93 JOURNAL OF THE 
and those on the Cape Fear as far east as Averasboro. 
These, though they lie within the limits of this region, 
yet structurally do not belong to it, and can best be con- 
sidered under the next heading below, in which will be 
discussed the waterpowers which belong rather to the 
border zone between the coastal plain and the Piedmont 
plateau regions,and which can perhaps be best desig- 
nated as the fall] line zone. 
With the exception of the: waterpowers just referred 
to, it may be said of the coastal plain region as a whole, 
that its waterpowers are of no great importance. The 
water supply is ample but the fall 1s lacking. And 
yet there exist at many different points in this region con- 
ditions which are favorable te the development of water- 
power which, though small, have considerable local value. 
Until a comparatively recent date, practically all of the 
grist mills in this section were operated by small water- 
powers, and a considerable number of these grist mills 
are still inoperation. But such water waterpowers were 
confined to the smaller streams, and in many cases the 
development of power consisted simply in the construction 
of a dam acress the deep, narrow channel of the stream 
without the existence of a natural shoal, and the amount 
of fall is approximately the height of the dam. 
The most striking feature about the waterpower des 
veloped on the majority of these smaller streams is the 
slight extent to which the volume of water is effected 
either by the rains or dry seasons. ‘The most widely 
known illustrations of this condition are Rockfish creek 
in Cumberland county, and Hitchcocks creek in Rich- 
mond county, both of which though small are indus- 
trially important streams. The former with a drainage 
basin of 280 square miles, running five cotton mills, 
and the latter with a drainage basin of 102 square 
miles running six cotton mills. The explanation of 
