Alabama River

“ More than a century passed before there is any record of the site of Montgomery being again seen or visited by European travelers or adventurers. In 1697 three adventurous and hardy Englishmen from Carolina went down the Alabama river in boats to the Mobilian Indians, on Mobile Bay, and it may safely be conjectured that they spent a brief season at the Indian village Ikanatchati. In 1714 Bienville came up the Alabama river, and founded Fort Toulouse, near the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers, as a remote French outpost against the British on the east. ”

“ A short distance westward, the Alabama River is formed by the union of the Coosa and Tallapoosa, and coming down a winding course a few miles from the junction, sweeps around a grand bend to then go away towards the setting sun, and ultimately seek the Gulf. The story is that a wearied Creek Indian, seeking quiet in the far-off land, wandered out of the mountains to the fertile plains of this attractive region. ”

“ Prior to the coming of the white man, and for generations, the region on the east side of the Alabama river embracing the capital city, was inhabited by an Indian tribe, known as the Alabamas or Alibamons. ”

“ The Alabama hills, forming a long, undulating chain, and covered with verdant beauty, arise across the river, which, below the precipice, flows gently onward until it reaches the city limits, where the waters again dash with insane fury over clustering bowlders and form the Coweta Falls, which are there arrested and utilized by the palefaced stranger to turn thousands of looms and spindles for his own use and profit. ”

“ At the rise of the river, these shores, often covered with water, are on this account little inhabited. Taking it for granted that the population of Alabama increases in numbers, and the higher land becomes healthier from extirpation of the forest, without doubt dykes will be made on these lower banks, to guard the land from inundation, and II.38 make it susceptible of culture. Here and there rose sand banks out of the water, and also several snags. We passed the place where the year before, a steam-boat, the Henry Clay, was sunk ”

“ No plantation on the Alabama River lies better or is probably more healthy. The quality of land about the average of Alabama River. I think I risk nothing in saying it is the best improved plantation in the State of Alabama.”
“For Sale or Rent.—My plantation, one mile above Montgomery, immediately on the river, containing about 2,000 acres, 1,300 in cultivation. There is a steam grist-mill, which propels two gins, on the place, and every other improvement which constitutes a complete plantation. I will rent for a share in the crop. ”

“ The soil in this district (and, indeed, in many parts of Alabama and Georgia) is as red as that of South Devon, and has naturally imparted its tint to the swirling Alabama river, which, when I saw 95it, reminded me of the rivers through which Thomas the Rhymer rode in the old ballad:
“For a’ the blude that’s shed on earth
Rins through the springs o’ that countrie.” I was much disappointed not to find at his Alabama home Mr. Edgar G. Murphy, whose book on “The Present South” proves him not only a humane and judicious thinker, but one of the most accomplished living writers of America. ”

“ It flows W. as far as Selma, then S.W. until, about 45 m. from Mobile, it unites with the Tombigbee to form the Mobile and Tensas rivers, which discharge into Mobile Bay. The course of the Alabama is tortuous; its width varies from 200 to 300 yds., its depth from 3 to 7 ft.; its length by the United States Survey is 312 m., by steamboat measurement, 420 m. The river crosses the richest agricultural and timber districts of the state, and railways connect it with the mineral regions of north central Alabama. ”

“ The Black Warrior River winds slowly among the rolling southern foothills. On the banks of this river many centuries ago there flourished a great Indian metropolis. Here dwelt a pleasant and contented people whose story is not of warring braves but of peaceful artisans. ”

“ When it is added that the Alabama river, navigable all the year round, connects her with the Gulf of Mexico, it will be seen that her facilities as a trade and business center leave little to be desired.
No city is more completely equipped with all the conveniences that make the modern city than Montgomery. ”

“ The galaxy of the names of Alabama’s worthy sons would be incomplete with the omission of that of Governor Benjamin Fitzpatrick. An uneducated and orphaned boy, he came to Alabama from Greene County, Georgia, in 1816, to assist in the planting interests of his elder brothers, whose lands lay along the eastern bank of the Alabama River, about six miles outside of Montgomery. He never attended school more than six months of his life, and in his early days was inured to the rough encounters of the world. Colonel Brewer states in his history of Alabama that Mr. ”

“ The Alabama flows through the richest cotton country in the world. It winds about as if it had taken a contract to water as much of the state as possible, and give a good steamboat landing to every plantation. Our general course, from Mobile to Montgomery, was north-east, but we were often steaming for hours south-west, and in every other direction. The distance, as the crow flies, is a hundred and sixty miles: by the river it is little less than four hundred. ”

“ Rich bottom-lands usually inundated during several weeks of every year; central and western New York and southeastern Ontario, and westward through southern Ohio, southern Michigan, Indiana and Illinois to southeastern Iowa and southeastern Nebraska, through Missouri and Arkansas to southeastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma, and southward through eastern Pennsylvania to western West Virginia; in southeastern Tennessee; banks of the Alabama River, Dallas County, Alabama, and in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. ”

“ In the northern part of Alabama there are beautiful and fertile valleys adapted to the culture of both cotton and grain. On the other hand, there are hills unfit for cultivation. Between these two extremes there are upland tracts of moderate fertility, capable of producing a third or a quarter of a bale to the acre. This is the region of small farms and few negroes.
The climate throughout the elevated portions of the State is healthy and delightful. On the low river bottoms there is much suffering from fevers and mosquitoes.
The common-school system of Alabama is very imperfect. ”

“ The Alabama is navigable throughout the year. In 1878 the Federal government undertook to make a channel the length of the Alabama 200 ft. wide and 4 ft. deep; an amendment in 1891 provided for a 6-ft. channel at low water, and in June 1907 this work was reported as “10% completed” at an expenditure of $303,659. The Mobile river is navigable for vessels of about 14 ft. draft. The Alabama is an important carrier of cotton, cotton seed, fertilizer, cereals, lumber, naval stores, &c. ”

