Population: White, 6,000; colored,
3,000\. Area, 610 square miles. Woodland, all. Hilly
lands, with long-leaf pine, 310 square miles. Cahaba
coal fields, Vlh square miles. Eoup's Valley, 100
square miles. Valley lands south of Cahaba coal
fields, 75 square miles. Gravelly hills, with
long-leaf pines, 110 square miles.
Acres in cotton, approximately,
15,737; in corn, 18,816 ; in oats, 3,935 ; in wheat,
3,125 ; in rye, 151: in tobacco, 36; in sugar-cane,
36; in sweet potatoes, 308. Approximate number of
bales of cotton, 5,931.
County Seat - Centerville;
population 300: located on Cahaba River.
Post
offices in the County - Abercrombie, Affonee, Ashby,
Bibbville, Blocton, Brierfield, Centerville, Furnace,
Green Pond, Harrisburgh, New Marrs, Pondville,
Randolph, River Bend, Scottsville, Six Mile, Slick,
Tionus, Woodstock.
Formerly, Bibb County was one of
the largest counties in the State; but a great deal of
its area has been cut off to make up the surrounding
counties established later on in the history of the
State.
In
the first days of its settlement, and for a long time,
agriculture was the only pursuit of its citizens; but
along in the days of the Confederacy the industries
began to be diversified, and some attention was given
to her minerals. But her inhabitants soon settled
again into the tilling of the soil, and not until a
few years ago have her great resources of mineral and
timber wealth been discovered; and while she stands
today among the richest and most wonderful of the
counties of the great Commonwealth, she has not lost
much of her agricultural value.
Very
little corn is bought by the farmers, and they could
easily raise it all. Besides this, the soil produces
with ease and in abundance oats, rye, potatoes, peas,
rice, sugar-cane, and in fact almost everything except
wheat. The forests and fields afford excellent
pasturage for cattle and hogs, though as yet not much
attention is paid to either, as a rule. A most
important crop is grass, which can be raised at a
considerable profit; and in many parts of the county
the farmers are turning their attention to
stock-raising. The fertility of the lands can not be
too highly spoken of.
The
entire country in the eastern portion of the county is
full of iron of the finest quality. Within a short
distance lie beds of limestone, and coal is near by.
Iron can be made at a small cost. Many varieties of
marble are found which could be easily utilized. The
finest fire-clay exists in many places, and is being
worked at two points. Fine brick are made. Yellow
ochre is found and some gold-bearing quality. There
are also manganese, asbestos, saltpetre, and some
other inferior minerals.
Great forests of pine timber offer
a rich harvest to mill men, and some of them are being
worked. The county is shaded by the finest of timbers,
embracing hickory, oak, gum, maple, beech, poplar,
walnut, chestnut, elm, persimmon, cottonwood, and the
finest of cedar; all of this timber could be put to
use, and the county abounds in good openings for
wooden manufactories.
Anywhere on the banks of the
beautiful streams may be found fine water-powers,
where small manufactories could be run. The most
important of those streams are the Cahaba and Little
Cahaba Rivers, and Haysoy, Shultz, Shades, Ockmulgee,
Sandy, Six Mile, and Mahean Creeks. On most all of
them are found mills and gins, and many sites for
others.
The
established industries of Bibb are limited for a
county of so much material wealth, but they are
important. A great many saw-mills are running, which
shiji quantities of lumber to other markets. Notable
among these are Harrison's, at Randolph, Carter's, at
Brierfield, Martin Strickland's, at Blaston, besides
the many smaller ones.
The
Brierfield Coal & Iron Company own the most
extensive manufacturing plant. They mine coal, make
coke, make pig iron, run it through rolling mills,
cast it at the foundry, make nails, and put up some
machinery. The Cahaba Coal Mining Company, at Blaston,
are mining immense quantities of coal, which they make
into coke and ship to Anniston. The Edwards Iron
Company, at Woodstock, will be running very soon. At
Ashley and Bibbville there are large fire and machine
made brick works, which ship large quantities. At
Scottsville, there is a flouring mill and wool-carding
mill.
The
places of importance are - Centerville, the county
seat, Randolph, Brierfield, Six Mile, Blaston,
Woodstock, Green Pond and Scottsville.
