CAHABA COAL FIELD: GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 11 
southwest is the Helena and Birmingham wagon road ; this 
one crosses the Cahaba River at the Bain Ford, and crosses 
Shade’s Mountain two and a half miles abora Oxmoor. 
The next road to the southwest is the Helena and Tusca- 
loosa wagon road; this crosses the Cahaba River at the 
Lainey Ford going by Shade’s Creek Church and Green- 
pond to Tuscaloosa. Still further to the southwest, and 
crossing a wider part of the Coal Field, is the Montevallo 
and Tuscaloosa wagon road; this road goes by Boothtown, 
crosses the Cahaba River ae Booth’s Ferry or Booth’s Ford, 
joining the Helena and Tuscaloosa road near Shades Greek 
Church, thence on to Greenpond and Tuscaloosa. To the 
southwest of this is the Aldrich, Blocton and Woodstock 
wagon road, going by the D. Lenholm place; this road is 
not much used,.but crosses the Cahaba Coal Field at the 
widest part of it, the distance in an air line across the Coal 
Field from Aldrich to Thrasher’s Mill beyond Blocton, is 
over fourteen miles. To the southwest of this is the Wood- 
stock and Centreville road, going by Randolph’s Mill and 
River Bend. All of the above wagon roads cross the Cahaba 
Coal Field, some of them diagonally, others nearly direct 
across. The Cahaba Coal Field away from the mines, is 
sparsely settled, making road working a heavy burden on 
the inhabitants, one of whom, James Lindsey, has, himself, 
made and kept in order for many years, more than six miles 
of road, in order to keep up communication with neighbor- 
ing towns. The surface of the Cahaba Field is very broken 
and contains but a small percentage of level land, that 
being mostly river or creek bottom land. 
The Cahaba Coal Field has the following railroads within 
its boundaries ; in the north end of the field is the Colum- 
bus & Western Division of the Central of Georgia railroad ; 
this road runs from Birmingham to Opelika and Savannah. 
Near it, and alongside part of the way, is the Georgia 
Pacific railroad ; this road runs from Birmingham to Annis- 
ton and Atlanta. Both the above roads pass through Henry- 
ellen and Leeds. 
Passing through the middle portion of this coal field is 
the South and North Alabama Division of the Louisville 
and Nashville company’s main line, from New Orleans to 
