308 



GEORGIA. 



22, of asbestus from 28, of copper-ore from 27, 

 of corundum from 9, of kaolin from 11, of man- 

 ganese from 15, of marble from 6, of serpen- 

 tine from 11, and of other minerals of mer- 

 chantable character. The survey has found 

 600 streams in the State affording water-pow- 

 er, ranging from 10 to 300 horse-power usu- 

 ally, though some of them are capable of giv- 

 ing as high as 30,000 horse-power. 



The yield of gold bullion in the State is 

 stated by Dr. Little, the State Geologist, to 

 amount at present to over $1,000,000 per an- 

 num. There are said to be very rich veins of 

 easily crushed quartz in the Georgia hills, and 

 Dr. Little believes that the gold-mines of the 

 State will prove as productive as those of Cali- 

 fornia at present. In the gold belt in north 

 Georgia only the most primitive machinery 

 has as yet been used, and many easily accessi- 

 ble lodes are left undeveloped for lack of capi- 

 tal. Extraordinary placer deposits have lately 

 been found. The largest nugget but one ever 

 found in the State was met with in the spring 

 in the Nacoochee Valley. It weighed over a 

 pound. Gold dust and nuggets are said to be 

 the common medium of exchange in northern 

 Georgia, every storekeeper having a pair of 

 scales to weigh the gold brought to him for 

 barter. The Chattahoochee and other streams, 

 which are known to contain gold in their beds, 

 have never been worked. 



Francis Fontaine was appointed State Com- 

 missioner of Land and Immigration under an 

 act approved October 17, 1879. He opened an 

 office in Atlanta and one in New York, and 

 printed circulars and pamphlets containing in 

 formation on the soil, productions, and climate 

 of the State. Agents have been appointed at 

 the North and in Europe. The Commissioner 

 thinks that the best way to get immigrants for 

 Georgia is to obtain them in Europe and bring 

 them direct by steamship to Savannah. There 

 are now no emoluments attached to his office, 

 and he asks that a salary for himself and a sec- 

 retary, office-rent, and a fixed sum for printing, 

 etc., be provided. 



The area under cotton, reported in the cen- 

 sus returns, is 2,579,969 acres, about 18 per 

 cent, of the total cotton acreage of the coun- 

 try; the crop of 1879-'80 is reported to have 

 been 803,211 bales, less than 14 per cent, of 

 the total crop of the country. Georgia has the 

 largest acreage of any State devoted to cotton, 

 but its product is exceeded by that of Missis- 

 sippi, whose acreage is less than that of either 

 Georgia, Alabama, or Texas. 



An act was passed by the last Legislature, 

 pursuant to a clause in the new State Con- 

 stitution, for supplying soldiers who had lost 

 an arm or a leg in the Confederate service 

 with artificial limbs during their lives at the 

 expense of the State. The sum of $69,870 

 has been paid out of the Treasury for this 

 purpose to 960 maimed veterans of the South- 

 ern army. By means of skillful forgeries a 

 small portion of the fund was fraudulently ob- 



tained, but the criminal parties have been ar- 

 rested, and one of them convicted. 



A revision of the law in the State code re- 

 lating to the electoral vote for President was 

 discovered to be necessary, as it was found af- 

 ter the Presidential election that a discrepancy 

 exists between the code and the United States 

 statute which rendered the electoral vote of 

 Georgia in 1880 legally void. While the law 

 of Congress requires the electoral college in 

 each State to cast its vote on the first Wednes- 

 day in December, the Georgia code directs the 

 Governor to summon the electors to meet at 

 the capital on the first Monday in December 

 to cast their vote on the Wednesday following. 

 When, therefore, the first day of the month, as 

 in 1880, or the second, should happen to be a 

 Wednesday, the electoral vote can not be taken 

 on the legal day under the code. 



A murder of exceptionally heinous character 

 occurred in Jonesboro, Clayton County, on the 

 29th of July, in which the victims were a fam- 

 ily of negroes and the perpetrators a band of 

 masked white men. The leader of the assas- 

 sins was identified as a man who had been 

 prosecuted and fined for whipping the negro 

 whose family was murdered. As there were 

 threats made of rescuing the suspected parties 

 who were arrested, the Governor sent a com- 

 pany of militia, going himself to Jonesboro, 

 and had the prisoners taken to Atlanta. 



The squads of revenue officers who, in ac- 

 cordance with the vigorous policy adopted by 

 Commissioner Raum for the suppression of il- 

 licit distilling, scoured the mountains of north 

 Georgia for that purpose, were frequently as- 

 saulted and resisted in the execution of their 

 duty. Special agents were sent out by Com- 

 missioner Raum to investigate the state of af- 

 fairs reported by the officers, and a State Com- 

 missioner, Henry L. Carrow, was appointed to 

 participate in the inquiry, who, together with 

 District- Attorney Farrow and Marshal Fitz- 

 simons, accompanied the Government agents. 

 Later a disposition was manifested on the part 

 of those who had been engaged in the unlaw- 

 ful business to abandon the practice, and men 

 against whom warrants were issued voluntarily 

 came and surrendered themselves to the Unit- 

 ed States officers. The Georgia press and the 

 representatives of the State in Congress indig- 

 nantly denied the reports of a state of lawless- 

 ness in the northern counties, and a concert od 

 resistance to the enforcement of the laws on 

 the part of the citizens. 



A revenue posse was fired upon by a gang 

 of five illicit distillers near Red Oak, Campbell 

 County, and returned the fire, killing one and 

 wounding another of the " moonshiners " ; the 

 fatal encounter occurred on the night of June 

 23d. The deputies were arrested on a justice's 

 warrant ; and, on application to Judge Woods 

 of the United States Circuit Court, he took cog- 

 nizance of the case and discharged the prison 

 ers after an examination. One of the band 

 who was in advance was arrested in the road, 



