Statistics of the state of Georgia : including an account of its natural, civil, and ecclesiastical history ; together with a particular description of each county, notices of the manners and customs of its aboriginal tribes, and a correct map of the state
L" ,^ . ^ ^5^ik', "^, v-^^ - 0^ ^ ■>- V cr --^ '%'- -"^^ <i V ^ ,0 /»-•., .?,'i-^. a\^' -^^ <^ v^' ^^. <-^. " ■'^^ v^' ^■^' N^^^. '^O 0 N c 'c>o 0^ 0^!;;*^% ..- .^ ,., ■x^' .^ N 0 V V\^^ ri- '..^' k"°<. c' •^c*. '^ "-b/ ,-.^^ "^., .0 0^ .0- -b 'a ^ > .>'^" •=*>-. '^^ ^ V' .A >.J.^ « V ' » ''/v v-^^''^^^;^^:; •*bo'< o5 -^^ ^ 0 N O ■" \V ■^^. ' STATISTICS OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA^ INCLUDING AN ACCOUNT OF ITS fifltnrol, (S^inil, irni febtnstirnl .fistnrt|; TOGETHER WITH A PARTICULAR DESCRIPTION OP EACH COUNTY, N"OTICES OF TIIE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF ITS ABORIGINAL TRIBES, A CORRECT MAP OF THE STATE. BY GEORGE WHITE, SAVANNAH : Wi. THORNE WILLIAMS 1849. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1849, by W. THORNE WILLIAMS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Georgia. V " TO THE CITIZENS OF THE T^Tl ©\F ©[1©^©"0^ ^Itis Wmk IS EESPBCTFULLY DEDICATED, BY THEIE FELLOW-OITIZEM, THE AOTHOR. PREFACE This volume is, after some unavoidable delay, at length submitted to the public. The difficulties which the author has had to encounter in collecting materials for this work, have far exceeded his ex- pectations ; but he must frankly acknowledge, that his labours have been greatly lightened by the assistance of valued friends in Georgia and other States. To the following gentlemen he acknowledges himself especially indebted : Dr. James H. Couper, of St. Simon's Island ; Major Le Conte, of New- York ; I. K. Tefft, of Savannah ; Governor Graham, of North Carolina ; Doctors Gibbes, Bachman, Holbrook, and Johnson, of Charleston ; Dr. Le Conte, of Athens ; Judge Sheftall, of Savannah ; M. M. Noah, Esq, of New-York ; General Hansell and Col. Knight, of Marietta; John Harper, Esq., of Augusta; Professor Shepard, of Charleston ; and Dr. Church, of Athens. To Philip J. 6 PREFACE. Forbes, Esq., the courteous and esteemed Librarian of the New- York Society Library, he would express his gratitude for the uniform kindness shown him whilst consulting that invaluable collection. Stevens' and McCall's Histories of Georgia, Lee's Memoirs,. Garden's Revolutionary Anecdotes, Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors of England, the Annual Register, Hawkins' His- tory of Missions, Bartram's Travels, and Manuscripts liberally furnished by Governor Gilmer, Hon. Thomas Spalding, and Col. Joseph W. Jackson, have also furnished much valuable information. It cannot be expected that a volume containing so many facts, and gathered from so many sources, should be entirely free from errors. All that the compiler hopes for is, that its contents, drawn from the most reliable sources, will be en- titled to that credit which is usually awarded to public do- cuments, private family archives, and the faithful memories of disinterested living witnesses and contributors. While the author does not shrink from just criticism, nor deprecate deserved censure, he respectfully asks the public to remember, that a Pioneer in any enterprise has many obstacles to overcome, and is therefore entitled to charitable judgment. CONTENTS. Page Sketch of the G-eology of Greorgia, 13 Indians, ...... 27 Situation, Boundaries, Extent, . 35 Soil and Productions, .... 37 Rivers, ....... . 38 Population, ..... 43 Comparative View of Population, . 44 Early Settlement, ..... 44 Arrival of the First Colonists, .... . 45 Progress of the First Colony, 45 Yazoo Fraud, ...... . 48' Political Government, .... 54 Annual Revenue and Expenditures,. 58 Governors of Georgia, .... 59 Judiciary, ...... . 59 Penal Code, ..... 62 Militia System, . . . .. . 63 Militia and Troops in the Revolutionary War, 64 Officers of the Continental Line, . 65 Education, ...... 66 Franklin College, ..... . 74 Mercer University, .... 76 Oglethorpe University, .... 78 Emory College, ..... 78 Georgia Female College, . . .. . 79 Georgia Episcopal Institute, 80 Medical College of Georgia, .... 81 State Lunatic Asylum, .... 82 Georgia iVsylum for the Deaf and Dumb, . 85 Public Buildings at Milledgeville, 85 Banks, ....... 86 Central Railroad, , 87 CONTENTS. Milledgeville and Gordon Kailroad, Georgia Railroad and Banking Company, Macon anc i Western Railroad, Southwestern Railroad, Western and Atlantic Railroad, Augusta and Waynesborougli Railroad, Canals, Protestan ; Episcopal Church, Lutheran Church, Baptists, Methodist Episcopal Church,. Presbyterians, Jews,. Disciples < Df Christ, Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church Roman Catholics,. Protestant Methodists, Mormons,. Appling County, Bibb a Bulloch u Baker "... Bryan u Burke u Butts " Baldwin "... Camden " Campbell ". Carroll u Cass u Chatham £i Chattooga "... Cherokee U Clarke "... Cobb " Columbia (( Coweta " Crawford "... Decatur u De Kalb u Dooly a Dade u 89 89 90 91 92 93 93 93 96 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 104 104 105 108 115 120 123 126 130 132 139 143 146 149 154 172 176 179 187 192 195 197 200 204 208 211 CONTENTS. Early County, Effingham County Elbert u Emanuel li Fayette u Floyd a Forsyth a Franklin a Gilmer u Glynn u Greene (I Gwinnett a Habersham u Hall u Hancock » Harris u Heard; u Henry a Houstoun u Irwin li Jackson li Jasper 11 Jones li Jeflferson li Laurens li Lee u Liberty a Lincoln li Lowndes (C Lumpkin li Macon li Madison 11 Marion li Mcintosh 11 Meriwether li Monroe 11 Montgomery a Morgan a Murray li Muscogee 11 Newton a Oglethorpe a 218 . 