There were economic developments in the south after 1877, beginning in the early 1880’s there was an introduction of textile mills in the South where the northern capitalist invested in building textile mills in the Southern Appalachian foothills of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Alabama also prospered from iron and steel manufacturing and mining and furniture production benefited other parts of the South and likewise James Duke founded the American Tobacco Company in North Carolina in 1890 when he made use of newly-invented cigarette rolling machines to feed the growing market for tobacco.