USA > Alabama > Reminiscences of public men in Alabama : for thirty years, with an appendix > Part 46
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Mr. Jones was certainly the most diffident young man I ever knew in the Legislature, of his culture and general intelligence. He really appeared as bashful as a timid young lady. He had a fine person, tall, well proportioned, and a handsome face, with a complexion red and fresh, the very picture of health and temper- ance. Of course, he seldom participated in debate, but in the details of business he took a lively interest, and was fully up to the mark of a young legislator.
But if quiet and unobtrusive in the General Assembly, where
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talent and experience often alarm the diffidence of youth unnec- essarily, there was a position in his subsequent life in which the true merit of his character, as a son of Alabama, was exhibited. After retiring from public life, he prosecuted the practice of his profession, and developed a legal character of no ordinary mould, whilst he also became a man of mark in the cultivation of the higher moral and social qualities. In 1860, the writer met him at Montgomery, where the two Conventions had assembled, and although we attended different places of meeting, I found him warm-hearted and friendly, yet fired with a conviction of the rights and wrongs of the South.
After the organization of the Confederate Government, Mr. Jones volunteered in the service, and was elected Colonel of the 4th Alabama Regiment, and was ordered to Virginia where he arrived with his command in time to take part in the first battle of Manassas. Here he, and the men under his command, distin- guished themselves, and reflected honor on the State for stubborn bravery and endurance in resisting the repeated attacks of the enemy. It is said that Col. Jones maintained his position at the head of his regiment, calm and determined, until he was mortally wounded, and borne off the field. He was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and died as a Christian; and was among the first of Alabama's native sons to offer his life in defense of her rights and her honor, when both were invaded.
ELIJAH KERR, of Benton, came from South Carolina, and set- tled in Alabama in 1836 where he has since resided. He was induced to take a seat in the House, in 1845; but his tastes and inclinations made him prefer private life afterward. He was a silent, yet attentive member, in discharging his legislative duties, and was affable in his intercourse with those around him. He is a gentleman of solid character, of respectable intelligence, and has long exerted a healthful influence in his county. Mr. Kerr is a Democrat, and a leading member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
AMos R. MANNING, of Marengo, came into the House, 1845, it being his first session as a member. He was a lawyer, well versed in business details, intelligent and industrious, and contrib- uted no little by his ready attention and ability, to the dispatch of the public business. A fluent speaker, always prepared for the tilt, he entered freely into the discussions on the floor, and was listened to with attention and respect. His voice was agreeable, and his style that of a scholar. His arguments were always marked with ability.
In 1849, Mr. Manning was returned to the Senate, where he
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served through a term of four years, in which time, with en- larged experience, his usefulness as a legislator increased. After this, he removed to Mobile where he has since resided, engaged in the practice of the law. He belonged to the Whig party, but was tolerant in his feelings, and a social, pleasant gentleman in society, relaxing at times into the pleastantries and anecdotes of the familiar circle. If I mistake not, Mr. Manning is a native of Alabama.
THOMAS M. PETERS, of Lawrence, graduated at the University of Alabama, in the class of 1834, with C. C. Clay, Jr., of Madison, and Walter H. Crenshaw, of Butler, both of whom have acquired distinction in the public service.
Mr. Peters took his seat in the House for the first time, in 1845, was a Whig, entirely self-possessed, sensible, and fond of taking part in the debates as they occurred. In 1847, he was elected to the Senate from Lawrence and Walker, and in this body preserved his character for speech making, as well as that for general intelli- gence. He was rather a strong man intellectually, though he was a little impatient when a leading rank was not accorded to him.
After serving through his term in the Senate, Mr. Peters re- mained in private life, in the practice of the law, until the reor- ganization of parties under the reconstruction policy of Congress, when he allied himself with the Republican, or Radical party; and through the influence of the bayonet, or during the bayonet rule, he was elected a delegate to the Convention to form the Constitution under which the people of Alabama are now living. He was the nominee of the Radical party for a seat upon the Bench of the Supreme Court, and, under the rule then predom- inating, obtained it, and now sits upon the Bench from which the law has been expounded in other days by such men as Goldthwaite, Collier, Ormond, Chilton, Dargan, and others of equal merit.