222 227 . 242 244 . 248 253 . 258 262 . 275 289 . 295. 299 . 305 310 . 317 321 , . 324. 328. . 332. 334. . 349 354. . 356 J 362 . 366 369 , . 381. 385 . 390 398. . 404 410 , . 414. 421. . 426 432 . 434 439 , . 443 449 , . 452 10 CONTENTS. Paulding County, Pike u Pulaski a Putnam a Kabun a Randolpli a Richmond u Screven a Stewart u Sumter u Talbot u Taliaferro u Tattnall a Telfair a Thomas u Troup li Twiggs u Union u Upson u Walton u Walker u Ware u Warren u Washington u Wayne u Wilkes u Wilkinson u Addenda, 465 470 476 479 484 493 499 516 521 524 529 531 534 539 544 547 563 569 573 579 584 594 597 601 604 607 614 619 FAUNA AND FLORA. Mammalia, Birds, Reptiles, Fish, Crustacea, Coleopterous Insects, Shells,. Flora, 3 6 13 16 21 25 37 43 ERRATA. Page 20, 1 ine 29, " 20, 1 ne 37, " 21, 1 lie 23, " 21,1 ne23, " 21,1 ne 27, " 21,1 ne28. " 22, 1 ne 14, " 22,1 ne 21, " ^2, 1 ne37, " 23, 1 ne 1, " 27, I nel6. " 39,1 ne23, " 42, 1 ne29. " 65, 1 ne 9, " 67, 1 ne 17, " 140, 1 ne 18, " 15], 1 ne 14, " 460, 1 ne32, for Atrape read Atrope. for Kinkefornia read Kinchafoonee. for pristodatus read pristodontns. for accurainata read acuminata. ' for Belennites read Belemnites. for Cucullia read Cucullsea. for anlydreus read anhydrous. for Gorginea read Gorgonia. for strophemene r«ad strophomena. for comiferous read corniferous. for in read on. for Scriven read Screven. for Alabama read Georgia. for Berrian read Berrien. for McQuirread McWhir. for Jefferson read Jeffersonton. for Atlantic and Western read Western and Atlantic. for Manufactures read Miscellaneous. Vji ,S1 ■ i I 9* ,fi'w,:^f^i;.;' :^^ ,'. ^ ,C^ te> 'M fSOl J Jibi K iRiv STATISTICS OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA SKETCH OF THE GEOLOGY OF GEORGIA. The following account of the geology of Georgia, although merely intended as a sketch, the writer is very sensible does not fulfil the requisitions even of that limited design. The materials for a proper treatise on this subject, are yet to be collected; for although the labour of a State Geologist was for several years devoted to it, yet as the results of his examina- tions have not been published, and as they were not extended to many of the most interesting portions of the State, discon- nected facts, collected by cursory observers, form at present the only means available to the geologist. As many of these facts are, however, of great interest to the State, and as they serve to connect its geology with that of other portions of the Union, this outline, imperfect as it is, is presented in the hope that, while it will add something perhaps to previous know- ledge, it may serve, in sonie measure, to attract the attention of the citizens of the State to a subject of much importance. While the example of such States as New-York, Massachu- setts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and others, in investigating their material and scientific resources, at a great expense of labour 2 14 GEOLOGY. and money, should impress upon the people of Georgia the high value attached by intelligent minds to such inquiries, the results which have followed from them of important practical utility, as well as of high national character, should stimulate us not to be behind our sister States in the execution of a work demanded equally by the interests of the community and the claims of an advanced state of civilization. No state in the Union presents a richer field for the geolo- gist than Georgia. With a territory embracing the southern extremity of the great Atlantic chain of mountains ; extend- ing across them to the N. W. into the valley of the Mississippi ; running to the S. W. into the cretaceous slope of the Gulf of Mexico, and occupying along its eastern boundary a wide belt of tertiary, it contains most of the important geological formations. Commencing at the Atlantic ocean, and spreading out from 100 to 150 miles to the west, an extensive plain of a ter- tiary formation, rises from the level of the sea, and gradually swells up to a height of about 500 feet, at a line passing near the heads of navigation of the rivers Savannah, Ogeechee, Oconee, and Ocmulgee, where it meets a primary formation. Between the Ocmulgee and Flint rivers it leaves the primary formation to the right, and rests on the cretaceous, from' a point nearly midway between Macon and Knoxville, by a line run- ning in a S. W. direction to another point between Petaula creek and Fort Gaines on the Chattahoochee river. Bounded by the last mentioned line to the S. E., and by the southern edge of the primary, as indicated by the heads of navigation in the Flint and Chattahoochee rivers, the creta- ceous formation extends from Alabama into Georgia, forming an acute triangle. The ■primary, or non-fossiliferous, bounded to the east by the tertiary and cretaceous formations, as described above, crosses the State from N. E. to S. W., with a width of 160 miles at the northern limit, and 100 at the southern. The Blue Ridge range of mountains passes near its western edge, and forms the most elevated land of the State, varying in height from 1200 to 4000 feet. From this crest there is a gra- dual descent to the east, by a series of parallel and undulating ridges, until the tertiary plain is reached. On the west the GEOLOGY. 