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 36
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131
One of the pronounced industries of the last decade is the manufacture of ice. Before that time all the ice consumed in the south was brought
302
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
from the east and north, and frequently its towns and cities were subjected to an ice famine at times when ice was most needed. At first people did not receive the innovation kindly, and it was sometime before it was considered entirely safe to use manufactured ice. Nów ice companies abound, every considerable town having one or more factories. Not a pound of foreign ice is brought into the state, and prices are kept, by fair competition, within reasonable limits. There is no longer a fear of any dearth of ice or of being compelled, from sickness or necessity, to pay an exorbitant price for this valuable article. Mobile has now two large ice factories, Montgomery three, Birmingham three, Selma two, Bessemer two, Huntsville one, Tuscaloosa one, and other considerable towns are or will soon be supplied with ice factories.
Among the various manufacturing enterprises of more or less moment not enumerated in the foregoing resumé, may be mentioned the following: The Anniston Boiler and Sheet Iron works, which employ fifty men and do all the boiler and plate work required by the Anniston furnaces. The Anniston Pipe works, in full operation, turn out about 150 tons of cast iron sewer pipe and water main per day, and require 350 men. Birmingham has one of each of the following industries: Chair works, bolt and screw works, glass works, agricultural works, iron works, safe and lock works, soap factory, stairway and hard-wood works, saw factory, clothing and suspender factory, spoke and handle factory, architectual iron and wire works, and two breweries, two trunk factories, two brass works and several minor industries. Bessemer has two cast iron pipe works and one dynamite factory. Camden has ginneries and a chair factory. Decatur has the American Oak Tanning Extract works, a char- coal iron furnace with coke ovens, alcohol works, and bridge works. Fort Payne has the Alabama Hardware Manufacturing company, for the manufacture of builders' hardware, and the Fort Payne Machine works, prepared to do all classes of building and repair work. Mobile has two or three broom factories, which make an excellent article of brooms, a distillery for making lubricating and paint oils and brewer's pitch, a new and large brewery, which from its lofty tower is a land mark in the city, a factory for making soda and mineral waters, several cigar factories, a pickle and vinegar factory, a factory for the manufacture of boots and shoes, and a chair factory. This last named enterprise was estab- lished in 1890 by Messrs. Brumly & Simpson, and was operated very. successfully until August, 1892, when the main building was destroyed by fire. The factory had previously been transferred to the Marietta Chair Factory company, who will doubtless rebuild it speedily. The factory had a capacity for making stock for about 1,000 chairs per day. The timber supply is plentiful. The Tupelo gum wood is used for making common chairs. The company also made hoe and broom handles and perforated barrels for shipping vegetables, etc. The factory is located on Three Mile creek, near the phosphate and chemical works. Mont-
303
INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS.
gomery has, in addition to the industries heretofore described, two cracker factories, six candy factories, three cigar factories, a large brewery, three soda water and bottling works, a vinegar factory and a large soap factory. Sheffield has a basket factory. cotton gin and the shop and car works of the Memphis & Charleston railroad. Selma has several cigar factories, two vinegar factories and bottling works, several rice mills and ginneries and an artificial stone factory.
The tobacco industry in Alabama, as has been intimated, is largely on the increase. The plant thrives well in many parts of the state and the very low prices paid for cotton have induced many planters and farmers to consider seriously the proposition recently made by the state commis- sioner of agriculture, to substitute the culture of tobacco for a part, at least, of the annual cotton crop. Collector D. B. Booth, of the port of Mobile, has made an abstract showing the tobacco business of the state, from which the following interesting facts are gleaned: There are fifty manufacturing firms in Alabama which, in the aggregate, turn out 5,334, - 037 cigars and 101,742 pounds of manufactured tobacco, valued at $16, - 384,688. Of this aggregate the twenty-four factories in Mobile made 4,042,300 cigars. This industry in Alabama pays an annual tax of $12,- 126.90. Six of the largest cigar factories in the state are located in Mobile. The increase in the business in 1892, over the preceding year, was twenty-five per centum.
For the information detailed in this review of the manufacturing industries of Alabama, the writer is indebted to the United States census reports, the "Alabama Edition" of the Mobile Register, published in November, 1891, to the valuable hand book of Saffold Berney, Esq., and largely to various original sources, too numerous for particular mention.
FORESTRY, NAVAL STORES AND LUMBER.
