Autauga County AlArchives History .....Autauga County 1888
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 September 13, 2011, 4:51 pm

I
AUTAUGA COUNTY.

    Population: White, 4,760; colored, 8,105. Area, 660 square miles. Woodland,
660 square miles. Gravelly hills, 560 square miles. Calcareous lands, 100 square
miles.

    Acres—In cotton 30,120; in corn, 20,750; in oats, 2,910; in wheat, 940; in
rye, 110; in rice, 37; in sugar-cane, 62; in sweet potatoes. 500.

    Approximate number of bales of cotton, 7,700.

    County Seat—Prattville: population, 1,625; located fifteen miles northwest
of Montgomery.

    Newspapers published at County Seat—Progress and Southern Signal (both
Democratic).

    Postoffices in the County—Autaugaville, Billingsley, Bozeman, Independence,
Jones Switch, Kingston, Milton, Mulberry, Prattville, Statesville, Vine Hill,
Wadsworth.

    Prior to 1818 this was a part of the territory of the county of Montgomery.
In the fall of that year the Legislature at St. Stephens, assembled, by
statutory enactment, created the new county of Autauga. It was named for Autauga
Creek, a stream rising among the northern hills of the county, and meandering in
a southerly direction, empties into the Alabama river.

    The exact significance of the word "Autauga" is not now known. By some it is
claimed to have meant "dumpling," an article of food, indicating a land of
plenty. By others it is thought to mean "Clear Water." The latter is probably
more nearly correct.

    The county is bounded on the east, west and north by Elmore, Dallas and
Chilton Counties, respectively, and on the south by the Alabama River. Skirting
the entire southern line of the county, the Alabama River affords ample
transportation for its products to Montgomery, Selma and Mobile. The Louisville
& Nashville Railroad crosses the northeast corner of the county, and the East
Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia traverses nearly the whole of its western
boundary. There are also several other railways contemplated and surveyed, whose
routes will penetrate the interior section of the county, and give outlet to the
inexhaustible minerals of Bibb, Tuscaloosa, and Walker Counties, and to the
magnificent lumber of Autauga and Chilton.

    The soils of Autauga County are of every variety. They are the isinglass
lands and rich alluvial river bottoms, occasional patches of prairie, sandy
surfaces with clay subsoil, rich hummock, and elevated red or brown table-lands.
The surface of the county is generally broken and undulating, and yet in that
portion bordering on the river, and even in the northern section where the hills
predominate, there are extensive level plateaus well adapted to the purpose of
agriculture. Indeed some of the most attractive farms to be found in Central
Alabama maybe seen in this county. In the upper or northern section the soil is
comparatively thin, and yet in many of the valleys and creek bottoms there is
considerable productiveness, and the people often make good crops of the
cereals, besides cotton, and are happy and content. It is in northern Autauga
that the tall yellow pine, which is of so much commercial value, towers to
perfection; and acres of this valued growth remains to-day in virgin ignorance
of the sound of the woodman's axe or saw. In the lower or southern section there
are endless kinds of trees, the black, red and white post oaks, hickory,
including shell bark, chestnut, walnut, persimmon, ash, sassafras, dogwood,
poplar, gum, cedar, and cypress, with pines interspersed. The procuring of
cypress and other valuable timbers for shipment is becoming an industry. The
woods and forests at seasonable periods abound in fruits and flowers. There the
wild grape and muscadine flourish in the greatest profusion, and when spring
comes and touches nature with her verdure the most fragrant and lovely llowers,
from the expansive magnolia to the modest violet, regale the senses and laden
the air with the sweetest perfume.

    The soils of Autauga, under judicious cultivation respond in abundant crops
of cotton, corn, peas, potatoes, rye, oats, barley, wheat, chufas, rice, millet,
milo-maize, sorghum, and sugar-cane. Perhaps in no section does the scuppernong
grape grow in greater profusion in proportion to its cultivation. Pecans are
also successfully produced. The gardens and orchards, under proper management,
return all vegetables and fruits known to the climate, embracing, in the line of
the latter, apples, pears, peaches, grapes, quinces, prunes, dates, plums,
pomegranates and figs.

    Perhaps no land is more favored with bright, running streams than Autauga.
From north to south her territory is traversed with a number of bold and
beautiful creeks, whose waters in many instances skirt rich productive bottom
lands. Among these may be mentioned Big and Little Mulberry, Ivy, Swift, White
Water, Bear, Autauga, Beaver. Pine, Big and Little Mortar. Upon the courses of
these streams may be found many eligible locations for the founding of
manufactories and industrial institutions.

    This was one of the pioneer counties of the State in manufacturing. Located
at Autaugaville are two cotton factories; at Prattville, one cotton factory, one
sash, door and blind factory, and one cotton-gin factory. The Prattville
Cotton-Gin Manufactory is the largest of the kind in the world. It employs
upwards of one hundred men, turns out over one thousand gins annually, and the
"Pratt Gin" is known throughout the civilized world. Near Prattville, also, is a
cotton factory, and scattered throughout the county is the usual number of
grist-mills, shoe and blacksmith shops, public ginneries, etc. In the eastern
part of the county is an earthenware establishment. manufacturing jugs, churns,
urns and other articles of clay.

    Ochre, fire-clays, paints and pigments abound in the county, while many of
her magnificent springs are pregnant with healing and health-giving minerals.

    Land is worth from one dollar to fifteen dollars per acre, and fine farming
land can be had for three dollars per acre. Government land in the county, about
12,000 acres.

    Rate of taxation, forty cents on the $100; county debt, none.

    The people are law-abiding, hospitable, industrious and patriotic. The
public-school system is but indifferently developed, though popular enough with
the masses, and growing in importance. General health of the county, good.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Northern Alabama: Historical and Biographical
Birmingham, Ala.: Smith and De Land
1888

PART III.
HISTORICAL RESUME OF THE VARIOUS COUNTIES IN THE STATE.
COTTON BELT.


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