| Summary: | Folder contains 22 pages of Alabama short stories and essays compiled for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the late 1930s. The essays are on Jackson County.•
1,900 werds.
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Escaped Convict
" ttention everyone: Joe loIunford, a desperate killer,has
just escaped from Bartell Prison. ~unford killed two guards
during the escape. He is desperate. loIun:ford is forty years old,
dark complected, is about six feet tall. He is wearing a convict
suit. r.:unford is sure to try to obtain clothes from some source
tonight. The state is offering 1,000 reward for information
leading to the arrest of this killer. The police department
requests all citizens to be on the lookout for this man, and if
seen, report to the police at once. Repeating -----------"
Jack Barnard turned off the radio and began pacing the floor.
What vas Sarah doing; was she working late or was she having
dinner with ~. Johnson, her boss? He thought back over the four
years that he and Sarah had been married. It had been a happy
union until he had lost his job four months ago. arah had quit
work after they were married, but now that he was out of a job
she had insisted on ask1ng J.lr. Johnson to give her· back her old
position. He wondered how she had gotten her job back so easily
when hundreds of women ere looking for work. During the last
two weeks Sarah had hardly spoken two dozens words to him. Did
she think he was not trying to get ".".'.·t.K-? Did she think he anted
her to support him? He glanced at his watch. Eight O'clock; and
Sarah should have been home at six. Had something happened to
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Jlel"
~ If not, what was keeping her out so late? He heard the
telephone ringing downstairs. L1r. and Mrs. illiams, who occupied
the downstairs part of the house, were spending the night with
their son, so he went down 1.0 answer it. tlHello, he said. "Jack, tl
it was sarah's v'ice, "I can' t be hOlllJ! until about midnibht. 14r.
Johnson is going out of town early in the morning, and he must
carry these contracts with him.
He asked me to type them before I come home. You don't mind, do
you dear?""Are you sure you are oing to type contracts?" he
growled. ",,"hy Jack, what do you mean," she said. "Oh, nothing,
come on home when you get ready,tl and he hung up the receiver.
He went back upstairs, and began pacing the floor again. What
was wrong with him tonightl was he a jealous fool? y, Sarah had
never dolllt anything to make him jealous. "I'm going to bed, tl he
muttered,"let her stay out all night if she wants to." He slowly
undressed and got into bed. After tossing for hOurs, it seemed to
him, he finally dozed.
Jacj: knew that some unusual noise had awakened him. He was a
heavy sleeper, Sar~ usually having to shake him awake mornings.
He turned his head slightly to the left to see if sarah was in
her accustomed place on the left side of the bed. NO she had !I.t
returned home. Now he raised his head slightly from the pillow
and listened. There was not a sound other than automobiles passing
along the street in :front of the house. He glanced out the
WindOIl; the moon was shining brightly. "Wonder what time it is,"
he growled. " aybe that was a car door slsnvned; Johnson will
Jlrobally bring her home." He tiptoed to the window and looked out,
• but no car was parked in front of the house. After watching the
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cars passing along the steeet for several minutes, he returned to
bed.
Gosh! at was that noise? It sounded like a window being
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raised downstairs in the mitchen. lal!A.burglar breaking into the
house? But he did'nt have anything of value, only' some loose change
in his trouser pocket. But a burblar would'nt know that. y was
his heart beating so fast; why was he trembling? "liJy nerves are
all shot," he muttered, "but I'm no coward, I'll go downstairs
and see what made that noise." He raised himself up on his elbows
and eased his feet onto the floor. Then he stopped.
at had he heard over the radio before going to bed? Something
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about an escaped convict? Yes, that was it, He rememhered now.
He had been listening to a local station when the announcer had
broadcast a message !'rom the police department. He tried to
remember the exact words. "Desperate killer has just escaped from
Bartell prison. He is wearing a convict suit. Will probally try
to obtain clothes tonight. 1,000 reward for information leading
to the arrest of this man. All citizens be on lookout." Yes, that
was what the announcer had said. at if that as the convict
breaking into his house? ~at would he do? He tiptoed to the dresser
and eased open the drawer where he kept his gun. He felt for the
gun, but could'nt find it. Then he remembered. 14r. Williams had
borrowed his gun several days ago and had not returned it.
