CHAPTER II. 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
TOPOGRAPHICAL. 
General Topographical Features. — The topography of North Carolina 
is auy thing but monotonous. In fact, there is the greatest variety of to- 
pographical features to be found anywhere within an equal area. 
Its land surface is diversified by mountains, plateaus, valleys, plains, 
bottoms, swamps, savannahs, islands and sand dunes. Its water surface 
is made up of springs , natural wells, ponds, lakes, creeks , rivers, bays 
and sounds. ‘ < 
Mountains. — The great continental system of the Appalachian moun- 
tains, which forms the barrier of the Atlantic ocean near the eastern 
margin of the continent and extends a thousand miles, almost from the 
mouth of the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, reaches its greatest 
elevations. and develops its grandest features in this State. The system 
is represented here by two great parallel chains,— -the Smoky Mountains 
and the Blue Ridge, with a network of heavy cross chains connecting 
them, and numerous spurs thrown off to the east and south, some of 
them as high as the parent chain, and some more than fifty miles 
long. There are also several other disconnected minor chains to the 
eastward, having the same general trend as the Appalachians and the sea- 
coast. These different systems will be best studied in connection with 
the special features of the several sections of the State to which they 
belong. 
Plateaus.— Between the main chains of the Appalachians and their spurs 
and cross chains, are many comparatively level benches, or areas of table- 
land, or plateaus, some of them hundreds of square miles in extent, and 
2,000 to 4,000 feet high. These all belong to the western division of the 
State, and will be described in that connection. 
Valleys. — The cross chains and mountain spurs above mentioned are 
separated by deep valleys, which have been channelled out by the rivers 
which flow through them. And the great rivers which drain the middle 
and eastern sections of the State, have likewise carved out for themselves 
wide valleys, many of which embrace frequent and large tracts of nearly 
level territory, and extensive stretches of 
Bottoms. — These level tracts are found along the margins of the 
streams of all sizes in all sections of the State, and constitute a very 
