Hale County AlArchives History .....The County of Hale 1872 ************************************************ 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: Carolyn Golowka alabamagengal@gmail.com June 12, 2004, 10:29 am From "Alabama: Her History, Resources, War Record, and Public Men From 1540 to 1872" by Willis Brewer, published in 1872, pages 270 - 272: Hale was established by an act dated January 30, 1867, out of territory taken from Greene, Perry, Tuskaloosa, and Marengo. It was named for the late Col. Stephen F. Hale of Greene. It lies in the west center of the state; south of Tuskaloosa, west of Perry and Bibb, east of Greene, north of Marengo. The Area is about 630 square miles. The assessed valuation of property in the county in 1870 was $4,388,825; of which $3,210,595 was real estate, and $1,178,230 was personalty. The population in 1870 was 4802 whites and 16,900 blacks. The value of land in farms—165,266 acres improved, and 144,864 acres unimproved—is $2,639,207. The value of live stock—1176 horses, 2734 mules, 6929 neat cattle, 2626 sheep, and 9019 hogs—is $702,218. The productions in 1869 were 384,420 bushels of corn, 6240 bushels of oats, 26,787 bushels of potatoes, 74,257 pounds of butter, 18,573 bales of cotton, 9759 pounds of wool; the total farm products having a value of $2,029,383; and the the value of animals slaughtered, $47,566. There is a variety of the best soils in this county: prairie river bottom, and a mulatto land, with clay subsoil. The surface is level or undulating in the southern part, and hilly in the northern. The Tuskaloosa river is the western boundary, and is navigable for steamers the greater part of the year. ' The Memphis and Selma railroad passes directly across the county—a distance of about twenty miles; the Alabama and Chattanooga railroad cuts into the northwestern quarter for seven teen miles; and the Selma and Meridian railroad skirts the extreme southern border. Hence, there is no lack of commercial facilities. There are mineral waters at Newbern and Greene Springs, and the latter was a resort for invalids at one time. GREENESBOBO, the seat of justice, took its name from the county it was situated in at the time. It is now on the line of the Selma and Memphis railroad, and has 1760 inhabitants, of whom 788 are whites, and 972 are blacks. The spot was first settled by Mr. John Nelson, whose descendants reside in the town. The "Southern University" is located in Greenesboro, and is an imposing building; opened in 1859; and the course of instruction embraces the branches usually taught in a university. Newbern has about 400 inhabitants. Near the hamlet of Carthage, on the line of Tuskaloosa and Hale, and by the river side, is a group of about twenty artificial mounds, which have excited considerable interest. They average about twenty feet in highth, (though one is at least forty,) and are pyramidal in shape. There is a distinct trace of an embankment on the side opposite the river. Prof. N. T. Lupton visited these mounds in 1859, and dug into one of them. Skeletons were found at different depths, the bones of which crumbled at the touch. A few stone implements, charred wood,