North Carolina

NORTH CAROLINA, popularly known as the "Tar Heel State," is one of the Atlantic coast States of the United States of America, situated between 33° 51' 37" and 36° 34' 25.5" N., and between 27' and 84° 20' W. It is bounded north by Virginia, east and south-east by the Atlantic ocean, south and south-west by South Carolina, south also by Georgia, and west and north west by Tennessee. North Carolina has an extreme length from east to west of 503/ m., which is greater than that of any other State east of the Mississippi river. Its total area is 52,426 sq.m. of which 3,686 sq.m. are water surface.

Physical Features.

The State lies wholly within the three leading topographical regions of the eastern portion of the United States : the Coastal Plain region, which occupies approximately the eastern half, the Piedmont Plateau region, which occupies about 20,000 sq.m. in the middle, and the Appalachian region, which occupies about 6,000 sq.m. in the west. At the eastern extremity of the Coastal Plain region an outer coast line is formed by a chain of long narrow barrier beaches from which project capes Hatteras, Lookout and Fear, whose outlying shoals are known for their dangers to navigation. Between Hatteras and Lookout is Raleigh bay and between Lookout and Fear is Onslow bay; and between the chain of islands and the deeply indented mainland Currituck, Albemarle, Pamlico and other sounds form an extensive area, especially to the northward, of shallow, brack ish and almost tideless water. Projecting into these sounds and between the estuaries of rivers flowing into them are extensive tracts of swamp land—the best known of these is Dismal Swamp, which lies mostly in Virginia and is about 3o m. long and 1 o m.

wide. Through most of the Coastal Plain region, which extends inland from 8o to 15o m. the country continues very level or only slightly undulating, and rises to the westward at the rate of little more than one foot to the mile. The "Fall Line," the boundary between the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont Plateau, has a very irregular course across North Carolina, but lies in a general south-west direction from the Falls of Roanoke between Halifax and Northampton counties to Anson county on the South Carolina border and marks a rapid increase in elevation of about 200 feet. The Piedmont Plateau region extends from this line to the Blue Ridge Escarpment, toward which its mean elevation increases at the rate of about 31 ft. to the mile. The south-east face of the Blue Ridge Escarpment, which rises precipitously 1,200-1,500 ft. or more above the Piedmont Plateau, forms the south-east border of North Carolina's Appalachian mountain region, which includes the high Unaka mountain range, segments of which are known by such local names as Iron mountains, Bald mountains and Great Smoky mountains. These ranges reach

their culmination in this State, and with a series of more or less interrupted cross ranges constitute the greatest masses of moun tains in the east half of the United States. Four peaks along the Blue Ridge have an elevation exceeding 5,00o ft., and about 3o peaks in the Unakas and in the several cross ranges exceed 6,000 ft., the highest being Mt. Mitchell or Mitchell Dome (6,711 ft.), of the Black mountains, a short cross range extending north from the Blue Ridge through Yancey county. Another noteworthy peak is Black Brother (6,690 ft.), the next highest mountain. The valleys are usually narrow and deep, though few descend to less than 2,000 ft. above the sea.

From the Black mountains, the streams flow as from a ridge pole, some to the Atlantic, others to the Mississippi and finally to the Gulf of Mexico. West of Blue Ridge the Hiwassee, the Little Tennessee and the French Broad rivers flow west or north west into Tennessee. Farther north are the headwaters of the New river, which finds its way to the Ohio. On the south-east slope of the Blue Ridge rise the Broad, the Catawba and the Yadkin, which first flow north-east, then finding a passage across one of the ridges of the Piedmont Plateau, turn to the south south-east and across the boundary line into South Carolina, in which State their waters reach the Atlantic. In the north-west part of the Piedmont Plateau region rises the Dan, which in its north-east course crosses the boundary into Virginia, where it becomes a tributary of the Roanoke, in which its waters are returned to North Carolina near the "Fall Line." The other principal rivers—the Cape Fear, the Neuse and the Tar— rise in the north-east part of the Piedmont Plateau region, have their south-east courses wholly within the State, and, with the Roanoke, drain the Coastal Plain region. In the Mountain region and in the Piedmont Plateau region the rivers have numerous falls and rapids which afford a total water power unequalled per haps in any other States than New York and Georgia east of the Mississippi river, the largest being on the Yadkin, Roanoke and Catawba; and in crossing some of the mountains, especially the Unakas, the streams have carved deep narrow gorges that are much admired for their scenery. In contrast with the rivers of these regions those of the Coastal Plain are sluggish, and toward their mouths expand into wide estuaries.