Now what would he dO? He stepped to the door, straining every nerve
to see if he could hear a sound. Then he heard soft foot txIIx steps
downstairs. It could be nothing else. Some one was surely in the
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Joe L'unf'ord was desperate. He had killed two guards during
his escape rrom prison that arternoon. After rorcing a rarmer to drive
him the two miles rrom the prison into town, he had sulked in
Jack Barnard's garage. "I got to git me some clothes," he muttered,
"any rool seeing me lith this convict suit on will know who I am.
Guess this house is as good as any to make a try. All the lights
are out." J.lunrord slipped causiously out or the garage and to the
back or the house. After listening ror several minutes, he cut a small
hole in the screen of the window with the knire which had killed
t, 0 guards that arternoon. Slipping the X1tt%J( point of the
knife through the hole in the screen, he pushed the catch aside;
then causiously removed the screen. "The indow is not even locked,"
he w.ispered, as he eased it up. After listening for several
seconds, he crawled through the window into the kitchen. "Now
where will I find a clothes closet, II he muttered, "Probally
upstairs." He tiptoed causiously out of the kitchen into the hall,
and up the stairs, stopping to listen every rew steps. ... . ..
arab as tired. "Finished at last," she sighed, as she
carried the contracts into Mr. Johnson's private ofrice."Anything
else you wanted me to dO, Mr. Johnson," she said, as she laid the
contracts on his desk. "No, that is all IoIrs. Barnard," he replied,
"I am sorry I had to ask you to work so late tonight, but it
is imperative that I have those contracts tomorrow. " Sarah
went into the outer office to get her coat and hat. " Just one
minute and I will dllive you home," called Mr. JOhnson,"my car is
in front of the building." "No, don't bother,"replied sarah, " I •
can ride a trolly; it is only about twenty blocks."
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"It ill only take about ten minutes to run you home," he said, as
he put on his hat. I know you must be tired after working all day
and half the night." Sarah waited in the corridor while Mr. Johnson
locked the office. "Is your husband working yet," he asked'while
they were waiting for the elevator. "No," said sarah, "Jack just
can't seem to find anything to do.He is so nervous lately. I think
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he resents my working more than anything else. I am almost afraid
to talk to hiJll, he is so grouchy." '~oing down," sing-songed the
elevator boy, as he opened the door. They stepped into the elevator
taken down
and .ere soo* to the main floor. " If Jack only had a
few hundred dollars he could go into p~t4tnership with a friend
of his who is opening a grocery store," said sarah, as they got into
the ~ automobile. "Something will soon turn up, I'm sure,"
replied LIr. Johnson. "You know you have a job with me as long as
you want it." In a very few minutes they were stopping in frort of
Sarah's home.' "Why, a police car is in front of the house," said
sarah as they stopped. "What in the world can be wrong. " She
jumped out of the car and ran up the walk. "Good ndlght, Mr. Johnson,
and thanks 1tor bringing me home ," she caned. The first thing sarah
saw when she opened the door were four policemen,and a strange man
with handcuff's on his wrists. "JackJ Jackl \'/here is my husband?
What has happened?" she cried to the nearest policeman. "Here,
honey," said Jack as he stepped out into the hall. "I'm alright."
"Your husbsnd has just captured one of the most dangerous men in
the state ," said one of the policemen. "Goodnight and thanks again,"
he continued, as they filed out the door with their prisoner. "You
win. receive your reward in a few days."
