Montgomery, the Capital City of Alabama Part 3

Variety Wood Working,--Owing to cheap lumber of every kind, as shown elsewhere.

Paper Factory,--Owing to the large amount of cotton seed hulls to be secured from our three large oil mills, which hulls will make a most beautiful white paper; and unexcelled facilities for securing cotton stalks and other good paper stock, and inexhaustible water supply.

Tan Yard,--Owing to large number of good hides shipped from this point and towns in easy reach, and ease of securing barks, bitter weed and other material for tanning leather.

Plows and Agricultural Implements,--Owing to large home demand and cheapness of raw material, with splendid shipping facilities.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Residence of J. C. Hurter]

Gla.s.s Factory,--Owing to large deposit of excellent sand near Montgomery, and the absence of such a factory in this section.

Shoe Factory,--Owing to large trade, amounting to half a million dollars.

Cheap Clothing,--Owing to immense wholesale trade, supplying Middle and South Alabama and part of Florida.

Terra Cotta and Tiles,--Owing to large deposits of fine clays suitable for making such articles.

Flouring Mill,--As this is a large wholesale market for flour, and there is a good opening, with promise of large return, for such an enterprise.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Brewery]

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Montgomery Iron Works]

Paint Factory,--Owing to the large beds of fine ochre within ten miles of the city, which ochre is now being shipped in the raw state to other points.

Paper Box Factory, Wool Factory, Hat Factory and Knitting Factory.

The above-mentioned enterprises are only named to suggest to the minds of business men a few of the manufacturing establishments that will pay a large profit on capital invested in Montgomery, while the field is open for sundry others that are two numerous to give in detail. Montgomery stands at the head of commercial cities of the South, with almost undisputed control of a large territory occupied by half a million consumers, and unequaled railroad and river transportation facilities for collecting all raw material to this point and delivery of manufactured articles to foreign and domestic markets.

For further information as to facts in detail in regard to the above manufacturing enterprises, write to any member of the Montgomery Real Estate Agents' a.s.sociation, who will take pleasure in furnishing information and will secure donation of site for plant.

MONTGOMERY'S AGRICULTURAL ADVANTAGES.

The City of Montgomery is surrounded by a greater variety of valuable agricultural lands than any city in the South, being situated on the south bank of the Alabama river, just below the confluence of the Coosa and Talapoosa rivers, all of which streams are bordered by very rich farming lands. Some of the alluvial bottoms are subject to occasional overflows, but the second bottoms are above the effects of freshets and form beautiful flats, in some places several miles wide, of sandy loam with clay subsoil, making a most valuable land for general farm purposes, as it is easily tilled and susceptible of great improvement by manuring and a good system of farming.

The rich black prairie belt touches us on the south and certainly contains some of the finest and most productive lands in the Union. It is just undulating enough to afford good drainage. The prairie soil is naturally so rich that fertilizers have been used very little, and the all-cotton system of farming which has been practiced almost to the exclusion of every other crop since 1865, has impoverished the farmers to such an extent that large prairie farms have been turned over entirely to negro tenants. This has resulted in a complete failure as a system, as the negro without a white man for a director, is not capable of making a living for himself or rents for his landlord. These magnificent lands can now be bought for about $10 to $15 per acre, and are certainly better adapted to stock raising than any other section of the continent, being splendid grain lands for such crops as oats and corn, yielding from twenty-five to 100 bushels per acre.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Alabama Oil Mill]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Montgomery Oil Mill]

Johnson gra.s.s flourishes here as a hay gra.s.s, yielding from one and a half to two tons per acre, without any trouble of re-seeding, and sells in home market for $15 per ton.

Bermuda gra.s.s for pasturage is unsurpa.s.sed by any gra.s.s in the world, as it affords good grazing for eight months in the year, and will keep fat one horse or cow per acre for that length of time. Another valuable characteristic of the Bermuda gra.s.s is that it never runs out as a pasture. Some pastures are now in fine condition that were sodded thirty years ago.

Another important advantage of this section, for stock raising, is that our winters are so mild that stock does not need housing, except that it is better to provide open sheds for protection from rain, and they feed on the cane which grows on all branches and streams, staying green all the year. When a specialty is made of stock raising it is well to provide some ensilage to feed at night through the winter, in connection with the cane pasturage.

While some of our farmers are paying more attention each year to stock raising, as a general thing the prairie farms are rented to negro tenents, and now is a splendid opportunity to buy them cheap and devote to gra.s.s and stock.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Southern Cotton Oil Co.'s Mill at Riverside Park.

HENRY C. BUTCHER, Pres.; JOHN OLIVER, Sec. and Treas., of Philadelphia; E.

