THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN REGION.—One of the most striking features in recent American history has been the economic develop ment of the Southern States—a development which, although it has affected all parts of the south, has taken place mainly within the Southern Appalachian Region. The geographical factors upon which it is based are the agricultural resources of the region, its mineral wealth, and its relation to the remainder of the cotton belt. With regard to the first of these, the conditions vary greatly. The Piedmont Plateau and the Great Valley contain much fertile land ; the Appalachian Mountains, though well-wooded, are naturally unsuited for cultivation ; and the Cumberland Plateau, likewise wooded, is not only dissected by rivers to such an extent that communication is rendered extremely difficult, but the con figuration of the land and the infertility of the soil are such as to render great areas quite useless for the production of large crops. Further to the north-west, in the limestone lowlands, which may be mentioned here, are the Blue Grass Region of Kentucky and the Nashville Basin of Tennessee, both of which are exceedingly fertile. On the Piedmont Plateau, tobacco is the chief crop raised in Virginia, but further south, in the Carolinas and in Georgia, con siderable quantities of cotton are grown, though the yield per acre is not so high as in various parts of the coastal and Mississippi plains.
The coalfields of the Southern Appalachians are co-extensive with the Cumberland Plateau and its outliers, and occupy portions of eastern Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. They fall within three districts, known respectively as Jellico, Chat tanooga, and Birmingham. The first of these lies to the north of the thirty-sixth parallel, the second begins about that line and extends into the northern parts of Georgia and Alabama, and the third, also in Alabama, includes the most southerly part of the great Appalachian coalfield. Of these fields, the most pro ductive is the last mentioned, as it contains the well-known Warrior Basin, which produces nearly 12,000,000 tons, or about 40 per cent. of the output of the whole region. The Middlesboro Basin, in the Jellico district, comes second with about 4,000,000 tons. The coal areas in the south have been greatly handicapped in the past by the inaccessible character of the plateau country. Within recent years, however, railway communications have been much improved, and coal from the fields in question, besides supplying the demands of the immediate neighbourhood, now makes its way to the south-east, the south, and the south-west, coming into competition along the coast and the Mississippi with waterborne anthracite from Pennsylvania.
The amount of iron ore obtained in the Southern Appalachian region is small, when compared with that which comes from the country round Lake Superior, but the proximity of coal renders it of considerable economic importance. The largest deposits are found in the Great Valley, in Alabama, where limestone can also be obtained ; but the ore is smelted at a number of towns which have grown up along the edge of the escarpment, from Virginia southwards, at points to which ore, coal, and limestone can easily be brought. Among the towns engaged in this industry Birmingham comes first, and the others include Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Roanoke. The production of the whole region only amounts to 4 per cent. of that of the United States.
The cotton industry has made remarkable progress in the southern states within recent years, as is shown by the increase of producing spindles from 554,000 in 1880 to 7,500,000, or per cent. of the total number in the United States, in 1905. Over 95 per cent. of those in the south are in Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Alabama, and, although it is impossible to give exact figures, it is safe to say that the most of them are in the Southern Appalachian region, as all the chief cotton towns in these states—Charlotte (N. C.), Columbia, Greenville and Spartanburg (S. C.), and Augusta, Atlanta, and Columbus (Georgia), are either on the Piedmont Plateau or along the Fall Line. Here, raw cotton is at hand (though it is noteworthy that the manufacturing centres are not in the chief producing areas), the climate is favourable, the cost of living is low, and labour is cheap. Coal from the Birmingham district is easily obtained, but it is probable that the growth of the industry will depend largely on the power derived from the Appala chian streams on their way across the Piedmont Plateau and on to the Coastal Plain. In 1905 only 22 per cent. of the power used in cotton factories in this region was water-power, but since then there has been a considerable extension of the use of electricity generated by the rivers. For example, the location of several new mills in North Carolina has been determined by the development at Charlotte of a power company owning extensive hydro-electric plant on the Catawba River.