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110 108/137 Head Quarters Dist of Alabama Montgomery July 25th 1866 Howard Maj Genl. O. O. Commissioner &c Washington D.C. General I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 19th inst relative to public lands in this State, and to make the following report, in accordance with the instructions therein contained. The number of Acres of public land in Alabama is about 6,700,000. The Arable lands are chiefly situated within the land Districts of Huntsville, Demopolis, St Stephens, and Elba, comprising an area of about 4,000,000 of acres. The lands in the Huntsville District are generally broken and somewhat hilly, but to a great extent capable of Cultivation. The lands in the Demopolis, St Stephens and Elba Districts are chiefly bottom lands and well timbered and are well adapted for the growth of Cotton. The Counties of Mobile and Baldwin bordering on the Gulf are somewhat swampy not containing much Arable land, but are heavily covered with Pine Timber, making the land extremely valuable for the Manufacture of Resin, Turpentine and Lumber. The Counties of Washington, Clark, Monroe, Conecuh, Coffee, Covington, Dale, and Henry, the lower portions of Choctaw, Monroe, Butler, Pike and Barbour contain lands well suited for cultivation, but requiring to be cleared the greater portion being covered with valuable timber suited for the manufacture of Lumber and Turpentine with easy facilities for a market by means of the numerous streams flowing into the Gulf. The lands in the middle portion of the State comprising the Counties of Tallapoosa, Coosa, Bibb, Shelby, Jefferson, Benton, St Clair, Fayette and Blount are mostly broken and sandy not valuable for cultivation, but containing a great deal of Mineral. The Counties of Bibb, Shelby and Jefferson will be almost entirely exempt from the operation of the Homestead Act under the clause providing for the retention of mineral lands from the market. The lands in the Counties bordering on the Alabama Tombigbee, Black Warrior Chattahoochee Tennessee 111 and North Coosa, are easy of access these streams being navigable most of the year. The Mobile and Montgomery Railroad, the Montgomery and West Point Railroad, the Selma and Demopolis Rail Road, the Selma and Rome Ga. Railroad, and the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, crossing the Northern part of the State give access to the lands in the Counties contiguous to them. The Mobile and Ohio running through Mississippi near and parallel to the entire Western line of Alabama, gives access to the Western tier of Counties. With the exception of the lands in the Counties of Hancock and Walker most of the public lands in the State are comparitively easy of access. Appended hereto is a list of the Counties in each District with the Amount of public land in each County. Number of Acres of Public Land in each County in Alabama Montgomery District Autauga 87,274 Benton 135,459 Bibb 103,881 Butler 30,997 Cherokee 99,233 Coosa 94,499 Dallas 2,033 DeKalb 151,841 Greene 1,634 Lowdnes 1,269 Macon 919 Marengo 20,912 Montgomery 7,711 Chambers 998 Perry 56,762 Tallapoosa 16,828 Sumpter 8,239 Tuscaloosa 142,143 Shelby 94,645 Randolph 52,563 Talledaga 129,992 Pickens 17,150 Wilcox 40,700 Barbour 30,314 Pike 31,326 Walker 241,719 St Clair 76,354 Jackson 277,897 Monroe 188,602 Fayette 63,765 Jefferson 185,760 Choctaw 114,728 Russell 2,638 Demopolis District is now merged in the Montgomery Dist. Huntsville District Lauderdale 41,171 Limestone 58,839 Madison 67,306 Franklin 95,377 Lawrence 92,424 Marshall 153,389 Marion 210,276 Winston 366,543 Blount 241,484 Morgan 67,800 (over)
