Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/729

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GEORGIA 717 see on the one side and of the Chattahoochee on the other. From the junction of these con- fluents (lat. 34 28') the river has a S. S. E. course of 450 m. to the sea, which it meets near lat. 32 and Ion. 81. It is navigable for large ships to Savannah, 18 m., and for steam- boats of 150 tons to Augusta, 230 m. further ; and by means of a canal round the falls navi- gation for small steamboats is prolonged for 150 m. above. The Chattahoochee rises near the W. constituent of the Savannah, pursues at first a S. W. course, but at West Point (lat. 32 52') on the Alabama line turns S. and en- ters Florida (lat. 30 41') under the name of the Appalachicola. Its whole length to the gulf is about 550 m., and steamboats ascend it 300 m. to the falls at Columbus. Flint river rises in the hilly country S. of the Chattahoo- chee, and joins that river in the S. W. corner of the state after a course of 300 m. ; it is navi- gable for steamboats to Albany. The Och- lockonnee, Withlacoochee, and Allapaha drain the S. section of the state, and pass through Florida to the gulf of Mexico. The Withlacoo- chee and Allapaha by their junction in Florida form the Suwanee. Next to the Savannah, the Altamaha is the largest river falling into the Atlantic. It is formed by the junction of the Oconee and Ocmulgee, which rise in the hilly region S. of the Chattahoochee and flow for about 250 m. nearly parallel to each other, when the latter bends to the east and unites its waters with those of the former. The main river is navigable for sea-going vessels to Da- rien, and steamboats ascend the Ocmulgee to Macon and the Oconee to Milledgeville. The Ogeechee drains the country between the Sa- vannah and Altamaha, and has a S. E. course of 200 m., with 30 or 40 m. of sloop navigation ; its southern branch, the Cannouchee, is navi- gable for 50 m. The Santilla and St. Mary's drain the S. E. section of the state ; both are navigable for sloops about 40 m., and for boats much further; the St. Mary's forms the boun- dary toward Florida. The N. and N. W. sec- tions of the state are drained by the Tacoah, the Notley, and other tributaries of the Hiawas- see; and by the Oostenaula and Etowah, which, uniting at Rome, form the Coosa, one of the tributaries of the Alabama. The Tallapoosa, also a tributary of the Alabama, has its sources in this state between the Coosa and Chattahoo- chee. Georgia is naturally divided into two re- gions distinguished by their geological struc- ture, as well as by their topography, climate, and vegetable productions. The line of the first falls which are met with in ascending the streams marks here, as well as further N., the ascent upon the platform of granitic and pa- laeozoic rocks, which stretches on to the Ap- palachian mountains. This line crosses the central portion of the state from Augusta on the Savannah, by Macon on the Ocmulgee, to Columbus on the Chattahoochee. It is nearly parallel with the range of the Alleghanies, which crosses in a N. E. and S. W. direction the northern portion of the state ; but it is so distant from these mountains that the inter- vening hilly region of the metamorphic and lower Silurian rocks is here much broader than elsewhere along the eastern slopes of the Alleghanies. The width of the belt is not far from 150 in. On the south it is succeeded im- mediately by the lowest tertiary, the eocene, whose sands, clays, and calcareous and sili- cious strata are seen reposing upon the an- cient metamorphic slates and gneiss along the line of contact with these. The cretaceous for- mation only intervenes from a point almost in the centre of the state, near Macon, gradually widening in its outspread toward the west and pushing the outcrop of the overlying eocene further to the south. The cretaceous group is also seen at a few isolated points rising through the tertiary near the Ogeechee river. S. of the line designated above, the whole country toward the gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic ocean is occupied by the eocene and the mod- ern tertiaries of the coast ; a belt wider even than that of the ancient formations of the N. half of the state. In the alluvium, which at- tains an elevation of only a few feet above the water, skeletons of the mastodon, mylodon, megatherium, an extinct species of elephant, and of the ox, have been found ; and beneath the muddy peaty soil in which they lie the sands and clays are of the post- tertiary forma- tion, containing fossil shells, all of the same species that now live in the neighboring salt water. In Bartow co. the limestones of the lower Silurian are met with just N. of the Etowah river, and the formation extends to- ward Tennessee, till in the N. E. corner of the state it is overlaid by later members of the pa- lasozoic rocks, which finally are capped by the coal formation. Near the junction of the lime- stone with the metamorphic rocks immense deposits of iron ore are found, in the latter rang- ing N. E. from the S. E. corner of Bartow through Cherokee co. Gold was discovered in 1829 in Habersham co. It occurs in veins and alluvial deposits in almost every county N. of the central line of the state, the W. limit being the W. base of the mountains. The chief de- posits are in a belt, 15 to 20 m. wide, extend- ing across the state on the E. slope. The pro- duction from 1829 to 1838 is estimated at 800,000 ounces; from 1838 to 1849, at 200,- 000 ounces; and it has gradually diminished until in 1870 only five mines were in operation, the product being valued at $29,780. The amount of gold deposited at the United States mint and branches, from Georgia, to June 30, 1873, was $7,267,784 76. The copper veins worked in Polk co., Tenn., are traced across the line into Gilmer co. The other mineral productions of the state, except the limestones, and in the eocene region the marls and buhr- stone of this formation, are of little impor- tance. Among objects of interest are the falls of Tallulah, in a branch of the Tugaloo, in Habersham co. ; Toccaco falls in the same