Soil Survey of Murray and Whitfield Counties, Georgia

Murray and Whitfield Counties, Georgia 3
E. Johnston during the winter of 1863-1864. Thousands of Confederate troops camped
in and around Dalton. In early May 1864, fierce battles were fought at Rocky Face
Ridge and Dug Gap for control of Johnston’s fortified position at Dalton. Eventually, in
the early morning of May 11, 1864, the larger Union Army was able to circle south and
advance towards Johnston’s Army from the rear. Johnston was forced to withdraw.
Dalton was occupied by Federal troops until 1865 (Golden, 2007; Whitfield-Murray
Historical Society, 1999).
In 1885, the Crown Cotton Mill opened in Dalton and provided much needed
employment to the area. It was the first large manufacturing plant in Whitfield County.
Other industries followed as Dalton grew. In 1900, a cottage industry that made handmade,
tufted bedspreads was started by Catherine Evans Whitener. Bedspreads were
sold by hanging them on clotheslines along the sides of roads. U.S. Highway 41 was
known as “Peacock Alley” for the popular peacock design on the bedspreads that hung
on lines by the road. By the 1930s, the labor intensive hand-tufting process of making
bedspreads was replaced by machines (Golden, 2007; Whitfield-Murray Historical
Society, 1999).
After World War II, the machines used to tuft bedspreads became larger and more
efficient. Manufacturers began to produce rugs and carpets with these machines. As
the carpet industry grew, it became the primary source of employment and economic
development in the area of Murray and Whitfield Counties. Today, it is estimated that
90 percent of the functional carpet produced in the world is made within a 65-mile
radius of the city of Dalton. Dalton is now known as the “Carpet Capital of the World”
(Golden, 2007; Whitfield-Murray Historical Society, 1999).
The USDA Forest Service began acquiring cut-over private forest lands in Murray
and Whitfield Counties in the 1930s to provide watershed protection and conservation.
These lands became part of the Chattahoochee National Forest in 1936 and they
continue to be managed for multiple uses, including wildlife habitat, recreation,
watershed protection, wilderness, and timber. Acquisition of these lands provided
forest conservation to the southern Appalachian Mountains within the Conasauga
River and the Coosawattee River watersheds in Murray County. In Whitfield County,
the creation of National Forest lands instituted conservation of upland ridges within the
Valley and Ridge physiographic province.
Geology
William R. Fulmer, geologist, Natural Resources Conservation Service, helped prepare this section.
Murray and Whitfield Counties lie mainly within the Valley and Ridge physiographic
province of northwest Georgia. Rocks in this area range from early Cambrian to
Mississippian age. The east edge of Murray County extends into the Blue Ridge
physiographic province and is underlain by metasedimentary and igneous rocks of
pre-Cambrian, and possibly Cambrian, age. The dividing line between these two
physiographic provinces is the Great Smoky Fault, which is a major thrust fault in the
area that passes along the eastern edge of Murray County and generally runs parallel
to the nearby U.S. Highway 411. This fault brings the metamorphic rocks of the Blue
Ridge province in contact with the Paleozoic rocks of the Valley and Ridge province.
The Valley and Ridge province is dominated by northward-trending valleys
separated by low, rounded ridges and by high, steep-sided ridges. Most of the valley
areas have deviations ranging from 640 to 800 feet, while the ridges range from 1,000
to 1,600 feet above mean sea level. The part of Murray County in the Blue Ridge
province includes mountain peaks that rise 3,000 feet or more above sea level.
Rocks of the Blue Ridge province belong to the Great Smoky group. Types of rock
in this group include slate, phyllite, quartzite, graywacke, schist, and gneiss. Typical
soils derived from these parent materials include Cataska, Cheoah, Edneytown,