OUR POPULATION AND ITS DISTRIBUTION. 373 



in tlie drainage area of tlie Mississippi River ; tliat only four 

 tenths of one per cent live in the Great Basin, and three and four 

 tenths per cent on the Pacific coast. It shows further that the 

 proportion living within the region drained to the Atlantic is 

 steadily diminishing, while of this region the part drained to the 

 Gulf of Mexico is becoming relatively more populous, as is the 

 case in a still more marked degree in the Great Basin and the 

 region drained to the Pacific* 



The tendency of population, as to topographical features, is 

 best illustrated by a short table which has been condensed from 

 the report of the census : 



Coast swamps 



Atlantic plain 



Piedmont region 



New England hills 



Appalachian Mountain region. . . . 

 Cumberland- Alleghany plateau.. . 



Interior timbered region 



Lake region 



Ozark Mountain region 



Alluvial region of the Mississippi 



Prairie region 



Great Flams 



North Rocky Mountains 



South Rocky Mountains 



Plateau region 



Basin region 



Columbian mesas 



Sierra Nevada 



Pacific Valley 



Cascade Range 



Coast Ranges . . . . 



The greatest density, according to topographical features, is 

 found in the Atlantic plain, it being 74'4 persons to the square 

 mile, and the lowest density is in the Plateau region, it being 07 

 of a person, on an average, to the square mile. Four and three 

 tenths per cent of the entire population of the country is to be 

 found in the coast swamps area and the alluvial region of the 

 Mississippi River. This population consists mainly of the colored 

 race. Two and three tenths per cent of the entire population is 

 found in the desert and semi-desert regions of the country. The 

 mountain regions of the West hold 2'5 per cent, while about one 

 sixth of the entire population is to be found in the Eastern mount- 

 ain region. 



If we examine the distribution according to altitude, it will be 

 found that more than three fourths of the population live below 



* Census Bulletin No. 47, by Henry Gannett. 