15 descent is much more precipitous. The western boundary of the primary is not very accurately established, but it is believed to lie not far from a line running nearly N. and S. through the centre of Gilmer county, and continued in the same direction to near Canton in Cass county, thence to the western base of the Allatoona mountain on the Etowah river, where it turns to the S. W., and passing near Van Wert in Paulding county, and along the northern base of the Dugdown mountain to the Ala- bama line. The N. W. part of the State, bounded to the east and south by the western limit of the primary, consists of a transi- tion or older fossiliferous formation, except the extreme N, W. corner where the carboniferous occurs. Having thus briefly sketched the great leading features of the geology of the State, the various formations will now be described more in detail. Tertiary Formation. — The sea-coast of Georgia is rich in the more recent formations. In the salt-marshes and swamps, which are spread out between the sea islands and the main land, and along the borders of the rivers and creeks, are extensive bodies of recent alluvium. Although these deposits come under this general head, they are obviously so different in age as to admit of being subdi- vided with advantage. The most recent is that constituting the salt-marsh and the tide-swamp. This is a very modern alluvium, still in the course of formation from the deposits of sedimentary matter brought down by the rivers, or the reflux of the tides. It consists of a tenacious blue clay, mixed with fine silicious sand and vegetable matter : and at the depth of from ten to twelve feet rests on a sandy post-pliocene forma- tion. This subdivision of the recent alluvium contains no fos- sils, except of such animals as now exist in it. The older subdivision forms the inland swamps above the reach of tides, and occurs not unfrequently in tide swamps, in the form of small knolls, and in the salt marsh sometimes rising above its surface, but generally underlying it at the depth of from three to four feet. It consists of a very compact clay, destitute of vegetable matter, varying in colour, but most usually blue or 16 GEOLOGY. yellow. It frequently contains beds of marl and calcareous gravel, and is generally highly impregnated with iron. In some localities it has the appearance of green marl, and con- tains grains of sillicate of iron. Like the salt-marsh it rests at no great depth on a sandy post-pliocene formation. This older recent alluvium derives much interest from the circum- stance of its presenting in many parts of the salt-marsh and tide-swamps where it occurs, indubitable proof of the subsi- dence, at a recent geological period, of the sea-coast from Florida to South Carolina. Stumps of cypress, pine, and other fresh- water trees, in an erect position and worn away to a horizontal line, are found in it, both in the tide-swamps and salt-marsh, with their tops buried three or four feet below the surface of the land, and at the same depth below the ordinary height of the tides. In the salt-marsh these remains occur several miles from the present forests, and where the water is now salt at every stage of the tide and at all seasons of the year. The kind of trees, their erect position, the horizontal line of erosion, the accumulation of soil above them, and the flowing of the salt water, three or four feet above and several miles beyond them, all indicate a sinking of the land posterior to the inland swamp formation. A still higher interest is connected with this formation from its being the depository of all the fossil bones of the ter- restrial mammalia, which have been discovered on the coast of Georgia. These remains having been very abundant, and embracing several genera and species of great interest, and their position having been ascertained with much exactness, a somewhat minute account of the circumstances under which they were found may be useful. The four localities at which they have been discovered are Skidaway Island and Heiner's Bridge, in Chatham county, and the Brunswick canal and Turtle river in Glynn county. The features which characterize these deposits being in all essen- tial particulars the same, one description will answer for them all. In every instance the fossil bones have been found im- bedded in the inland swamp alluvium, near its bottom, and resting on a yellow or white sand of a post-pliocene formation. GEOLOGY. 