Working and Living in a "Dead Town"

Working and Living in a "Dead Town". . , In the early 20th century, at least two small, temporary manufacturing centers were established on the abandoned townsite of Cahaba. One was a sawmill and the other was a mussel harvesting camp. , W. W. Fox Lumber Company , If you were to walk from this sign toward the Alabama River, you would encounter some mysterious ruins. Evidence suggests that these are the remains of a sawmill that was owned and operated by Wiley Williams Fox from 1914-1919. , Mr. Fox used four teams of mules and oxen to log the surrounding land and to haul the logs to his sawmill. He recycled old Cahaba bricks to construct foundations for his machines and piped water from an old artesian well to run his steam-powered saws. He moved his operations upriver in 1919, probably after the timber at this location had all been cut. In the early 20th century, at least two small, temporary manufacturing centers were established on the abandoned townsite of Cahaba. One was a sawmill and the other was a mussel harvesting camp. , A Family of Foxes, When Mr. Fox established his sawmill at Cahaba, he moved his wife Adele and his six children into the old Crocheron mansion near the confluence of the Alabama and Cahaba Rivers. A seventh child, Eugenia, was born in the mansion. According to Isaiah Irvin Fox, who was nine years old when the family moved to Cahaba: , "We grew up with a lot of confidence in ourselves... When I was 12, I thought I could run every machine in the mill; there's no better way to grow up than how we did... Father logged up and down the river. I remember his cutting some 12 by 16s and floating them in a raft 300-400 feet long to Mobile for export." , Mr. Burner Harvests Mussels, In 1920, a Mr. Burner from Michigan established a mussel harvesting camp at Cahaba. After dredging the river bottom for mussels, he boiled out the meat and then sacked the shells for shipment to Iowa where they were converted into pearl buttons. In September of 1921, after depleting the mussels near Cahaba, Mr. Burner moved his operations upriver to Kings Bend. , In 1966, mussels were again harvested at Cahaba. This time, the shells were shipped to Japan where they were cut into cubes and implanted in oysters. After two years inside the oysters, the irritating cubes were transformed into cultured pearls., Captions , [Middle Left] Lumberman Wiley Williams Fox, owner of sawmill at Cahaba , [Middle Right) Adele Ward Fox, wife of Wiley Williams Fox , These images are courtesy of Lynn Royse and Mary Christian Hodo, who are direct descendants of the Fox family. , [Bottom Right] Top: Button blank, courtesy of the Humans and Mussel exhibit at the Alabama Museum of Natural History. , [Bottom Right] Bottom : Mother of pearl buttons, courtesy of the Alabama Historical Commission