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"Oh, Jack darling, tell me what happened," said sarah as they
started upstairs to their rooms. "Wait until we get upstairs and
I'll tell you all about it," replied Jack •
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After they were seated Jack began: "Something awakened me last
night about eleven O'clock. I thought it might be Johnson bringing
you home, but a few minutes later I heard a sound downstairs like
someone raising a window. I eased out of bed and started to go down
to see what it was. Then I remembered that I had heard something
about a killer escaping from Bartell Prison just before you called
tonight. The police had broadcast a description of him, and asked
all citizens to be on the lookout. I went to the dresser to get my
gun, and then remembered that Mr. Willisms had not returned it.
bout that time I heard footsteps downstairs; and a few seconds
later someone was coming up the stairs. I'll tell you honey, I was
scared half to death. Then I noticed my pipe lying on the dresser,
and a plan flashed into my mind. I picked up the pipe and stepped ¥XXX
behind the bedroom door. In a few seconds a man eased into the room.
ith my heart in my mouth, I jumped from behind the door, rsmmed the
pipe stem into the small of his back, and yelled 'stick 'em up.'
Then, still holding the pipe against his back, I told him to ,alk to
the window, telling him all the time that if he made a move I would
shoot him. He did'nt open his mouth. I kept yelling out the window
until I woke up old man 9lIith next door, and got him to call the
police for me. I stood rlight by that window, with my pipe stem
rsmmed against that guy's back, until the police arrived. Of course
I noticed the mso was wearing a convict suit, and knew he must be the
killer who escaped this afternoon. Boy, did I have a nervous wait
while
I had
them cops were coming; sod did that guy look sick when he
1\ held him up with a pipe. "Oh, darling," said sarah as she
saw
cuddled up in his lap,"you might ha b
ve een killed."
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Alabama
COTTONSEED
William P. Burke,
Editorial Department .
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"Morning, Tom; come on in and rest yourself. Here, take
this rocker; them streight backed chairs are purty hard. You
know, Tom, I shore found out some things yestiddy when I went
to town. I had some cottonseed I aimed to trade for meal and
hulls for my cows, and So I drove around to the oil mill to trade
'em.
.Well, when I got there the mill was running, with a whole
passel of men a-working like the devil beating tanbark. They
got a railroad sidetrack runs right up by the mill; and the
sidetrack was full of freight cars plumb full of nothing but
cottonseed. Some men in one of the cars was scooping the seed
into a great big bin, using these pitohforks with a whole lot
of teeth set olose together to do the soooping with.
"While I was watohing, sort of goggle-eyed, here oome a
fellow used to work for old man Holmes. You remember him; a
tall, lanky feller hamed Sam Burns.
"Here, fill up your pipe With some of this here homemade,
Tom. I'll get you a ooal out of the fireplace. There hain't
a match on the place; I told Mandy to get some matches from
the peddler but she didn't. Said she didn't have enough eggs
to get matohes and sugar both, and Mandy oan't drink coffee
unleseen she has sugar in it."
.Oh, about Burns and the oil mill? I'll tell you Jest ae
soon as you git your pipe fired ~p. Burns was weighing the
cottonsef'd and talking all at the same time. Just as he give
me the slip with the weight wrd; can it. he eaid, 'Do you use
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compound lard?' and I said 'yes, why?' He said, "Well, that is
where thiS mill pays expenees."
"I was already interested in all that zipping machinery,
and when he told me that I Just couldn't hold o~t no longer. I
asked him if he could let me look through the whole shebang. He
said he thought so, and for me to wait a minute. I waited, and
purty soon he come back, saying he'd go along and tell me about
it.
"We started right there at the freight cars, where them
car unlo&dere, as Burns called the cottonseed chunking men, were
trying to fill up the big box. Down in the bottom of that box
they wes a whopping big screw that kept the cottonseed going out
in a eteady stream. The thing worked Just like a big sausage mill,
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only they weren't grinding plates at the bottom end of the screw.
It had a clever contraption that Burne celled a bucket elevator.
It was a Wide belt With a whole lot of buckets fastened to it With
big frame bails. Thsse bails would hold each bucket under the
screw-end till it filled with cottonseed. Then the belt would
move up till the next bucket was under the Bcrew-end.
