76 



RESOURCES OF SOUTHERN ALABAMA. 



largest is Elberta, settled by Germans. Next in importance 

 is Silver Hill, settled in 1894 by Swedes, most of whom seem 

 to have come not direct from Sweden but from the north 

 central states. Newer and smaller colonies are those of 

 Italians and of Greeks near Daphne, Russian Jews near Bay 

 Minette, and Croatians near Perdido ; and this probably does 

 not exhaust the list. Quite recently it has been proposed to 

 complicate matters still further by bringing to the same 

 county some Russian Doukhobors from Canada, but this has 

 met with some opposition. The development of these col- 

 onies in the next few decades should present some interest- 

 ing sociological problems. 



FIG. 24. Business portion of Stockton, an old settlement near 

 the Tensaw River in northern Baldwin County. The large oaks give 

 some idea of the age of the village. October 31, 1919. 



The principal railroads are the Louisville & Nashville; 

 Mobile & Ohio ; Southern ; Alabama, Tennessee & Northern ; 

 Gulf, Florida & Alabama; and Gulf, Mobile & Northern 

 (formerly N. 0., M. & C., and before that M. J. & K. C.) 



The public roads are pretty good considering the sparse 

 population, for sand and clay in the right amounts for sur- 

 facing them can be found nearly everywhere. The roads 

 run mostly on divides, but in the southern part of Baldwin 

 County, where the relief is slight, and the number of settlers 

 from the prairie states considerable, there is a marked tend- 

 ency to locate them on section lines, as in the plains and 

 prairies of the West. This arrangement may save a little 

 mental exertion in laying them out, but is regrettable be- 

 cause it makes any two places at opposite corners of a sec- 