17 Marine shells, all of existing species, are found in groups in the post-pliocene sand, in a nearly horizontal stratum, and extend- ing from its junction with the alluvium, to the depth of five feet below it. They are generally immediately below the fossil bones, but always in the sand, and in no instance found in the clay alluvium. The depth at which the fossil bones have been discovered varies with the different localities ; being from five feet above high tides, to six or seven feet below. The line of depth appears, however, to follow the present slope of the land, as the highest deposit occurs farthest from the sea, and the lowest nearest to it. The species of shells, and the manner in which they are grouped together, are exactly such as now occur on the adjacent coast ; and, as several of the shells, such as the Artemis Concentrica and Tellina alter- nata still retain the epidermis, it is obvious that they grew on, or near the places where they are now found ; and that the physical circumstances necessary to the existence of a large portion of the present mollusca of the coast, have not changed since a period long anterior to the extinction of the gigantic mammalia. The fossil bones were found, generally in groups, and in seve- ral instances the parts of the same skeleton were lying together. The bones were generally entire, well preserved, and in no instance abraded or incrusted with marine shells, except where they had been washed out of the original bed into salt water streams. These circumstances render it highly probable that these animals either perished on the spots where their remains are now found, or that their carcasses were quietly and im- mediately floated to them, and that sinking to the sandy bot- toms of the then shallow bays, lakes or streams, they were gradually enveloped in the sedimentary deposits, which have produced the older recent alluvium, or inland swamp forma- tion. The inferences may also be drawn, that they existed at a period posterior to the elevation from the sea, of a well characterized sandy post-pliocene formation, and at the com- mencement of the alluvium, of the age of the inland swamp : and that their destruction must have been owing to gradual changes in physical circumstances, and not to any sudden and violent catastrophe. The occurrence in South America, in 18 GEOLOGY. latitudes about equally removed from the equator with our own, of the same fossil animals, disproves the once favourite theory of their extinction by a reduction of temperature, oc- casioned by a change of the poles of the earth. Bones of the following mammalia have been procured from the deposits above named. Megatherium Cuvieri, Megalonyx, Mastodon giganteum, Elephas primigenius, a Bos, an Equus, a Cervus, and the right ramus of the lower jaw of a new genus, the Harlanus Americanus of Owen (Sus Americanus of Harlan). In the post-pliocene sand formation which underlies the fossil mammals, most of the species of shells now existing in the neighbouring sea have been found ; and in the same formation, but nearer the surface, ribs and vertebrae of a whale, and the right os-femoris of an extinct Chelonia (Chelonia Couperii of Harlan). It is believed, that the Miocene formation has not yet been discovered cropping out at the surface in Georgia, but as the writer of this article found two specimens of the Fusus quad- ricostatus on the beach of Long Island near St. Simon's Island, after the gale of the 12th of October, 1846, there is no doubt that it approaches very near to the surface. No fossils have been found between the post-pliocene de- posits already mentioned, and the Burr-stone formation of the Eocene ; and this part of the State presents no object of in- terest to the geologist, except the existence of two nearly pa- rallel terraces, terminated to the east by well defined escarp- ments. From the ocean, the land ascends by a gradual slope, to the height of from ten to twenty feet, when, at a distance of from twenty to thirty miles, it rises by an abrupt step to the elevation of seventy feet above tide water: at which elevation it runs back about twenty miles, when another and similar step of about the same height occurs These escarpments have obviously been sea-cliffs or margins ; and the manner of their formation has been very satisfactorily explained by Dar- win in his Journal of Researches, &c., where he notices a series of similar cliffs in Patagonia. He supposes, in the first place, a period of slow and gradual elevation of the land, converting that portion of the sea lying between the western GEOLOGY. 