20 



MINERAL RESOURCES OF ALABAMA. 



of various kinds. In the year 1903 only about 6,262 long tons 

 of bauxite were mined in Alabama, as the works were mostly 

 in that part of the deposit lying within the Georgia line. The 

 principal markets are New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, 

 Buffalo, Syracuse, Lockport, etc., where are located the alum- 

 inum and alum manufactories; and some of the best quality 

 was exported to Germany. 



Fuller details concerning the iron and manganese ores and 

 bauxite may be found in the Reports on Murphree's Val- 

 ley, and on the Valley Regions, Parts I and II, and in the re- 

 port of Iron Making. 



THE COAL. 



The termination towards the southwest of the great Appala- 

 chian Coal Field, embraces an area in Alabama of about 8,800 

 square miles. 



This area is in three distinct fields separated from each other 

 by narrow anticlinal valleys in which the limestones, iron 

 ores, etc., of older formations than the Coal Measures make 

 the surface. From the main streams which drain them, these 

 fields have been named the Warrior, the Cahaba and the Coosa. 



In all three fields the strata have a general dip oor pitch to- 

 wards the southwest, and each is a trough with its axis near 

 the southeastern border; thus the greatest thickness of the 

 measures will be in each field, near the eastern border and at 

 or towards the southwestern end. 



The maximum thickness of these measures will not fall short 

 of 4,000 feet. The coal seams vary in thickness from a few 

 inches up to 16 feet, but the thick seams are always more or 

 less shaly. About 25 <5f these seams have a thickness of 18 

 inches upwards and have been worked. 



Previous to 1874 it has been estimated that the total coal 

 production of Alabama did not exceed 480,000 tons, the earli- 

 est mining operations having been carried on in the "forties," 

 in the Trout Creek and Broken Arrow regions of the Coosa 

 field, and in the Montevallo district of the Cahaba field. Since 

 1874 the production has increased rapidly and 1 in 1903 it was, 

 according to the report of the State Mine Inspector, 11,700,- 

 753 tons, valued at about $15,000,000, Alabama ranking fifth 

 among the coal producing states of the Union. 