The
county is skirted by two railroads, the East
Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia on the east, and the
Alabama Great Southern on the west. Two others are
projected through the center. The Mobile &
Birmingham has been located, and will strike Ashley
Furnace, Blaston and Woodstock, and will run directly
through the coal and iron fields. The Selma &
Cahaba Valley is a proposed line through the timber,
marble and coal regions. Boats have run as high up the
Cahaba River as Centerville, and that stream can
easily be made navigable, thus giving an outlet by
water.
The
water and climate is fine, and health good. Good
schools are accessible at all points. The morals of
the people are above the average, there being little
business in the courts - churches are well supported.
Trade is good and many merchants
have made fortunes. The people only lack enterprise to
some extent, though they are awakening to a due sense
of the value of their county. Lands can be bought
cheap, and there is a great deal of public land
subject to entry.
A
minute description would require a large volume, and
the above are only a few points touching the true
status of the county. There is an inviting field for
those who desire to invest, and in this age of
advancement and progress we soon expect to see our
county put down among the first of the State. The
county is entirely out of debt, and only imposes a tax
of forty-five cents on the $100.
[Source: Northern Alabama -
Historical and Biographical by Smith & De Land,
Birmingham, Ala 1888 - Transcribed by Veneta
McKinney]
The
county of Bibb was established in 1818 and called by
the name of Cahaba. Two years later it was changed to
that of Bibb, in honor of William W. Bibb, the first
Governor of the State.In some respects Bibb is a most
remarkable county, combining in a wonderful manner
many elements of wealth, and in great profusion. In
minerals it ranks among the foremost counties of
Alabama. Its timbers are varied and of superior
character, while its lands yield splendidly, and its
healthfulness is superior. No one can read an accurate
description of Bibb without being impressed with its
intrinsic greatness.
Its
area embraces 610 square miles.Population in 1870,
7,469; population in 1880, 9,487. White, 5,887;
colored, 3,600.
Tilled Land: 43,796 acres.—Area
planted in cotton, 15,737 acres; in com, 18,816 acres;
in oats, 2,935 acres; in wheat, 3,125 acres; in rye,
151 acres; in tobacco, 36 acres; in sugar-cane, 36
acres ; in sweet potatoes, 368 acres.
Cotton Production: 4,843
bales.
In
the main, the face of the country in Bibb is broken.
There are, however, many portions of the country which
are gently rolling, in which agriculture is prosecuted
with gratifying success. There is no lack of fertility
in the soil. Along the river bottoms there are vast
areas of the most level and fertile lauds. In some
cases they have been in cultivation nearly half a
century, and yet the yield of forty bushels to the
acre is not at all unusual. Lying along the Cahaba
river there are lands which yield a bale of cotton to
the acre. Even along the high ridges where the tallest
pines grow, the land is usually of good quality. Many
of the best farming lands are found between the center
and northeastern corner of the county. The soils are
red, buff, and gray. Of these prevailing varieties
throughout the county, the red lands are superior in
fertility, and are usually chosen by planters for
grain, while the gray and brown soils are devoted to
the production of cotton. In the southern half of the
county the lands are both red and brown and seem most
eagerly sought by planters because of the conjunction
of these cotton and grain soils.Here are consequently
found many excellent lands for farms. Perhaps the
greater part of the cotton produced in the county is
grown upon the brown loam lands. Cotton, grain, and
the esculents grow with equal readiness, the principal
crops being cotton, corn, oats, wheat, rye,
sugar-cane, sweet potatoes, rice and field peas.
Herbage of different varieties flourishes, as is
attested by the superior stock with which one meets in
every part of the county. Some of the finest horses
and best milch cows in the State are found in Bibb.
With proper facilities stock-raising could be made
quite a lucrative branch of
business.
