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26 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
a water-shed dividing the streams which flow into the Tennessee from
those which empty into the Savannah and the Chattahooche'e rivers; and
also separating the waters which through these main streams empty, on
the one hand, into the Gulf of Mexico and, on the other, into the Atlantic
ocean. These mountains are rich in coal, iron, copper, granite, marble,
gold and silver. The scenery of Upper Georgia is unrivalled in its pic
turesque beauty, abounding in majestic water-falls such as Toccoa and
Amicololah; in verdant valleys, like Nacoochee; and in magnificent gorges,
like Tallulah, in which there were at one time five unrivalled cataracts.*
2. The Piedmont Plateau, as its name implies, is an area of foot-hills.
It corresponds roughly to what is sometimes called the middle belt, and is
bounded on the south by a line running from Augusta to Columbus. The
elevation of this section varies from 300 to 1,500 feet above sea level.
Here were located some of the great plantations of the1 state in ante-bel
lum days. In this part of Georgia, also, the rivers, escaping from nar
row channels and rocky shoals, broaden into wide streams, on whose
smooth expanse of water floats the majestic steam-boat.
3. To the south of this Piedmont Plateau lies the great Coastal Plain,
a region embracing 35,000 square miles, or considerably more than half
of the state's entire domain. Georgia was first settled on the ocean front,
a strip bounding the coastal plain on its eastern side; but it was not
until comparatively recent years that the1 wire-grass region comprising
its western area became the home of a thrifty population. Georgia's
ocean front is in many places low, marshy, .and malarial, but is indented
by splendid harbors, full protection to which is afforded by outlying
islands, formerly the homes of a wealthy class of people known as sea-
island planters. The state's principal sea-ports are Savannah, Bruns
wick, Darien, and St. Mary's. But we cannot lengthen this discussion.
The reader who is interested in Georgia's water-powers, industries, mate
rial resources, etc., is referred to a section of this work devoted exclusively
to topics of this character, f
Georgia's original domain, as defined by her royal charter from King
George II, of England, lay between the Savannah and the Altamaha rivers ' „
and extended from the headwaters of these streams, in a westerly direc
tion, "to the South Seas," an expression construed to mean "indefinitely
westward;'' but at a later period the state's western boundary was fixed
at the Mississippi River. Reaching back for immemorial ages beyond the
advent of the European this region of country was the wilderness home
of Indian tribes. But, antedating the days of the red men, as we know
them, at least, the Territory of Georgia was inhabited by a race of people
who, for the want of an ethnological name defining their true relation to
the human family have been called the Mound Builders. Great mounds
or tumuli found today on the banks of the Etowah, near Cartersville, also
in the vicinity of Rome, and in the lower part of the state, not far from
* These cataracts were: L ;Eau D 'Or, Bridal Veil, Tempesta, Oceana, and
Hurricane. They were destroyed by the erection some time ago of a dam in the
waters of the stream just above Tallulah by the Georgia Bailway and Power Com
pany, but the unrivalled gorge still remains and the approaches thereto will from
year to year be made increasingly beautiful by splendid driveways leading to palatial
country homes.
t Section VII, ' ' The Period of the Present.''