JAMES R. POWELL, of Coosa, is a native of Virginia, and, in his seventeenth year came to Alabama, in 1833, in quest of for- tune. His education was respectable, and he assisted a while in the teachers' department of an academy in Lowndes county. He was buoyant with hope and industry. After he had laid the foun- dation for business, he sent for his father, Col. Addison Powell, a Virginia gentleman of the olden time, and the family removed to Montgomery, where they kept a hotel under the firm of Addison Powell & Son. The father died in a few years. His widow, the mother of James R. Powell, a lady of culture and amiable char- acter, lived many years thereafter, raising a family. A career of great enterprise and success was soon opened to the son.
In 1845, he was elected to the House from Coosa county, with his colleague Col. Howell Rose, both gentlemen of ability. Being
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deeply interested, in common with their constituents, in the re- moval of the Seat of Government to Wetumpka, they applied themselves diligently to this enterprise, and obtained a very re- spectable support for their town, as may be seen by the table of ballots in another place in this volume.
Col. Powell was a shrewd, practical man, and often addressed the House in a brief, but very sensible manner, in behalf of or against any measure, as he might think proper, and as his judg- ment dictated. He was very active and useful on Committees, and in the general dispatch of the public business. His suggest- ions always denoted a closely observing mind, and a rare degree of penetration.
In 1853, he was nominated for the Senate by the Democrats, and was elected. He served that session, and through the session of 1855, when he retired from the Legislature. In the meantime he had become extensively interested in mail contracts, which, through great energy and skillful management, proved a source of revenue to him. At the close of his Senatorial term, he made Montgomery the seat of his financial operations, and he has since resided in that city, with ample means at his command, and a large property to reward his toils.
Col. Powell traveled extensively in Europe during the year 1870, and wrote several letters which were published in the Mont- gomery papers, giving a very interesting description of the places of note which he had visited, with a variety of observations show- ing faculties as a writer and a thinker, which do him much credit. He well deserves the prosperity for which he has so diligently labored, and which will render the evening of life agreeable and comfortable.
But the greatest enterprise in the way of building up cities, mining and manufacturing establishments in the South, is that of the Elyton Land Company, with the new city of Birmingham as its center, which originated with Col. Powell. As data upon which the future may be calculated from the resources brought to light, several letters are here reproduced, the first from the "Montgomery Advertiser," dated:
BIRMINGHAM, April 3d, 1872.
Editors Advertiser-I have seen several letters of late from this place, in which great surprise is expressed at the rapid growth of Birmingham, and in which a faint description of its improvements is given. But, Messrs. Editors, the truth is the writers were afraid to tell the whole, for fear of taxing the credulity of their readers to too great an extent. The half has not been told; and when we come to minutely examine the surroundings, there is no cause for surprise.
Atlanta, before the war, had no advantage of Birmingham in point of railroad facilities. Upon the completion of the South and North Railroad, Birmingham will be accessible to the great cities of the Northwest, having a direct communica- tion with Louisville, Nashville, Memphis, Cincinnati and Chicago. It now has connection by the Alabama & Chattanooga Railroad, via Chattanooga, with Rich-
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mond, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York ; and via Meridian, with Mobile and New Orleans; and via Montgomery, with the Atlantic ports at Savannah and Brunswick. This much Atlanta also had, and no more. In addition to all these, Birmingham has rich and fertile agricultural lands around it, and the first mineral country in the world. The beds of coal, iron and lime that surround it are simply inexhaustible. Enterprising men from the North are being daily attracted to Birmingham by the wonderful stories told of its great wealth, now buried in the bowels of the earth. When once on the spot, they find themselves spell-bound by the superior quality and quantity of the ores, and they at once resolve to invest. Yet Atlanta, which twenty-five years ago was a mere wilder- ness, is now a growing city of thirty-five or forty thousand inhabitants. I remem- ber well, as you doubtless do, Messrs. Editors, the contemptuous remarks and sneers made at the predictions about Atlanta, and even now there are those who will not believe Atlanta anything more than a mushroom town-for,
"Convince a fool against his will, He'll be of the same opinion still."
