A Contribution to the Geologic History of the Florid ian Plateau. 149 



a valley approximately paralleling the northern, eastern, and south- 

 eastern boundary of the Vicksburg and the Apalachicola. (See plate 5.) 



The only stream which does not conform to this arrangement is the 

 Withlacoochee. A study of the map leads to the suggestion that it has 

 been formed by a stream working backward from the coast across the 

 Vicksburg area, and capturing a part of the headwaters of both Hillsboro 

 and Ocklawaha rivers, so that the non-conformity of the Withlacoochee 

 to the arrangement of the other streams is a later development. 



The striking manner in which the northward flowing St. John's 

 River parallels the coast has frequently been emphasized, but the trends 

 of the southward flowing Kissimmee and Peace rivers are not less striking. 

 South of the elevated region in the vicinity of Haines City, the two main 

 drainage lines not only trend southward, but at their southern extremi- 

 ties are deflected toward the west. The deflection of Peace Creek is 

 through Charlotte Harbor, and the Kissimmee flows through Lake 

 Okeechobee, which is connected with the Gulf by the Caloosahatchee. 



The trend of the drainage lines of Florida is therefore at first roughly 

 concentric to the Vicksburg nucleus and proceeding away from this 

 nucleus toward the east and the south the trends conform to the general 

 scheme of arrangement of the geologic formations and to the coast line. 

 The eastern coast of Florida follows a long sweep toward the southeast, 

 then bends south and turns by a curve toward the west. 



The analogies of the eastern and southeastern outlines of the Vicks- 

 burg nucleus, the arrangement of the main drainage lines, and the outline 

 of the eastern and southern coasts of Florida are so striking that one is 

 forced to the conclusion that some common cause Hes beneath all of these 

 phenomena. 



