Mississippi Valley and Adjacent Coast (Bureau of American Eth- nology, Bulletin 43, 1911), pp. 252-257.

NATIONAL GUARD. See Military Forces of the State.

NATIONAL SLOVAK SOCIETY. Frater- nal order founded February 16, 1890, in Pittsburg, Pa., for the purpose of bringing the Slovaks in the various States, together, whereby they could find a better protection and unity of action. There are three local lodges in the State of Alabama, viz., numbers 74, with 61 memberships, number 662, with 17 members, and number 671, with 37 mem- bers. There is no State organization in Ala- bama. Annual meetings are held by the Society, and a general convention assembles once in three years.

REFERENCES .- Letters from National Secre- tary to Dr. Owen, Alabama State Department Archives and History.

NATIONAL UNION ASSURANCE SO-

CIETY. Organized in Mansfield, Ohio, May 4, 1881. The first Alabama council was or- ganized at Montgomery, March 11, 1887. The laws do not provide grand or state bodies. Delegates to the supreme body are elected at a state meeting every four years. The home office is in Toledo, Ohio.

REFERENCE .- Letter from E. A. Myers, Toledo, Ohio.

NATURAL GAS. There are natural gas fields, of greater or less extent, in Madison, Walker, Fayette, and Winston Counties, but its production for commercial purposes is con- fined to the first three. In 1914 there were 395 domestic and 2 industrial consumers, in West Huntsville, Jasper, and Fayete, supplied with natural gas, and the product of a single well in Winston County was utilized for drill- ing in the field. The small field in Fayette County is situated in the lower Pennsylvania strata of the Carboniferous formation in the western part of the Warrior coal field. Alto- gether there were 16 productive natural gas wells in the State at the close of the year 1914. Because of the small number of pro- ducers, statistics of production and consump- tion of natural gas have never been compiled for publication.

Gas in small quantities has been obtained in other localities than those mentioned, usually in connection with salt water, but is not of commercial importance. Sometimes petroleum in limited amounts also accom- panies the gas. At Cullom Springs in Choc- taw County, a deep well bored about 1886 yielded a considerable flow of natural gas, and many of the borings in the salt region made during the War yielded, along with brine, large quantities of gas. In places the gas and salt water rise to the surface in natural seeps. Perhaps the most abundant supply of natural gas along with salt water comes from the wells near the Bascomb race track at Mobile. The yield of each well was

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at one time 35,000 cubic feet per day. It is not utilized.

REFERENCES .- Smith and McCalley, Index to mineral resources of Alabama (Geol. Survey of Ala., Bulletin 9, 1904), pp. 70-72; Geol. Sur- vey of Ala., Statistics of mineral production of Alabama, 1914 (Bulletin 16), p. 52; U. S. Geol. Survey, Mineral resources of United States, 1904, p. 785; 1912, pp. 301-359; M. J. Munn, Reconnaissance report on the Fayette gas field, Alabama (Geol. Survey of Ala., Bulletin 10, 1911); Geol. Survey of Ala., Concerning oil and gas in Alabama, June 27, 1917 (Circular 3, p. 18); prospectus of New York-Alabama Oil Co., 1907; Age-Herald, Birmingham, Ala., Oct. 9, 1917.

NAUVOO. Post office and incorporated town in the northern part of Walker County, on the Northern Alabama Railroad, 17 miles northwest of Jasper. Population: 1910- 392.

REFERENCE .- Manuscript data in the Ala- bama Department of Archives and History.

NEGRO INSTITUTIONS. See Name of special institution desired.

NEGRO ORPHANAGE. See Child Welfare.

NEW BROCKTON. Post office and station on the Elba branch of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, in the eastern part of Coffee County, 10 miles east of Elba, and 8 miles northwest of Enterprise. Population: 1910-3:3. Its banks are the Bank of New Brockton (State), and the First National. It was first called Brock, for Hugh Brock, who gave the land for the town site. Later the railroad man- agement changed the name to New Brockton.

REFERENCE .- Manuscript data in the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

NEW DECATUR. Incorporated city in the northwestern part of Morgan County, on the main lines of the Louisville & Nashville Rail- road, and the Southern Railway, formerly the Memphis & Charleston Railroad. It adjoins the corporate limits of old Decatur, hence the two are known as the "Twin Cities." It is about 1 mile south of the Tennessee River. Altitude: 570 feet. Population: 1890- 3,565; 1900-4,437; 1910-6,118. It was in- corporated under the general law during the elghties, and its charter confirmed by the legislature, February 13, 1889. It has electric light and power plant, gas plant, electric street car system, waterworks, sanitary sew- erage, and fire department. Its banks are the Morgan County National and the Central Na- tional. The New Decatur Advertiser, a Dem- ocratic weekly, established in 1889, and the Decatur Daily, evenings except Sunday, estab- lished in 1912, are published there. Its in- dustries are 40 in number and include the shops of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, tanneries, bridge-building works, iron fur- naces, pipe works, mills of many sorts, cotton ginneries, fertilizer plant, cottonseed oil mill, woodworking factories, and lumber yards. The city was founded in the early eighties by the Decatur Land & Improvement Co.

