History of Lee County Alabama United States of America

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Population: White. 12.217; colored, 15,045. Area, 610 square miles. Woodland, all. All metamorphic; but the rocks, over about 250 square miles in the southern part of the county, are covered with stratified drift.

Acres-In cotton (approximately), 51,889; in corn, 30,137; in oats, 11,918; in wheat, 8,697; in rice, 10; in tobacco, 11: in sugar-cane. 208; in sweet potatoes, 925. Approximate number of bales of cotton. 14,189.

County Seat-Opelika; population 4,000; located on the Western Alabama Railroad, at the junction of the Columbus, Western & East Alabama Railroad.

Newspapers published at County Seat-Democrat and Republican. At Lively-Saturday Evening News (Democratic).

Postoffices in the County-Auburn, Beulah, Gold Hill, Halawaka, Lively, Loachapoka, Mechanicsville, Mott's Mill, Opelika, Roxana, Salem, Smith Station, Wacoochee, Waverly and Yongesborough.

This county, organized in accordance with an act approved December l5, 1886, was formed from portions of Chambers, Russell, Macon and Tallapoosa Counties, and named in honor of Gen. Robert E. Lee. It is located in a high and healthful section of country in the east-central portion of the State, and is entirely free from malaria. The elevation above sea level ranges from 700 to 850 feet, and the water from wells and springs is exceptionally fine. The surface is undulating, and the entire county is well watered by creeks and smaller streams which never fail. The Chattahoochee River forms the eastern boundary of the county, and is one continuous chain of falls along the entire line, affording rare facilities for manufacturing enterprises. In addition to this fine water, there is not a community in this county that does not already enjoy the advantages of water-power grist and flouring mills.

The county is well timbered, principally with long- and short-leafed pine, though oak. hickory, poplar, ash, maple, walnut, dogwood, the gums and cherry abound.

There are fine deposits of soapstone, granite and lime rock in the county, and attention is now-being given to the quarrying of building stone in the western part of the county, while the lime works near Yongesboro are making large quantities of lime for shipments to the markets of this and adjoining States. Considerable excitement has been caused recently by the discovery of large beds of superior soapstone and iron ores in the vicinity of Gold Hill, an extensively prosperous community in the county, ten miles northwest of Opelika on the Columbus & Western Railroad.

Few counties in the State enjoy superior advantages in transportation facilities. Two trunk lines cross the county, while the East Alabama Railroad pours into Opelika almost the entire produce of Chambers and a large amount of that of Randolph County. The model railroad of the south, the Western Railroad of Alabama, crosses the county from west to east, and the Columbus ix Western from southeast to northeast, giving the county about seventy-five miles of railway.

FROM: Northern Alabama: Historical and Biographical; Birmingham, Ala.: 1888

History of Lee County Alabama

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