NORTH CAROLINA, a State in the South Atlantic Division of the North American Union; bounded by Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and the Atlantic Ocean; one of the original 13 States; number of counties, 100; capital, Raleigh; area, 48,500 square miles; pop. (1900) 1,893,810; (1910) 2,206,287; (1920) 2,559,123.
Topography.—The E. and larger por tion of the State is an undulating coun try descending toward the low and sandy coast. The W. part is mountainous, be ing crossed by two ranges of the Appa lachian system, one forming the Tennes see boundary. These ranges bear differ ent names, according to locality; such as Black, Stone, and Smoky Mountains. The E. range known as the Blue Ridge incloses an irregular plateau. The high est points are Mount Mitchell, 6,732 feet, and Clingham's Peak, 6,619 feet, in the border range; and Grandfather Moun tain, 5,897 feet; and Sugar Mountain, 5,312 feet; in the Blue Ridge range. The coast line has a length of 400 miles and consists of a range of low islands and sand bars, locally known as "banks," separated from the mainland by shal low sounds. The largest of the latter are Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds. From the "banks" in many places pro ject promontories, dangerous because of their shoals, Cape Hatteras, Cape Look out, and Cape Fear being the chief ones. The principal rivers are the Cape Fear, flowing 200 miles through the center of the State; Roanoke, and Chowan, flow ing into the State from Virginia, and the Neuse, and Tar, emptying into Pamlico Sound. Along the coast are numerous swamps and peat bogs. The great Dis mal Swamp of Virginia projects into the State, and there is a large swamp between the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds.
Geology.—The mountain ranges of North Carolina are principally of Azoic formation, and the sandy E. portion of Tertiary and Quaternary deposits. The Azoic region is represented by gneiss, granite, and crystalline schists and con tains two narrow and irregular strips of coal-bearing sandstone. The State
has very small mineral production. A small amount of gold is mined and there is also a small silver production. Other mineral resources are phosphate-rock, alum, graphite, bismuth, kaolin, whet stone, sapphires, amethysts, emeralds, corundum, garnet, and tourmaline.
Soil and Productions.—The swamp land when drained, and the river bot toms have exceedingly fertile soil and yield enormous crops, especially of rice and cotton. The N. counties known as the Bright Tobacco Belt, which extends from the Piedmont almost to the coast, produces a large percentage of the yel low tobacco of the United States. The mountainous sections are valuable as grazing lands and well adapted to stock raising and dairy farming. The produc tion and value of the leading agricul tural crops in 1919 were as follows: corn, 55,100,000 bushels, valued at $101, 935,000; oats, 3,767,000 bushels, valued at $3,993,000; wheat, 7,225,000 bushels, valued at $16,834,000; tobacco, 310,240, 000 lbs., valued at $166,289,000; hay, 1,040,000 tons, valued at $25,168,000; peanuts, 4,756,000 bushels, valued at $11,605,000; cotton, 875,000 bales, valued at $154,000,000; potatoes, 4,930,000 bushels, valued at $8,036,000; sweet po tatoes, 9,858,000 bushels, valued at $13, 604,000.
Manufactures.—The number of manu facturing establishments in the State in 1914 was 5,507; the average number of wage earners was 136,847; capital in vested was $253,842,000; wages paid was $46,039,000; materials used valued at $169,942,000; and the value of products was $289,412,000. The chief manufactures included cotton goods, fer tilizers, flour, furniture, leather, lumber, oil, and tobacco.
Banking.—On Oct. 31, 1919, there were reported 85 National banks in operation, having $9,906,000 in capital, $8,055,704 in outstanding circulation, and $7,115,810 in United States bonds. There were also 471 State banks, with $13,468,000 capital, $6,408,000 surplus, and $196,489,000 in resources.