Vol. 11-23

REFERENCES. - Acts, 1888-89, pp. 361-386; Armes, Story of coal and iron in Alabama (1910); Northern Alabama (1888), p. 322; Ala- bama Official and Statistical Register, 1915.

NEW HOPE. Post office and interior town in the southeastern part of Madison County, on the northern bank of Paint Rock River, 22 miles southeast of Huntsville. Popula- tion : 1880-146; 1900-208; 1910-301; 1910-Vienna Precinct, 1,391. The Bank of New Hope (State) is its only bank. General Jackson cut a road through the locality in 1813, from New Market to Deposit Ferry on the Tennessee. William Cloud was the first settler. He was an Indian trader, who ar- rived in 1829. The settlement was first known as Cloud's Town. The lands were sold by the Government in 1830, and George Rus- sell, Aaron Harrison, Wm. Allison, Thomas Vann, and Jason L. Jordan became owners and settlers. In 1832, James McCartney and Robert Owen bought the quarter-section on which the town is located, and the town lots were laid out by William B. Fant. It was then incorporated under the name of Vienna; but the United States Post Office Department rejected . the name, and called it New Hope, for the Methodist church in the community.

REFERENCES .- Northern Alabama (1888), pp. 60, 247; Taylor, "Madison County," in Hunts- ville Independent, circa, 1879; Alabama Official and Statistical Register, 1915.

NEW ORLEANS AND SELMA RAILROAD COMPANY. See Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company.

NEW ORLEANS, MOBILE AND CHATTA- NOOGA RAILROAD COMPANY. See Louis- ville and Nashville Railroad Company.

NEW ORLEANS, MOBILE AND CHICAGO RAILROAD COMPANY. Chartered in Mis- sissippi, November 23; in Alabama, Novem- ber 24; in Tennessee, November 26, under general laws; organized, December 3, 1909; mileage operated June 30, 1915-main track and branches, 402.90, side tracks, 78.69, total, 481.59: mileage operated in Alabama- main track, 27.24; capital stock authorized- common, $11,500,000, preferred, $5,000,000, total, $16,500,000; actually issued, common, $8,073,799.98, preferred, $1,259,450.44, total, $9,333,250.42; shares, $100; voting power, one vote a share; funded debt, $13,- 688,546.88.

This company was a reorganization, on De- cember 11, 1907, under the laws of Missis- sippi, of the Mobile, Jackson & Kansas City Railroad Co., and the Gulf & Chicago Railway Co. The former was a consolidation, in 1899, of the Mobile, Hattiesburg & Jackson Rail- road Co. of Alabama, and the Hattiesburg & Jackson Railroad Co. of Mississippi. The Mo- bile, Hattiesburg & Jackson Railroad Co. of Alabama, was organized in 1888, under the general laws, for the purpose of building the road originally projected by the Mobile & Northwestern Railroad Co.

The latter company was chartered by the

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Legislature of Mississippi, February 26, 1871, and also under the general laws of Alabama about the same time, for the purpose of building a railroad from Mobile to Helena, Ark., 334 miles; from Richland Junction to Chicot City, 131 miles; and from Helena to Memphis, 60 miles. The company received from the State of Mississippi liberal charter privileges, large grants of public lands, aggre- gating more than two million acres, and exemption from all taxation for 30 years. In addition, Congress was memorialized by the legislature for grants of Government lands to the railroad company. Moreover, subscrip- tions to capital stock were made by many counties and cities along the route of the road, most of them payable in cash. Fur- thermore, the company was entitled to a cash bonus from the State of $4,000 per mile of completed road.

On February 20, 1871, the Alabama Legis- lature authorized the consolidation of the company incorporated under the State's gen- eral laws, with the Mississippi company. The act provided that the consolidation should be consummated and the new company managed by a board of seven or more directors; and assessed a tax of 3 per cent on all dividends paid by the company to its stockholders for 30 years in lieu of all other taxes, including State, county and municipal taxes, except the specific annual tax for the maintenance of public schools.

On March 8, an act was passed to authorize the mayor, aldermen, and common council of the city of Mobile to issue $1,000,000 of bonds in aid of the Mobile & Northwestern Railroad Co. On December 11, 1871, an act was passed to validate the proceedings in Alabama of the Mobile & Northweste nì Rail- road Co. of Mississippi. February 2, 1872, an act was passed formally approving and vali- dating the consolidation of the Alabama and Mississippi companies, which had already been consummated under authority of the act cited above. On the same date, an act vali- dating the action of the corporate authorities of Mobile in issuing bonds in aid of this com- pany was approved.

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History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume II, Part 65

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