So it is with Birmingham; but let any one who doubts, come and see for him- self, and like the writer, though his expectations may run high, he will neverthe- less be surprised. A little more than seven months ago, the site of Birmingham was a cotton-field. There was not a hut upon the place. When the founder, the indefatigable and enterprising Col. Powell (the present Duke), with his surveyor, Mr. Parker, and his clerk, Mr. Milner, landed at Birmingham to lay off the streets, they were compelled to go into camps. On the 8th of August,. 1871, the foundation for the first house was laid, and on the 29th of August it was ready for use. On the 19th of December thereafter, the city was incorporated by the Alabama Legislature, (application having been made only three weeks before,) and a Mayor and City Council were immediately elected. Col. R. H. Henly, a talented young lawyer, and the editor of the "Sun," has the honor of being the first Mayor of this promising young city.
There are now over 300 buildings, 80 framed storehouses, 20 brick stores and houses two and three stories high, and 40 brick stores under contract, and to be built this summer. There are also two planing mills, and sash and blind factories, two grist mills, one cotton factory, (being built,) one foundry and machine shop, two hotels, five restaurants, ten boarding-houses, one Episcopal Church, eight brick-yards, two lime-kilns, three stone quarries, two butcher pens, six physcians, six lawyers, two newspapers, two job printing offices, one livery stable, three blacksmith and wagon shops, two paint stores, two news depots, five bar and bil- liard saloons, three hardware stores, two furniture stores, and last, but not least, a perfeet Mohammed's paradise of lovely women.
Here are representatives from all sections of Alabama. Having a tolerably extensive acquaintance in the State, I found old friends and acquaintances from every direction, and they are all men of enterprise and full of vim. To give you an idea of how business is done, I will relate an incident that occurred some weeks ago. Happening to be in Jacksonville I met on the train, as I was leaving, an old and valued friend in the person of Jim Morris, from West Point, Ga. After the usual salutations, said I, "Jim, where are you going? What are you doing out here?" He replied, "I have heard so much of Birmingham, that I have con- cluded to go and see the place for myself." "Do you intend to settle there ?" said I. "Don't know, may if I like it." We separated and I heard no more of Jim until yesterday, when walking along in amazement at the rapid growth of the town, some one called to me from the opposite side of the street, (Cor. 2d Avenue and 20th street.) I went over and found the veritable Jim. He had built a fine store room, and stocked it full of furniture that would not disgrace the magnifi- cent rooms of our respected and beloved old friend, Jno. Powell. Nor is this all; he has nearly completed another two-story store house, and looks as jovial and happy as he used to look while doing such a thriving business in West Point.
I merely mention this to illustrate how things are done in B -. The Meth- odists, Baptists and Presbyterians are all making arrangements to build Churches. I had the pleasure of meeting and spending a few hours quite pleasantly with
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Father McDonough, of Tuskaloosa, who, by the way, is one of the most talented, learned and pleasant gentlemen in the South. He informed me that it was his intention to begin work at an early day upon the Catholic Church at this place, and from all that I could learn, it will be an ornament to his Church as well as to the city of Birmingham. It will have about 100 members to begin with.
Now, Messrs. Editors, these things being strictly true, as every citizen of the place will testify, what may we not expect of Birmingham, should the other con- templated railroads be built ? And why should they not ?
If you will take your map and follow me, I think I can show you the practica- bility, probability and vast importance of each and every one of these roads. The S. & N. and the A. & C .; Roads being already built, we will begin with the Georgia Western Road. This Road, it is conceded, will surely be built. Atlanta is bound, in self-defense to build it, in order to open up the vast fields of iron and coal in N. W. Georgia and N. E. Alabama. The Road to West Point, known as the West Point L. & B. (Narrow Gauge) Railroad, I am assured by the citizens of West Point will soon be commenced. The Savannah & Memphis is being pushed forward by capitalists at the North, and there is not a shadow of a doubt as to its early completion. Selma, I learn, is determined, at all hazards, to have a direct communication with Birmingham, by means of an air line road from Ashby, a point on the Selma, Rome & Dalton Railroad a few miles south of Montevallo. Mobile will never allow the "Grand Trunk" to stop short of Birmingham. Now comes the Road of Roads, the one most important to the cities of Birmingham, Montgomery, St. Louis and Brunswick, viz: the Elyton, Corinth & Tennessee River Railroad.