19 and eastern cliffs into dry land, having a sloping surface. A period of repose then followed, during which, the ocean cur- rents, acting on the land, wore it away, and produced along the sea-margin an abrupt escarpment. Similar alternations of periods of elevation and repose, in the same way produced another and lower terrace and escarpment. After the second period of repose, a third upheaval of the land produced a third terrace, which now forms the low main land of the coast. The other changes which have taken place also admit of a satisfactory explanation. If, during the time when the present sea-coast was slowly rising above the ocean, we suppose that by the joint action of river sediment, sea-currents and waves, a line of reefs was formed at a short distance from the shore, and that they gradually arose to their present level, a chain of low, sandy islands, separated from the main land by shallow basins of salt water would be formed. The sedimentary mat- ter brought down by rivers, would in time be deposited in the quiet water between the islands and the main land, and form a body of marsh. Whenever these marshes had become as high as the usual flow of the tides, permanent channels for the discharge of the water would be formed : and the distance to which the salt water of the ocean would ascend in them, would be established within fixed limits. Beyond the flow of the sea water, trees and fresh water plants would then spring up and extend down to the line of brackish water. If, after the trees had been established, the land should sink, the salt water being no longer confined to its usual channels, would flow up to the sandy main land, and destroy the trees wher- ever it reached. The dead trees would then decay down as far as they were exposed to the action of the atmosphere. If the subsidence of the land should now cease, or the accumu- lation of sedimentary matter be greater than it, the stumps of the former growth of trees would be buried in a new alluvium. This new alluvium would gradually increase, until reaching the height of the tides, new channels would again be formed, and the line of salt water be driven back towards the ocean. Whenever this occurred, another growth of trees would spring up, and be gradually extended down the rivers. The present appearances of the alluvial lands of the coast, indicate that 20 GEOLOGY. such changes have actually taken place ; for whilst the stumps of trees in the salt marsh prove a subsidence of the land, and an encroachment of the salt water to that point, the existence of similar stumps in the tide swamps, at a depth of three or four feet, equally confirms the subsidence of the land, and also shows a recession of the salt water since that period. No division of the Tertiary is so well developed in Georgia as the Eocene. This formation is bounded on the west by the primary and cretaceous rocks, and it probably continues down to the foot of the first terrace or sea cliff", twenty miles from the ocean ; but as no fossils have been found farther east than the Burr and limestone formations, it will be safer in the present state of our knowledge to consider its eastern limit as extending down as far as Effingham county, and passing thence in a Southwest direction through the counties of Bulloch, Emanu- el, and Laurens, to the lower edge of Pulaski, from which point it assumes a nearly southern course, and passes through the counties of Irwin and Lowndes into Florida. The Eocene is divided into three well defined formations, the Burrstone, the orbitulite limestone, and the white lime- stone. The Burrstone, which is the superficial formation * of this group, is characterized by white, yellow and red clays, and ferruginous sand, through which are irregularly interspersed masses of sandstone, burrstone and siliceous rocks, generally found cropping out near the tops of the hills. The fossils found in it are abundant, and usually occur in a silicified state. In many places they exist only in the forms of silicified casts. They differ much at diflferent localities. At Atrape's quarry, near Macon, a large proportion are identical with those de- scribed by Conrad and Lea from the sandy strata of Claiborne Bluflf; while the Burrstone of the counties of Lee, Baker and Decatur, present a group of a very different character. The Orbitulite Limestone, which Mr. Lyell has found to lie between the Burrstone and White limestone, is of a yellow, or cream colour, and is almost entirely made up of orbitulites of * At Kinkefornia creek, near Palmyra, Lee county, a well defined section oc- curs, showing the position of the Burrstone above the limestone. GEOLOGY. 21 two or three species. Near Bainbridge it is found forming the bed of the river, and consists mainly of an aggregation of small orbitulites of from one-eighth to one-third of an inch diameter, with the occasional occurrence of species of the genera pecten, crystillaria and cidaris. The White limestone forms the lowest portion of the Eocene formation in Georgia. It varies much in consistency, passing from a friable marl to a compact rock. The echinoderms and corals abound in it : and it is in this formation that the remains of the Zeuglodon have been found in Twiggs, Crawford, Wash- ington and Decatur counties. As it produces a very good lime, it is burnt, wherever it occurs, for that purpose. The Cretaceous formation is, with the exception of a small patch at Saundersville, confined to parts of the counties of Randolph, Stewart, Muscogee, Marion and Macon. Although its existence in these counties is well established by character- istic fossils, but little is known of the nature of the rocks in which they are found. A. deposit in the Chattahooche in Stewart county, from which the writer of this article, through the liberal exertions of H. T. Hall, Esq. of Columbus, and