The forests of Alabama, particularly the vast area of pine lands extend- ing from the southern boundary of the cotton belt to the bay of Mobile and the gulf of Mexico, were a heritage of inestimable value to this gene- ration of her people, and are a rich treasure house for the civilized world. Unfortunately, the lavishness of this great timber supply led to extravagance, waste and often to wanton destruction. The public lands, which still comprise the greater portion of these forests, were considered public property, and were depredated upon without conscience and without mercy. Even the government itself, apparently unaware of the great value of its pine lands, or deeming them inexhaustible as well as illimitable, ignored, for a long period, these innumerable depredations, and the depre- dators, going "scot free," began to consider the public lands as virtually their own property, to be used or abused at their own sweet will. Wood, rails, saw logs and timber, for home use and for sale or shipment, were taken freely from these lands, and when rosin was discovered to be valu- able for soap making and for axle grease, and a spirited demand sprung
304
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
up for the article, the "woodman's ax rang free" in the pineries along the navigable streams and adjoining railway stations, and the virgin forests of south Alabama, for the most part, soon became immense pine orchards, every tree therein being tapped from two to four times, according to its size, for turpentine boxes. Turpentine distilleries were erected at con- venient localities, and the life blood of these pines was steadily but rapidly converted into spirits of turpentine and the various grades of rosin. So great was the furor in this direction, a man without reputation, business experience or financial credit. if he could swing an ax or secure and con- trol a number of box choppers, could get all the money he required to open orchards, erect stills, and carry on the business of turpentine manufacture. As was naturally to be expected, large sums were lost by this reckless mode of advancing, but the profits were large and dealers could afford even frequent losses in this direction. But this was not the only or the chief evil. Boxes were cut without discrimination, often into the heart of the tree, too many were cut in a tree, and as virgin rosin brought the best price, while timber was plentiful, no care was taken to prevent unnecessary injury to the trees, and it frequently happened that orchards were nearly ruined and abandoned after a single year's working. The greed of gain, as is often the case, led to reckless waste; trees were so weakened that numbers of them died in their places, standing like grim skeletons in serried ranks, or, under the pressure of a strong wind or sometimes even a stiff breeze, tottered in countless numbers to their fall. It was only when the Hon. Carl Schurz became secretary of the interior that any systematic and determined effort was made to stop these depredations and protect what was left of the pine forests. Mr. Schurz. was born and educated in Germany, where the forests had nearly all disappeared before the advancing wave of population, and where a stately tree was regarded with a certain degree of affectionate veneration, for whose destruction any moneyed consideration could scarce atone. This enlightened statesman made a vigorous attempt to stay the progress of these wholesale depredations, and his example was followed by his. successor in office, and sustained by the courts, which were crowded, from this time forth, with turpentine men arrested for depredations; but although much good has been accomplished, the effort came too late to. save thousands upon thousands of acres which had been practically denuded of their valuable forest growth.
An approximate estimate of the extent of the forests still remaining. in Alabama, places it at seventeen millions of acres, about one-half the area of the state. The nature of this forest growth varies with the soil and the prevailing geological strata. In the southern division, as we- have seen, pines predominate; in the central and northern divisions, hard wood trees are the rule; while in the uplands south of the Tennessee valley, pines are interspersed with the hard-woods. In the alluvial lands . of the tide water region, tupelo gum, black gum, water elm and cotton ..
305
INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS.
wood are plentiful, and cypress is found in considerable quantities in the delta of the Mobile river and in swamps and lowlands near this river and its tributaries. The tupelo gum tree, which abounds in the forest swamps, has recently come into use for making chairs and other cheap furniture. The magnolia, laurel oak, water oak and live oak are found in the black soil, rich with leaf mold, on the plains near the coast, and the sweet bay, red bay, Cuban pine and Juniper appear where the soils of the hammock lands are saturated with water. The titi, which has been found to be good for fuel, forms the dense undergrowth in such localities. Dr. Mohr, an authority on botany and forestry, thinks the juniper the most valuable product of the pine barren swamps. Although less plentiful than form- erly, it is found in considerable quantities about the head waters of the Escambia and Perdido rivers, and may also be found near the Chichasa- bogue creek, between Chunchula and Beaver meadow. The Cuban pine is considered valuable for its timber, which is almost equal in value to the long leaf yellow pine, and for its rapid growth. The loblolly pine, which skirts the water courses, is not much esteemed as a timber tree. Yet, when fully grown and perfected, it is used for heavy spars, which are always in demand. The live oak, once so abundant, has nearly dis- appeared. Several grand old live, oaks are still found scattered in and about Mobile, the admiration of all beholders.