As you will readily perceive, this Road will form almost an air line from St. Louis, via Birmingham and Montgomery, to Brunswick, Ga., on the Atlantic Coast. It will begin at Pittsburg landing, on the Tennessee River, and run through the counties of Walker, Winston, Marion and Franklin to Birmingham in Jeffer- son county. I have just had the pleasure of meeting Dr. A. M. Johnson, the Sec- retary, an intelligent and well-informed gentleman, who informs me that a survey of this Road has been completed to Birmingham. It passes through the best coal regions of Alabama, as yet untouched, and will place Montgomery in as direct com- munication with St. Louis as it will shortly be with Louisville. It will therefore give us two outlets to the great North-west.
This Road, shortening the distance, as it does, from St. Louis to the Atlantic Coast, at Bruuswick, Ga., by 80 miles or more. will afford us the great desideratum of our people, viz: direct communication with Europe. It will opon to us the immense cribs and meat houses of the Queen City of the West, where we can deal with friends and sympathizers. When this matter is properly viewed by our own citizens, and the citizens of St. Louis, Brunswick and other places equally inter- ested, I am forced to believe that this important Road will be speedily built. It is a matter in which Montgomery is or should be deeply interested, because this road will afford two sources from which to draw her supplies, instead of one as now.
I have made this letter much longer than I intended when I started, but I can- not even yet find my consent to conclude it without paying a deserved tribute to the noble, patriotic and energetic citizens of Jefferson county, and especially those of Elyton and Birmingham. They are the men and women who truly " constitute a State," who always have been and always will be its chief ornament and support.
The second letter is from Col. Powell himself, published in the "Corinth (Miss.) Ledger," addressed to the Hon. J. F. Arnold, President of the E. C. & Tenn. R. R., dated-
BIRMINGHAM, ALA., April 4, 1872.
MY DEAR SIR: Your favor of 23d of March received, contents noted, and I hasten to reply. * * * * * * * *
Dr. Johnson is here doing good work for your enterprise, which I consider the greatest work now in contemplation in the South, in connecting this country, by a short line railroad, to St. Louis and the Northwest. In a political aspect, it is
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admirable to contemplate the advantages of identifying the Queen City of the West with the heart of the South by the shortest practicable railroad line con- necting with deep water navigation at Pittsburg Landing, on the Tennessee River. It is interesting to see a down-trodden people, as we are, so much excited in en- couraging the rivalry of St. Louis in her contest with New York for financial and commercial supremacy, which, in time, she must obtain, when the great Missis- sippi Valley is populated by her unborn millions. We crave to cement ourselves with the Queen City of the West, and help her to become the political metropolis of the United States, as well as the financial and commercial metropolis of this continent; and she has only to stretch forth her arms with her mighty power, and take us into her embraces and relieve us from that fostering protection which has well nigh destroyed us. We want free intercommunication with a people who sympathize with with us in our political afflictions, which have been more oppres- sive since the war than the war itself.
Before St. Louis can build this great railroad from Pittsburg Landing (160 miles) to Birmington, there will be completed railroads from this place to Atlanta, Georgia, to Opelika and Savannah, to Mobile and Pennsacola, (the roads to Mont- gomery, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Meridian being already finished).
The Savannah and Memphis being in fact a part of your line, you will have free and direct communication with Savannah and Brunswick, from one or both of which should be established mail, passenger and freight steamers to Europe, as are now enjoyed by New York. Thus St. Louis will be placed in quick communi- cation with the South, and direct communication with Europe, by which she will be able to supply the whole South and West on as good terms as New York can do.