“ It ranges from just south of the terminal moraine in New York and Indiana to central Alabama, nearly always forming dense groves or thickets with little admixture of other trees. It is common in the coastal plain of Virginia north of the James River, but farther south seems to be confined to the highlands. In Alabama its distribution is approximately coextensive with the coal region, where it is a familiar feature of the landscape. It grows in rather dry, poor, often rocky soil, but not quite the poorest. ”

“ MEN WHO HAVE MADE ALABAMA
WILLIAM WYATT BIBB
On the extreme eastern boundary of Washington County, on a bluff overlooking the Tombigbee River from the west, is the site of old St. Stephens, the original, or territorial, capital of Alabama. At one time it had a population of perhaps three thousand, composed largely of immigrants from Virginia. At the time of its selection as the seat of territorial government it was about the only place in the territory fitted to become a capital, though Huntsville, on the extreme north, was also a town of considerable pretension. ”

“ It was not possible to do so; commerce would find a way in spite of the war. The people of Alabama were, on the whole, disposed to approve the policy of the Confederate authorities, but, when want and destitution came, the owners of cotton proceeded to find a way to sell a few bales. Early in 1863 north Alabama was occupied by the Federals, and trade began along the line of the Tennessee River. Later, there were trade lines to the northwest through Mississippi, and to the northeast through Georgia and Tennessee. ”

“ Manufactures of open-hearth steel and of cotton goods have greatly advanced in recent years.
Transportation. The state is traversed by about 5,225 miles of railway. The rivers of the state furnish 1,500 miles of navigable waters, the main streams, the Alabama and the Tombigbee, connecting with the port of Mobile through the Mobile River.
Education. Alabama maintains separate schools for white and colored children, and applies the public school fund in exact proportion to the two classes of schools. ”

“ The Indians were now concentrated at Tohopeka, or the Horse Shoe, the peninsula already mentioned, which was formed by a sharp bend of the Tallapoosa River, as the reader will see by reference to any good map of Alabama, as the place has not lost its name. ”

“ Alabama usually ranks fourth in the value of her cotton product. Corn is next in importance, and its acreage is almost equal to that of cotton, but the product is of much less value. Oats are the only crop that has experienced a remarkable increase in cultivation—an increase about commensurate with the decrease in the cultivation of wheat, which has become relatively unimportant, though the past decade has witnessed a revival. These and small quantities of other cereals are grown most extensively in the “cereal belt,” or the valley of the Tennessee River in the northern part of the State. ”

“ In 1798 Congress organized the region included between the Mississippi River on the west, the Chattahoochee on the east, the 31st parallel on the south, and a line drawn from the mouth of the Yazoo into Mississippi Territory, and in 1804 extended its northern boundary to Tennessee; in April, 1813, the Mobile district was taken from the Spanish by the United States and annexed to Mississippi territory. ”

“ An act to authorize the Mobile and West Alabama Railroad Company to construct and maintain a bridge across the Tombigbee River between the counties of Clarke and Choctaw, Alabama, in section seven, township nine, range one west, of Saint Stephens meridian. ”

“ On the west side of the river were living their neighbors the Coshatties, who spoke the same language. These peoples, as is learned from linguistic evidence, were more nearly akin to the Choctaws and Chickasaws than to the Muscogees. Like other Indians, they were mound builders. ”

“ Communications.—The navigable mileage of the Alabama rivers is 2000 m., but obstructions often prevent the formation of a continuous route, notably the “Muscle Shoals” of the Tennessee, extending from a point 10 m. below Decatur to Florence, a distance of 38 m. To remove or circumvent these impediments, and to improve the Mobile harbour, the United States government spent, between 1870 and 1904, approximately $12,000,000. As the streams in the mineral region are not navigable, the railways are the carriers of its products. ”

“ Soil.—In the S. part of the State the soil is a light alluvial and diluvial; in the central, the cotton belt, limestone and chalk lands predominate; and in the N. part, which contains the Tennessee valley, are exceedingly rich mineral lands. Besides the agricultural, mineral, and grazing lands, there are large tracts of valuable yellow pine forests.
Agriculture.—The production and value of the principal crops in 1919 was as follows: Corn, 62,843,000 bushels, valued at $99,920,000; wheat, 1,242,000 bushels, valued at $3,043,000; oats, 6,696,000 bushels, valued at $7,031,000 ”

“ Alabama has been blessed by God as few states in this Union have been blessed. Our state owns ten per cent of all the natural resources of all the states in our country. Our inland waterway system is second to none...and has the potential of being the greatest waterway transport system in the entire world. We possess over thirty minerals in usable quantities and our soil is rich and varied, suited to a wide variety of plants. Our native pine and forestry system produces timber faster than we can cut it and yet we have only pricked the surface of the great lumber and pulp potential. ”

“ There were 7.81 miles for every 100 square miles of territory, and 22.55 miles for every 10,000 inhabitants. Almost every trunk line of the South passes through Birmingham. There is a State Railroad Commission, which fixes rates, but railroads are not bound to adopt them. In case of damage suits, however, the rates fixed by the commission are prima facie reasonable. Mobile is the only seaport, and the chief exports are cotton, coal, and lumber. New Orleans takes the bulk of the cotton for export trade, and Pensaeola the lumber. ”

“ The rich black prairie belt touches us on the south and certainly contains some of the finest and most productive lands in the Union. It is just undulating enough to afford good drainage. The prairie soil is naturally so rich that fertilizers have been used very little, and the all-cotton system of farming which has been practiced almost to the exclusion of every other crop since 1865, has impoverished the farmers to such an extent that large prairie farms have been turned over entirely to negro tenants. ”