School History of North Carolina (From 1584 to the Present Time) | Page 5

are
everywhere exceptionally rich, and in the Tidewater section, of great
breadth. In their course from the high plateaus to the low country all the
rivers of the State have a descent of many hundred feet, made by
frequent falls and rapids. These falls and rapids afford all unlimited
motive power for machinery of every description; and here many
cotton mills and other factories have been established, and are
multiplying every year.
7. The sounds, and the rivers which empty into them, constitute a
network of waterway for steam and sailing vessels of eleven hundred
miles. They are separated from the ocean by a line of sand banks,
varying in breadth from one hundred yards to two miles, and in height
from a few feet above the tide level to twenty-five or thirty feet, on
which horses of a small breed, called "Bank Ponies," are reared in great
numbers, and in a half wild state. These banks extend along the entire
shore a distance of three hundred miles. Through them there are a
number of inlets from the sea to the sounds, but they are usually too
shallow except for vessels of light burden. Along its northern coast the
commerce of the State has, in consequence, been restricted; it has,
however, an extensive commerce through Beaufort Harbor and the
Cape Fear River.
8. The sounds, and the rivers in their lower courses, abound with fish
and waterfowl. Hunting the canvas-back duck and other fowls for the
Northern cities is a regular and profitable branch of industry; while
herring, shad and rock-fishing is pursued, especially along Albemarle
Sound, with spirit, skill and energy, and a large outlay of capital.
QUESTIONS.
1. What is the subject of this chapter? How may the mountains of North
Carolina be classed? Describe each chain. Point out these mountains on
the map.
2. Describe the Smoky Mountains. The Blue Ridge. The Brushy. The

Oconeechee.
3. Describe the river systems of the State. Give the dividing lines
between the systems. Describe the flow of the rivers of Western North
Carolina. Trace the courses of these rivers on the map. What is said of
the mountain gaps?
4. Where are the Catawba and Yadkin Rivers? What portion of the
State do they water? Point them out on the map.
5. Describe the rivers of the third system. Where do they empty?
6. What do our rivers afford? What is said of our water power?
7. What mention is made of the sounds? Describe the banks. Point out
on the map the sounds and the banks.
8. With what do the sounds and rivers abound? What important
branches of industry are mentioned?

CHAPTER III
.
GEOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS.
A knowledge of the geology of a State affords the key to its soils; since
the soils are formed by the disintegration of the underlying rocks, more
or less mixed with animal or vegetable matter. The peculiar geological
structure of the State furnishes the material for every possible variety of
soil. In fact, there is no description or combination unrepresented.
There are, first, the black and deep peaty soils of Hyde county and the
great swamp tracts along the eastern border of the Tidewater section;
then come the alluvious marls and light sandy soils of the more
elevated portions of the same section; then the clayey, sandy and
gravelly soils of the Piedmont and Mountain section, the result of the
decomposition of every variety of rock.
2. From its western boundary to the last falls of its rivers, the rocks
generally belong to that formation known as "primitive". Primitive
rocks are easily distinguished; they are crystalline in structure, and have
no animal or vegetable remains (called fossils) imbedded or preserved
in them. The soils of this formation are not very fertile, nor yet are they
sterile; they are of medium quality, and susceptible, under skilful
culture, of the highest improvement. The primitive rocks are chiefly
represented by granite and gneiss.

3. The rocks of the secondary formation appear in certain counties of
the Piedmont section, and here the coal-fields occur, embracing many
hundred square miles. This formation consists of the primitive rocks,
broken down by natural agents, and subsequently deposited in beds of a
thickness from a few feet to many hundred, and abounds in organic
remains. The soils of this formation vary more than the former, as the
one or the other of the materials of which they are made up happens to
predominate.
4. The eastern section belongs to that which is known as the
"quaternary" formation. Here no rocks like those mentioned above are
found; indeed, rocks, in the ordinary sense of that term, are unknown.
This formation will be best understood by regarding it as an ocean bed
laid bare by upheaval through some convulsion of nature, and thus