"This belt was carrying the b~ckets of seed upstairs so we
went up to see what it did With 'em. Well, it was Just dumping
the seed into big bins in what Burns called the storage room.
They got another belt up in the storage room that runs all the
way acroBB the room in what they call a tunnel. Two men were in
there shoveling seed onto thie belt, and the belt was carrying
them away. The next time the seed BtOp they are in a cleaning
machine. These cleaning machines take out all the dust sod dirt.
Then s conveyor yanks the seed to a gin and doggoned if they don't
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• gin 'em allover again. They get lots of cotton off them seed
with this linter gin; and they bale this linter cotton and sell
it. That was the first time I ever knowed what 'linter cotton'
ls. And I'll tell you something right now: if John R. don't .
git rid of hiS old wore-out, snaggle-toothed gin I'm not going
to let him keep on ginning my cotton and sending a third of the
lint to the oil mill on the seed.
·Under the linter gln another one of them conveyors ketches
the seed and throws 'em into the hopper of What they call the
hull separator. This is a machine that bites the insides out
of the seed and throws the hulls one way and the meats the other.
More of them conveyors are there to ketch each one of them. We
follered the meats first.
·T~ conveyor poured the meats into a big pot that Burns
call~d a cooker. The feller that runs this pot is the cooker
operstor. He stays there and adds ater as they need it while
these meats are cooking. It takes about an hour to git 'em
cooked done.
"They take the cooked cottonseed meat to a big hydraulic
press, and that press mashes ever' bit of the oil out of the
meat and leave the meat in hard cakes about 8S big a8 Mandy's
biscuit pan. I forgot to say that when the cooked meat is put
ln the press it is wropped up in a kind of cloth that Burns
said they called camel's hair cloth. Fust I knowed or their
making cloth out of camel's hair too. When the cakes are took
out of the press they skln thiS cloth off and put them in a
breaker machine that breaks them up in little pieces. Why do
they use the breaker machine? Why, Tom, them cakes are Just
about as hard as rocks after they are pressed.
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• "After the cakes are broke up another conveyor takes the
pieces to a storage tank that sets right by another tank full
of bran. They mix this bran With the cake pieoes and put it
in a mill that grinds them into cottonseed meal. What kind of
bran? Why, its just real fine-ground cottonseed hulls, that's
all.
"The fresh oottonseed meal goes through another conveyor
to a great big hopper over a automatic soale. That scale is
one of the durnadest contraptions I ever seen. A man just ~icks
a cottonseed meal sack over the end of a ohute -and, wham! that
scale shoots a hundred pounds of meal into the sack. All the
feller has to do is sew the top of ths sack with that heavy cord
they hold it tight With and the meal is ready to sell.
"What happens to thehulls? We went baok to see about them.
Aftsr they leave the hull separator thsir conveyor shoots them
to- the hull packer. There they are sacked and the sacks sewed,
about the same as the meal is done. Sam said some of the oil
mills havs hull grinders to grind the hulls into the little
pieoes they call bran, but this mill ain't got ons. They buy
the bran that they mix With the cake to maks the cottonseed meal.
"Here comes ~andy With some of them teacakqs I been smelling
all morning. Here, try some, Tom. I think if anybody oan make
good teacakes it9 Uandy. Don't hurry, Tom, ws'll have dinner
after a While.
"The cottcnseed oil? Now, Tom, you know I plumb forgot
to see what happens to it before we can buy it back in lard
buckets. I got to ask Sam about that next time I see him.
"You want to borry my crosscut saw? Sure, it's out under
the woodshed; just pick it up as you go by. Watch out fer old
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STATE lAWS
Burke
Bettigg on e~ections in this State
Any person who bets or hazards any money, bank notes, or
other thing of va~ue, on any genera~, primary, municipa~
or specia~ e~ection authorized by ~aw to be he~d in this
state, must, on conviction be fined not ~ess than $20.00
nor more then $500.00.
Raff~in&...
Any person who se~~s tickets, or chances in such device
or scheme of raff~ing, sh~~ be deemed gui~ty of a
misdemeanor.
