Memorial record of Alabama. A concise account of the state's political, military, professional and industrial progress, together with the personal memoirs of many of its people. Volume I, Part 31

Author: Taylor, Hannis, 1851-1922; Wheeler, Joseph, 1836-1906; Clark, Willis G; Clark, Thomas Harvey; Herbert, Hilary Abner, 1834-1919; Cochran, Jerome, 1831-1896; Screws, William Wallace; Brant & Fuller
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Madison, Wis., Brant & Fuller
Number of Pages: 1164

USA > Alabama > Memorial record of Alabama. A concise account of the state's political, military, professional and industrial progress, together with the personal memoirs of many of its people. Volume I > Part 31

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In the Warrior coal fields, in the vicinity of Tuscaloosa, coal has been used by the inhabitants for half a century, and considerable quantities were mined and shipped before the war between the states. Coal abounds in the vicinity of the Warrior river and outcrops on the hills in Tuscaloosa county (and probably other counties), where it is picked up, loaded in wagons, and hauled to market to exchange for family supplies, very much as wood is hauled to the towns, sold and delivered at the resi- dence of the consumer. The writer has seen many wagon loads of loose coal going to market in Tuscaloosa, where it was sold by the bushel. Much of the coal consumed in that city is still brought by wagon from the neighboring hills. Its comparative cheapness, good quality-and the delivery at the doors of the purchaser without extra charge, make the coal outcrop an appreciated boon to the poorer class of the population. The Coosa field is the smallest in area, the least known and the least worked of any of the coal fields in the state, but some of this coal has found its way to the market, been pronounced of good quality, and when suitable transportation facilities are afforded, will doubtless be mined

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at a profit. No accurate record of the coal mined in the state was kept prior to 1874. Up to the beginning of that year the total production was estimated at 450,000 tons. The production of 1874 was 65,000 tons; in 1876 it reached 100,000 tons; and since that period it has increased with phenomenal rapidity. The coal fields of Alabama lie at the southern extremity of the great Appalachian coal fields, commencing in western New York and extending south ward through portions of Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virignia, Virginia, Ohio. Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. Coal deposits are known to exist in the counties of Franklin, Lawrence, Morgan, Marshall, Jackson, DeKalb, Cherokee, Marion, Winston, Cullman, Etowah, as well as in Saint Clair, Blount Tuscaloosa, Jefferson, Walker, Fayette, Shelby and Bibb, embracing an area of 8,660 square miles. Mining operations, however, are as yet confined to ten counties, viz .: Blount, Cherokee, Tuscaloosa, Jefferson, Etowah, Saint Clair, Bibb, Shelby, Walker and Cullman. The output of coal in Alabama, as we have seen, in 1876 was about 100,000 tons. In 1880 it had increased to 323,972 tons, valued at $476,911, while in the calendar year 1889, as reported by the superintendent of the census of 1890, it had grown to the enormous amount of 3,378,484 tons, valued at $3,707,426 at the mines. The average number of days, when the mines were shipping coal, was, in 1889, 196; the average number of persons employed at the mines during that year, including superintendents, engineers, mechanics and clerical force, was 6,792, and the amount paid for wages was $3,175,256. These figures cover the actual cost at the mines, expenditures for manufacturing and handling coke being excluded. The discovery that much of the Alabama coal could be coked and used for smelting iron, and the large demand for that purpose, doubtless, was a chief cause for the remarkable increase of production. Of the total product in 1889, 2,266,839 tons were loaded at the mines for shipment on railroad cars or boats; 58,684 tons were used by employes and sold to the local trade; 70,690 tons were used for steam and heat at the mines; and 982,271 tons were made into coke. The average price received at the mines was $1.10 per ton.

