Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/252

 228 ALABAMA "Walker, "Washington, Wilcox, and Winston. There are eight cities in the state. Mobile, on the Mobile river, near its mouth in the bay of the same name, is the first in size and com- mercial importance, having a population in 1870 of 32,034. It is one of the most impor- tant ports on the gulf of Mexico, being the natural outlet for S. Alabama and S. E. Mis- sissippi, and ranks next to New Orleans and Savannah in extent of cotton exports. The other cities are Montgomery, the capital, on the Alabama river (pop. 10,588), Selma (6,484), Huntsville (4,907), Eufaula (3,185), Talladega (1,933), Tuscaloosa (1,689), and Tuscumbia (1,214). The more important towns are Green- ville (pop. 2,856), Marion (2,646), Florence (2,003), Grantville (1,761), Greensboro (1,760), Union Springs (1,455), La Fayette (1,382), Prattville (1,346), Wetumpka (1,137), Auburn (1,018), and Athens, Jacksonville, and Decatur, with populations less than 1,000. The follow- ing table shows the population of the state at each census since its admission into the Union : Cental. WbitM. Fr. colored. SUVM. Total. 1820. 1880. 1840. 1880. 1860. 1870. 86,451 190,406
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426.514 626,271 Wl.:;.-4 571 1,572 2,039 2.266 2,690 47.V.IO 41,879 117,549 J.'vi.Nif, 842.844 485,080 127,901 809,527 590,758 771,628 964.201 !;(. VJ4 In 1866 the total population was 946,244, classified as follows : whites, 522,799, of whom 257,337 were males and 265,462 females; col- ored, 423,445, of whom 206,505 were males and 216,940 females. By the federal census of 1870, Alabama ranks 16th in population among the states. Of the whole number of inhabitants, 987,030 are native and 9,962 foreign born; of the former, 744,146 were born in the state. The gain in the total population during the de- cade between 1860 and 1870 was 8-40 per cent. There was a gain of 8*62 per cent, in the col- ored population, but a loss of 0'93 in the white. The effect of emancipation, by adding the two fifths of the slave population formerly ex- cluded from the basis of representation, has been to add 23 '40 per cent, to the representa- tive population, of which the total gain has been 26'17 per cent. The whole number of male citizens 21 years of age and upward is 202,182. The number of Indians is 98. In 1860 the number of deaths resulting from un- known causes was 1,608, or 16'67 per cent.; in 1870, 730, or 7'21 per cent. The Alleghany mountains exhaust themselves in N. E. Ala- bama, rendering that portion of the state uneven and broken, though the elevation is nowhere very great. The range extends W. with a slight bend to the S., and forms the dividing line be- tween the waters of the Tennessee and the other rivers of Alabama, all of the latter ultimately flowing southward into the gulf of Mexico. From this range the face of the country slopes to the S., and is somewhat uneven as far as the centre of the state, where we find rolling prairies, pine barrens, and very fertile alluvial bottoms. The extreme southern portion of the state is flat, and but slightly elevated above the level of the gulf of Mexico. Alabama may be divided into five regions, viz. : the timber region, containing 11,000 sq. m. ; the cotton region, 11,500; the agricultural and manu- facturing region, 8,700; the mineral region, 15,200 ; and the stock and agricultural region, 4,322. The timber region, bordering on the gulf of Mexico and Florida, extends across the S. portion of the state and 40 m. N. from the Florida line. This section, covered with forests of long leaf yellow pine, yields excellent tim- ber, tar, pitch, and turpentine. The state also produces in abundance different varieties of oak, bald and black cypress, the timber of which is remarkable for its durability, sweet and black gum, poplar, ash, walnut, hickory, locust, chestnut, red and white cedar, dog- wood, maple, and elm. Groves of cedar of great height abound in the <canebrakes of Ma- rengo and Greene counties. Below the 33d parallel commences the long moss region. This moss, which hangs in festoons from the trees so extensively as to darken the for- est, is much used for mattresses. The cot- ton region joins the timber region on the north, and has a width of about 102 m. on the "W. and 60 m. on the E. line of the state. This belt of land, interspersed with large prairies, with an unsurpassed climate and having a stiff black soil, remarkably rich, and from 2 to 20 feet deep, is considered one of the most fertile and healthy agricultural tracts in the South. The land will produce from 50 to 60 bushels of corn or 800 to 900 pounds of seed cotton per acre. Immediately N. of the cotton region lies the agricultural and manufacturing dis- trict, extending E. and "W. across the state, and having an average breadth of about 35 m. The soil is sandy and poor, but there are nu- merous streams affording water power. The mineral region occupies the N. E. corner of the state, extending S. W. about 160 m., and has an average width of about 80 m. White marble of remarkable brilliancy, soapstone, flagstones, graphite or plumbago, and granite of good quality are obtained here. In this region are three distinct coal fields, covering an area of 4,000 sq. m., and containing bitu< minons coal in beds from 1 to 8 feet thick. Near these coal fields are extensive beds of limestone, sandstone, and iron ore producing from 86 to 58 per cent, of metallic iron. Bed and other ochres are found ; galena and man- ganese exist in the limestone formations. The stock and agricultural region occupies the N". W. portion of the state; its productions are cotton, corn, grain, grapes, and stock. Ala- bama has only about 60 m. of seacoast, ex- tending from Perdido to the W. line of the state, a large portion of the S. boundary being cut off from the gulf by an intervening strip of Florida. Mobile bay, the great outlet to the navigable waters of the state, is the largest