The great coast pine belt begins a short distance above the lowlands of the coast, extends entirely across the state from east to west, and northward about ninety miles, embracing thousands upon thousands of square miles, the long leaf pine holding almost exclusive possession of the large area. The upper part of this belt gradually merges into a mixed growth of long leaved pine, short leaved pine, with black and post oak, black jack and hickory. The basket oak, red gum, magnolia and spruce pine, form the timber growth of the valleys. The long leaved pine is also found in the drift covered ridges and cherty hills, where the . growth is very heavy and the amount of merchantable timber per acre is nearly double that found in the lower part of the coast pine belt. The combined acreage of the upper and lower divisions of this belt, Dr. Mohr estimates at not less than fourteen thousand square miles. If the estimate of six thousand to seven thousand feet of merchantable lumber per acre is allowed, it will be seen what an immense value this region possesses. North of the coast pine belt the long leaf pine is sparse and restricted to isolated patches covering the ridges.
The large portion of the hardwood forests, which formerly occupied this region, has been replaced by cultivated fields, the rich and fruitful soil making it specially attractive to the black belt planters. North of this belt is a region of rich pine timber, containing, at a rough estimate, fifteen hundred square miles, with a stand of merchantable timber, esti- mated, in 1880, at 1,700,000,000 of feet, board measure. Outlying tracts
20
306
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
of forest along the Coosa valley to the Georgia state line, Dr. Mohr roughly estimates to contain 550,000' square miles, and another forest in Walker county to contain 150 square miles. Above the northern pine forests, in parts of Tuscaloosa, Pickens, Lamar, Fayette and Marion counties, the short leaved pine forms a nearly continuous forest, mixed with upland oaks and hickories. In the forests' covering the elevated tablelands of the Warrior coal field, black, scarlet, Spanish, post and white oaks are found-also, on the ridges, poplar, hickory, mountain oak and chestnut. The loblolly pine is also found scattered in some of the wet swales, and reaches a high degree of perfection. Some of them rise to a height of 115 to 120 feet from the ground. and for a distance of sixty feet or over are free from limbs. In the Tennessee valley region, the richest hard wood timber in the state is found. Conspicuous among the varieties is the red cedar which is in great demand for telegraph poles, piling, wooden ware and for pencil wood.
Having thus outlined the forests of Alabama, giving a rapid view of their richness and extent, we proceed to consider the industries which have been created and fostered to evolve prosperity and wealth from their hidden recesses.
. NAVAL STORES.
Spirits of turpentine was distilled in Alabama nearly forty years ago. The residuary products were then considered valueless, particularly when the stills were located at a distance from railroad stations. Rosin was not then in much demand. and was not thought worth enough to pay the cost of barreling and transportation to a market. It was generally discharged from the still through long troughs, leading to a pit or reservoir, and sometimes run into a creek or down the hill side to get it out of the way. The writer is now having rosin hauled from a pit sup- posed to contain from 1,500 to 2,000 barrels, which was filled as many as forty years ago. The rosin, after removing the earth and leaves which cover it-the accumulation of two score years-was found to be of fair quality, though, naturally, showing little trace of spirits of turpentine Soon after the war the business of distilling the crude turpentine was resumed, but it was as late as 1870 before work in this direction became at all active. For a time the business was very profitable. Spirits of turpentine bore a good price, and rosin, particularly the best qualities, rule very high-"W. G." bringing as much as $5.00 to $5.50 per barrel at the stations. It is difficult to obtain accurate statistics of this industry. Even the census reports group the products of the stills so that it is im- possible to ascertain the quantity and value of each grade. The census report of 1880 places tar and turpentine together and gives the number of establishments at twenty-six; the amount of capital in the business, $100,300; number of hands employed, 724; amount of wages paid, $160, 500; cost of material, $85,225; value of product, $372,050. The business reached the climax of its prosperity about 1883-84, when the output was
307
INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS.
very large. Since then it has steadily decreased. The receipts at the port of Mobile, although not embracing all the product in the state, form a good basis for estimate, as the amount included from other states will about offset the amount produced in Alabama shipped through other ports.
; The receipts at Mobile for the year ending August 31, 1891, were:
Rosin, 89.792 barrels, valued at $134,608
Spirits of turpentine, 21,686 barrels, valued at. 401,191
Total value $535,799
The receipts for the year ending August 31, 1892, were:
Rosin, 87.926 barrels, valued at
$175,852
Spirits of turpentine, 22,172 barrels, valued at. 277,150
Total value.