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Bettigg with a minor or aEPrentice
Any person, being of fu~~ age, bets or hazards any money
or other thing of va~ue, with a minor, or with an apprentice,
must on conviction, be fined not ~ees than $~oo.oo nor
more than $500.00, and may a~so be imprisoned for not more
than 6 months.
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Gaming,--
Any person who keeps, exhibits, or is interested or concerned
in keeping or exhibiting any gaming tab~e, of whatsoever ••me,
kind, or description, not regu~ar~y ~censed under the ~ws
of this state, sha~l be guilty of a misdemeanor.
History snd Archives
Any person who sh~l explore or excavate any of the aboriginal
mounds, earthworks, or other antiquitiee of this state,
contrary to the laws, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon
conviction sha~lm be fined not exceeding $~oo for each offense •
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Jackson County, A~bama
3ackson county was created by an a~t of the legislature, Dec. 13,
1819, and was named in honor of Gen. Andrew J~ckson, who had led
the army of volunteers ~~inst the hostile creek Indians in the
of 1813-14, thereby rendering a service to the people of labsma
which called for an expression of gratitude. Gen. Jackson, who was
later president of the united states, was Kisiting in Huntsville at
the time the first state legislature was in session and was highly
plessed at the compliment bestowed upon him. Its area is 1,136
square miles or 727,040 acres.
nineteen different geological formations occur in the county,
the formations or cosks consisting of consolidated material deposited
in the ancient seas that once existed here'at different periods.
There was consider~ble variations in its deposits, as is evidenced
in the rocks, which range from the pure limestone of the valleys to
the sandstone capping the mountains. Nineteen soil deposits, including
rough stony land and meadow, are represented.
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Cherokee traditional history holds that their people were the
first settlers in the Tennessee Valley with villages extending as
far west as Big Bear creek. Prior to 1650 they withdrew, for some
reason,to the east of the Cumberland and sand Mountains, using the
Tepnessee Valley as a hanting ground. The Shawnees took prosession
of this abandoned territory in 1660, an act which was resented by the
Cherokees and in time brought on a war bet een the two, the Cherokees
being aided by the Chickasaws. The allied tribes succeeded in
expelling the Shawnees about 1721, driving them across the Ohio River,
with the exception of some bands that found a home with the creek Indian&
About 1750 the Cherokees again began the formation of settlements in
the Tennessee Valley.
// • Jackson County, labams
Andrew Jackson belongs almost as much to Alabama as to Tennessee.
Not to have had a county bearing his name would have been comparable
to playing "Hamlet" without Hamlet in historical nomenclature.
As it happened, Old Hickory was on hand in person when the naming
occurred. He was visiting in Huntsville on Dec. 13, 1819, when the
first state legislature created a county mut of Alabama's northeastern
corner and gave it his name.
The general could never have complained of the county with which
Alabama remembered him. th Georgia and Tennessee for ita eastern - and northern bounds, with the mi~ty Tennessee River
coursing its heart, with spurs of the Cumberland 'ountaind and the /
broad plateau of sand Lountain making bravely timbered pul its for
the richly fertile valleys of Sequahatchie, Jackson county spreads
in productive and scenic splendor today over some 1,136 square miles.
For love of this land the Cherokees and Chickasaws fought the Shawnees
nearly "five hundred moons" until the latter were driven to exile
beyond the Ohio in about 1721. Besides Eauta Creek in this land,
Sequoia, the Cherokee scholar, exhibited and ex lained the alpha et
which he had contrived for the language of his tribe and which was
responsible for the comparatively advanced ci il1zation achieved
by that tribe.