The numerous hill and ridge ranges
in the county are full of iron, coal, marble, and
limestone. All these exist in great and varied
abundance. The iron ores are not surpassed for purity
by any others in the State. They are principally brown
hematite. Taken in connection with the fact that
adjacent to these vast deposits of iron lie the famous
Cahaba coalfields, and one can readily see the
elements of a colossal prosperity which are possessed
by the county of Bibb. The whole northern portion of
the county is one solid domain of splendid coal. An
additional advantage is suggested by the proximity of
these minerals to the Alabama river, where they can be
readily loaded upon barges and floated to the Gulf of
Mexico. Or, else, large barges could be floated down
the Cahaba river, if it were cleared of its barriers,
and thence upon the broad bosom of the Alabama. Thus
the county is highly favored in the possession of
these vast resources of minerals, as it is in
possessing facilities for cheap transportation to the
Southern seas, and thence to the regions beyond. For
several years the enterprising citizens of Selma have
been contemplating the construction of a line of
communication with these extensive natural deposits of
coal and iron, and with the deep water transportation
afforded in that direction, these elements of mineral
wealth will no doubt seek that route to the
sea.
The limestone and marble deposits
of the county are certainly wonderful. Along
precipitous hillsides there are solid walls of these
valuable stones, revealing in some instances a height
of fully fifty feet. This is a common occurrence along
both the Little and Big Cahaba rivers. In addition to
this, great bowlders of limestone as large as cottages
lie along the face of the country. These deposits,
both of marble and limestone, may be quarried with
great ease and slight expense. These mammoth quarries
of limestone and marble are in close proximity to the
deposits of iron and coal. The quantities of these
natural elements of wealth—coal, iron, marble, and
limestone—seem to be inexhaustible. The county also
contains manganese, barytes, and ochre. Standing in
immediate connection with these are the forests of the
county, which embrace all the hard woods, such as the
several species of oak, poplar, elm, beech, gum,
maple, and pine. Vast bodies of first-class timber
oftentimes overspread the mineral treasures which are
hidden beneath.
The
county is not excelled in the abundance and excellence
of its water. Magnificent springs of the purest
limestone gush forth unceasingly and in the greatest
quantities from the rugged hills which abound. Again,
in other sections, there are immense springs of
freestone. Large portions of the population use water
from these numerous and perpetual springs.The streams
are: the Cahaba and Little Cahaba rivers, and Shade's
Sandy, Blue Cat, Haysoppy, Afonce, Mahan's, Hill's,
and Shoultz creeks. These possess immense water-power.
In addition to its deep and rapid current, Shoultz
creek is bordered sometimes by limestone banks which
rise as high as seventy-five feet. The inclination and
pitch of all these streams suggest the ease with which
they might be employed in connection with the
mechanical arts. Many of the streams of Bibb wend
their way through high ramparts of marble and
limestone.
There are five extensive public
industries in Bibb, viz : the Brierfield Coal and Coke
Works, aud the nail factory, foundry, and furnace at
Brierfield, and the establishment of the Cahaba Coal
and Coke Company in the western part of the county.The
East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia railroad
penetrates the eastern portion of the county,
furnishing transportation to the inhabitants of that
section, while those further west resort to the
Alabama Great Southern railroad, as it touches the
county in that direction. The line of greatest value
is now projected, and is being built—the Mobile and
Birmingham. The purpose of the proprietors of this
line is to have it penetrate the heart of the two
great coal regions of Alabama—the Warrior and the
Cahaba coalfields.. When completed, this will develop
the resources of Bibb as nothing else can. The other
railroads which touch the county now barely skirt
around the edge of the famous Cahaba coalfield; this
road will strike through its center.
The
places of greatest importance are Centreville, the
county-seat,with a population of several hundred,
Scottsville, Six Mile, Blocton,Randolph,
Greenpond, and Brierfield. These are favored with
educational and religious advantages. At Centreville,
Six Mile, and Greenpond there are schools of high
merit. As in every other county in the State, there is
a common school system which reaches every precinct
and applies to all classes of population in the
county.
The
value of lands will depend upon their improvement,
location, topography, and nearness, to railroads. They
may be purchased for $2.50 per acre, and will range
from this to $20 per acre. The eyes of capitalists are
being eagerly turned to this county, and the salable
lands are being rapidly taken up. In view of the
advantages already possessed by the county, coupled
with those that are destined soon
tobe secured, no section of the
State affords rarer advantages to those seeking
locations for future homes, or for capitalists seeking
a profitable outlay of money.
Government land to the extent of
61,680 acres are embraced in the county.
Source: Alabama As It Is by
Benjamin Franklin Riley, D. D., 1887 ,
Transcribed by C. Anthony
