CHAPTER I. 



DRAINAGE BASINS, STREAMS, AND WATER POWERS. 



DRAINAGE BASINS. 



The five principal drainage basins of the State are : 



First The Apalachicola Basin, chaining to the Chattahoo- 

 chee and Apalachicola River, and entering the Gulf. at Apala- 

 chicola, Fla. 



Second The Choctawhatchee Basin, draining to the Gulf 

 through Choctawhatchee Bay. 



Third The Pensacola Basin, draining to Pensacola Bay and 

 Perdido Bay, near Pensacola, Fla. 



Fourth The Mobile Basin, including the waters of Talla- 

 poosa, Coosa, Cahaba, Alabama, Warrior, and Tombigbee 

 Rivers, and draining into the Gulf at Mobile, Ala, 



Fifth The Tennessee Basin, draining into the Tennessee 

 River, and thence through the Mississippi to the Gulf at New 

 Orleans. ( - ** 



The water powers of the State are mainly in the Mobile and 

 Tennessee Basins, which practically cover the entire State, ex- 

 cept a small area in the southeast corner. 



The area of crystalline rocks in Alabama is a triangle on the 

 east side of the State, including Cleburne, Randolph, Chambers, 

 Lee, Tallapoosa, Clay, Coosa, and parts of Elmore, Chilton, 

 and Talladega counties. The "fall line," or escarpment dividing 

 the Crystalline region from the Cretaceous formation of the 

 Coastal pjain on the southwest, runs from Columbus, Ga., cross- 

 ing the Tallapoosa River at Tallassee, and the Coosa at We- 

 tumpka. The northwestern boundary of the area of the Crystal- 

 line rocks which divides it from the Paleozoic formations, re- 

 crosses the Coosa River near Marble Valley postoffice, in Coosa 

 county, and runs in a northeasterly direction towards Cedar- 

 town, Ga., crossing the Alabama line near Warner. 



The line between the Paleozoic region and the Cretaceous for- 

 mation runs from a point near Strasburgh, in Chilton county, 