I. C. Plant, Esq. of Macon, obtained teeth of the Geosaurus, Mosasaurus * of an extinct crocodile, Lamna plicata, Lamna accuminata, and Galleus pristodatus, is identified with the fer- ruginous sand formation of New Jersey, as well by the consti- tution of the soil as by its fossil remains. On the Petalau creek in Randolph county, and at several other points, Ammonites placenta, Exogyra costata, Belennites Americanus, and a large Cucullia have been found. The Transition, or older fossiliferous rock formation has been less explored than any other part of the geology of Georgia : and in the present state of our knowledge the limits of the groups composing it, cannot be designated with accu- racy. It occupies the whole of the counties of Chattooga, Walker, Murray and Floyd, the greater part of Cass, the northern half of Paulding, and all of Dade, except some small patches of coal in the Lookout and Raccoon mountains. That * A new species, described by Prof. R. W. Gibbes, as the Mosasaiirus Cou- peri. 22 GEOLOGY. part of it which extends from tlie western base of the prinnary rocks to the Chattoogatta range of mountains, and which forms the valley of the Oostanaula river, belongs probably to the older series of the New- York formations, as those portions which have been examined contain Potsdam sandstones, cal- ciferous sandrock and limestones of the Trenton group. Very few fossils have been found in it. At the Chattoogatta range a marked change occurs in the formations, which from that line to the Lookout mountain belong principally to the Helder- berg series of the New-York system, but embrace also the Portage and Chemung groups : and therefore correspond with the middle and upper groups of that system, and with the Wen- lock and Devonian rocks of the English Silurian formation. At the Red Sulphur Springs in Walker county a bed of anlyd- reus limestone occurs, corresponding in character to the up- per bed of the Onondaga Salt group of New- York. Within a few miles of this locality there is a stratum of pentamerus limestone, well characterized by its lithological constitution and abundant remains of pentamerus galeatus. At Gordon's Mineral Springs, at the foot of Taylor's ridge, a stratum of dark shale is found at the bottom of the valley containing Gorginea. Above the shale are successively placed Oriskany sandstone with Atrypa elongata, &c. — a grayish blue, sub-crystalline limestone of the Onondaga limestone group, abounding in cy- athophylla, stylina and encrinital stems, and corniferous lime- stone containing cyathophylla mingled with chert and cherty nodules with crystals of quartz. Above the last lie sandstones of the Portage and Chemung groups. Between Taylor's ridge and Pigeon mountain the Onon- daga gray limestone prevails, and is found at the tops of the northern spurs of the latter. A marked change however oc- curs in the crinoidea imbedded in it, and pentremites of the species florealis, globosa and pyriformis take the place of the usual large, smooth encrinital stems. Cyathophylla and favo- sites labyrinthica also occur. Proceeding to the west, on reaching west Chickaumagua creek the Delthyris shaly lime- stone, containing abundant impressions of strophemene appears, and continues to the base of the Lookout mountain. In all GEOLOGY. 23 the hills the comiferous limestone is succeeded by sandstone which continues to their summits. The dip of the rocks from the Alatoona mountain, which is the western limit of the primary formation at that point, to the base of the Lookout mountain, is either nearly vertical or south of east. The strata of the Lookout mountain, on the contrary, all dip to the west. This circumstance indicates here, as it does father north in the same range of mountains, a violent contortion and folding over of the strata, presenting the ap- pearance of a succession of waves with their sloping sides to the east, and their crests curling over to the w^est. If it be imagined that the strata constituting the existing kinds of rocks were originally deposited in a nearly horizontal position ; that afterwards by the settling of the whole, from the contraction of the superficial crust of the earth, they were thrown into wave-like ridges, hanging over to the west; and that then, by the denuding action of violent currents of water sweeping down the narrow valleys, and acting with most force on their eastern edges, the superior strata were removed to the present depth, we shall have a correct idea of the character of the palaeozoic formation of the State, and a satisfactory solution of the uniform dip of the strata, either in an eastern or nearly vertical direction, be obtained. The denudation has been greatest in the Oostanaula valley, and less in the small valleys between Chattoogatta, Taylor, Pigeon, Missionary and Look- out mountains. The abundance of the remains of crinoidea, cyathophylla, favosites and catinapora, proves the existence of extensive coral reefs along the northwest portions of the State at a period anterior to that of the Devonian and Carboniferous formations. The Appalachian coal field merely touches the extreme N. W. corner of the State ; and the only