The Geology of the Tallulah Gorge. — Jones. JT) 
among the old inhabitants of the neighborhood failed to throw- 
any light on this point. There is nothing, however, to indi- 
cate that they have migrated from a definite, initial position 
as in the case of a fall like Niagara working back by under- 
mining. Indeed, the presence of a number of sloping falls 
(they are all more or less sloping) instead of a single vertical 
one w'ould preclude the idea of any such origin. They are 
rather to be looked upon as rapids or shoals of an accentuated 
type where the grade of the river is steepest in its course to 
the low^er level of the Tugaloo. 
Mr. C. W. Hayes thinks that the Chattooga river and the 
tributary Tallulah have been captured and diverted from the 
Chattahoochee to the Savannah drainage system by the Tug- 
aloo and that the falls on the Tallulah show that the Tugaloo 
has not yet had time to subdue the recently acquired terri- 
tory.* Mr. M. R. Campbell has also advanced views of a 
similar nature. f 
As both these writers consider a case of stream piracy to 
have taken place here, the origin of the gorge \\\\\ first be con- 
sidered on such a supposition. 
From the top of any prominent peak east of Tallulah 
river in the region of the gorge a long even-crested ridge, the 
Chattooga ridge, can be seen on the southeastern side of 
the Chattooga. A natural continuation of this is seen west 
of the Tallulah in the region of Panther creek, w^hile a deep 
gap, through which a broad vista of the low country is ob- 
tained, marks the position of the Tugaloo. If a capture took 
place it was probably at a point a short distance above the 
mouth of Panther creek ; the Chattooga originally continuing 
its course to the Chattahoochee along the valley of Panther 
creek and its west fork, the present reversed drainage of this 
creek being necessarily brought about by the lower grade of 
the Tugaloo. The divide between the western fork of this 
creek and several creeks tributary to the Chattahoochee is at 
its lowest point between 300 and 400 feet above the present 
level of the Tugaloo at the juncture of the three streams, and 
Chattooga. 
*C. W Hayrs. The Southern Appalachians, Af ono^rap/j. National Geogr.1- 
phic Society, 1890, vol. i, p. 327. 
tM. R. Campbei.i.. r)rainaee modifications and their interpretation-;. 
Journal of Geology, 1896. 4-, 657-678. 