Our city is progressing well, and all we need now to give additional impetus to investments in foundries and machine. shops, is the construction of competing lines of transportation to authorize large investments. We, at Birmingham, rely with great confidence upon your route to supply us with cheap food, to feed the millions who, in the course of years, will be required to work on the minerals of this favored locality. To say nothing of other minerals, such as marble, slate, etc., the inexhaustible abundance of coal and iron, limestone and sandstone-all indispensible elements in making iron-and all n close proximity and in greater abundance here than in any other locality in the world, makes it peculiarly appro- paiate that we should be closely identified with the granaries and meat-houses of the great Northwest, by which we can exchange our commodities with such recip- rocal advantages; when, with iron and coal in such abundance, and all the ele- ments at hand to make cheap iron, and enough to supply the workshops and laborers of the world through two or three centuries, how can we limit the popn- lation of this country, when we will be able to get food from the Northwest as cheaply as at St. Louis prices, adding transportation, four hundred miles by water and one hundred and sixty miles by land, which small additional cost to the la- borer in the item of food is more than compensated by the use of less fuel and cheaper and less expensive clothing and winter goods, to say nothing of the greater number of days in which labor can be performed in this genial and healthful cli- mate than in latitudes frozen four or five months in the year.
You will be surprised to know that in three months and twenty days after our first house was built, Birmingham was incorporated a city, on the 19th of Decem- ber last, with twelve hundred inhabitants, and forty-eight large stores, eighteen of which are two story brick. Now we have four hundred houses, among which are one hundred and fifty dwellings, many of these first class, eighteen brick and two stone stores, two and three stories high; eighty framed stores, one large hotel and livery stable, ten boarding houses, five restaurants, one foundry and machine shop, three blacksmith shops, two planing mills and sash and blind factories, two grist mills, one cotton factory commenced and parties at the North engaged in buy- ing the machinery, besides about two hundred good class houses, many of them brick, now under contract to be built this year. All the buildings and enterprises mentioned above are finished and in successful operation, except the foundry and machine shop, which is not yet commenced-the lots are engaged for that pur- pose. Nine brick-yards are now employed actively in making brick, under a con- tract to make each a million of brick, to be sold at not more than seven dollars
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per thousand, and will probably make each two millions-the Elyton Land Com- pany agreeing to furnish the land and wood free of charge for that purpose, to insure cheap brick to builders. Lime-kilns are in successful operation, affording abundance of excellent lime on the premises, and several quarries of rock are opened, which give choice to builders to use that material instead of brick.
In short, we are a live people in Birmingham, without any connection with the Northwest, which we soon hope to have, by the South & North Alabama Railroad, to Louisville, Cincinnati and Chicago; and live in hope to have direct connection with the Queen City of the West, that she may exchange her breadstuffs and other supplies with the prospective and natural Queen City of the South for her iron and coal.
You observe that this subject swells into such proportions that it is difficult to conclude a letter when you attempt to handle it.
You will, however, excuse me for trespassing upon your time, and hoping to see you soon, I am truly your friend,
J. R. POWELL.
The third letter is also from Col. Powell, as President of the Elyton Land Company, addressed to John M. Caldwell, Indian- apolis, Indiana, and published in the "Indianapolis Sentinel," as follows:
OFFICE OF ELYTON LAND COMPANY, BIRMINGHAM, ALA., April 28, 1872.
MY DEAR SIR: Yours of the 17th instant received, asking me to "give you my views on this section of Alabama in reference to its mineral advantages." I shall be very glad to see you located in this favorable locality-Jones' Valley-favored because of its wonderful developments of minerals-coal, iron slate, marble, and lead. Those minerals, the sources of great wealth to a country, including sand- stone and limestone, are in inexhaustible quantities in this valley.
Here, according to the united testimony of every iron master from the principal works of Europe and America, (and we have had their representatives here) iron can be made more cheaply than in any other locality, because all the elements which make iron are in such close proximity, and in exhaustless abundance.
This locality must surely be the Birmingham of America. Railroads permeat- ing the cotton belt of Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Mississippi are being built, and in rapid progress of construction to this point, while, during this year, our direct railroad connections will be complete, via Decatur, Alabama, with Louis- ville, Kentucky, and the markets of the Northwest.
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