deposits of bituminous coal hitherto found in Georgia are on the summit of Lookout mountain, and in the Raccoon mountain, which lies imme- diately to the west of it. Anthracite coal has not yet been found, although the formations in which it exists occur. T\\Q primary rock formation, embracing the sedimentary non-fossiliferous strata, is, in a geographical, agricultural, and manufacturing point of view, by far the most important in the 24 GEOLOGY. State. It is no less so for its varied and abundant mineral wealth. Occupying the extensive belt that lies between the western base of the Blue Ridge and the western edge of the tertiary and cretaceous formations, it embraces that portion of the State which unites in the greatest degree a salubrious cli- mate with a fertile soil. Descending from the elevated table land of the Chattahoochee, by a succession of undulating and parallel ranges of hills to its junction at the heads of naviga- tion, with the lower formations, it presents a series of valleys of an originally rich soil, and abundantly supplied with streams of pure water. Interesting as this formation is to the mineralo- gist, and in reference to its influence on national wealth, to the geologist it presents, from its very uniform and simple con- stitution, but a limited field for remark. The rocks which compose it are, with but few exceptions, of a stratified or gneissoid kind. The western portion consists principally of rocks of a schistose character, as talcose slate, chloritic slate, and hornblende schist ; whilst the gneissoid rocks prevail to- wards the east, in the form of micaceous, felspathic and sien- itic gneiss. The exceptions to the stratified character are but few. The most remarkable of them is the Stone mountain in De Kalb county, which is composed of a compact light-coloured granite, of uniform composition, and which presents to the eye one enormous rock, of a dome-like form, towering above the surrounding plain like a huge boulder. Several quarries of a crystalline primitive marble, are found in this formation. In Cherokee county, statuary marble is met with ; and in Hall and Habersham counties, darker marbles of excellent quality occur. A narrow, but extensive belt of elastic sandstone (Itaco- lumit)* runs from Hog mountain, in Hall county, to the N. E. corner of the State, in Habersham county. At Col. Young's, nine miles from Gainesville, it appears at the summit of the mountain ridge, and presents an outcrop of several hundred feet. As this rock is regarded as the matrix of the diamond, it may be expected, from its great extent, that the dozen that * The public is indebted to Dr. W. C. Daniell for an accurate survey and map, made under his direction, by F. Schreiber, of this formation. GEOLOGY. 25 have already been found will be the precursors of a rich har- vest of this most precious gem. The gold region of Georgia, from its richness and extent, is the most remarkable feature of the primary rock formation. Its veestern boundary is the western base of the Blue Ridge. The richest deposits are found occupying a belt along the east- ern slope of that range of mountains, varying in width from fifteen to twenty miles ; but gold has been discovered at various points one hundred miles to the east of it, as far as Columbia county, and thence in a line, nearly parallel to the principal belt, to Alabama. The gold is found in both vein and deposit mines. In the former it generally occurs in quartose veins, running through rocks of gneiss, mica schist, talcose schist, and chlorite schist. The quartz forming the veins is usually of a cellular structure, generally discoloured by iron, and with the cavities more or less filled with a fine yellow ochre. The gold, which varies much in the size of its particles, is found either in small scales (its most usual form) in the cavities or the fissures of the quartz, or in the yellow ochre, or in combination with the sulphurets of iron, of copper, and of lead, or united with silver. It sometimes, but rarely, exists in the adjoining schistose rocks. The deposit mines are of alluvial formation, obviously pro- duced by the washing down of the detritus of the auriferous veins into the adjoining valleys. The schistose rocks, which are of a more perishable character, having crumbled away, and left the quartz veins exposed, the latter have fallen down from a wani of support, and have been swept by torrents into the valleys below. The quartz pebbles, and the harder por- tions of the including rocks, and the gold, being heavy, would be deposited at the bottom of the streams, and would occur in the greatest quantity when there were the greatest inequa- lities. The lighter materials would at first be swept down to a lower point, or be deposited along the borders of the streams; but, with a change of the beds of the streams, or a diminution of their velocity, these materials w^ould gradually accumulate over the original beds of pebbles and gold, and the valleys would ultimately present the appearance which they now do, of a stratum of several feet of alluvial loam covering another 26 GEOLOGY. of water-worn pebbles of quartz and schist, containing