$453,002
It will be seen that while the receipts of spirits of turpentine were larger in quantity, the money value was $124,041 less in 1892 than in 1891. This great difference resulted from the depressed price of the article, which opened at the beginning of the season at 42 cents per gallon and gradually fell to 263 cents per gallon. The range of prices . for rosin was $4 per barrel for "W. G.," down to $2.55 per barrel, the closing price of the season. In comparing the figures of 1891-2 with those given for 1880. it will be seen that the product was more than doubled in 1891-2 and the product of that year was much less than in 1885 .. The following table, showing the receipts of spirits of turpentine and rosin year by year during the last decade, gives at a glance the gradual increase up to 1884 and the decrease in receipts from the culminating period to 1891:
Years.
Rosin.
1881-82
172,433
Turpentine. 30,937
Value. 1,053,131
1882-83
200,125
43,870
1,207,458
1S83-84
210,512
41,801
974,510
1884-85
200,688
41,718
1,027,168
1885-86
175,817
38,733
1,034,682
1886-87
172,470
40,149
820,691
1887-88
132,955
28,725
635,543
1888-89
106,129
23,927
550,650
1889-90
93,906
21,092
556,399
1890-91
89,672
21,686
535,699
1891-92
87,926
22,172
453,002
Navy pitch is manufactured regularly at only one establishment in the state. The works are located at Beaver Meadow, and as they are unique in character, a brief description of the process may be of general interest. The tar used is made by the destructive distillation of fat pine of light wood knots. They are placed in large iron cylinders, or retorts, fixed in mason work over furnaces, and, when filled, are closed at the top by heavy iron caps, with goose neck attachments which are luted
308
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
carefully and thus hermetically sealed, except at the mouth of the goose neck. The goose neck is then connected by copper pipes to air tight condensers, filled with running water. When properly charged, fire is placed in the furnaces, and, when well heated, tar begins to ooze out through pipes at the bottom of the retorts, where it is gathered in buckets for use, and the vapor, as it rises, passes through the condensers and is caught in liquid shape in barrels arranged for the purpose. The product of this distillation, per cord of wood, is about 1 barrel of tar, 25 to 30 gallons of acid, and 15 gallons of oil, and 20 to 30 bushels of charcoal. The tar is marketed or used in making pitch. The acid is at present a waste material, although it might be converted into other valuable products, and the oil-when a sufficient quantity has been collected-is conveyed to another still, where it undergoes a second distillation. The result is a volatile fluid, which has been called "pixine, " and the residuum is an excellent oil of tar. Pixine has been found very valuable as a deodorizer, antiseptic and disinfectant; is fatal to insect life and has remarkable medicinal qualities, particularly for wounds, bruises, sprains, burns, scalds and various other ailments. The works are small and can only turn out about twenty barrels of pitch per day. The pitch manu- factured is sold principally in Mobile and New Orleans and the local market absorbs the other products mentioned. These articles took silver medals at the state fair at Montgomery, also at the annual fair at St. Louis, Mo., and the whole process was exhibited under the auspices of the United States government at the world's fair at New Orleans in 1885. Persons interested in the subject can find a full report of this exhibit in the reports of the fair made to the department of agriculture during the following year.
SHINGLES-STAVES.
The lumber industry of Alabama has been developed, chiefly within the last few years, until it has attained large proportions and replaces, in good measure, the cotton formerly shipped through the port of Mo- bile, but which now finds its way to market in other directions. Local . saw mills were of course plentiful; these precursers of civilization accom- pany or speedily follow pioneers in a new country, and the founders of new settlements in an old one. But these mills were simple and compar- atively small affairs, generally portable, intended to move on with the advance of civilization or when timber became scarce and too distant to be conveniently brought to the mill. The capacity of these mills varied from 1,500 to 8,000 or 10,000 feet of sawed lumber per day. They were mills for home supply, not for large orders or for foreign shipment. The large merchant mills, now doing such splendid work, are of the recent past, and their advent marked a new era in the manufacture of lumber. These mills will be more particularly referred to in subsequent pages. In 1880, according to the returns collected by the United States
309
INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS.
statisticians for the national census, there were in Alabama 354 saw mills, about one-third of which were driven by water power, using 157 water wheels, aggregating 2,354 horse-power. The other two-thirds were driven by steam power and required 2,077 boilers and 249 engines, fur- nished 6,880 horse-power, making the total horse-power employed 9,234. The capital invested in these 354 mills was $1,545,653. They employed 1,657 hands, whose yearly wages amounted to $424,156. The cost of material used was as follows: Saw logs, $1,157,986; general mill sup- plies, $90,649, making the total cost of material, $1,608,635, The output in lumber and other mill products, in 1880, was 252,851,000 feet; number of laths made, 14,157,000; number of shingles, 5, 427,000; number of staves, 2,357,000; sets of headings, 437,000. The total value of the products named was estimated at $2,649,634.