Mention has been made of the variety in the coal produced in Alabama. The census report for 1890 says that "the coals of Alabama embrace all the bituminous varieties, such as gas, coking, block, splint and cannel, thereby providing the rapidly developing industries and increasing population of the state with an inexhaustible supply of fuel for furnace, steam and domestic uses." Professor Leo Lesquereux, in a report to Dr. Eugene A. Smith, state geologist, gives a list of seventy-eight different coal plants examined by him and this he calls a "partial list." Of the specimens sent him, the professor says: "I recognized among them a number of forms which I had not seen elsewhere before, not only species, but peculiar types, differing from those with which I was well acquainted, during my continual explorations more than thirty years, in

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MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.

our North American coal fields." In the specimens sent him from Helena, he found the characteristics of "the lowest coal measures of England, the Culm of Germany, the Chester of Illinois and the first and second Archimedes of Arkansas." From an examination of the specimens sent to him from various districts the professor concludes that the "coal measures of Alabama are of a different stage from those of Tennessee, Ohio, Illinois," etc. He believes that they are a branch in connection with that of north Kentucky. His concluding observation refers to the "admirable richness" of the coal flora of Alabama and the "great value of its study to paleontological science."

Having given a general view of the coal measures, the output and value of the same, in Alabama, we proceed to a more particular description of the different coal fields and the miners at work therein, the facilities for transportation and the prospects for the further development with profit of the coal mining industries in the state. Let. us first examine the Coosa field: This field, as has been stated, is the smallest of the coal measures in Alabama, and being, for the most part, at a distance from the railroads, and the work on the Coosa river not. having been completed so as to make the river navigable to the Alabama, the coal measures have not been carefully explored, and comparatively little mining work has been attempted. This field lies within the counties of Saint Clair and Shelby, and is drained by the Coosa river. In 1863-64 Captain Schultz of the confederate army (Mr. Aldrich says in his notes) made a large qauntity of coke from the seams in this field, which was floated down the river in flats to the railroad bridge across the Coosa, whence it was carried by rail to Selma and Montgomery, where it found a ready market. This coke was pronounced equal to the very best. English cokes, and the finest ever made in the state. Coal was mined from the beds of the streams crossing this belt many years ago, which, according to Professor Toumey, was carried by boats, in times of high water, to Montgomery. At that date three seams had been explored, showing thickness respectively of three feet, four feet and three and a. half feet. The proximity of these fields to the vast deposits of iron ore along the Selma, Rome & Dalton railroad and along Choccolocco creek, and the ore beds lying at the edge of the fields themselves, make, Col. Aldrich thinks, an early and thorough survey of them of great importance. Since then (1874) this region has been penetrated by not less than five important lines of railway-the "Alabama Great Southern," "Georgia Pacific," "East & West," "Columbus & Western," and the "Talladega & Coosa Valley." These roads, however, with one exception, cross only the northern portion of the Coosa fields, and consequently aid but little in their development. In 1890 coal was mined at only two places in the Coosa coal field, at Broken Arrow and Ragland, both locations being in St. Clair county on the "East & West" railroad. These, with two establishments in Shelby county, had in 1889, a total product of 90,926

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tons, which brought at the mines $1.25 per ton. Probably much less

than half this aggregate came from the Coosa fields. The Coosa fields, Dr. Smith informs us (geological report, 1890) is divided into two parts by a "fault" which brings up some of the sub-carboniferous shales between the two. This belt of shales varies in width from half a mile upward, and the amount of displacement is not large, as it extends only from the lower part of the shales up to the millstone-grit. This field has also a great "fault" along its south and southeast boundaries. The Cahawba valley which lies west of the Coosa fields separates them from the now famous Cahawba fields. The Coosa fields, in St. Clair, are about five or six miles in width and about forty miles long. They run parallel a part of the way with the beautiful river which gives its name to the field.

