1906 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



45 



Of cotton it produced last year $56,- 

 000,000, being the third state in the 

 Union. 



Of iron it produced last year $20,- 

 000,000, being the fourth state in the 

 Union. 



Of coal it produced $15,000,000, be- 

 ing the fifth state in the Union. 



Of pine it produced about $14,000,- 

 000, being the fifth state in the Union. 



And yet with all this production of 

 lumber, we have yellow pine timber 

 still standing on about 21,000,000 acres 

 in Alabama. 



As has been stated, this is an age of 

 electricity. The forests are the safe- 

 guards of our water powers and guar- 

 antee a more steady and constant flow. 

 The city of Montgomery runs its street 

 railways and illumines its houses and 

 stores with electricity developed thirty 

 miles distant on the Talapoosa River. 

 Emerson Marmillon, of New York, 

 has a two million dollar investment in 

 this enterprise. A further project is 

 now under way for the development of 

 another 10,000 or 15,000 horse power 

 further up the river. Other valuable 

 water sites are being secured. 



The Coosa valley of central Alaba- 

 ma is a veritable wonderland of rich 

 natural resources. Herein are valua- 

 ble ore mines, both brown and red; 

 and side by side solid hills of lime rock 

 for fluxing purposes. Herein are over 

 4,000,000 acres of coal lands the fa- 

 mous Coosa coal fields ; herein are val- 

 uable marble and building stone, min- 

 erals of various kinds, forests of pine 

 and forests of hardwood ; while every 

 vegetable and fruit known to the tem- 

 perate zone grow luxuriantly therein. 

 Winding beautifully thro' this valley 

 flows the majestic Coosa. You may 

 not be aware, perhaps, that from its 

 rise in the Ostenola River in the foot- 



hills of North Georgia to its junction 

 with the Tallapoosa to form the Ala- 

 bama at Montgomery and thence on 

 down to the gulf, the Coosa River pre- 

 sents the longest system of waterways 

 in the United States, the Mississippi 

 and its tributaries only excepted. 



For about one hundred miles of its 

 length it is not navigable, being inter- 

 rupted by shoals. Along this portion 

 of the Coosa are valuable water power 

 sites. Their permanent protection 

 through forest conservation, and later 

 development, will enable electricity to 

 be supplied to all Alabama and Geor- 



gia. 



Edison states that we should cease 

 to transport coal in cars to be used in* 

 cities for power purposes ; but instead 

 establish steam plants at the mouth of 

 the mines and transmit the power itself 

 there generated. It is stated that in 

 California long-distance electric trans- 

 mission is successfullv accomplished 

 over a distance of 300 miles. If this 

 be true, think of the mills and factories 

 this Coosa coal field can electrically 

 supply ! We have as yet scarcely 

 scratched the back of our coal fields in 

 Alabama. 



If, in addition to the hydraulic pow- 

 er developed on the Coosa and tribu- 

 taries, we turn the four million acres 

 of coal into electric power at the mine 

 door and transmit it over long-distance 

 wires within a radius of 300 miles, we 

 can supply all the factories and mills, 

 run all the street railways and lighting 

 systems of the cities of the entire 

 southern states for ages. 



And, as safeguards for the protec- 

 tion of these water powers, as silent 

 sentinels upon our industrial frontier, 

 the forests of Alabama, properly con- 

 served, will shower rich blessings into 

 the lot of all mankind. 



