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Irish and sweet potatoes, which are the staple productions of the county. Many minor crops, such as peas and peanuts, are also annually produced.

The finest lands of Calhoun are found in the Alexandria and Choccolocco Valleys, which are covered with splendid farms, and which support a thrifty and progressive population.

The forests of Calhoun support pine (both long and short leaf), red, black, white, post, turkey and Spanish oaks, hickory, walnut, beech, poplar, elm, ash and sweet gum. This fact, coupled with that of a vast supply of water in every part of the county, greatly enhances it as a place of residence. Through different portions of Calhoun there flow the Coosa River and Ohatchee, Cane and Choccolocco Creeks.

The mountain and hill sections abound in the finest springs, some of which have water of almost icy coolness. Not least among the attracting features of Calhoun county is its fruit producing capacity. Superb orchard fruits are raised in every part of the county. Apples, peaches and pears ripen quite readily, and as they are but seldom interfered with by frosts, they become a source of revenue to fruit growers. Cherries, grapes and plums flourish also with the greatest readiness.

The orefields and limestone deposits of Calhoun county constitute its chief glory. From present indications these resources are practically exhaustless. Both brown and red hematite iron ores prevail in every portion of the county. Manganese, marble, kaolin, sandstone, barite, bauxite, copper, lead, lithographic stone and fire-brick clay are also found. Some of these exist in large quantities.

Considerable attention is given to stock raising. At Alexandria Captain Crook has a fine herd of Jerseys. Near Anniston is another dairy and stock farm owned by Captain Bush, where the finest strains of Jerseys are to be found.

ANNISTON.

This city of 10,000 people is one of the marvellous evidences of the spirit of energy and prosperity which has characterized the people of Alabama during the last decade. It is located in a

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beautiful green valley, and is engirdled by a rampart of high mountains. Nature seems to have designed the location for just such a city as is there being rapidly built. The valley inlets and outlets seem the natural gateways for the railroads. No haste seems to have been exhibited in building the city, for the streets are adorned with architectural elegance, the sidewalks are paved, and the broad streets of eighty feet in width are admirably graded, macadamized, and guttered with stone.

One of the

Every house is erected with a view to permanence. chief objects of attraction is the Anniston Inn, a magnificent hotel, which crowns a slight eminence in the heart of the city. It has been built at a cost of $160,000, and is an object of exceeding great attraction. In visiting that part of the city occupied by the operatives, the visitor can not help being impressed with the tranquil contentment and happiness which seem everywhere to prevail.

Its industries embrace two charcoal and two coke furnaces; car works with $1,000,000 capital; rolling mills, $100,000; compress and warehouse, $100,000; pipe works, $300,000; cotton mills, $250,000; cordage works, bent wood works, lime works, bottling works, boiler shops, machine shops, planing mills, etc. $250,000; five banks; land company, $3,000,000; with water works, electric lights, costly churches, first-class schools, well graded streets, a large general merchandise business, and the finest hotel in the State. The capital of the Woodstock Iron Company is $3,000,000.

Jacksonville, the county seat, with a population of 1,237, is also a most desirable and growing town. Besides its superb social advantages, it has excellent churches and superior educational privileges. A large Normal school is established here, and it deservedly ranks with the largest schools in the State. In the surrounding country are many splendid farms. Stock-raising has received considerable attention, and is rapidly becoming one of the most profitable branches of industry in the county.

Other points of interest are Oxanna, Oxford, Piedmont, Morrisville, Germania, Choccolocco and White Plains. The county ranks among the first in the State in its educational facilities. At all the places named there are first-class schools. At Oxford

there is a college of considerable repute. Transportation is afforded by the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia, Georgia Pacific, and Louisville and Nashville Railroads. Advantages for religious worship exist not only in the centers, but throughout the county.

Lands are purchasable at rates quite moderate for so progressive a section, where the tendency of real estate is invariably upward. Wild lands may be had at $5 to $10 per acre, and cultivated farms at $15 to $50 per acre. The climate and healthfulness of the county are excellent.

The constant flow of population into Calhoun sufficiently indicates the spirit with which immigrants are met.

There are in the county 7,780 acres of government land, which offers additional inducements to immigrants.

CLEBURNE COUNTY.

