MURPHREE'S VALLEY; CONCLUSION. 127 



to this the further fact, that the streams which have cut 

 accessible ways to the coal, have also cut the iron ore ridges 

 and the limestone, and formed accessible ways to them. 

 Hence the water supply is intermediate between the neces- 

 sary raw materials, or may be so selected, that the ore, the 

 flux and the fuel, may be brought together by the same 

 track. The necessary distance that these would have to be 

 carried would vary with location from half a mile to two 

 miles only. Such contiguity of raw material and ample 

 water has not been elsewhere seen ; and probably does not 

 exist anywhere else in the State of Alabama. But before 

 any attempt 'to utilize these is made, careful and extensive 

 tests of the coking qualities of the coal, and its adaptation 

 to furnace use, should also be made. If this and the ores 

 give satisfactory results, then evidently the manufacture of 

 iron and steel will be more profitable here than elsewhere, 

 by the difference in freighting the raw material. 



Among the positions most favorable for furnace sites, 

 and other industrial establishments, some have been already 

 referred to and will not be repeated. A few others may 

 very properly be mentioned. At Village Springs, near the 

 lower end of the valley, the water supply is all that could 

 be desired. Great fountains of the purest water gush out in 

 many places. Large and small springs are numerous. 

 These alone would be sufficient for the demands of manufac- 

 turing, and the use of a large population. But Village 

 Creek, which affords good water power, also flows through 

 the place. Down this creek a few miles is the Gurley Creek 

 and Warrior coal basin. Iron ores of different kinds, and in 

 great abundance, are in all the surrounding hills. The ad- 

 vantages of this location will not long be overlooked. 



The Blackburn Fork of the Warrior, opening as it does 

 an accessible route into the heart of the coal field on the S. 

 E., also offers good manufacturing opportunities. 



Mill Creek, which opens a way into both coal fields, and 

 whose waters cut the brown and hematite ores, the sand and 

 limestone, and are connected with large springs of good 

 water, offers very desirable furnace sites. So do all the 



