} 



CH^F»TER II. 



THE COAST REGION. 



LOCATION AND AREA. 



The coast of Carolina, from the mouth of the Savannah river to that of 

 Little river, on the North Carolina line, is about one hundred and ninety 

 miles in length. East of the outlet of the rivers, that is northeast of 

 Winyaw Bay, the coast line curves inland, there are no islands, and the 

 smooth hard beach (noted for its delightful seaside residences during the 

 summer months) that forms the continuous shore line, is of little interest 

 agriculturally. South of Winyaw Bay, whence issue the waters of Black 

 and Lynch's rivers, and of the Great and Little Pee Dee, with the Wac- 

 camaw, the Santee river, with its great watershed in North and South 

 Carolina, draining an extensive region stretching to the highest eleva- 

 tions of the Apalachian range, dikes its delta out into the ocean, and the 

 shore line swelling seaward becomes lined with numerous islands. From 

 this point to Charleston Harbor the islands, though numerous, are small 

 and low, and in this distance of more than fifty miles not more than seven 

 hundred acres are planted in cotton, yielding about two hundred and 

 seventy-five bales of long staple. South of Charleston Harbor the islands 

 increase rapidly in size and number to the waters of Port Royal, where 

 they line the shore in tiers three and four deep. They attain their maxi- 

 mum development around Broad river, and diminish again in size and 

 .number more rapidly even than they had increased, as they approach 

 the Georgia line at the mouth of Savannah river. The Sea Islands are 

 ; separated from the mainland by numerous salt water rivers, creeks and 

 inlets of the sea. 



GEOLOGY. 



The coast region corresponds almost exactly with the post-pleiocene for- 

 ■mation. Its strata of sand, clay and mud, have an estimated thickness of 

 about sixty feet, stretching inland some ten miles and thinning out at a 

 slight elevation above tide water. They rest in Horry and Georgetown 

 on the pleiocene, and for the remainder of the coast, on the eocene, in 

 which occur the phosphate deposits of the Ashley, the Cooper and the 

 Coosaw rivers. 



