is assimilated to the following oonsonant, so that, e.g., el-shams (the sun) becomes esh-shams; and again, the initial vowel is frequently elided, when the word preceding the vowel ends in a vowel, e.g., Abu-l-Feda for Abu-al-Feda. The essential element of the article is the l, which belongs to the category of natural sounds having a demonstrative force. The Arabic article appears in such English words as algebra, alchemy, alcove, and Alhambra, which are directly derived from the Arabic.
ALABAMA. A river formed by the junction
of the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers, about 10 miles
north of Montgomery, Ala. (Map: Alabama,
B 4). Its general course is westward to Selma,
thence south-westward to about 50 miles north
of Mobile, where it meets the Tonibigbee, and
with that stream forms the Mobile River. It is
320 miles long, and navigable from its mouth to
Montgomery, nearly its entire length.
ALABAMA, ăl′ȧ-bä′mȧ, known as the “Cotton State.” One of the Gulf States of the American Union, situated between lat. 30° 10′ and 35° N., long. 84° 53′ and 88° 30′ W. It is bounded on the north by Tennessee, on the east by Georgia, on the south by Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, on the west by Mississippi; length, about 330 miles from north to south; average width, 175 miles; total area, 52,250 square miles, of which 710 square miles is water (Map: United States, J 4). Alabama, by the census of 1900, ranks as the eighteenth State in the Union in population, the twenty-seventh in size, and ninth in order of admission.
Topography. The southern extremity of the Appalachian mountain system extends into the State from northern Georgia in a series of low parallel ranges. Of these, Raccoon and Lookout mountains are the most prominent, but do not attain any great elevation. They are flat-topped ridges, about 1000 feet in elevation at the Georgia line, gradually lowering to the westward, the Raccoon Mountains extending in a very low range (called Sand Mountains) well across the State, while the Lookout Mountains terminate abruptly after reaching a distance of about 60 miles within the State. To the southeast of these ranges lies the comparatively level Piedmont region. To the southwest, at the very terminus of the mountain system, is the low-lying Cumberland plateau—the coal-fields of Alabama. On the north of all these are the lower lands of the Tennessee valley. The whole region just described includes the northeast two-fifths of the State. The remainder, the southwest three-fifths of the State, constitutes the coastal plain, which slopes gradually from an elevation of about 600 feet to sea level. Climate and Soil. Excepting in the lowland along the rivers, the climate is very healthful, particularly in the north. Extremes of temperature are rare, the mean temperature for January being 42.9° and for July 83.9°. The summer heat is tempered by winds from the gulf. Snow falls occasionally in January and February, but rarely in the south; the frost limits at Montgomery are October 10 and April 25. The prevailing winds for the whole year are from the south and southwest.
The average temperature and rainfall in the north are 59.70° and 54 inches respectively, gradually increasing to 66.60° and 63 inches in the south.
The valley of the Tennessee has chiefly a deep red calcareous soil, utilized for the cultivation of cereals; that in the metamorphic legion is a red or gray loam with clay subsoil; in the coal regions it is sandy, with sand or clay subsoil; the north or middle divisions are bordered by a wide belt of red or yellow loam over stratified rocks and pebbles, and are heavily wooded; the cotton belt has a heavy black calcareous soil from two to twenty feet deep, forming a portion of the so-called “black belt” of the Southern States. South of this, brown and red clay loams predominate. In the extreme southern counties the soil is light and sandy. Swamp land occupies considerable areas in various parts of the State.
Geology. The stratified rocks represent every formation occurring in the Appalachian region. There are three geological divisions of Alabama, namely: The northern, containing most of the State north and west of a line from the northeast corner of the State through Birmingham nearly to Tuscaloosa, and including the great Tennessee valley, in which the rock masses belong to the Sub-carboniferous limestones and the Coal measures; their strata are approximately horizontal. Adjoining this on the east is the middle region, bounded by a line drawn from Tuscaloosa through Centreville, Clanton, and Wetumpka to Columbus, Ga. This includes (1) the metamorphic region, with altered and crystalline sediments of Silurian or preceding ages—quartzites, marbles, granites, and gneisses; the strata in many places disintegrated into masses of stratified clay and interlaminated with quartz seams. (2) The Coosa valley, with prevailing calcareous rocks. (3) The Coosa and Cahaba coal fields, their strata consisting of sandstones, conglomerates, shales, and coal beds, tilted and unequally de-graded. This division contains some of the highest land in the State. The southern division, south and west of these limits, including the cotton belts, consists largely of drift deposits irregularly stratified over the eroded surface of Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks. Clark County, between the Alabama and Tombigbee, is rich in fossil remains of Cretaceous and Tertiary age.
Mineral Resources. The southern limit of the mineral region may be indicated by a line passing through Pikeville, Tuscaloosa, and Wetumpka to Columbus, Ga. Within this area are the comparatively insignificant gold deposits of Randolph County, and three fields of bituminous coal over 8660 square miles in extent, named from the rivers that drain them—the Warrior, the Cahaba, and the Coosa. Cannel, free-burning, lump, coking, gas, and other coals of superior quality are found. There are extensive beds of iron ore, including red hematite, limonite, black-band, drift, magnetic, and specular; and the Choccolocco, Anniston, Coosa, Cahaba, Birmingham, and other valleys are noted for the abundance of their iron ore. Among other mineral products are asbestos, asphalt, copper, corundum, emery, fire-clay, graphite, granite, lithographic stone, manganese, white and variegated marble, marl, red ochre, phosphates, bauxite, pottery and porcelain clays, salt (in the southwest), slate, soapstone, and small amounts of silver and tin. Natural gas has also been discovered, but the supply is inconsiderable.
Mining.—It is not until recent years that the great mineral resources of the State have been extensively exploited. This recent growth of the mining industry has been largely responsible for the quickening of the general industrial
