CITIES, AMERICAN. (BIBMIXGHAM, BOWLING GBEEX.) 



159 



denominations, and a new school-building, An- 

 uiston being a separate school-district. Two 

 pay-schools, for boys and girls, stone struct- 

 ures, are the gift to the town of Mr. Noble. 



Birmingham, a city of Jefferson County, Ala., 

 50 miles north of the center of the State, 100 

 miles from Montgomery, 349 miles from New 

 Orleans, and 1,017 miles from New York. It 

 was founded in 1871 by the Ely ton Land Com- 

 pany, owning 4,150 acres, with capital of $200,- 

 000. Its altitude above sea-level is 602 feet. 

 The population in 1880 was 4,500; in 1885, 

 21.347; in 1886, 30,000; in October, 1887, 

 41.725; in October, 1888, it was estimated at 

 50,000. About 40 per cent, are colored. Sur- 

 rounding villages, sustained by the city, make 

 the population of the district between 65.000 

 and 70.000. The taxable valuation of property 

 in 1881 was $2,053,375.37; in 1887, $33,019,- 

 increase in the county during the same 

 period, over $26,000,000. "The sales of the 

 Land Company for the year 1885-'86 were 

 $2.250,000 : for the first three weeks in Au- 

 gust, 1887, $1,000,000. The debt of the city 

 "5,000. Iron is the prominent industry. 

 Ore is supplied by Red mountain, six miles 

 distant, estimated to contain 500,000,000,000 

 tons. The thickness of beds on an average is 

 22 feet, and the impurities are of lime, assist- 

 ing fluxing. Limestone lies in the valley. 

 Coal is also distant six miles, in the Warrior 

 field, the largest in the State. One million 

 tons of coke are required yearly by the dis- 

 trict. The cost of manufacturing pig-iron is 

 $9 a ton. There are 21 furnaces, the first of 

 which, within corporate limits, went into blast 

 in 1880. The daily output is 2,073 tons. Six 

 trunk railroads enter the city, which has a 

 Union passenger depot, and others are in 

 course of construction. There are numerous 

 branch, belt, and short mineral roads. Com- 

 petitive rates lower the cost of transportation. 

 There are 66 miles of street-railway, in horse- 

 car and dummy lines, electric-lights and gas- 

 works, 4 daily and 11 weekly newspapers, 

 and 37 churches. There are 11 banks, pos- 

 sessing aggregate capital, surplus, and undi- 

 vided pro'tit of $2.750,000, with deposits 

 amounting to $2,600,000. Education is under 

 the control of a board of commissioners. There 

 are 34 public schools in 8 buildings, a college, 

 an academy, and numerous private schools. 

 The drainage is not completed ; but the War- 

 ing system has been adopted, and from seven to 

 eight miles of sewers are constructed yearly. 

 The water-supply is also insufficient; $500,000 

 have been appropriated for enlargement of 

 works, and it is proposed to tunnel Red 

 mountain to the Cah'aba river, eight miles dis- 

 tant. An abundant supply will result, with 

 pressure almost sufficient to dispense with fire- 

 engines. An appropriation of $300,000 for a 

 Government edifice has been recently made 

 by Congress. The manufactures, which are 

 shipped throughout the United States and to 

 Canada and Mexico, and exported to Europe, 



are of iron, steel, and wood, lumber being 

 derived from virgin forests. In addition to 

 the larger industries iron-works, foundries, 

 machine and car shops, roiling and planing 

 mills, etc. are bridge and bolt, iron-roofing, 

 tool, tack, furniture, stove, soap, carriage and 

 wagon, and clothing factories, brick and fire- 

 brick works, breweries, steam-bottling works, 

 and a cotton-compress. The total number of 

 employes is 22,010; yearly wages and salaries, 

 $10,010,892. The annual volume of busings 

 is $56,000,000. Convict labor is employed in 

 the mines. The climate is healthful. There 

 are three summer-resorts and seventeen hotels. 

 Bowling Green, the county-seat of Wood 

 County, Ohio, in the great northwestern Ohio 

 natural-gas and oil field, 20 miles south of 

 Toledo, on the Toledo, Columbus, and South- 

 ern Railway. The population in 1885 was 

 2,000; at present it is 4,000. Gas was found 

 in 1885, and 21 wells have been drilled, aver- 

 aging in depth 1,100 feet, and varying in flow 

 from 1,000,000 to 5,000,000 cubic feet a day. 

 The formation is: Drift, 10 feet; limestones, 

 400 ; shales, 680 ; Trenton, 20. As a rule, gas 

 is found in the Trenton rock at a depth of 10 

 feet, the volume being determined by the po- 

 rosity. About 40 wells are scattered over 

 Wood County, yielding, at a low estimate, 

 160,000,000 cubic feet daily. The field is di- 

 vided, Bowling Green occupying the center of 

 the larger area. Oil was discovered in 1886. 

 The county owns 104 wells, producing daily 

 10,400 barrels ; and 9 miles from the city, at 

 Cygnet, is the tank-farm, of 50 tanks, holding 

 35,000 barrels each, from which oil is pumped 

 to refineries distant 45 miles. The capacity 

 of the pipe-line is 8,000 barrels daily, and ex- 

 tensions to Chicago and Toledo are proposed. 

 The depth of the wells is from 1.175 to 2,000 

 feet, and from 35 to 50 feet in the Trenton 

 sandstone. The pool is estimated to contain 

 60 square miles, and 100,000 acres of land in 

 the county are under lease for gas and oil pur- 

 poses. The town is on a limestone ridge, and 

 lime, burned by gas in four patent kilns, is sold 

 below competition by that made with coal and 

 wood fuel. Glass-sand abounds, and there are 

 four glass-factories, employing 500 hands. 

 The quality of the glass, it is claimed, is im- 

 proved by gas-burning. There are 2 planing- 

 mills, and a rolling-mill is being constructed. 

 Incubators, also, are heated by gas. There 

 are 5 newspapers (1 in the German language), 

 2 banks (both private), with aggregate depos- 

 its of $300,000 ; total capital, surplus, and de- 

 posits, over $1,000,000. Four hundred resi- 

 dences and several business blocks were con- 

 structed in 1887. Water-works are projected, 

 costing from $50,000 to $75,000. The drain- 

 age is good, and the streets are wide. Two 

 railroad lines secure outlets to the Great Lakes 

 and trunk lines, and competing rates reduce 

 freight. Additional facilities will be added 

 by a branch road that has been surveyed 

 through the town. The county fair-ground 



