MEMPHIS, Tenn., city, county-seat of Shelby County, on the Mississippi River, at the head of all-the-year-round navigation, is the largest city in Tennessee, the fifth in size of the cities on the Mississippi River and the most important commercial centre and distributing point between New Orleans and Saint Louis.
Communications.— Steamer transportation on the Mississippi River and its tributaries reaches all the river and gulf ports, connecting with New Orleans, 394 miles; Mobile, 383 miles; Galveston, 661 miles; Savannah, 665 miles; Charleston, 726 miles; Norfolk, 961 miles; New York, 1,158 miles. Ten trunk lines operating 17 railroads, with two bridges over the Mississippi River, include the Illinois Cen tral; Frisco Railroad; Louisville and Nashville; Nashville, Chattanooga and Saint Louis; Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad; Southern Railway; Missouri Pacific Railway; Saint Louis and Southwestern Railway; Mobile and Ohio Railway; and the Rock Island Railway. The principal inland cities reached by direct lines are Birmingham, 251 miles; Saint Louis, 305 miles; Louisville, 380 miles; New Orleans, 394 miles; Atlanta, 417 miles; Kansas City, 484 miles; Cincinnati, 497 miles; Chicago, 534 miles; Washington, 931 miles. The Cumber land Telephone and Telegraph (Bell System) has 18,547 telephones in Memphis served by three exchanges. There are a total of 133 long distance circuits connected with the Memphis exchange, and subscribers are con nected with the lines of the Bell System, which covers the entire United States and Canada.
Topographical Conditions.— Memphis is located in the most rapidly developing agricul tural section of the country. It is the trade centre from the famous Mississippi Delta, and Saint Francis Basin, the combined area of which is in excess of some of the Eastern States. It is the home of the first successful Farm Development Bureau, which is doing great work in bringing about diversification of crops. The Memphis territory is no longer a one crop country. It now not only grows cot ton successfully as before but most all of the other crops that are grown anywhere in the temperate zone. Suburban truck routes are operated whereby merchandise of various kinds and produce are handled between Memphis and suburban towns and farms in the Memphis dis trict. This materially simplifies the complex national problem of handling freight on short hauls. The food conservation problem is far better taken care of in this territory, farmers not only feeding themselves but being enabled to make convenient and prompt deliveries of their farm products to the city; this being espe cially true in connection with dairy products, fruits and vegetables.
Industries, Commerce, Mem phis is the largest inland cotton market hand ling actual cotton in the world. The receipts run between 700,000 and over a million bales per year, according to the size of the crop. These receipts will be very materially increased when the opening of the 10,000,000 acres of land in the Saint Francis Basin is finished. This basin has been protected by secure levees and is being rapidly developed. As a market for short fibre cotton, such as linters and cot ton hull fibre, there is no market that can com pare with Memphis. There are more fibre mills in Memphis than in any other city and the trade in linters is far above the trade of any other market. Over one-half of the total crop of the country is sold through Memphis concerns. This city is the greatest centre for the manu facturing of cotton seed products in the coun try, including crude and refined cottonseed oil, meal, hulls and fibre. Memphis also is the largest hardwood producing lumber market. There are in this city 28 hardwood saw mills, with an annual capacity of 370,000,000 feet; 15 lumber yards and 32 woodworking plants. Just outside of the city there are 46 hardwood mills operated by Memphis firms, the capacity of which is 500,000,000 feet. In addition there are many other hardwood mills in the timber districts surrounding Memphis, producing an amount of hardwood lumber equal to the amount manufactured by Memphis firms. Therefore, Memphis may properly be considered as the centre of a production of approximately 2,030,000,000 feet of hardwood annually. A for est products mill has been established in the city, which utilizes slabs, culls and unmerchant able timber into the manufacture of large quantities of wood alcohol and similar prod ucts. Charcoal is also produced in large quan tities by this mill. The manufacture of sweet feeds is becoming an important industry in Memphis. Cotton-seed products, alfalfa and molasses are produced abundantly in this terri tory. This industry is being rapidly advanced by the present system of diversified farming. Foreign exports aggregate approximately $100,0W,000 yearly, including three-quarter million bales of cotton and 5,000 cars of lumber.