The Northwestern Lumberman, published in Chicago, gave in 1888 a list of Alabama mills, which made the number then at work 157. As this industry had grown rather than decreased since 1880, it is evident that the census report included a large number of small mills not noticed by the Lumberman. The same authority states that there were in Alabama, in 1886, 70 planing mills, 36 logging railways, and 58 dry kilns. The mills in the state sawing yellow pine lumber for the foreign market are divided into three classes as follows: 1st. Timber mills. 2d. Rough lumber mills. 3d. Flooring mills. Several of the mills combine the three classes mentioned in one establishment. The other mills of the state may also be divided into three classes: 1st. Purely local or neighborhood mills which only work for the local demand. 2d. Mills whose output is shipped mainly or exclusively tothe north and west. 3d. Mills whose principal product is shipped foreign or coastwise through the ports of Mobile and Pensacola.
Mills of a merely local character have already been sufficiently described. They are generally portable; are found where they are needed; fulfill their mission as pioneers, and move on when new settle- ments are formed or give' place to the improved modern mill of large capacity, having such labor saving machinery and which is so economic- ally managed as to reduce the cost of manufacture to a minimum. Mills in the second division, in this classificaiton, are located on the great lines of railroad, or on the numerous branch roads, where freight rates are favorable and where the railway connections with their northern customers are reasonably complete. In the further consideration of this subject, lumber mills, i. e., those mills engaged in cutting the different kinds of lumber, including sawn timber, for shipment by rail or water, will be separately treated. Hewn timber, staves, shingles, etc., will receive attention further on.
The following is a list of lumber mills in operation in Alabama in July, 1892, with' their ownership and output capacity: 1st. The Flowers and Peagler mills, established at Forest, about ten years ago, having a+
310
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
capacity of 40,000 feet per day. 2d. Milner, Caldwell & Flowers have a very complete lumber mill, with planing mill and extensive drying kilns attached, at Bolling, on the Louisville & Nashville railroad, about nine miles southwest of Greenville. This mill was commenced more than five years ago and is doing a large and presumably profitable business. Its capacity is 75,000 feet per day .. 3d. The mills of the W. T. Smith Lum- ber company were built about eight year ago. They are located at Chapman, Butler county, and have a capacity of 40,000 feet of lumber per day. The present owners are successors to the Rocky Creek Lumber company. 4th. The Denham mills, owned by Denham Lumber company, commenced business about eleven years ago. Their capacity is 45,000 feet per day. 5th. The Peach Bloom mills, at Peach Bloom, were founded by the Corbitt Lumber company about five years ago. The business was transferred to Myers & Co., about a year ago. The mills have a capacity of 30,000 feet per day. 6th. The Wilson Lumber company com- menced business at Wilson Station on the Louisville & Nashville railroad about ten years ago. Their mills have a capacity of 30,000 feet per day. 7th. James A. Carney (deceased) built a lumber mill at Carney Station on the Louisville & Nashville railroad about ten years ago, which has a daily capacity of 40,000 feet. 8th. Two years later Mr. William Carney founded a lumber business at Williams Station on the same railroad. This mill has also a capacity of 40,000 feet per day. The cut of the three "ast mentioned mills is generally for the export trade, and is included in the table of exports from Mobile or Pensacola. 9th. The Tallapoosa Lumber company erected large mills at Sistrunk about two years ago (1890), having a daily capacity of 50,000 feet. 10th. The Wadsworth mills.' located at Wadsworth, Autauga county, twenty miles north of Prattville, were established twenty-seven years ago and have a capacity of 40,000 feet per day. The proprietor, Mr. William Wadsworth, is one of the best informed men in Alabama concerning the lumber business, and is familiar with all its details. He is enterpirsing and energetic and well deserves the success which has rewarded his exertions. He is at present of (1892), the able and honored president of the Lumbermen's association of the state. 11th. The Marbury Lumber company was founded by Smith, Taft & Marbury in 1876, having been in business about sixteen years. Their mills have a capacity of 75,000 feet per day. 12th. Duke. Ehrman & Merritt (successors to Duke & Co.) have a lumber business at Clanton, which was established about the year 1880. Their mills can cut 40,000 feet per day. 13th. The Jemison Lumber company, successors to J. O. Smith, are conducting a saw milling business at Jemison. These mills were erected nearly twenty years ago and have a capacity of 25,000 feet per day. 14th. D. W. Rodgers & Co., at Renfroe, have been in business about ten years. The capacity of their mills is 40,000 feet per day. 15th. The Gregory Lumber company have been in the lumber business at Stanton about eight years. The capacity of their mill is 30,000 feet per day
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.