Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Mobile

MOBILE, a city and port of entry of the United States, the capital of Mobile county, and, though not the capital, the largest city of Alabama, lies 140 miles east of New Orleans, on a sandy plain on the west bank of Mobile river, one of the arms of the Alabama. The municipal boundary includes an area about 6 miles long by 2 or 3 in breadth; but, excluding the suburban villas scattered about the nearer hills, the portion occupied by the buildings of the city proper is not more than a mile square. In the matter of paving and shade the streets are generally good, and Government Street especially, with its fine oak trees and gardens, forms an attractive promenade. Besides the spacious granite building erected in 1859 to accommodate the Custom-House, the Post Office, and the United States courts, the principal edifices are the Roman Catholic cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (1833), Christ Church (Episcopal) (1837), the City Hospital (1830), the United States Marine Hospital (1836), the Providence Infirmary, the conjoint market-house and municipal buildings, Barton Academy (occupied by the high schools), and the Alabama Medical College (founded in 1859). About 6 miles out, at Spring Hill, is the Jesuit College of St Joseph, established by Bishop Portier in 1832. As a commercial centre Mobile is in some respects very favourably situated. It is the only port of Alabama; the estuary on which it stands is the outlet for several navigable rivers; and it is the seaward terminus of the Mobile and Ohio railroad, the Mobile and Montgomery, and the Grand Trunk. But, on the other hand, it lies 25 miles from the coast; the lagoon-like bay cut off from the Gulf of Mexico by the narrow isthmus of Mobile Point is extremely shallow; and in 1879 no vessel drawing more than 13 feet could load and unload in the harbour with safety. Since 1827, it is true, various works have been undertaken to improve the approaches: the Choctaw Pass and the Dog River Bar, which had formerly a depth of little more than 5 and 8 feet respectively, were deepened to 17 feet by 1882; but Mobile will not take rank as a satisfactory ocean port till the scheme (now in operation) for constructing a wide channel more than 20 feet deep right through the bay has been fully carried out. The cost of the necessary works being beyond the power both of the city and State, Congress has granted $270,000 for the purpose of widening the channel to 200 feet, and deepening it to 23 feet. A private company, established in 1876, has built a breakwater in the bay, and greatly increased the safety of the harbour. For the years between 1855 and 1859 the average value of exports and imports was respectively

$23,419,266 and $711,420; the following figures for recent years show a considerable decline on the total:—