The Warrior coal fields are by far the most extensive in the state and embrace the largest number of mines in active operation, and yet the work of development in this wondrous region has hardly begun; indeed it has not yet been thoroughly explored. The great basin called the Warrior coal fields is estimated to contain not less than 5,000 square miles of coal rocks. Commencing about nine miles north of Birmingham it extends northward to the Tennessee river, east to the Coosa river and the Cahawba valley; south to the Cahawba coal fields and cotton belt, and west to the counties of Pickens and Lamar and the Mississippi state line. As has been noticed, coal was mined in this field as long ago as 1836. This coal was taken from the bed of the Warrior river and transported by barges down to Mobile for a market. The reports of Professor Toumey, the eminent geologist, give account of these early operations, all of which were in the neighborhood of Tuscaloosa. But no serious and systematic efforts were made to develop these valuable fields until the civil war had closed and people began to accept its results and sought to rehabilitate themselves and the state to which they were so warmly attached. Among the earliest mines in this field of which we have record was that near Warrior Station on the northern edge of the basin. This mine was opened in 1872, as soon as the South & North Alabama railroad was completed, so as to insure transportation of the product, by Mr. James Pierce. The place selected was one mile north of the station, where the seam dips slightly to the south and "drifts are run in all along the outcrop." The output was from thirty to fifty tons per day up to the summer of 1875, when a side track was put in by the railroad company and eight or ten new openings were made. The seamn was considered soft, but good for blacksmithing purposes and also a good steam coal. The output was brought up to 150 tons in one day, which amount was mined and shipped December 14, 1875. Two other mines, each producing twenty-five to thirty tons per day, were subsequently located on the same seam, and worked by the projectors until the spring of 1875, when they were purchased by the Alabama Mining & Manufac-

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MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.

turing company, by whom they were extended and otherwise greatly improved. There were, in 1890, five coal mining concerns in operation at or near Warrior Station; the Watts Coal & Iron company, with a daily output of 500 tons; the Hoene Consolidated Coal & Iron company, two plants; the Mabel Mining company, and the Pearson Coal, Iron & Rail- road company. The New Castle Iron & Coal company was organized in 1873, with Hon. John T. Milner, one of the most sagacious and energetic developers in the mineral district, as president. A slope was sunk upon the New Castle, or Milner, seam to the depth of 600 feet, and was furnished with a double track, a man-way and pump-way, and a coal hoist worked by an engine of twenty horse-power. The average thick- ness of the seam was five feet eight inches. The coal was in three "benches," the lower twenty-eight inches thick, the next averaging six inches, the two layers separated by six inches of slate; then another layer of slate from two to six inches thick, and then a stratum of coal twenty-eight inches in thickness. The method of extracting the coal was "to bear in between the two benches, throwing the slate to the rear, then allowing the upper bench to fall across the whole face of the room, and lifting the lower bench by means of wedges." The full capacity of the mine is 300 tons per day, but during the first years of working the output was only about sixty tons per day. A test slope was sunk on this seam, a few hundred yards from the main opening, to the depth of 230 feet, developing precisely the same conditions as were found at the first or main opening. The outcrop of the seam is on the western side of the Louisville & Nashville (North & South) railroad, and about twenty feet above the track. The New Castle company own about three miles of the outcrop along this seam. On the opposite side of the railroad and south of the New Castle mine, the same company have opened the Black Creek seam, which is reached by a tramway 1,200 feet long. The imme- diate approach to this seam is through a tunnel, 100 feet in length, driven through the top rock of the seam. The coal was worked in rooms twenty-five feet in width, upon what is known as the "pillow and stall sys- tem." The seam is underlaid by soft clay and can therefore be "under- cut and wedged down" without the use of powder. This coal has a large percentage of fixed carbon and is excellent for blacksmithing; for gsa making it has been found equal to the Pittsburg coal, testing 4.95 cubic feet of gas per pound of lump coal. The company utilized the "slack" by converting it into coke, which found ready sale at the mines, bringing 12 cents per bushel. The outuput in 1876 was seventy tons per day. The company is now known as the Milner Coal & Railway company; post office address, New Castle, Jefferson county.

