12 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY TENTH ANNUAL REPORT. 
ing the topography very broken and resulting in a great diversity of 
surface features. Some of the streams head in a very character- 
istic manner forming what are locally termed “steepheads.” In 
the eastern and southern portions of the county the. hills give way 
to very gradual slopes which continue through to the Ocklocknee 
river, the eastern boundary of the county, and through the county 
southward into Franklin county. 
The favorable location of Franklin county on the. Gulf of Mex- 
ico invited very early settlement and development. The Apalach- 
icola river which heads in North Georgia, makes its way through 
the fertile red hills of that State and through some of the best 
lands of Florida finally discharging its waters into the Gulf of 
Mexico at Apalachicola. Before the building and development 
of the railroads this river was the principal medium of transporta- 
tion and Apalachicola was the main point of export as well as im- 
port for a large territory, not only for Florida but for adjoining 
states. 
The very gentle sandy slope extending from the north merges 
in this county into flatwoods, bays and swamps. In 1915 a soil 
survey was made of Franklin county by the Bureau of Soils of the 
U. S. Department of Agriculture, accompanying which is a map 
showing different types of soils, their location and extent, as well 
as the different streams, bays, swamps and other natural features. 
The soils within this area are all sandy, the predominating type 
being that described in the soil report as the “hyde. fine sand.” But 
little attention as yet has been given to agriculture, the chief in- 
dustries of the county being lumbering, turpentining, the catching 
and shipping fish, oysters and shrimp. The canning of oysters and 
shrimp is rapidly increasing and is one of the leading industries of 
the county. 
CLIMATE. 
Records on temperature and rainfall are available at the Tal- 
lahassee Station and at the Apalachicola Station from the United 
States Weather Bureau. These stations may probably be accepted 
as fairly representative of the area covered by this report. The 
average for rainfall and temperature at Tallahassee are based on 
records from 1891 to 1903.* The average for rainfall and tem- 
* Climatology of the United States, by Alfred Judson Henry, Bull. Q, U. S. 
Dept. Agriculture. 