particles of gold, the whole resting on an original bed of schistose rocks, similar in constitution and dip to those of the surrounding hills. The quartz pebbles are usually flattened on the sides, indicat- ing their compression in the veins, and are more or less water- worn, as they have for a longer or shorter period been exposed to the action of the currents of water. // Iron is found in abundance, and of great purity, in this for- mation, and Kaolin of a very fine quality. Before closing this imperfect sketch, it will not be inappro- priate to notice the agricultural and industrial effects produced by the geological character of the different formations. The tertiary formations, wherever they are of a siliceous constitution, show the usual sterility of that kind of soil. Of this character is the extensive plain between the head of tide water and the calcareous formation of the Eocene — a region which very scantily repays the agriculturist for his labour, and seems by nature destined to be appropriated to grazing pur- poses. The river bottoms of this district present a remark- able contrast to the sandy plain. These owe their fertility to the rich washings from the calcareous and primary rocks, brought down by the stream, and are found to be highly remu- nerative whenever inundations can be prevented. Near the ocean, where the rise and fall of the tides admit of their being drained and flowed, they form the soils on which rice is cultivated. The yield of this grain, on such lands, pro- bably exceeds that of any other cereal that is grown. The beneficial effect of lime is strikingly illustrated in the tertiary plain, in the admirable adaptation of the soil to the production of cotton, wherever this mineral occurs. On reach- ing the line of the calcareous rocks of the Eocene formation in the counties of Burke, Laurens, &c., a marked change in the fertility of the soil is perceived, and it is to the existence of this rock in great abundance, in the south-western counties, that they are found so pi'oductive in cotton. In the primary rock formation, the accumulation of the washings of the disintegrated feldspathic and schistose rocks along the lower hills, and in the valleys, has produced a soil INDIANS. 27 originally of a produptive character, and one- well adapted to both grain and cotton. On approaching the higher hills, these deposits become thinner, and the soil consequently less productive ; but fortu- nately, the inferior fertility is compensated for by an abundant water-power, rich minerals, and a salubrious climate, all of which mark out this part of the State as the future seat of ex- tensive manufactures. Leaving the primary rocks at the western base of the Blue Ridge, a new formation occurs, in which limestone, and clay schists prevail. Here again the fertilizing influence of lime becomes conspicuous; and it is to the presence of this rock, that the richness of the valleys of the Cherokee counties is to be ascribed. Their peculiar adaptation to the growth of small grain and grasses, if experience had not already proved the former, might have been predicated in the constitution of the soil, and a knowledge that their rock formations are similar to those of the wheat-growing counties of the Genesee of New- York, the middle counties of Pennsylvania, and the She- nandoah valley of Virginia. The discovery of a bed of anhy- drous limestone, belonging to the upper Onondaga Salt group, at the Red Sulphur Springs, in Walker county, authorizes the hope, that at no distant day, plaster of Paris may be added to the agricultural resources of Georgia. INDIANS. At the death of Col. Benjamin Hawkins, who was for many years the agent for the United States Government in its trans- actions with the Creek Indians, there were found among his manuscripts, some valuable accounts of their manners, cus- toms, and civil polity. The compiler of this work has in his possession a sketch of the Creek country, prepared by Col. Hawkins, from which the following extracts are made : The origin of the name Creek is uncertain. The tradition is, that it was given by white people, from the number of 28 INDIANS. creeks and water courses in the country. The Indian name is Muscogee.* The Creeks came from the west. They have a tradition among them, that there is, in the fork of Red river, west of the Mississippi, two mounds of earth ; that at this place, the Cussetuhs, Conetuhs and Chickasaws, found themselves ; that being distressed by wars with red people, they crossed the Mississippi, and directing their coiise eastwardly, they crossed the falls of Tal-la-poo-sa, above Took-au-bat-che, settled below the falls of Chat-to-ho-che, and spread out from thence to Oc- mul-gee^ 0-co-nee, Savannah, and down on the sea-coast to- wards Charleston. Here, they first saw white people, and from hence they have been compelled to retire back again, to their present settlements. Cha-to-ho-che. — The name of this river is from Chat-to, a stone ; and hoche, marked or Jiowered ; there being rocks of that description in the river, above Ho-ith-le-ti-gau, at the old town Chatto-ho-che. War. — This is always determined on by the great Warrior. 