Fayette County AlArchives History .....Fayette County 1888
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 September 11, 2011, 3:14 pm

XII.
FAYETTE COUNTY.

    Population: White, 8,873; colored, 1,262. Area 660 square miles. Woodland,
all. Coal measure 600 square miles. Generally pine hills, 60 square miles.

    Acres—In cotton (approximately), 12,341; in corn, 2,495; in oats, 3,627; in
wheat, 4,826; in rye, 46; in tobacco, 37; in sweet potatoes, 421.

    Approximate number of bales of cotton, 5,000.

    County Seat — Fayette; population, 1,000; located forty miles from
Tuscaloosa, on the Georgia Pacific Railroad.

    Newspaper published at the County Seat— Fayette Journal.

    Postoffices in the County—Ballard, Boley Springs, Brockton, Buck Sport,
Cane, Cave Springs, Davis Creek, Dublin, Fayette, Froglevel, Glen Allen, Handy,
Julian, Legg, Mont Calm, New River, Newtonville, Palo, Pilgrim, Ridge, Spencer,
Toledo, Wayside, Willingham.

    Fayette County lies in the northwestern quarter of the State, and is
surrounded by the counties of Larmar, Marion, Walker, Tuscaloosa and Pickens.
Almost the entire area of the county lies in the famous Warrior coal field, and
it is destined in time to be the center of mining operations second to no county
in the State.

    This county was organized in 1824, being created out of the territory
belonging to the counties of Tuscaloosa and Marion. General LaFayette, the
French military leader, who espoused the cause of the struggling colonist during
the Revolutionary War, was at the time of the creation of this country on a
visit to America, and in his honor it was called Fayette.

    Fayette is not, strictly, speaking, an agricultural county, but its soils
have proven prolific.

    The surface of this county is much broken, and its soils are principally a
broad loam with clay subsoil, sandy uplands and creek and river bottoms, the
latter being covered with alluvial desposits which render them exceptionally
fertile. The county is well watered, three rivers coursing through its borders,
viz., Sipsey, Luxapalia and North. None of these streams are navigable, hi
addition to these rivers, the county is watered by several creeks in all
portions, the principal of which arc Lost, Cane, Wolf and Dry.

    These water-courses render the valleys through which they flow very fertile,
and the three valleys named for the three rivers of the county are of the
character and richness of the Tennessee valley. The crops grown on the farms of
Fayette County are corn, cotton, wheat, oats, rye, sorghum, sugar cane, tobacco,
peas and a variety of small articles. The country is admirably adapted to the
culture of fruit, and on the uplands peaches, pears and apples yield abundantly,
and with a little care the culture of these articles proves highly remunerative.
The farm in Fayette County affords a good living, and the people can raise
everything necessary to sustain life comfortably on the county's soil.
Considerable attention is now being given to the subject of stock raising, and,
as the results of experiments in this line become generally known, this industry
will become one of the prominent sources of wealth.

    Fayette County need not depend on either agriculture or stock raising for a
future of greatness. Its bosom covers a wealth of mineral resources. The coal
supply of the county is practically inexhaustible, while iron ore of a superior
quality of fineness abounds in limitless quantity. The proximity of these two
articles can only result in. the establishment of works to produce pig iron, and
when this is done the county will enter on an era of prosperity which will place
it in the front rank of Alabama's progressive counties.

    The resources of Fayette have remained undeveloped for want of facilities of
transportation, but now the Georgia Pacific Bailroad is completed through it
from cast to west, and it is thereby by rendered accessible. Other roads
projected, through the mineral region of Alabama will penetrate Fayette, and in
the near future its mineral resources will become as well known as those of
counties which have been more favored in the matter of transportation facilities.

    The health of the county is excellent. The people are law-abiding,
industrious, thrifty, hospitable and patriotic.


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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