The Jefferson Coal company was organized in the spring of 1874, locating their works on what is called the Jefferson seam. The mine is located about one-fourth of a mile south of the railroad bridge crossing the Warrior river. It was owned and worked by Messrs. Myer, Morris &

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Co. The mouth of the mine was about seventy-five feet below the railroad track. The coal lies nearly horizontal, rising slightly to the east, being in the basin. The seam is about three feet thick. Operations at this mine were suspended in 1875, for the purpose of sinking a shaft near the railroad, the object being to prevent delay and loss from the back- water, from the overflows of the Warrior river. From the beginning to the time of stopping work the company mined about 5,000 tons of coal. They owned 300 acres of land in the Warrior basin.

Very little in the way of coal mining had been accomplished up to 1875 along the Alabama & Great Southern railroad, and the reports of the operations of such mines as were worked are meager and unsatisfac- tory. There were mines worked at Clement's Station, Coldwell Station, and probably at one or two other points in the vicinity, where the open- ings were directly upon the railroad. The coal was obtained by means of drifts and hauled by wagons to the stations. The seam at Clement's was about two feet in thickness. The wagon haul was about one mile. The annual product was estimated at two thousand tons. About this period a shaft over sixty feet deep was sunk upon the lands of the Alabama hospital for the insane, from which an ample supply of coal for all the uses of the hospital has ever since been obtained. The coal makes an excellent quality of gas, large quantities of which are manufactured on the premises, and for several years the university of Alabama, situated about a half mile distant, has received its supply of gas from the works at the hospital. The university has a mine of its own, which has been partially worked for many years under leases, the lessees paying their rent in coal. When fully developed, as is likely to be the case in the near future, the university will be able to obtain a full supply of coal for all purposes from its own mines, near the Warr.or river, half a mile dis- tant, and underlying its own grounds.

In 1873 a company was organized under the name of the Tuscaloosa Mining & Transportation company. Considerable prospecting was done in the vicinity of Hurricane creek-a tributary of the Warrior -- and a good many Welsh miners were brought out from Pennsylvania, but for some unexplained reason-probably the difficulty of transportation-the company did not go into active operation. The Tuscaloosa Coal. Iron & Land company was organized some years ago, for the purpose of develop- ing this region, and great hopes were entertained from the spirit and character of its founders. A railroad was projected (the Tuscaloosa Northern) to connect with the nearest available coal seams, and several miles of the roadway were constructed, ready for the iron, but from un- expected and untoward circumstances the work ceased, and the enterprise, although not abandoned, has been temporarily suspended. Arrangements, however, have been made March 1, 1893, for an early completion of this road. As will be shown hereafter, the work of mining coal is likely to

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MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.

be carried on vigorously and profitably, at an early day, in the vicinity of Tuscaloosa.

