GEORGIA 



2455 



GEORGIA 



Rivers. Georgia has 540 square miles of 

 water surface, and is one of the best watered 

 of the states. The rivers of the northwestern 

 valley region and those which are confined to 

 the coastal plain are for the most part rather 

 sluggish, but most of the great rivers might 

 join the Chattahoochee in its wonderful Song, 

 as written by Sidney Lanier, the Georgia poet: 

 I hurry amain to reach the plain, 

 Run the rapid and leap the fall, 

 Split at the rock and together again, 

 Accept my bed, or narrow or wide, 

 And flee from folly on every side 

 With a lover's pain to attain the plain ; 

 for they rise in the mountains, cross the Pied- 

 mont Region, and finally find their way to the 

 plain, where they are large enough to carry 

 down to the Atlantic or the Gulf of Mexico 

 the traffic of the territory through which they 

 flow. The extreme northernmost portion of 

 the state is drained into the Tennessee, and 

 thence by a roundabout course through the 

 Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico, but most 

 of the drainage of the state finds its way 

 directly to the Atlantic or the Gulf. The large 

 rivers are, from east to west, the Savannah; 

 the Altamaha, formed by the junction of the 

 Oconee and the Ocmulgee; the Flint and the 

 Chattahoochee. The first two empty into the 

 Atlantic, the Flint joins the Chattahoochee just 

 at the boundary line of Florida, and the last- 

 named river, through this latter part of its 

 course called the Apalachicola, finds its way to 

 the Gulf. 



Manufactures. The manufactures of the 

 state are best considered in connection with 

 its rivers, for it is the rivers which have in 

 large part made them possible. Excellent water 

 transportation, and a possible water power of 

 at least 500,000 horse power, have combined 

 to make this the foremost industrial state of 

 the South. Especially since 1890 have manu- 

 facturing enterprises increased. In 1899, the 

 total manufactured products amounted to 

 $94,532,000, while in 1909 these had increased 

 to $202,863,000 and in 1914 to $253,320,000. In 

 this last year almost 120,000 persons were em- 

 ployed in the various establishments within the 

 state. 



It would almost be possible, by a study of 

 the other industries of Georgia, to assume what 

 the chief manufacturing enterprises must be. 

 The state is a great cotton producer, and cot- 

 ton goods rank far ahead of any other manu- 

 factured product. Sixty-seven per cent of the 

 surface of the state is under forests, and lum- 

 ber and timber products rank second. Other 



manufactured products of importance are fer- 

 tilizers, cottonseed oil and turpentine and rosin. 

 These all depend either on the growth of cot- 

 ton within the state, or on its wooded char- 

 acter. 



Mining. Georgia is particularly fortunate in 

 having such abundant water power in certain 

 sections, as its supply of coal is not extensive, 

 and only a few hundred thousand tons are 

 mined each year. Indeed, the mineral wealth 

 of the state is not great. Iron, the only metal 

 of any considerable importance, is even less 

 valuable than coal. A little gold is found, 

 seldom as much as $20,000 worth in a year. 

 By far the chief mineral products are clay, 

 excellent in quality and suitable for brick and 

 tile, and building stones of various kinds. 

 Especially important is the marble, that found 

 in the northwestern part of the state being 

 the purest and whitest produced in the United 

 States. 



Its Agriculture. The chief industry of the 

 state is agriculture, which in the present cen- 

 tury has advanced even more rapidly than 

 manufacturing. Georgia's crops in 1899 were 

 worth only $86,000,000, but by 1915 they had 

 risen in value to more than a quarter of a 

 billion dollars yearly. Because the climate 

 shows a decided variation, a wide range of 

 crops can be produced. The soils, too, most of 

 which are very fertile, are various. On the 

 coastal plain where the climate is mild and 

 delightful, and trie' growing season nearly nine 

 months, cotton is raised in vast quantities 

 the sea-island, or long-fiber, variety on the 

 islands along the coast and the upland variety 

 farther inland. Until recently cotton formed 

 over two-thirds of the total crops of the state, 

 and Georgia is second only to Texas in its pro- 

 duction, with a yield usually nearly a million 

 bales ahead of any other state. But a state 

 dependent upon a single crop for its income 

 passes through alternate periods of prosperity 

 and poverty, and Georgia farmers have been 

 quick to see this. Increasing acreage has been 

 given to corn, which now yields the state about 

 $50,000,000 a year, sometimes more than half 

 as much as cotton. Oats, too, have advanced 

 in value from $4,000,000 in 1909 to about $12,- 

 000,000, while wheat brings about $4,000,000 

 instead of less than $1,000,000. Of the other 

 field crops hay, sweet potatoes, peanuts and 

 sugar cane are important; the last two grow 

 almost entirely in the southwestern part of the 

 state. Georgia and North Carolina lead the 

 other states in sweet potato production. 