HIS county was created in 1866, and named in honor of General Patrick R. Cleburne, of Arkansas. Though abounding in natural resources, the county is not as fully developed as some others in the same region. Since the construction of a railroad throughout the county, giving its productions a ready outlet, it is winning to itself a thrifty population, and in many ways the merits of Cleburne are coming more and more to be recognized and appreciated. Great inducements exist in the county for capitalists and immigrants, as its mines are stored with rich ores, and its lands abound in fertility. The county has an area of 540 square miles.

Population in 1880, 10,976; population in 1890, 13,218. White, 12,437; colored, 791.

Area planted in cotton, 14,506 acres; in corn, 22,474 acres; in oats, 6,099 acres; in wheat, 3,692 acres; in tobacco, 73 acres.

Cotton Production-5,389 bales.

Cleburne has a varied surface. In the northern end of the county there are rugged hills and mountains, with intervening

valleys of fertility. These valley lands are of a reddish hue, as is true of most of the lands of this character, in this and the northern portion of Alabama. The lands which lie along the ridges are of a light, grayish color. But few of the mountain lands have ever been cultivated, as the residents of the county have never felt the necessity of leaving the level for the higher districts.

Along the slopes, however, there are good farming lands with yellow subsoil. The remainder of the county is covered with either red or gray lands, except in the creek and river bottoms, where the soil partakes largely of sand. In the western portion of the county there is a sparcer population than in any other section, because the lands are regarded as the least fertile. Cleburne

has many fertile valleys, which are mostly devoted to the production of corn, though some cotton is planted. Along these valley stretches are some of the best farms in the county. The lower portion of Cleburne abounds in red fertile lands.

The productions are corn, cotton, wheat and oats, with minor crops of great importance. The soils are admirably suited to the production of apples and peaches. The clovers and grasses are found to thrive with great readiness, and hence, stock-raising is gradually receiving more attention. The county has many forests of excellent timber, the chief growth of which are white, red and Spanish oaks, short and long-leaf pine, walnut, hickory and gum. For many years a gold mine has been successfully worked at Arbachoochee. The same ore is also found near Hightower. In different parts of the county copper, mica, slate, graphites, pyrites, zinc and kaolin, are found prevailing. Iron deposits also exist. Silver has also been discovered. These await capital in order to be properly developed.

The supplies of water in every portion of Cleburne are unfailing, as it is penetrated by such streams as the Tallapoosa River, and Terrapin, Muscadine, Cane, Shoal, Cahulga, Chulafinnee, Dying and Lost Creeks. All these are sustained by numerous tributaries, which contribute further to the supply of water.

The places of greatest importance are Edwardsville, the countyseat, Heflin, Arbachoochee and Chulafinnee.

At Edwardsville there is a High School of local note, and at

Heflin there is an Institute, both of which are well conducted and Other good schools are found in different

handsomely sustained.

parts of the county.

The channels of transportation are, the Georgia Pacific Railroad, and the East and West Railroad-the former a magnificent thoroughfare, giving an outlet to each of the cities of Anniston and Atlanta.

The Alabama Land and Mineral Company own about 40,000 acres of land in Cleburne, which can be purchased at remarkably low figures. Besides these, there is a great deal of government land in the county still untaken, there being 21,740 Lands can be purchased from resident owners for from $2 to $10 per acre.

acres.

CLAY COUNTY.

HIS county was created in 1866, and took its name from the great Kentucky statesman, Henry Clay. Like other interior counties in Alabama, the mineral and agricultural properties are not as yet fully recognized and appreciated. It is remote from lines of transportation and is not as accessible as other portions of the State which have won distinction among capitalists, and yet are not a whit in advance of Clay. When the productive soils, the varied minerals, and the vast water-power of the county shall attract public notice, gateways of commerce will be opened, and its hills and valleys will teem with a population. The area of Clay is 610 square miles.

Population in 1880, 12,938; population in 1890, 15,765. White, 14,001; colored, 1,704.

Area planted in cotton, 20,950 acres; in corn, 26,391 acres; in oats, 6,529 acres; in wheat, 2,098 acres; in tobacco, 28 acres; rye, 38 acres.

Cotton production-8,250 bales.

Clay county is varied both with respect to the face of the country and the character of the soils. The western portion is a