Alabama, one of the Gulf States. It is bounded landward by Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. A western extension of Florida occupies three-fourths of Alabama's natural seacoast. The general shape of the state is oblong with an extreme length of 336 miles. Greatest width, 200 miles. Area, 52,250 square miles. The Tennessee River flows across the northern part of Alabama, and is a part of the drainage system of the Mississippi River. With this exception the waters of Alabama flow directly into the Gulf. The system of naming rivers, inherited from the Indians, is peculiar and a little confusing. Instead of one name for the main stream throughout its course we find, for instance, that the Etowa and the Oostenaula from the Coosa; the Coosa and the Tallapoosa-the names once mastered are quite musical-form the Alabama; the Alabama and the Tombigbee form the Mobile, forty-five miles long. The state has fine waterways. Steamboats ascend the Alabama and its largest tributary to a distance of 800 miles. The Tombigbee River is navigable for 500 miles. CLIMATE. The highest point in the state is 2,407 feet above Gulf level. The healthfulness of the climate increases with the altitude. The upland towns are acquiring no little reputation as winter resorts for northern invalids. Temperature varies with season and elevation. The limits of winter temperature are placed at 18 degrees and 82 degrees Fahrenheit. In summer the thermometer ranges from 60 degrees to 105 degrees. AGRICULTURE. The surface may be divided roughly into four agricultural belts of unequal and varying width, crossing the state from east to west. The most northerly, a region of cereals and fruits, follows the sweep of the Tennessee. It is a country of red clay and heavy timber-oak, poplar, chestnut, hickory, and elm. Oats, corn, whet, clover, and timothy thrive. Fruits, both orchard and small fruits, including apples, pears, and especially peaches, do well. This is the nursery section of the state. Between 200 and 300 cars of nursery stock, including nearly 2,000,000 young apple trees, and large shipments of roses and other ornamental shrubs, are sent out each year from Huntsville. MINERALS. South of this come mountainous foothills, the rough and rolling piedmont, the mineral region of the state. The red clay soil of the river valleys and creek bottom is fertile, and produces excellent fruit and field crops. This belt is characterized, however, by vast deposits of coal and iron ore and magnesian limestone; these three essentials for the production of iron lie so conveniently together that Birmingham, the center of the industry, is said to be able to produce iron ware more cheaply than any other manufacturing city in the world. Natural gas, clays valuable for porcelain, tiling, and crucibles; and quarries of emery, graphite, lithographic stone, sandstone, marble, slate, and ocher add to the wealth of this region. THE BLACK BELT. South of the mineral region comes a belt of prairie with dark soil, part of the "black belt" of the South, noted for cotton. The mineral section gives Alabama about the third place in the Union in the production of coke, coal, and iron. The cotton of the black belt, the chief farm crop of the state, gives Alabama the fourth place in the production of cotton. Over a million bales are produced annually. THE GULF SECTION. The Gulf section of the state has a sandy, light soil, and is covered with a natural forest of magnolias, long-leafed yellow pine, loblolly, canebrake, and saw-palmetto, affording the usual yield of pitch, tar, lumber, and resin. The low lands are well adapted to rice growing. The sandy loam of this section is remarkably well suited to the needs of the market gardener. Mobile, the metropolis of the state, and the commercial center of the district, reports an annual shipment to Northern cities of several hundred cars of early fruits and vegetables, including cabbages, peas, string beans, potatoes, radishes, and strawberries. Figs, grapes, and persimmons do well, the Gulf coast being less than seven degrees from the tropics. The wilder bayou and forest regions still shelter the alligator, terrapin, partridge, quail, turkey, bear, fox, deer, and wolf. The southern woods abound in birds of brilliant plumage. Many summer birds of the North, as the robin, snipe, and hawk, winter in Alabama. The waters are well stocked with fish. HISTORY. The first white people to visit the state were doubtless the Spaniards under De Soto. They found a courageous Indian tribe well settled in permanent