A few words concerning the quality of the coals on the Warrior field will doubtless be of interest. The examinations were made by Prof. Lupton, now of the Agricultural and Mechanical college, and Prof. Eugene A. Smith of the university of Alabama, and state geologist. The outcrops on two sections in the same township were examined with the following results: In a depth of seven feet and eight inches in No. 1 they found thirteen inches of coal; then three inches of shale; then nine inches of coal; then two inches of shale; then seven and one-half inches of coal; then two and a half inches of shale; then fifteen inches of coal; then twenty- two inches of fire clay parting; then nineteen inches of coal, followed by fire clay. The examination of the other section disclosed coal seventeen inches; then shale two inches; then coal nine and a half inches; then shale one and a half inches; then coal ten inches; then shale one-half inch; then coal twelve inches; then fire clay thirty-six inches; then coal twenty-eight inches; making a total of nine feet eight and a half inches. It will be seen that in the first section there were five feet three and a half inches of coal; in the second section, six feet four and a half inches of clean coal. The lowest stratum was found to contain the best coal. This exposure was made by the miners, and had been worked for coal. The conclusion arrived at was that there were here two sections of the same coal seam. The examiners were unable to find sufficient data con- cerning the other coals whose outcrops they examined, to report with certainty a section "which would represent the succession of the different beds in a vertical direction." They made one exception-of which they give two illustrations. Thus on a small branch, tributary to Hurricane creek, they obtained the following, which we copy as given in their report: Sandstone rock, -; coal, 20 inches; shale, 1 inch; coal, 7} inches; shale, 1 inch; coal, 9 inches; fire clay, -. Total, 3 feet 2} inches. This shows three feet and one-half inch of clean coal, which was pronounced of excellent quality and was freely marketed in Tuscaloosa. On the same branch, further down stream and about fifty feet vertically below, they found another seam, of which they give the following as a section of the out- crop: Sandstone rock, -; coal, 193 inches; shale, 1 inch; coal, 13 inches; fire clay, --. Total, 2 feet 9} inches, This shows two feet eight and one- half inches of clean coal in a depth of two feet nine and one-half inches, only one inch of shale separating the first two layers of coal. This coal was also of very good quality. Another outcrop, in section 19 of the same township, showed twenty-eight inches of clean coal, without shale, and in section 1 of township 21, range 8 west, they found another exposure of about thirty-six inches of clean coal.

An analysis of the coal from the Newcastle or Milner seam by Dr. Otto Wuth, of Pittsburgh, Pa., shows the following result: Specific gravity, 1.38; water, .50; volatile matter, 28.34; fixed carbon, 59.69; ash,

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10.92; sulphur, .64. Dr. William Gesner made an analysis of the Black creek coal resulting as follows: Specific gravity, 1.36; water, .12; bitu- men (volatile), 26.11; fixed carbon, 71.64; ash, 2.03; sulphur, .10; per cent. of coke, 73.07. "Its physical characteristics," says the doctor, "classify it as a firm bituminous coal, with cubical cleavage, dull vitreous luster and very resistive to moisture."

An approximate section of the strata in the vicinity of the Milner (formerly New Castle) mines, was given by Mr. Thomas Sharp, superin- tendent of the coal company. He says, "There are said to be two or three seams above the New Castle, but the thickness and distances apart of these we cannot give." New Castle seam, 5 ft. 8 in .; sandstone, 15 ft. ; coal, 22 in .; fire-clay, 3 ft .; sandstone, 20 ft .; coal, 2 ft. 6 in .; sandstone, 25 ft. ; black band iron ore, 1 ft. 4 in .; sandstone, 20 ft .; coal, 4 ft. 9 in .; sandstone, 25 ft .; conglomerate, not passed.

The report of the state geologist for 1875 gives an interesting record of several borings by a diamond drill, made in the Warrior field in Jeffer- son county. The first drilling was made at Camp Branch, ten miles west of Birmingham. The drill reached a depth of 532 feet 2 inches. The first coal was found at a depth of 18 feet 4 inches, and the stratum was only ten inches through. Then came six inches of clay, followed by four inches of coal, At the distance of 347 feet 10 inches, hard, bright coal, free from sulphur, appeared. This vein was six feet in thickness. After passing this vein the drill penetrated 101 feet 4 inches, when a vein of coal gas was struck, the well flowing strong and the gas on fire. This vein was two feet in thickness. At a distance of 502 feet 10 inches from the top, a vein of hard, glossy, black coal was reached, which was found to be 2 inches thick. The drilling was continued about thirty feet further down, but no more coal was revealed. The second drilling reported, was made at Warrior, on the North & South Alabama railroad, with the following results :

Ft.

In. Depth.

1 Surface soil and drift. 20

2 Gray sandstone, micaceous 18

3 Coarse sandstone. 28

4 Dark arenaceous clay 24

5 Clay or soapstone

6 Coal

131 ft. 2 in.

