clay interlaminated with quartz seams; the Coosa and Cahaba coal fields showing strata of sandstones, conglomerates, shales and coal beds. (3) A southern section, part of the Gulf Coastal Plain, having drift beds over Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks. The angle between the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers is rich in fossil remains of the Tertiary Age. Consult Geologic Map published by Geological Survey of Alabama.

Soils. The soils are (1) residual, and (2) sedimentary. The residual soils, being derived from underlying rocks, vary from clay to sand, according to the substratum. The Coosa and Tennessee valleys underlaid with limestone are overlaid with fertile red clay, while the adjacent highlands are covered with sandy soil varying in color. The Coastal Plain is composed of many overlapping strata of sedimentary material, limestone, sandstone, clay, each outcropping stratum being overlaid with its appropriate soil. Overlying the western and southern part of the State is the remnant of a mantle of sand, gravel and loam in the form of gravelly hills of moderate fertility, but chiefly forested. Between the northern mountainous region and the southern plain lies an inner lowland extending across the State from east to west. This shallow trough, about 25 miles in width, has been eroded out of the belt of chalky limestone of the Cretaceous deposits, the rock of which has weathered into a dark soil of great depth and fertility. This lowland is the famous Black Belt, having a soil of enduring quality. Most of the rivers of the lowlands have made flood plains of rich alluvial soil.

Fisheries.- Oyster-dredging is the chief branch of the fishing industry, an average annual yield being 535,000 pounds valued at $168,500. Red snappers, catfish, mullet and shrimp also furnish profitable yields. The average annual value of the total product of the Alabama fisheries amounts to $387,000.

Minerals and Mining.- The mineral wealth of the State is enormous, practically all of it lying in (1) and (2) of the geologic regions. The advantage of vast coal, iron, limestone and dolomite (magnesian limestone) deposits lying close together has within the past 20 years raised the State from an almost purely agricultural section to one of the chief manufacturing districts of the Union with its centre at Birmingham. It is said that iron products can be manufactured more cheaply there than anywhere else because of the proximity of coal, iron and fluxing material. The mineral wealth of Alabama lies chiefly in her rich deposits of coal and iron ore. The former brings her two-thirds of her annual income from mines and quarries, and the latter about one-fourth. Beyond the first value of these raw materials, however, they form the bases of two thriving industries- the manufacture of pigiron and of coke. through both of which the State takes high rank among the mineral-working States in the Union. In 1916 Alabama produced 5,976,018 tons of iron ore, which, though it amounted to only about 8 per cent of the total yield of the whole country, placed the State in third place among the iron ore producers following Minnesota and Michigan and the yield was five times as much as that of Wisconsin, the fourth in rank in that industry. The incompleteness of the returns for 1916 of

Some of these items, as the clay products, cement and lime, are advanced by treatment beyond the raw stage; the stone is more or less dressed before being placed on the market; and the graphite is milled. But it is the custom of the Geological Survey to enumerate such productions among the mineral products of the several States and this practice is followed here. A very considerable secondary value, arising from the conversion of coal into coke, and of iron ore into pig iron should be noted, as inseparably connected with the mineral output of the State. In 1915 the pig iron produced was valued at $23,757,124; and the coke production was valued at $8,505,555.

Coal. The great Appalachian coal region which includes the world-famous mining section of Pennsylvania and Ohio, trends southwestward through eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, having its southerly terminus in a broad area in the northern half of Alabama. The coal formations in this State underlie about 8,400 square miles distributed in four distinct measures: the Warrior, the Cahaba, the Coosa and the Plateau. The first named includes all of Walker County and most of Jefferson, Tuscaloosa and Fayette counties, with parts of Blount, Culman, Winston and Marion counties. This great area embraces about 4,000 square miles and supplies over 80 per cent of all the coal mined in the State. The Cahaba measures underlie parts of Saint Clair, Jefferson, Shelby and Bibb counties, and supply more than 18 per cent of the State's total output. The other two measures though they are known to contain immense quantities of coal, have but few mines and together supply less than 2 per cent of the coal mined in the State. Nearly half of the entire output is mined in Jefferson County, nearly one-fourth in Walker County and about one-eighth in Bibb County. About 35 per cent of the product is mined by machines, 31 per cent by hand and 33 per cent is blasted off the solid. The coal production of Alabama in 1915 was 14,927,937 tons, valued at the mines at $19,066,043. The highest output was in 1910 when 16,111,462 tons were mined. In 1870 the output was 13,200 tons. Of the coal output of 1915, 49 per cent was consumed in the State, 34 per cent by railroads, 14 per cent was shipped to other States and 3 per cent was shipped to tidewater. The amount consumed by the railroads was 5,072,435 tons; 4,695,938 tons were made into coke; 2,389,397 tons were consumed in industrial plants; 1,592,932 tons were used for domestic and local purposes; 535,340 tons were used at the mines; 109,160 tons in the manufacture of gas; and 480,258 tons were shipped to tidewater as bunker coal. From 1840, when records