villages. The house of one chief is said to have been one hundred and twenty feet in length, and a temple or council house on the Savannah was as large. Mobile was fortified by the French in 1702 and was occupied by a settlement in 1711. It was the capital of Louisiana for fifteen years. When the country came into the possession of the United States, Alabama was regarded as a part of Georgia and then as a part of newly organized territory of Mississippi. In 1813 General Jackson punished the Creek Indians severely in the Horse Shoe Bend of the Tallapoosa. In 1817 Alabama was organized as a territory, and was admitted to the Union with its present boundaries. In 1847 the capital was permanently located at Montgomery. The state officers are elected for a term of four years and are not eligible for reelection nor may the governor accept a state or national office until a year after his term expires. The legislature meets every fourth year for a session limited to fifty days. POPULATION. According to the latest figures Birmingham and Mobile have about 45,000 inhabitants each. Montgomery has over 40,000. In 1900 the population of the state was found to be 1,828,-967, of which the colored population was 827,545, or nearly one-half. The population in 1909 was estimated at 2,080,937. TRANSPORTATION. There are nearly six thousand miles of railway in the state. Birmingham is the chief railway center. Mobile is the center of steamboat lines plying on 1,500 miles of riverways, and extending along the coast as far as New Orleans. The rivers of the state are never frozen. The manufactures of the state, chiefly iron goods, timber products, cotton cloth, cottonseed products, coke, gristmill products, and leather, are now in excess of $100,000,000 a year. EDUCATION. With rapidly increasing wealth and material prosperity, Alabama is beginning to place its public school system on a more liberal basis. Only three states surpass it in illiteracy. In 1900 there were 31,614 white and 107,997 colored voters who were unable to read and write. A state university at Tuscaloosa, a polytechnic college at Auburn, 9 agricultural schools, 48 high schools, and 7,000 rural schools are supplemented by 18 denominational or private colleges, a number of normal schools, or seminaries, and over 60 private academies. White children and colored are taught in separate schools. One of the most celebrated schools for colored people is the Tuskegee Institute, an industrial school under the presidency of Booker T. Washington. STATISTICS. The following statistics are the latest to be had from trustworthy sources: Land area, square miles . . . . . 51,540 Population. . . . . 2,080,937 Birmingham. . . . . 46,000 Mobile. . . . . 43,000 Montgomery. . . . . 41,000 Selma. . . . . 12,000 Anniston. . . . . 11,000 Number of counties. . . . . 67 Members of state senate. . . . . 35 Members of house of representatives. . . . . 106 Salary of governor. . . . . $5,000 Representatives in Congress. . . . . 9 Presidential electors. . . . . 11 Assessed valuation of property. . . . . $450,699,653 Bonded indebtedness. . . . . $9,057,000 State revenue. . . . . $5,000,000 Crop Statistics- Acres under plow. . . . . 8,654,991 Acres of cotton. . . . . 3,439,000 Cotton, value of (1907) . . . . . $61,000,000 Cotton, pounds. . . . . 532,000,000 Corn, bushels (1908) . . . . . 44,835,000 Wheat, bushels. . . . . 1,092,000 Oats, bushels. . . . . 4,230,000 Rice, bushels. . . . . 63,000 Tobacco, pounds. . . . . 283,500 Domestic Animals- Horses. . . . . 160,000 Mules. . . . . 234,000 Milk cows. . . . . 283,000 Other cattle. . . . . 539,000 Sheep. . . . . 188,000 Swine. . . . . 1,251,000 Manufacturing establishments. . . . . 1,182 Capital invested. . . . . $105,000,000 Operatives. . . . . 62,173 Wages. . . . . $21,878,451 Raw material. . . . . $60,000,000 Manufactured goods, output. . . . . $109,000,000 Cotton goods, output. . . . . $16,760,000 Steel and iron output. . . . . $24,687,000 Lumber products. . . . . $15,940,000 Coal mined, tons. . . . . 14,250,000 Iron ore mined, tons. . . . . 4,039,000 Pig iron output. . . . . $30,100,000 Clay products. . . . . $1,754,000 Quarry products. . . . . $828,000 Miles of railway. . . . . 5,801 Teachers in public schools. . . . . 7,405 Pupils enrolled. . . . . 386,478 Percentage of male teachers. . . . . 36 Average monthly salary of men teachers. . . . . $44.65 Average monthly salary of women teachers. . . . . $38.49 Average annual expenditure per pupil. . . . . $10.52 See MOBILE; COTTON; IRON; NEGRO; DE SOTO; CREEKS; TUSKEGEE.