GEORGIA (ante); so named in honor of George II.; one of the 13 original states of the American union, lying on the Atlantic between 301° and 32° rt., and running inland up to 35° n., and between and w. It has the ocean on the e., South Carolina on the n.e., North Carolina and Tennessee on the n., Alabama on the w., and Florida on the s.; length 320 m.; width 245 m.; area 58,000 sq. miles. Nearly all the sea coast is low and swampy, and indented by sounds. among which arc Altamaha, Cum berland, Dohoy, Ossahaw, Sapello, Warsaw, and Sts. Andrew, Catherine, and Simon. Between these sounds and the ocean are the large islands of Ossaltaw, St. Catherine's, Sapello, St. Simon's, Jykill, and Cumberland, which are very fertile, and produce; among other things, the valuable sea-island cotton. Some 20 in. from the ocean the land rises abruptly some 75 ft., and at nearly the same distance inland another elevation occurs of equal height, and from it table-laud gradually rises until, towards tile center of the state, the level is 575 ft. above the sea. Further to the are gradually increas ing hills, in almost parallel ranges, for a distance of some 150 in., reaching 2,000 to 4,000 ft. above sea-level. On the cast is a range of the Appalachian mountains, and beyond it an undulating surface of hills and valleys extends to the foot of the Blue Ridge, which covers the n.w:. portion of the state and rises from 2.000 to 4,000 ft.. forming the water-shed of streams flowing to the Atlantic, the Ohio, and the gulf of Mexico. The Savannah is the largest river of Georgia, and is about 450 m. in length, navi gable for large vessels to Savannah. 18 in. from the sea, and for steamboats, to Augusta. 230 m. further, whence small steamboats proceed by a canal around the falls, about 150 m. more. This river forms the boundary between Georgia and South Carolina. The Chattahoochee, which is the Alabama boundary, is nearly GOO in. in length, and navi gable for 1300 m. from the gulf to the falls at Columbus. Flint river, a branch of the Chattahoochee is navigable to Albany, over 100 ra, from its mouth. The Altamaha, falling into the Atlantic near the ocean boundary of Georgia, is navigable for ships to Darien, and for steamboats to its source, and by both .branches, the Ocmulgee to Macon, and the Oconee to Milledgeville. The Ogeechee, the Altamaha, and the Savannahand its southern branch, the Canuouchee,'admit of sloop navigation. The Santilla and St. Mary's (the latter forming .part of the Florida boundary) are for small craft. Other rivers of Georgia arc the Withlacoochee and Allapaha, which unite in Florida and form the Suwanee: the Etowah and Oostenaula, which at Rome form the Coosa; the Tallapoosa, the Tacoab, and the Natley.
In Oct., 1828, a negro slave discovered in the sands of Bear creek, in White county, some grains of gold, but so fine that no attention was given to them until the same negro found in the Nacoochee river sands a nugget worth several thousand dollars. This started a gold-hunting furor. A tradition' existed among the frontier settlers of the Cherokee country, which covered about one third of Georgia and part of the adjoining mountain district of western North Carolina, that there was gold there, and ,that the Indians knew where, for they had sometimes used it for bullets, but were prohibited by Indian laws and a death penalty from discovering the much coveted metal to the white men. The U. S. government was forced to remove the Indians at national expense for the benefit of Georgia, which seized upon the whole Cherokee country and divided it up by lottery in 1833, among all the " free white .male population of the
state"—the supposed mineral lands. in 40-acre lots, and the farming lands in 160-acre lotz. As it was impossible to tell at that time what part of the territory contained gold, it was an arbitrary division upon guess-work. Ou many of the tracts sold as "gold lots" by men who drew prizes in that lottery, and which are even now sometimes sold to strangers in other states, gold has never been found. On the othCr hand, gold is often found upon farming lands in several counties where it was not at first supposed to exist. White county has been one of the noted milling regions of Gedrgia for more than 50 years. The work has been done mostly upon a limited scale by citizens of small means, and only with the rudest kind of machinery. Lately, work-has been prosecuted in better order by men who understand the business of mining and reducing quartz rock in good stamp mills. The noted Louderville mines and mills are in the southwesterly portion of White county. The next great find of gold after the Nacoochee valley dis covery, was on the Chestatee river, at a place that soon became famous as " Leather's Ford," 50 m. from Atlanta. The discovery of gold here was the cause of the historical "intrusion" into the Cherokee country in 1829-30, to prevent which, U.S. troops were sent there; but they created an excitement, brought in ten gold-bunters for every one that they kept out. Thousands of adventurers rushed thither and held their ground in spite of the efforts of the troops to drive therri away. Miners' camps were established at " Knucklesville," now called Auroria, and at Dahlonega, which have seldom been equaled in California or Colorado. Tins was the beginning (1829) of Georgia gold mining, or rather gold finding, and froM this all of the present immense mining interest of the United States has grown up. A branch mint was established at Charlotteville, N. C., and another at' Dehlonega, at vast expense, but without profit to the U. S. treasury. The chief deposits arc in a belt 15 to 20 m. wide, extending across the state on the eastern slope, of the Alleghanies. The production from 1829 to 1849 is estimated at 1,000,000 ounces. The amount of gold deposited in the U. S. mint and branches, from Georgia, to June SO, 1873, was $7,267,784. Since the discovery of gold in California the annual production has fallen to a comparatively low figure. The mint erected by the United States, soon after the first discovery of gold in Georgia, at an expense of $80,000, was, after the close of the rebellion, given to the state to be used for an agricultural school, and its costly machinery sold for less than old iron. A very little silver is found in the state, and iron is abundant. In one place' a whole mountain of fossiliferous iron ore is parallel with and less than a mile distant from Lookout mountain, in which are extensive beds of coal. There is coal in many other places; copper iu one place, and the usual minor minerals, such as antimony, zinc, manganese, etc„ but none are extensively worked. There are also deposits of marble, gypsum, talc, asbestos, soapstone, slate, tripoli, petroleum, barytes, hydraulic cement, quartz crystals, beryl, garnet, agate, and so-called diamonds. There are chalybeato springs in the n. part, and sulphurous springs in the center of the state.