Since the Civil War, North Alabama became one of the countrys leading iron and steel manufacturers. The Birmingham District was particularly well positioned to be an iron-and-steel production centre in the southern United States. The development of Alabamas iron and steel industry was primarily stimulated by the abundance of raw materials; coal, iron ore, limestone, and dolomite. The most powerful and profitable companies in North Alabama were those which had direct control over mines, as well as other facilities necessary for extracting and assembling raw materials, such as blast furnaces. Being dependent on raw materials and relevant infrastructural facilities, iron and steel makers expanded the furnaces in Alabama.  Those manufacturers also attempted to incorporate new charging machines to increase the overall production of iron. Since iron and steel production was a resource-intensive industry this required powerful iron and steel manufacturing enterprises to hold a control over the regional railroads in Alabama. A typical example was the Woodward Iron Company whose holdings were mostly linked by a company-owned railroad. This railroad originally measured 12 miles in length but the company extended it outward from its blast furnaces, to its quarries of limestone and dolomite, and further to its coal mines and ore mines.