W. THOMPSON, Local Manager. Capacity, 150 tons cotton seed daily.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Old Compress]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Hurter & Co's New Compress]

While 250 pounds of lint cotton, twenty bushels of corn and thirty bushels of oats per acre are considered fair crops for our white farmers, below will be shown what can be done with our lands under the intensive system of farming. The figures show the results on a four mule farm of 320 acres of our good land.

DR. CR.

Wear and tear of mules, tools, etc., $200 00 Feed of mules, 200 00 Wages and rations 10 hands, 1,250 00 Extra labor during harvest, 200 00 Fertilizers, cotton seed meal and acid phosphate as adjunct to home manure, 2,000 00 Yield of 80 acres of cotton, 160 bales at $40 $6,400 00 Yield of 60 acres of corn, 3,000 bushels at 50 cents, 1,500 00 Yield of 80 acres of oats, 4,000 bushels at 40 cents, 1,600 00 Yield of 5 acres of cane, 2,000 gallons syrup at 35 cts., 700 00 Showing net profit of, 6,350 00 ---------- ---------- $10,200 00 $10,200 00

The above estimate shows the possibilities of good farming. It is not overdrawn, as five bales of cotton and one hundred bushels of corn and oats, respectively, have been grown on single acres. These figures show 225 acres under cultivation, leaving ninety-five acres of the farm to be devoted to pasture, orchards, etc.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Residence of W. H. Graves]

MARKET GARDENING.

Market gardening, or truck farming, around Montgomery, offers a number of advantages over other sections. As stated elsewhere, we have a great variety of soils that are suited to growing fruits and vegetables, while our climate is all that could be asked, with a mean annual temperature of 64 degrees, the last frost occurring from the 5th to the 25th of April, and earliest killing frost in the fall, in November, with an annual mean precipitation of rain of 55 inches. The conditions are therefore favorable for growing all fruits and vegetables not natives of extreme northern or tropical climates, and we can have some crop growing all the year round for marketing.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Charcoal Furnaces & Chemical Works]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Masonic Temple]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Liverpool & London & Glob and A. P. Tyson Buildings]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Alabama State Fair Grounds]

With the good railroad connections that we have with such points as Louisville, Cincinnati and Chicago, and advantage in rates by being two hundred miles nearer to these markets than the Gulf coast, the Montgomery gardener is favorably situated to make his business successful.

LUMBER AND TIMBER TRADE OF MONTGOMERY.

Montgomery is favorably located for being one of the largest lumber marts in the South, owing to her close proximity to the immense body of long leaf pine in South Alabama, which, with good rail connections in operation and in course of construction, will enable her to control any amount of splendid yellow pine lumber for manufacturing into sash, doors, blinds, etc. On all the rivers and streams in this section abound hard woods of every kind, suitable for manufacture into furniture, wagons, tool handles and for every variety of wood working. These can be laid down in Montgomery at such a low cost that she is destined to become a great center for wood working establishments.

COTTON FACTORIES.

As a financial investment, cotton mills in the South, under proper management, offer as good promise of dividends on capital invested as any industry or branch of business. The average profits from cotton mills South, for years have been fully equal to those of other business, and in many instances, far greater. In selecting a site for a mill, there are localities that offer greater inducements for such an enterprise than others, and among those cities that offer the greatest attractions is Montgomery. We believe a careful review of her facilities will convince capitalists that she is the most available city in the South for operating a cotton mill, and that she must become sooner or later the center for cotton manufacture. In counting the cost of a plant, the question of a site would not have to be considered, as a good railroad site will be donated by either the Riverside or the Highland Park Company.

Building material, and skilled and unskilled labor required to convert it into mill buildings, can be secured at a very reasonable rate. The proximity of the city to the Alabama coal fields settles all questions as to the cost of fuel for power. Coal at a little over $2 per ton affords power to propel a cotton mill, which under the ordinary natural conditions attached to water power, makes it impossible to compete with steam. The city is a trade center for the distribution of large quant.i.ties of staple goods of every kind over a large territory, which in turn supplies her with the raw material, and in such quant.i.ties that she enjoys great prominence as a cotton market. The supply of cotton for the mills could be readily obtained, and many of the goods produced would find a ready home market, while the competing lines of railway and the Alabama river insure low freight rates for the products and for all material and supplies used in building and running a mill.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Residence of H. C. Moses]

Fully 80 per cent. of the operatives of a cotton mill are females and minors, and Montgomery has a large cla.s.s of this population who are now practically without employment, the majority of the industries now in operation here being unsuitable for such labor. In many families the adult males are compelled to support by their labors the remaining members of their households, owing to the difficulty of the cla.s.s mentioned above finding suitable and profitable employment. For this, at present, surplus labor, there is no fixed value. It seeks employment wherever there is an opportunity, and is satisfied with very moderate pay. Should a cotton mill be built in Montgomery, an ample supply of this labor would be certain to volunteer before the completion of the building.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Carr's Cracker Factory]