There are elevations in Jackson County which measure more than
1,600 feet above aea lsvel. Below the cliffs, ~a a, and long
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escarpments, the lowlands of ~le mapy-tributaried Tennsssee littsr
like land of dreams. The sequah chie Valley rolls three to five
miles ide acroes the county from northeast to southwest, with
pictureeque ridbes for rel1ev~ variety.' The broad plateaus of sand
. , ountain ridge, 1300 tp 1600 feet hi~h, yield half their height as
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they reach down• to face the Tennessee River
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Valley in bold escarpment. Over about half' the total acreage extend
the agricultural processes which make the county's economic life
end its social w of life ------- cotton, corn, hHy, soy beans,
livestock and poultry, with an ever growing emphasie upon dairying.
In the west, near Limrock in the plateau coal field, limited mining
operations produce a famous coal. Scattered throu~hout the county,
on sites which %KXX1n some instances were villalles for Chickasaws,
Cherokees and Shawnees, are modern towns all on the Southern Railway
with as nuch of history before them as behind -------Scottsboro, the
county seat, with a hosiery mill, box factory, r factory, underwear
mill, bottling plant, beddin~ factory, and ice plants; stevenson, with
a spinning mill, hosiery factory, and cedar plant; BridgepOr~
Paint Rock, with hosiery mills; Hollywoodj Fackler; ioodville; Limrock;
Larkinvillej Duttonj Pis abj and Rosalei.
In a portion of what is now Jackson was the "lost county" of
Decatur. In 1821 the ~ ~estern half' of Jackson was made into
a separate county by the legislature and called Decatur. 'oodville
was desi~ated as the county ssat. The new county was abolished in
1824, however, and divided between Jackson and l~dison Counties.
The first county seat of Jackson was at a place called saute Cane,
established as such two years after the county was created.
Subsequently old Bellefonte became the seat , and in 18b9, Scottsboro
was choosen. The tGQO(D[ world which has come to Icnow Scottsboro as
the scene of an internationally debated trial of seven negroes
accused of criminal ~ssault upon two white irls in 1931 does ~
not Icnow that the town is in an area where negro population is almost
s scarce in proportion to white population s it is in Northern and
.estern states. About 93 per cent of Jackson county's population
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is white. It is one of ten counties in labama which has s negro
population of less than 12~ per cent of the total population.
Jackson County has the distinction of haVing produced both a
Tennessee and Alabama governor. Samuel P. oore, of this county,
was governor of Alabama for seven months in 1831; and Henry Horton,
a native of this county, is today (1933) serving his fifth consecptive
term as governor of Tennessee. other distinguished men of Jackson
County include Justice Virgil BOUldin, of the Alabams Supreme Court;
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.. •R. • Cobb, who served 12 years in congress from Alabams; and Thomas
• J.:artin, president of the vast labBpla Power Company.
"High Jackson," they call Alabama's northsasternmost county.
"Hi,£h" for the appalachian glories it commands, for t he lifting
splendors of its mountains, for the stance of its long plateaus, from
the heights from which it looks down upon a majestic sector of a
mighty stream. But it is high to in the name it bears, in the history
it is writing, in the economic story it is devoloping, and in the
hearts it enfolds.
Ref: Book of Alabsma and the South.
Edited by John Temple Graves II
Page 105.
• Jackson County
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ipped by depression, a group of desperate farmers joined
in a home buildinb pro ram, selected the virgin soil on the
Cumberland Plateau near scottsboro, to resettle themselves,
readjust th6ir lives. They moved into wilderness, cut oak and poplar
timber to build their houses, cleared the land, planted crops, made
their homes. A year later the Ressttlsmsnt Administration heard of
their pioneeri ,decided to aid their natural industry with federal
funds. Named Skyline Farms, the mountain village now has 225 neat
farm homes, with their barns, smokehouse chicken runs and gardens,
a school building, an office, a commissary. Abundant native
sandstone, once called "worthless rock," has been used in the
construction of the public bUildings, hearths &Ild chllmneys,.
Visitors to the project come away praising not only the her~ic
energy of the settlers but the sheer splendor of the visw from
vantage points near the farm section. Like a picture in composition
is the vista of green valley homes and surrounding fields, a river
twisting into the dis tance, and in the background hazy mountain
ranges.
Ref: Alabama t:Bgazine
Issue of 11-22-37
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