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ALABAMA CLAIM belt which crosses the state. The production in 1909 was 1,065,377 bales, being fifth in rank of the cotton-producing states. Other important products are corn, oats, sweet potatoes, sugar cane, peanuts, peaches and melons.

In minerals the state is enormously rich. Immense deposits of iron, coal and limestone in close proximity afford conditions for the manufacture of iron products at low cost, and this has led to great development of this and kindred industries within the last twenty years. In quantity of coal mined the state ranks fifth in the United States, and in iron ore mined it ranks third, next after Michigan and Minnesota. Other minerals include immense beds of cement rock and of phosphates; also soap-stone, lithographic stone, emery and corundum, asbestos, graphite, slate, gold, silver, copper, tin and marble of finest grade.

Manufactures. The iron industry is the most important and has had marvelous growth. This has facilitated and given impetus to the establishment of other industries, so that the manufactures of the state have doubled in ten years. Manufactures of open-hearth steel and of cotton goods have greatly advanced in recent years.

Transportation. The state is traversed by about 5,225 miles of railway. The rivers of the state furnish 1,500 miles of navigable waters, the main streams, the Alabama and the Tombigbee, connecting with the port of Mobile through the Mobile River.

Education. Alabama maintains separate schools for white and colored children, and applies the public school fund in exact proportion to the two classes of schools. In the state there are now 6,566 public schools, besides 45 high schools, nine normal schools, three of them for colored students, three private normals, nine agricultural schools, nine universities and colleges and nine women's colleges. Among the more prominent institutions are University of Alabama, at Tuscaloosa; Southern University (M. E.), at Greensboro; St Bernard College (R. C.), at Cullman; at Auburn, the Polytechnic school and the Agricultural and Mechanical College; at Tuskegee, the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (colored), which has national fame.

History. The first settlement was made at Mobile Bay, in 1702, by the Frenchman, Sieur de Bienville, called the "Father of Alabama," though De Soto, the Spanish cavalier, was the first to cross the state with his knights, priests and crossbow-men, in 1540. In 1813 occurred the war against Tecumseh and the Creeks. Alabama was admitted to the Union in 1819. In January, 1861, the state seceded and furnished the confederate army sixty-nine regiments of infantry, twelve of cavalry and twenty-seven batteries. The principal cities are Mobile, Montgomery (the capital), Birmingham, Anniston, Selma and Demopolis. Population 2,138,093.  Alabama Claim, The. The Alabama was a cruiser which was built in a British port for the use of the Confederacy in destroying the commerce of the northern states during the Civil War. Against the protests of Mr. Charles Francis Adams, the American minister to Great Britain, the Alabama was permitted to sail from the latter country in 1862. For three years she did much harm to the shipping of the United States, but she was at last defeated and sunk off the northern shore of France (June 19, 1864) by the Kearsarge, under the command of Captain Winslow. The United States presented its claims for damages to Great Britain. In 1871 it was decided by a treaty between the two countries to submit all claims for damages done by the Alabama and other vessels to a tribunal of five persons, who were to be named by the President of the United States, the Queen of England, the King of Italy, the President of the Swiss Confederation and the Emperor of Brazil. In 1872 this court awarded $15,500,000 to the United States. Because the tribunal met in Geneva, Switzerland, its verdict is often called the Geneva Award.  Alaba'ma River, a river of the state of Alabama, is formed by the junction of the rivers Coosa and Tallapoosa. It unites with the Tombigbee to form the Mobile at a point forty-five miles above the Gulf of Mobile. It has a depth of six feet for sixty miles above its mouth.  Alabaster (al'a-b&s-t&r). See.  Aladdin (a-ladfin), a hero of one of the stories of the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. He possessed a wonderful lamp and an equally wonderful ring, on rubbing which two frightful genii appeared, who are, respectively, the slave of the ring and of the lamp, and who obey the bidding of any one who may have them in his keeping.  Alameda (d-ld-md'da), California, an important city of Alameda County, opposite San Francisco, on the shore of the Bay of San Francisco, and contiguous to the city of Oakland. It is reached from the interior by the Southern and the Central Pacific R. R.; while by ferry from the moles and wharfs of the town it is connected with San Francisco. The town makes a delightful suburb of the latter city, surrounded by shady oaks, and with clean streets, good schools and churches and the quiet and freedom of suburban life. Population 23,383  Alamo (a1'Id-mo), The, a fort near San Antonio, Texas. Here 188 Texans bravely resisted 2,500 Mexicans from February n to March 5, 1836, and nearly all perished rather than surrender. When the fort was taken by the Mexicans, who lost 1,600 men, only five Texans were alive. These