Cullman County AlArchives History .....Cleburne County 1888
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 September 11, 2011, 1:18 pm

IX.
CLEBURNE COUNTY.

    Population: White, 10,308; colored, 668. Area, 540 square miles. Woodland,
all. Metamorphic, 400 square miles. Coosa Valley. 140 square miles.

    Acres—In cotton (approximately), 9,156: in corn, 21,552; in oats, 567; in
wheat, 7,504; in tobacco, 85; in sweet potatoes, 221. Approximate number of
bales of cotton, 4,000.

    County Seat—Edwardsville: population, 600; on Georgia Pacific Railroad.

    Newspapers published at County Seat—Cleburne County News (Democratic),
Standard (Democratic).

    Post-offices in the County—Abernathy. Ai, Arbacooehee, Beecham, Bell's
Mills, Belltown, Borden Springs, Chulafinnee, Cicero, Cold Water, Edwardsville,
Grantly, Heflin, Hightower, Hooper's Mills, Kemp's Creek, Lecta, Micaville,
Muscadine, Oakfuskee, Oak Level, Oak Lone, Palestine, Rosewood, Shoal Creek,
Solomon, Stone Hill.

    This county was formed in 1867 from portions of Calhoun, Talladega and
Randolph Counties, and named for the lamented General Cleburne, who fell in the
forefront of the famous battle at Franklin, Tenn., in 1864. Though abounding in
natural resources, the county is not as fully developed as some others in the
same region. Since the construction of two railroads through 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.

    Cleburne has a varied surface. In the northern end of the county there are
rugged intervening valleys, of fertility. These valley lands are of a reddish
hue, as is true of the most of the lands of this character in this and the
northern portion of Alabama. The lauds which lie along the ridges are of a light
or 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
sub-soil. 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 sparser population than in
any other section, because the lands are regarded as less 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 the county abounds in red fertile lands.

    The productions are corn, cotton, wheat, and oats, with minor crops of great
importance.

    Near the line of the East & West Alabama Railroad in this county, a very
extensive bed of manganese has been opened, the property of State Senator Hon.
W. J. Alexander and a Jacksonville land company, and has been pronounced by
scientific assayists to be of most excellent quality.

    The soils are admirably suited to the production of apples and peaches. The
clover and grasses are found to thrive with great readiness, and home stock
raising is gradually receiving more attention.

    The county has many forests of excellent timber. the chief growth of which
is white, red, Spanish and post oak, short and long-leafed pine, walnut, hickory
and gum.

    For many years a gold mine has been successfully worked at Arbacoochee. The
same ores are also found in other places in the southern portions of the county.

    In different parts of the county copper, mica, slate, graphite, pyrites,
zinc and kaolin are found prevailing. Iron exists in great abundance, and silver
has also been discovered. These await capital to be developed.

    The supplies of water in every portion of Cleburne are unfailing, as it is
penetrated by such streams as the Tallapoosa river, which runs diagonally
through the county from northeast to southwest, and such streams as Terrapin.
Muscoaline, Cane, Shoal, Chulafinnee, Cohulga, Dying and Snake and Lost Creeks.
All these are sustained by numerous tributaries which contribute further to the
supply of water.

    The places of the greatest importance are Edwardsville, the county seat,
Hetlin, Oak Level, Chulafinne and Arbacoochee.

    At Edwardsville and Heflin there are high schools of local note. Other good
schools are found in different parts of the county. The channels of
transportation are the Georgia Pacific Railroad, and Edwardsville is about
midway between Atlanta and Birmingham. The East & West railroad, running from
Centerville, Ga., to Birmingham, runs through the north end of the county, and
runs near an inexhaustible deposit of excellent roofing slate. Another important
railway line is being constructed through the county from Carrollton, Ga., to
Decatur, Ala., by way of Oak Level, in this county.

    A large area of Government hinds is yet on the market, which can be had
under the homestead law.


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.


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