178 The National Geographic Magazine 



of high elevation ; with narrow eastern 

 and broad southern coastal plains ; with 

 most of the rivers that are important in 

 an economic sense confined to the east- 

 ern half of the country ; and with in- 

 land seas providing the cheapest trans- 

 portation known excepting on the 

 oceans. All these topographic features 

 have had a profound influence in dis- 

 tributing our industries and shaping our 

 development. 



large quantities of lumber and naval 

 stores ; and on the sea edge are the 

 swamps which, when reclaimed, are ex- 

 tremely fertile. Where the softer plain 

 joins the harder rocks of the Appa- 

 lachian belt the rivers crossing from the 

 harder to the more yielding rocks have 

 made a line of waterfalls beside which 

 many thriving towns and cities have 

 been reared to use this power in manu- 

 facturing ; and along these narrow belts 



-~. -are-jar 



-; 



From Willard D. Johnson, U. S. Geological Survey 



On the High Plains, Western Kansas 



Large areas of our high plains are being reclaimed by artesian wells, which enable ranchmen 

 to establish stock-watering points at comparatively close intervals 



Probably no other coastal plain has 

 so advantageous a position and so many 

 elements that conduce to prosperity as 

 the plain along our Atlantic seaboard. 

 The waste brought down from the 

 mountains on the west has contributed 

 to its fertility and made it a meridional 

 zone of fruits and vegetables, cereals 

 and hay. At its western edge are the 

 clays used in the development of the 

 largest pottery industries of the coun- 

 try. Nearer the sea is the long sandy 

 zone which, south of Virginia, supplies 



of manifold resources and industries 

 extend railroads easily built because 

 they met few natural obstructions and 

 leading straight to the great cities of the 

 north that are the preeminent markets 

 for most of these commodities. 



THE GREAT VALLEY, PLAINS, AND 

 PLATEAUS 



The broader southern plain along the 

 Gulf is a great region of the lumber in- 

 dustry with a product of nearly $2,000, 

 000 a year, of agriculture and chiefly of 



