the time will come, and thai before many years, when the) will 

 command double these prices. 



The chief towns of the plateau are Tullahoma, Manch< 

 McMinnville, Sparta. Cookeville and Winchester. Monl Ea 

 the famous Southern Chautauqua and summer resort, and 

 wanee, the seat of the University of the South, arc situated on 

 the plateau. 



West Tennessee is that geographical division of the State which 

 lies between the Tennessee and the Mississippi Rivers. It rank- 

 third in size and population, though it contains the most popu- 

 lous city in the State, Memphis. It is an area of clays, loam 

 and sand, It has no minerals nor rocks, except along the Ten- 

 nessee River, where the formation is a continuation of that of 

 the Middle Tennessee limestone. The surface is comparatively 

 level, the streams have low hanks and sluggish currents and are 

 often bordered by low wide marshy bottoms. It contains a num- 

 ber of small rivers which rise near the eastern border ami flow 

 westwardly ('own the slope to the Mississippi. The land- of 

 this division of the State are very fertile, and for the most 

 part its productive qualities are inexhaustible. Very little of the 

 land but can be cultivated. Cotton, corn, wheat, rye. oats, toba 

 peanuts, clover and timothy do as well, and some of them better 

 here than elsewhere in the State. In recent years vegetable grow- 

 ing, small fruits and berries have been receiving much atten- 

 tion from the farmers, and have proven enormously profitable. 

 The climate of West Tennessee is milder than that of either ol 

 the other two divisions. The chief towns are Memphis, Jackson, 

 Humboldt, Dyersburg, Union City, Paris, and Covington. 



A century and a half ago Tennessee was an unbroken, unknown 

 and untrodden wilderness, inhabited by wild beasts and wild men. 

 In 1540, DeSoto, with his heroic band of adventurers, entered 

 the territory now known as Tennessee and explored a small part 

 of its section in search of gold. He then passed out and into Ala- 

 bama. In the month of May, 1542, he again entered Tern* 

 and camped on the Chickasaw BJuffs about where Memphis now 

 stands long enough to construct rafts on which to cross the Mis- 

 sissippi. In 1673 Father Marquette, on a tour of exploration, 

 stopped at the Chickasaw Bluffs. The next white men to visit 

 Tennessee was a party under LaSalle, in 1682. 



In 1714, M. Charleville built a trading house on the bluff 

 where Nashville now stands. Again, in 17-10. the French, under 

 Bienville, camped for a short time at the Chickasaw Bluffs. 



In 1758, Fort Loudon, on the banks of the Tennessee River, 

 the first edifice constructed by members of the Anglo-Saxon race. 

 was built. The melancholy fate of the English garrison at this 

 fort, in 1760, is known to all students of history. 



87 



