Hale County AlArchives History .....Hale County 1888
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 September 15, 2011, 11:02 am

IX.
HALE COUNTY.

    Population: White, 5,000; colored, 20,000. Area. 670 square miles. Woodland,
all, except some prairie region and gravelly hills.

    Acres—In cotton (approximately), 70,000; in corn, 43,250; in oats, 3,675; in
wheat, 1,430; in rye, 60: in rice, 16; in tobacco, 16; in sweet potatoes, 1,215.

    Approximate number of bales of cotton, in round numbers. 20,000.

    County Seat—Greensborough; population, 2,100: located on Cincinnati, Selma &
Mobile Railroad.

    Newspapers published at County Seat—Alabama Beacon, Watchman (Democratic);
Southern University Monthly (Educational).

    Postoffices in the County—Akron Junction, Carthage, Cedarville, Dominick,
Evans, Five Mile, Gallion, Greensborough, Havana, Laneville, Newbern. Phipps,
Powers, Sawyerville, Stewart's Station, Whitsitt.

    The above named county was founded in 1867, and was named for Col. Stephen
E. Hale. It embraces one of the finest agricultural districts in the South.
Productive in soil, healthful in climate, abundantly supplied with superior
schools, and with an intelligent, thrifty, and progressive people, the county of
Hale, deservedly ranks among the best in the State. The industry of the people
is agriculture, with few exceptions.

    In the northeast the county is hilly. There is almost every variety of soil
to be found in Hale. The southern portion, being a little less than one-half of
its territory, is composed almost entirely of black cane-brake laud, which has a
marvelous fertility. The western and northwestern parts of the county furnish a
variety of lands, some of which are sandy and others red, which gradually shade
off into the dark lands composing what is called the second Warrior bottom. Most
of this land is of excellent quality, being strong, and some, especially that
referred to as second bottom, of superior richness. The bottoms along the
Warrior River, which constitutes the western boundary line, with few exceptions,
are subject to overflow, and are not regarded as valuable as those higher up and
beyond the reach of the watermark.

    Along these lower bottoms there is a terrace of land called second bottoms,
which are not exposed to overflow. As has been said, the northeastern part of
the country is more or less hilly. It is not cultivated except in isolated
tracts; but the thinness of the soil is atoned for by the abundance of yellow or
long-leaf pine, which possesses rare value because of its location and its
relation to the adjoining domains of rich prairie lands. In the eastern portion
there is a commingling of sand and red loam, which makes the lands exceedingly
valuable for agricultural purposes.

    The staple productions grown in the South are raised in Hale, viz.: cotton,
corn, peas and potatoes. Many other elements are produced, as the statistics at
the head of this article will show, and every year increases more and more the
variety of crops. Rice, sugar and tobacco are gradually receiving more
attention. Farms for the production of hay are coming annually more into note,
and there is a corresponding improvement in stock. The principal timbers which
stock the forests of Hale are oak, maple, hickory, gum, long- and short-leaf
pine, poplar and ash.

    The county abounds in excellent streams, which not only will furnish
supplies of water for house and farm purposes, but for manufactories as well.
Chief among the streams may be mentioned Warrior River, Big Prairie, Little
Prairie, German, Pig, Brush, Five Mile, Gabriels, and Elliott's Creeks, Together
with the abounding springs, these streams afford ample supplies of water.

    Late geological surveys have established the fact that there are large
deposits of phosphate in Hale County.

    Means of transportation are furnished by the Warrior River, the Cincinnati,
Selma & Mobile, the Alabama, Great Southern & East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia
Railroads, and Chicago & Gulf Railroad.

    The county is throughout supplied with educational advantages.

    Agricultural lands may be had for from $2 to $30 per acre. Pine lands will
cost from $1.25 to $5 per aere. These lands are everywhere supplied with streams
of water. Artesian wells abound, especially in the southern portion. A desire
prevails to have the county populated with thrifty immigrants.

    There are about 1,000 acres of Government land in Hale County.

    [See Greensborough, this volume.]


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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