‘The principal authority for the general treatment of the history of coal, and of iron and steel, in Alabama is the work of Miss Ethel Armes. The Story of Coal and Iron in Alabama is a comprehensive and scholarly work portraying in attractive style the growth of the mineral industries in its relation to the development of the state and of the South, in preparation of which the author spent more than five years.’ - Thomas McAdory Owen, History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography