Chambers County AlArchives History .....Chambers County 1888
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 September 13, 2011, 4:37 pm

XXV
CHAMBERS COUNTY.

    Population: White, 11,364; colored, 12,076. Area, 610 square miles.
Woodland, all. All metamorphic.

    Acres—In cotton (approximately), 70,934; in corn, 49,306; in oats, 9,258; in
wheat, 11,520; in tobacco, 39; in sugar-cane, 211; in sweet potatoes, 1,038.

    Approximate number of bales of cotton, 20,100.

    County Seat—La Fayette; population, 2,000; located on East Alabama Railroad,
eighteen miles from Opelika, and eighty-four miles from Montgomery.

    Newspapers published at County Seat—Chambers County Democrat and Sun, both
Democratic.

    Postoffices in the County—Bloomingdale, Bosworth, Buffalo, Chapel Hill,
Cusseta, Fredonia, Happy Land, Hickory Flat, La Fayette, Lystra, Milltown,
Oakbowery, Osanippa, Sandy Creek, Sharon, Stroud, Tuckersburgh.

    Chambers County lies in the eastern portion of the State, and joins the
State of Georgia, from which a portion of it is separated by the Coosa River.

    The county was created in 1832 from a portion of the lands ceded by the
Muscogees at the treaty of Cusseta. It was named in honor of Hon. Henry
Chambers, of Madison County, who represented Alabama in the Senate of the United
States at the time of his death in 1826.

    The area of the county is about 610 square miles. The surface is rolling and
hilly, with light soils, having a good sub-soil, though in the county there is a
considerable area of bottom lands rendered very fertile by alluvial deposits.
The land generally is red, mulatto or gray, the first of which is specially
adapted to the culture of grain. The gray lands are best adapted to the
production of cotton, while the mulatto lands produce all crops abundantly.

    This county is well wooded, and it contains fine forests of red, white, post
and Spanish oaks, which grow luxuriantly on the red hill lands. Long-leaf pine
is found in limited quantities, but not sufficiently to be enumerated as one of
the factors of material wealth.

    Chambers County is well watered, being touched on the southeastern quarter
by the Chattahoochee River, while the Tallapoosa cuts off its northwestern
corner. Through the center of the county there runs from the northeast to the
southeast a ridge, which is the watershed that divides the waters that flow into
the Chattahoochee and those that flow into the Tallapoosa. The body of the
county is watered by several creeks, tributary to one or the other of these
rivers, the principal of which are: Weehadkee, Oclickee, Osanippa,
Heolethloochee, Cohelsaneia and several other minor streams.

    The climate of the county is excellent and especially adaptable for fruit
culture, which promises to become an important industry. At present it ranks as
one of the first counties of the State in the production of peaches. The mineral
resources of the county have never been developed, but there is very little
doubt that it contains many articles highly valuable. It adjoins the counties of
Tallapoosa and Randolph, in both of which gold is known to exist, and by many it
is thought that this precious metal will one day be discovered in Chambers.
Granite has been found here, as well as a superior article of graphite, both of
which might be developed with great profit.

    This county is possessed of ample water-power, which is being utilized for
running grist- and saw-mills and gins. There are two cotton factories on the
Chattahoochee, partly in Chambers and partly in Georgia.

    The Western Railroad of Alabama passes through the southern corner of the
connty, and the East Alabama & Cincinnati Railroad extends to the central
portion from Opelika, terminating at Buffalo Wallow.

    La Fayette is a pleasant little city. It is located in the central portion
of the county, and enjoys an excellent trade. It possesess all the advantages of
rail communication, and is the seat of several educational institutions of a
high order. The inhabitants are noted for their refinement and hospitality, and
no city of its size in the State can present more attractions as a home.

    Churches of the leading Christian denominations are found here.

    The other towns, worthy of mention, are Fredonia, Milltown and Cussetta. At
the latter place the celebrated treaty was concluded with the Muscogees in 1832,
whereby that tribe surrendered a large body of land, the last of its possessions
in Alabama, to the General Government.


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.
MINERAL BELT.


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/chambers/history/other/chambers387gms.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/

File size: 5.2 Kb