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Show AUBAMA'S MINERAL PRODUCTS VALUED AT NEW $35,000,000 If value ot output of Iron oro Is considered tho measuro ot iron production, pro-duction, Alabama ranks eighteenth among the States In tho value of Its mineral products, and second among the States south of Mason and Dixon's line and tho Ohio Hlvor, according ac-cording to a report made by the United Uni-ted States Geological Survey In co operation with tho Alabama Geological Geologi-cal Survey. If value of output of pig Iron is taken as the measure of Iron production, Alabama ranks about fifteenth fif-teenth among the States. West Virginia, Vir-ginia, with its groat production ot mineral fuel coal, petroleum and natural gas Is tho premier mineral producer among tho Southern States. Alabama Is not distinguished as the leading substanco, but It ranks third In tho value ot Iron ore produced fifth In the vnluo of pig Iron produced, second in quantity and third In value In the production ot coke, and sixth in tho production ot coal. Considerable Consider-able progress has also been made In tho development of tho clay working and quarrying Industries ot tho State. Tho rise of Alabama as a mining and industrial commonwealth had Its beginning In tho last quarter of the nineteenth century, nftor tho development devel-opment In 1S82 of tho extenslvo do posits of Iron oro near Illrnitngham, contlguoua to tho already partly known and dovoloped coal fields. Tho boom and speculative fever that followed fol-lowed was ono of tho most spectacu lar Incidents In tho Industrial development devel-opment of tho United Stntes, paralleled paral-leled only by the rushes that followed follow-ed Marshall's dUcovory of gold in California, the exploitation of tho Comstock lode In Nevada, and the later rush to tho Alaskan gold fields Tho speculative fover reached Its cli max in 1885 and was followed by a period ot rolapso and liquidation which lasted two years. Beneath tho Birmingham crozo, however thero ws a substantial foundation for legitimate legitim-ate Industrial development and the bursting of the original bubble- was followed by more than a quarter of a century of steady healthful growth. Tho Iron ores of Alabama, though In forlor to thoso of Lake Superior, havo n compensating advantage In lying near beds of good coking coal and of limestone suitable for fluxing so that Birmingham, tho Pittsburgh of the South, can manufacture pig lron cheaper than any other place In the world. Boforo 18S2, when tho boom began, tho coal production of Alaba ma had not amounted to as much ns half h million tons In any one year;. In 1913 It was 17,G78,G22 tons. Tho vnluo of tho coal product of Alabama Is approximately two thirds that of tho total mineral output, amounting In 1913 to 123,083,724. In 18S2 Alabama produced about 100,000 long tons of pig Iron; ln 1913 tho marketed production of pig Iron amounted to 1,924,762 long tons valued val-ued at J23.242.374. Tho coko production ot Alabama Increased from 2.97C.489 short tons, valued at $8,098,412 In 1912. to 3,323.-644 3,323.-644 short tons, valued at J9.C27.170 In 1913. Tho total vnluo of tho mineral pro ductlon of Alabama, oxcluslvo of tho value ot the pig Iron and Including tho Value of tho Iron ores, was $34,-O60.G15 $34,-O60.G15 In 1913, compared with $30,-C41.9S3 $30,-C41.9S3 in 1912. Other mineral products of Alabamn ao brick nnd other clay products, building stone, cement, buuxlto, graphite, gra-phite, nilcn. millstones, mineral pnluts, mineral waters, natural gas, nnd saud and gravel. |