9 Coal 4

10 Clay 4

11 Arenaceous clay 16

13 Clay, dark.

14 Sandstone, micaceous. 3

15 Dark clay shale, coal plants 3

16 Coal, hard and free from sulphur 2

17 Fire clay, light. 6

100 ft.

7 Clay, dark . 30

8 Cannel coal and black band 2

156 ft. 10 in.

12 Coal

168 ft.

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MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.

Ft. In. Depth.

18 Soft micaceous rock 9

19 Sandstone, micaceous, hard 6

20 Arenaceous clay . .51

21 Dark fossil sandy clay 48

22 Dark gray limestone, bitumen, hard. 10

23 Clay 50

24 Arenaceous clay, rippled . 4

25 Gray sandstone, micaceous, compact seams of coal 6

26 Dark micaceous sandstone, slatey fracture 52

27 Clay, coal fossils 6

28 Hard, micaceous sandstone 37

29 Clay or soapstone, fossil shells 3

30 Dark sandstone, fossil shells, pearly 4

463 ft. 2 in.

33 Fire clay 15

34 Hard micaceous sandstone, gray

35 Clay shale 1

482 ft. 6 in.

36 Coal 1

37 Arenaeous clay 7

38 Clay, coal plants 5

495 ft. 6 in.

39 Coal, splendid. 2

40 Clay 2

41 Micaceons sandstone 16

42 Arenaceous clay 6

43 Hard micaceous sandstone, gray 64

44 Clay or soapstone 9

45 Gray sandy shale, micaceous. 5

1 600 ft. 7 in.

The third report gives the result of a drilling at Sulphur Springs church, seven miles west of Birmingham. The drill penetrated a dis- tance of 543 feet. Coal was first found 27 feet 9 inches below the surface, but was only three inches in thickness and was quite soft. Fol- lowing the coal, in the order named, was sandstone, dark limestone, dark clay, clay or soapstone, sandstone with traces of lime, bastard limestone, gray sandstone, hard, gray sandstone with coal seams, clay pyrites, hard dark limestone, hard sandstone, clay or soapstone with fossils, and then a vein of good coal four feet and six inches in thickness. Coal was found again twenty-two feet three inches below, one foot and four inches thick; again twenty-eight feet nine inches below, two feet thick; again at seven feet three inches, having a thickness of one foot eight inches ;. again in one foot nine inches, with a thickness of three feet six inches; again at a distance of 238 feet 2 inches from the top; again at 305 feet 8 inches, this vein being three feet four inches in depth; again, mixed with clay, at a depth of 313 feet 5 inches; again at 334 feet 1 inch; again at 379 feet 7 inches; and clay coal plants were found immediately below this vein. No further trace was found in the nearly 150 feet additional to which the drill penetrated. The next drilling reported was at Morris' Station, Jefferson county. Here coal was first reached at a distance of thirty-three feet from the surface; again at ninety-two feet eight inches ;.

31 Dark clay fossils.

32 Coal, hard and bright. 1

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Memorial record of Alabama. A concise account of the state's political, military, professional and industrial progress, together with the personal memoirs of many of its people. Volume I, Part 31

Author: Taylor, Hannis, 1851-1922; Wheeler, Joseph, 1836-1906; Clark, Willis G; Clark, Thomas Harvey; Herbert, Hilary Abner, 1834-1919; Cochran, Jerome, 1831-1896; Screws, William Wallace; Brant & Fuller Publication date: 1893 Publisher: Madison, Wis., Brant & Fuller Number of Pages: 1164

Author: Taylor, Hannis, 1851-1922; Wheeler, Joseph, 1836-1906; Clark, Willis G; Clark, Thomas Harvey; Herbert, Hilary Abner, 1834-1919; Cochran, Jerome, 1831-1896; Screws, William Wallace; Brant & Fuller
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Madison, Wis., Brant & Fuller
Number of Pages: 1164