The Alabama flows SW where it joins the Tombigbee river, which drains the western part of the state, to form the Mobile river which drains into Mobile Bay on the Gulf of Mexico. Tennessee River cuts across the northern boundary of the state near both corners. Cotton remains major crop in irrigated land near the Tennesee river. Central belt of black soil is very fertile because of mild and moist climate. Here, cotton has been displaced by cattle and poultry as the principal agricultural products.
Mountainous ridges are mineral rich.
Coal, electricity, iron, petroleum, stone, and timber are used by state's manufacturing industries. Russell Cave National Monument near Bridgeport is the site of 125ha of limestone caves which show evidence of habitation from earliest times until 350. The artifacts of the first inhabitants include Helladic pottery. Reestablished site is noted for the royal tombs of the Hittites. Another destruction, common to the rest of Asia Minor, follows after which the inhabitants produce artifacts characteristic of the Late Bronze Age.